Strategies for Optimising Sales Performance and Revenue

Welcome to the third edition of our “Conversation With” series, where we bring you engaging and insightful discussions with industry leaders. In this edition, we have the privilege of talking with Tobi Emmanuel Mayokun, also known as Tobinigeria, a transformational leader and sales expert whose innovative approaches have significantly impacted over 4,000 individuals across four African countries.

Tobi is an executive coach specialising in leadership and sales strategies, and he is the visionary founder of several influential companies, including the School of Sales Nigeria, Ark Technologies, and Arkcelerate Consulting. These ventures reflect his commitment to enhancing workplace effectiveness, developing profitable sales systems, and empowering corporate organisations with robust structures and systems.

In our conversation, Tobi shares his wealth of knowledge on “Strategies for Optimizing Sales Performance and Revenue.” With extensive experience in project management, particularly within Agile frameworks, Tobi has helped top executives and business owners streamline operations and achieve outstanding results.

His initiatives, such as the Global/Regional Sales Conference, Redesign Your Economy, Campus Clarity Tour, and Project Minded Leaders Institute (PMLI), highlight his dedication to fostering growth and development in both professional and personal spheres.

Throughout his career, Tobi has delivered key training programs in high-ticket closing, high-ticket copywriting, executive leadership, business structure and management, and public speaking. His expertise is further solidified by his impressive educational background, numerous certifications, and active memberships in prestigious professional organisations.

Join us as we delve into Tobi’s insights and strategies for optimising sales performance and revenue. This conversation promises to provide you with practical tips, transformative ideas, and actionable steps to elevate your sales approach and drive business success. Let’s dive in!

The Conversation

Business Doctor: Can you tell us about your background and how you got into sales?

Tobi Emmanuel: Sure. My name is Tobi Emmanuel Mayokun. I’m a sales expert and it’s my profession. I started with sales back in 2014, right after finishing university. I took several courses on customer relationship and management, international marketing management, strategic customer marketing, and business policy and management. After completing these courses, I practised selling educational products to corps members in the NYSC camp. It was challenging at first, but I eventually gained confidence and started making money. In 2019, I began selling home lesson courses and realised that the most important skill for a successful business owner is the ability to sell.

To scale my home-lesson business, I recruited other young people who wanted to earn money. I marketed the product in various locations and charged a minimum of ₦25,000 for the service. I paid my staff ₦20,000 and kept ₦5,000 as commission, which I found more lucrative than a fixed salary. As the business grew, I made at least ₦250,000 monthly commissions from 50 families.

In 2020, as a tech sales representative, I joined a Healthcare Integrated Service (School Based Health). I started as a Business/Sales Development Representative (SDR) and worked my way up to become the technological director of the company. This experience introduced me to new tools and technologies for remote selling. Now, I use my expertise to train and teach others how to sell effectively for a living.

Business Doctor: Why do you think optimising sales performance is crucial for businesses today?

Tobi Emmanuel: Well, optimising sales performance is essential for businesses to stay competitive. It’s necessary to increase their revenue, and it’s crucial for growth and sustainability. Now, I’ll mention a few points on why I feel it’s important.

Firstly, if you want to meet customer expectations, you need to optimise your sales performance. Customers today are more informed, have high expectations, and demand personalised experiences. They also expect efficiency across all touchpoints.

As a business owner, it’s important to keep optimising your sales performance so that every time your customers interact with you, there is something new about your products, like new information, a new brand, or even a colour change, to maintain their interest in your product or service. A business needs to pay attention to customer behaviour, both online and offline.

Additionally, due to increased competition, it’s important to keep optimising your sales performance continuously.

Another important point is technological advancements. New tools are being developed every day, such as the Around App, which many remote workers are using. This app allows for business conversations to be documented after the event, unlike WhatsApp, which does not provide such features. Software like this has improved the experience and simplified the challenges people face.

In summary, these are the three important points I wanted to mention.

Business Doctor: Can you share some effective strategies for turning leads into loyal customers?

Tobi Emmanuel: Of course. If you want to turn your leads into loyal customers, personalised communication is key. People generally prefer to buy from those they know, like, and trust. By addressing customers by their names in your marketing communications and emails, you can create a sense of familiarity and connection. Using email marketing tools to personalise content can be very effective.

Another important aspect of personalized communication is tailoring your messages based on your customer’s preferences. For example, if you are selling books, you can send targeted emails about new books in genres that the customer has previously shown interest in. This kind of personalised approach can help in retaining customer interest.

The second effective strategy is to offer exceptional customer service. Providing prompt and helpful support to your clients can go a long way in building and sustaining customer loyalty. For instance, being available 24/7 for a software company can reassure customers that any issues they encounter will be promptly addressed.

Finally, implementing loyalty programs can also significantly impact customer retention. Offering rewards and special programs, such as exclusive deals or discounts, can incentivize customers to stay loyal to your business. For instance, creating special promotions during events like Black Friday that go beyond just discounts, and instead focus on rewarding customer loyalty, can be very effective.

In addition, I recently noticed a supermarket offering “happy hour” discounts on food items during certain times of the day, which is another example of a loyalty program that can attract and retain customers.

In conclusion, personalized communication, exceptional customer service, and loyalty programs are all effective strategies for turning leads into loyal customers.

Business Doctor: How important is lead nurturing in the sales process? And what methods would you recommend for nurturing leads effectively?

