It’s 2023. It’s really cold outside where I reside in Kansas City – home of (Patrick Mahomes and) our Chiefs. As I await and anticipate (hopefully) a successful playoff run, I got to thinking of what successful sales organizations do to eliminate these gaps.

As you may know, I continue to help/support sales teams and individual contributors achieve their sales goals by filling up their sales pipelines with qualified leads.

The reason we have had sustained success is because we are filling these Top Five Sales Gaps. 

Here are the Top Five Gaps in Sales for 2022:

1. Only 2% of sales happen during the first point of contact.

{Source: IRC Sals Solutions}

Many people will use LinkedIn to find and confirm a contact. Then they will try to connect or send a cold email with no follow ups.

2. 44% of sales reps give up after an initial conversation.

{Source: IRC Sals Solutions}

They say it takes 8-10 tries to convert a potential customer into a buyer. You got to make the time to follow up.

3. 60% of customers reject offers 4x before making a purchasing decision. Persistence pays off.

{Source: Invespcro}

Some people can’t handle a No. Some hate prospecting. Some hate follow ups.

4. 66.7% of sales reps say they have only reached out to 250 or less sales leads in the span of a year.

{Source: Spotio}

With platforms like LinkedIn, you should be connected with every decision maker in your space and be in the ball game.

5. Only 8% of sales professionals follow up 6 or more times.

{Source: IRC Sales Solutions}

LinkedIn, Emails, telephone, automation tools, knock on the door. Oh my goodness there are so many ways to follow up in 2023.

Summary

It all comes down to FOLLOW UP….and if you break that down, it comes down to TIME and CONSISTENCY. 

Everyone is capable…but if you don’t make the time,  you’ll never be consistent.

Here is my 2023 challenge to you.

Make the time…..but look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. If you are not going to do it, outsource it.

Help your support team become more strategic. Let’s say you have a marketing team that is supposed to support the reps. Help the sales team and marketing team get aligned and become more strategic.

Discover your gap. Fill it.

One of the most important objectives for a marketer is to generate leads. If you are starting out and you want to perfect your strategy so that your lead generation in Kansas City is super effective and also efficient, check out these simple tips.

Direct Your Potential Customers
Review all the pages of your site. Now, think about it; you have probably perfected everything that you could in web design but don’t you think people could do with a product? It doesn’t hurt to try. You can make landing pages for what should be the visitor’s next step after they have landed on your page. This way, they will be motivated to click around.

Social Media is Your Friend
If you are relying on SEO and your website to generate leads, you are missing out on a whole new channel that can do better than the two combined. Social media platforms are brimming with people who want to see what you have to offer; so, reach out.

The Size of Your Budget Does Not Matter
Make sure that you focus on targets, are able to implement strategic programs and can also measure results so that you know how much farther you are capable of pushing your efforts with the money you have.

Emails Work Too
A lot of marketers are focusing solely on emails, which makes it difficult for direct mail to stand out. But before you send this stuff out, make sure you go through the testing and segmentation process to filter out the people who are likely to respond in action.

Incentivize
Some people purchase goods solely on the incentives that they receive. The trick here is to not bite a chunk of your marketing dollars and only offer incentives to the people that you see are motivated through them.

Enter Fresh Markets through Testing
You can’t grow if you are prowling on the same turf. Try out new opportunities to spread your wings. If you are a growing business and cannot afford to make any financial mistakes, you can always go for testing. It is perfect for minimizing mistakes and experimenting new ideas at the same time.

Call to Action Should be a Dedicated Page
Calls to Action send visitors to dedicated landing pages where they receive specific offers which make them want to nab your product. But if you don’t link your CTA, valuable leads may just pass you by.

Let them Trust You
You know why your mailing list is not growing? It is because people do not want to give up their information that easily these days. It is time you assure them with authentic links and messages that inform your potential customers that their email will not be sold or shared to any third party. Another great idea would be to add testimonials gathered from people you have worked with and maybe even logos of the companies you have served.