5 effective ways to create sales growth

Sales grow in three ways: you win more of the right customers, you sell more to the customers you already have, and you lose fewer of them. The five methods below cover all three, from choosing who to sell to through to closing the deal.

How do you measure sales growth?

Use a simple formula:

Sales growth rate = (sales this period - sales last period) / sales last period x 100

If you sold $120,000 this quarter and $100,000 last quarter, sales grew 20%. If your business is seasonal, compare a quarter with the same quarter last year instead.

Track growth next to customer acquisition cost and customer lifetime value. Growth that costs more to win than the customers are worth is not growth you want.

Where does sales growth come from?

The Ansoff matrix, first set out by Igor Ansoff in the Harvard Business Review in 1957, gives four routes:

• Market penetration: sell more of your current products to your current market. This is the least risky route.
• Market development: take current products to new segments, regions or countries.
• Product development: build new products for the customers you already serve.
• Diversification: new products for new markets, the riskiest route.

Most of the methods below are market penetration. They help you get more from the market you already know before you spend on new ones. Read more in our guide to the Ansoff matrix.

1. Know exactly who you sell to

You sell more when you spend your time on people who are likely to buy. Start with an ideal customer profile: the type of company or customer that gets the most value from you, buys fastest and stays longest.

• Look at your best customers. What do they have in common? Think industry, size, the tools they use and the event that made them start looking.
• Learn their business drivers. What are they measured on, and what problem costs them money or time? Build your message around that.
• Review wins and losses every quarter. Which segments close at the highest value? Where do deals stall? Move effort towards the segments that work.

See also how to determine your target market.

2. Sell to the buyer's problem, not your product

Persuasion in sales is mostly preparation. Buyers are convinced when you understand their situation and can show how you change it.

• Know the product well. Wrong answers lose deals. Give your team the product facts, pricing rules and common objections in one place.
• Ask before you pitch. Find out what the buyer is trying to achieve, what they have tried and what happens if nothing changes.
• Tie every feature to an outcome. "Automatic reminders" means little. "Fewer missed renewals" means something.
• Be present. Reply quickly, follow up when you said you would and ask what else you can do to help. Reliability builds trust before the contract does.
• Train regularly. Call reviews and role-play keep skills sharp. See our sales training overview.

3. Publish content that answers buyers' questions

Buyers research on their own before they talk to sales. Content that answers the questions your sales team hears every week brings in better-informed prospects and shortens conversations.

Useful formats include:

• Blog posts and guides that answer one question each
• Case studies that show a result for a named type of customer
• Webinars and short videos
• Email newsletters for people not ready to buy yet
• Comparison pages that explain honestly where you fit

Give sales the content too. An article sent after a call often answers the objection the buyer did not raise out loud. Publish consistently, and update old pages when facts change. More in how to improve content marketing.

4. Improve your marketing and align it with sales

Marketing and sales should agree on three things: who the target customer is, what counts as a qualified lead and how a lead moves from one team to the other. When they agree, fewer leads get lost and sales spends less time on poor fits. Our guide on aligning sales and marketing covers the details.

Then measure which channels bring customers, not just clicks. Compare search, email, social media, events and referrals on cost per customer and deal size, and shift budget towards what works.

Market to existing customers too

Your current customers are often the cheapest source of growth. Harvard Business Review cites research that acquiring a new customer costs 5 to 25 times more than retaining one, and work by Frederick Reichheld of Bain & Company finding that a 5% rise in retention increases profits by 25% to 95%.

• Offer upgrades and add-ons when they solve a real need. See upselling techniques and cross-selling examples.
• Ask happy customers for referrals and reviews. Many will help if you ask at the right moment, for example after a successful project.
• Watch for signs a customer is about to leave, such as falling usage or slower replies, and act early. See our guide to managing customer churn.

5. Get better at closing

A good process loses fewer deals at the last step.

• Reach the decision-makers early. In B2B, several people often sign off. Find out who they are and what each one needs to see.
• Qualify honestly. Check budget, authority, need and timing. A deal with none of these is not a real deal yet.
• Talk about the outcome. Focus on the result the buyer gets, not the feature list.
• Handle objections with questions. Ask what is behind a concern before you answer it.
• Use urgency only when it is real. A planned price change or a project deadline is fair to mention. Invented deadlines damage trust, and the US Federal Trade Commission lists fake countdown timers among the dark patterns it warns about.
• Always agree a next step. End every conversation with a clear call to action and a date: a demo, a proposal review or a contract call.

Which method should you start with?

Start where the gap is largest. If you win deals but lose customers within a year, fix retention first. If prospects are a poor fit, sharpen your ideal customer profile. If deals stall at the end, work on closing. Measure your sales growth rate each quarter, change one thing at a time and keep what moves the number.