Predicting revenue – that sounds a bit like a glass ball. But the so-called Predictable Revenue sales model is a sales method in online marketing that promises one thing above all: to increase your sales. And who wouldn’t like to increase their sales through clever marketing? But for that you have to understand the sales engineering sales model first. What is it? How is it going? What’s the point? Learn the basics of what you need to know about Predictable Revenue.
The idea behind the Predictable Revenue sales model is that the company’s growth is not based on hiring more sales and marketing employees or making sales people work harder. A more efficient sales development through lead generation and a repetitive sales process will rather strengthen the customer base and increase sales.
Generating Outgoing Leads
Higher lead generation allows for an increased “error rate,” regardless of whether a salesperson’s percentages increase or not. However, generating new leads in online marketing is not easy. Here are some of the most promising marketing methods:
- The traditional trial-and-error method, where bulk emails are sent and calls are made – this is the most difficult and time-consuming way).
- Cold Calling 2.0 – also called Cold Calling: Cold Calling 2.0 is an essential part of the Predictable Revenue sales model and changes the way we handle sales predictions. It completely revolutionizes cold calling by warming up cold acquisition, so to speak. The big catch with Cold Calling 2.0 is that it’s cold calling without cold calls. In addition, a Sales Develop team must be formed that focuses exclusively on generating outgoing leads.
- Instead of sending bulk promotional emails, send short, personalized emails to decision makers and executives and ask them to contact the right people. Thanks to this recommendation, you know that you are talking to the right person instead of just hoping to catch the right person. In addition, it already awaits your call, unlike the characteristic cold of conventional cold acquisition.
You can use it to track much more meaningful metrics, such as concrete generated first contacts instead of simply making calls.
A specialized sales development dedicated exclusively to the generation of new leads is much more effective than using regular sales employees, whose strength is usually not in cold acquisition. Cold acquisition is a process with little chance of success. So you shouldn’t “waste” your most valuable sales staff on it.
Call or write only to potential customers who have a good chance of success. The goal is to maximize the percentage of your achievements so you don’t waste time with unlikely customers.
To build a sales machine that uses Predictable Value
Sales engineering with Predictable Revenue is not a one-off. The idea behind the sales model with predictable sales is continuous repetition. If a particular project is just a one-time thing intended for quick money, it doesn’t help achieve the long-term goals of how to increase sales and isn’t worth the effort.
- Use a Sales Force automation system to track your sales. It helps in the analysis of patterns and in achieving the desired repetition and thus finally in increasing sales.
- You need to know how your sales process works. The Predictable Revenue sales model only works if sales development can be tracked.
- Focus on the results (prospects, leads, opportunities) and track only selected key metrics (new leads, qualified opportunities, percentage conversion rate, total bookings/revenue, profit rates).
- Pay close attention to the processes and stages in sales development. This applies, for example, to the transfer of customers from the Sales Development Team to the sales people. This is where sales engineering encounters the most common errors.
It is important to implement division of labor in sales, marketing, and online marketing when applying the Predictable Revenue sales model. As the company’s productivity increases, specialization in sales development and sales engineering increases. Combining tasks only limits productivity. As a result, a successful sales organization should have four higher-level sales roles that can be subdivided as the organization grows:
- Marketing (Inbound Lead Qualification)
- Sales Development (Outbound Prospecting; Cold Calling 2.0)
- Account Executives
- Customer Success Manager, Customer Relations (Account Management; ongoing customer success)
These positions can also serve as attractive career paths in sales and marketing. Employees can move through the positions and clarify their tasks with each step and take on a more important role for the company. They start in online marketing, promote the name of the company, find prospects and turn them into leads. Then they switch to sales development, where they take leads and try to turn them into potential customers. From there, they become sales reps, exploit potential customers, and try to make them payable, permanent customers.
Generate inbound leads using inbound marketing tools
We’ve talked about cold acquisition before, which is a form of outgoing leads where the seller or a member of the sales or marketing of the selling company gets a lead. Incoming leads, on the other hand, are when leads come to you. While incoming leads can be completely unpredictable, the Predictable Revenue sales model has nine inbound marketing tools that can be very useful for generating incoming leads:
- Recommendations Nothing is better than satisfied customers and they can be an incredible marketing source. You establish you as a legitimate, trustworthy business partner.
- Free tools and trials How can you better show potential customers that your product or service is working? Especially if you are a SaaS company, this can be an effective way in sales engineering to increase leads and thus increase sales and revenue.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Probably the most important tool in online marketing. Optimize your pages, blog posts, or social media content with keywords to generate links to your business and ultimately increase revenue.
- Social media LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are great ways to help with search engine rankings, connect with customers, connect personal networks, and share content.
- Blogging When you participate in the conversation yourself, people see you as experts in this field and come to you if they have a problem.
- Email and Lead Care Email is an important marketing tool to inform people about you. It can be as easy as sharing your blog posts, but it gets potential customers to view your website or content and generates leads.
- Webinars They can be used for sale, but also for teaching, and are excellent as part of a series in which viewers look forward to the next episode and therefore return continuously.
- Pay-per-click marketing Pay per click is used in online marketing, for example in Google Ads. It is especially useful for sales engineering for Internet-based companies to increase revenue. However, it is usually less effective if you target more demanding buyers.
- Affiliate / Joint Ventures If you know where you’re marketing and who your potential buyers are, work with companies or media that have a similar customer base. Such collaborations can be very effective at increasing sales – for both partners.