Plan Marketing Efforts to Support the 3 Types of Sales

When you're developing your marketing program, is all of it focused toward obtaining new business?

According to Ralph Zuponcic, owner of Accel Sales Partners, most business has three types of sales for their company:

A common mistake that companies make is considering all sales situations equal. There are three types of sales for almost any company. They are developmental sales, maintenance sales and fulfillment sales.

• Developmental sales is the creation of new customers and is by far the most difficult. A sound marketing program can really help to open doors here. Don't expect sales people to manage the entire commercialization processes. Keep them focused on closing sales while marketing helps to create qualified leads and nurtures those leads until there is a immediate need.

• Maintenance sales addresses the daily needs of existing customers. This is often the easiest sales activity, and, sometimes, the most fun. Don't be misled by sales candidates who have spent most of their time maintaining when you need developmental sales.

• Fulfillment sales are sales that find you through website, advertising, listings and the like. While some effort and cost is expended in creating these vehicles the sales reps effort is usually minimal.

The key to effectively managing sales is to understand the different types of sales and applying the appropriate resources. Segment your business into these three types of sales and organize you sales resources accordingly. You will improve sales volume and reduce sales costs at the same time.

Do you plan your marketing efforts and budget to create results in each of the sales areas? What is the ratio of your marketing: 60%, 10%, 30%?

Isn't it easier to sell to an existing customer? What percent of your budget to you spend on building awareness? On conversion? On selling product/service as opposed to branding/image?

Most times the marketing budget is a list of projects with costs/estimates assigned to each. Have you tried assigning the purpose next to each project? Just add one more column in your excel spreadsheet and type in the reason you're doing the project. Is it developmental? Maintenance? Fulfillment?