The Must Have(s) And The Not(s) In A Sales Handbook

According to a report by Avendus, eyeing a $100 Bn addressable market by 2025, direct-to-customer brands are set to disrupt the way India shops in the coming decade. 

Another report by Statista also states that by 2025, the total addressable D2C market is forecast to grow almost threefold and reach $100 Bn, with fashion and accessories leading as one of the largest D2C segments in India. 

How do you ensure your lifestyle brand builds its position in such a crowded market? Let’s begin by understanding how a robust sales process works, which shall help you create a distinctive brand step-by-step.

Know Your Product And Market

The first step towards sales is always knowing your product well. How was it designed? Which are the materials used? What are the style aspects? What are the functionalities, and what is the purpose? 

Meet the team who created the product, as they know the product and the processes better than the others. Next, build a feedback group of your target consumers, which can be your family members, friends, industry colleagues and others, and do a test run with the group. 

Besides receiving constructive feedback on how good your product is or how you can improve, you will also know if your product is market-ready. And finally, do extensive market research; what are your consumers primarily looking for? Who else is giving them a similar product, and how is your product stronger than the others? 

Now, go back to the drawing board and work on it accordingly.

Deep-dive Into Your Strengths And Weaknesses

Define the strengths and weaknesses of your product clearly. When it comes to strengths, you have your product and market strengths: the quality, the price that matches the quality and the overall experience. 

Know where your opportunities lie; one product may work for one consumer but not for another; e.g. some like wearing casual sneakers, whereas others prefer formal shoes, some like wearing t-shirts and another set of consumers like work shirts more, so make sure that you sell the right product to the right consumer. 

Also, even if your product is market-ready, and you have your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities covered well, it would still require improvements at regular intervals, so always work on a continuous feedback process to mend your weaknesses and add more to your strengths. Know that a consumer market is always about doing more and better than you last did. 

Redefine Your ‘Sales Road-Map’

Before you enter the market, you need a sales road map, which here is more than the targets you need to meet. Give a personalised touch to every consumer, know what he is looking for and sell only that to him, as this is how you create a community for your brand. 

Always have a vigorous customer experience team in place; your consumer should not be following up on you for an open ticket; it is your responsibility to resolve it and then give them a bit more if the error is from your end. 

Lastly, if they love your product, give them even more, e.g., if you know a specific set of your consumers love wearing perfumes, offer them a significant discount next time you launch a new fragrance, as that is how you create a solid consumer base.

The Don’ts And The Dos

Finally, touching some mandatory don’ts and dos in sales. Do not ever compare your product to your competitors, only focus on your abilities and sell those. Do not make false promises, always deliver what you have committed. 

Don’t go half-prepared, know your product and market well so you are confident at every step of the sales process. 

Irrespective of the market, know all your USPs well cause you are giving more than others, and this is what you will speak about and sell. Know your consumer persona, as you cannot spend 30 minutes trying to sell fitness equipment to a consumer whose exercise regime is only yoga. 

A sales process is a long-term relationship with each consumer, always work on everything with this mindset; you are selling, building, and re-selling.

Lifestyle as a market is constantly evolving. As per KPMG’s report, consumers have multiple touchpoints across channels, providing them with numerous choices and thereby making the decision-making process more complex. 

Furthermore, the Millennial group, forming 70% of the total sample size, forms the largest consumer base in India and are likely to share their personal data in order to have personalised engagement. 

This being said, it has become the need of the hour that besides creating a different product, you must also have processes that set you apart from everyone else, leading and helping your consumer to choose the utmost simple and quicker way to make a purchase.