How do people manage to sell so effectively on the internet? They grow their online sales by being organized. Everything goes much more smoothly if you take the time to get properly set up before you launch.
Here are some tips to help you get more organized as you grow your business online.
How to Increase Your Online Sales Effectiveness by Getting Organized
1. Clarify Your Goals and Priorities
The first step to getting organized is to clarify your goals and priorities. In this instance, you need to be clear about your sales goal.
Do you know your overall sales goal?
Determine how much you want to earn and when as clearly and specifically as possible in your goal statement.
If your goal isn’t to sell but to nurture prospects, state this as well. You may want to:
- Improve your branding.
- Get more exposure online.
- Improve relationships with your audience.
- Grow your mailing list.
Choose some specific metric that will help you determine whether you’ve reached this goal. For example, if your goal is to grow your mailing list, you might say something like, “Grow my list to 1,000 subscribers by the end of this year.”
Goal setting doesn’t always come easy and you may find that you have more than one goal. If this happens, prioritize them then decide which is most important so that you can focus your efforts there.
Related Article: How to Set SMART Business Goals
2. Manage Your Time More Effectively
Time flies fast when you go online. You may log into your social media accounts with the intention of working and hours later, you’re still scrolling down your feed.
If you want to increase your online sales, or even physical sales if you sell offline, you have to block out time to work on sales activities. Choose a regular time for this and schedule these time slots as appointments on your calendar.
There’s no specific rule about how much time you should you spend on sales activities. My recommendation is that you increase time on sales when you have fewer clients and reduce the time when you’re fully booked.
Even so, you should never abandon sales activities when you have a full workload as this can lead to feast and famine cycles. This happens when you’re very busy and making money with a full client load and then you finish working with them and have to go on a marketing sprint to replace the income.
Such cycles are exhausting. You can avoid them by creating time for consistent sales and marketing activities.
Start by deciding how much time you can reasonably devote to sales and then increase if you feel you need to. The most important thing is to put these time blocks on your calendar. Also remember to include regular check-ins with yourself on your sales follow up.
Give your sales time blocks the same importance you would give a meeting with an important client or a deadline for a job. Set aside a time and remove all distractions so you can focus solely on the task at hand.
Related Article: How to Manage Your Time More Effectively
3. Get Your Tech Tools in Order
It’s always best to determine the tech tools you need before you launch your business. But that’s not the case for most people.
Tech tools depend on your type of business or industry. Here are some basic ones:
- Task management tool e.g. Asana, Trello or KanbanFlow. Kanbanflow has a Pomodoro timer which can be very useful if you get distracted easily and need to stay focused.
- Social media scheduling app e.g. Buffer or Hootsuite. Use this to schedule your social media posts i advance and also get statistics about your performance and engagement.
- Email service provider e.g. Mailchimp, Convertkit, Constant Contact, GetResponse, and Aweber. If you’re starting out, use Mailchimp or Convertkit as they have free versions and lots of tutorials.
- Website or blog builder e.g. WordPress, Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, Weebly or Ghost. I prefer WordPress but it can be a learning curve if you’re a beginner.
- Hosting platform e.g. HostGator, GoDaddy, SiteGround, and BlueHost.
- Meeting scheduler e.g. Calendly or Acuity. Both have free versions but Calendly integrates with Zoom and Google calendar for free.
- Document saving and collaboration e.g. Google Drive, DropBox, and Microsoft OneDrive. You can actually run a virtually paperless office using either Google Drive or OneDrive. Google Drive is best for online collaboration. But if you love Microsoft products and use Microsoft Teams, then OneDrive may be a better option for you.
- Accounting software e.g. Xero, Wave, Freshbooks or Quickbooks.
- A sales funnel consisting of a sales page, giveaway, download page, mailing list.
For example, say you need a download page or a shopping cart.
- Research the software and platforms available.
- Ask friends, family and other people in your industry for recommendations.
- Read online reviews and see what others saying.
- Look for tech tools that have the features you need. Don’t pay for extra features that you don’t need.
- Choose tools based on how they make your sales process easier for your customers.
Test your tech stack before you get started to make sure it works and that the process is smooth. Also ensure that you have credible, efficient and effective tech support available from the platforms you use in case there are problems.
Related Article: 5 Time Management Tips for a Successful Home-Based Business
4. Delegate and Automate
You don’t have to do everything yourself. You can save yourself a considerable amount of time by delegating to your staff or outsourcing. Find someone to do the tasks you can’t or don’t want to do.
Make flowcharts and other training materials for tasks you’d like to delegate, and a system for training and monitoring performance.
You can also automate certain tasks. Find tools to automate routine tasks that drain your time. Once these tasks are taken out of your hands, you’ll have time to work on more high-level issues.
Related Article: 10 Time Management Strategies to Get More Done Each Day
Get Started Now
A good place to start getting organized with your sales and marketing is my program Kickstart Your Business.
This is a live 12-week group program where I teach you a simple system for turning prospects into paying clients, along with learning activities and actual scripts you can use on your own now and in the future.
Through a combination of training, coaching, peer-to-peer accountability, and a private community, you will finally overcome the mindset and physical blocks that keep you from selling effectively.
We also have a private members area with amazing resources, bonus learning activities, and templates you can customize for your business.
Join the next group if you’re a coach, trainer, or consultant, and learn how you can organize your sales process to turn prospects into clients in a non-salesy way that feels natural to you.
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