Tobi Emmanuel: It is crucial to nurture leads in the sales process to turn potential customers into loyal clients. Nurturing leads involves developing relationships with potential customers at every stage of the sales funnel and guiding them through the buying process. There are various methods for effectively nurturing leads, depending on whether they are cold leads (new and unfamiliar with the brand) or warm leads (have shown interest in the brand or product). Here are some effective methods for nurturing leads:

1. Content Marketing: Creating high-quality and informative content such as ebooks, videos, white papers, blogs, and podcasts can attract and retain customer interest. Tailoring content to address customer needs and interests can help build customer loyalty.
2. Social Media Marketing: Utilizing platforms like Instagram and Facebook to showcase products and services, along with implementing call-to-action strategies, can generate leads and engage potential customers.
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing website content can attract organic traffic and capture potential leads who are actively seeking information related to the business’s offerings.
4. Email Marketing: Building and nurturing leads through email marketing campaigns by providing valuable and relevant content can effectively engage potential customers and guide them through the sales process.
5. Webinars: Hosting webinars to provide valuable insights, answer questions, and showcase products or services can capture and maintain potential customers’ interest.
6. Referral Programs: Creating a referral program and exceeding customer expectations can encourage satisfied customers to refer others, generating new leads and contributing to customer nurturing efforts.

Each method should be tailored to the specific needs and preferences of potential leads, providing personalized communication and valuable interactions to build trust and loyalty.

Business Doctor: How do you approach upselling and cross-selling without being overly aggressive?

Tobi Emmanuel: When approaching upselling and cross-selling, it’s crucial to avoid being overly aggressive. Understanding your customer’s needs is key. For instance, a tech company could offer a cloud storage service by listening to clients’ concerns about data security and suggesting an upgraded plan. Timing and relevance are also important — offer upsells or cross-sells at the appropriate time when they are most relevant. Bundle offers can be used to attract more customers or upsell to people, providing better value for products or services. Educating your customers on the benefits or value added to your product can also help with upselling and cross-selling, and these tactics can be implemented in a live event or using your landing page.

Business Doctor: How can businesses use data and analytics to improve their sales strategies?

Tobi Emmanuel: To improve sales strategy using data, it is important to start by identifying trends. Following trends is a key strategy for successful online selling. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses like Zoom saw a surge in demand as remote work became the norm. Understanding trends helps in adapting to changing market dynamics and customer behaviour.

Customer segmentation is another crucial aspect. All customers are not the same, and businesses can use data analysis to segment customers based on demographics, purchasing behaviour, and preferences. This enables personalized marketing and pricing strategies for different customer segments.

In addition, analyzing the sales funnel is important to track customer behaviour at each stage of the sales process. This helps in understanding the effectiveness of different sales tactics and optimizing the conversion rate. Performance benchmarking and A/B testing are also valuable strategies that can help businesses track their performance against industry standards and understand customer preferences for better conversion rates.

Business Doctor: What are your best practices for building and managing a high-performing sales team?

Tobi Emmanuel: In my experience, the best practice for building and managing a high-performing sales team is to set clear goals and expectations. I have learned from past mistakes that hiring staff without clear goals and proper training can be detrimental to the business. Therefore, I now prioritize setting goals and targets for myself and my team every month to ensure that everyone is aware of their responsibilities and objectives.

Additionally, recruiting talented individuals through a thorough interview process that includes skill assessments, personality tests, and situational interviews has been crucial in maintaining a high-performing team.

Moreover, having an effective onboarding process for new team members is essential. This includes familiarizing them with the systems and software used in the company, as well as providing training on various sales and marketing techniques.

Finally, conducting regular performance reviews is vital for evaluating and improving the sales team’s performance.

Business Doctor: What sales tools and technologies have you found most effective in streamlining the sales process?

Tobi Emmanuel: When it comes to streamlining the sales process, I’ve found a few tools and technologies to be really effective.

First and foremost, a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system is crucial. There are various options out there such as Salesforce, Close, Zoho, and the one I recently tried, Apollo. Apollo has been particularly helpful in generating leads from LinkedIn and obtaining emails within a very short time frame. It also provides additional information like the number of employees a person has, which has been great for a recent project I’ve been working on.

Sales automation tools like Salesloft and email marketing platforms such as Constant Contact and MailChimp have also been incredibly useful in closing sales. Additionally, utilizing sales intelligence tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator has proven to be very effective in real time.

Finally, video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack have been invaluable for communication during the sales process. These tools have really helped to streamline and improve the efficiency of our sales efforts.

Business Doctor: What strategies do you use to maintain long-term relationships with customers?

Tobi Emmanuel: Okay

1. Personalized communication is key.
2. Regular follow-ups are important, and using content to keep them engaged is also effective.
3. Providing exceptional customer service is vital, as is being available to answer questions promptly.
4. Implementing a feedback system to gather and adapt to customer feedback is critical as well.

Business Doctor: That’s good, thank you so much. So this is a common question that, I believe everyone in sales would ask. How do you handle rejection and maintain resilience?

Tobi Emmanuel: When dealing with rejection in a sales role, it’s crucial to remember that rejection is not about you. It’s essential to maintain this mindset. For instance, I once sent an NYSC Corp member to distribute flyers at supermarkets, and she encountered a man who mistook her for a different type of service provider and spoke rudely to her. On another occasion, I met with a client who expected a female based on our previous communication. These experiences taught me that rejection is not a reflection of who I am.

In addition to understanding this, it’s important to maintain consistency, seek support and mentorship, engage in continuous learning, and develop different approaches. Listening to customers and understanding their thought patterns before they reject a product can also help in knowing how to attract them. Customers’ past experiences can often influence their decision to reject a product, and recognizing this can help address their concerns.

Business Doctor: What advice would you give to someone just starting their career in sales?

Tobi Emmanuel: If you’re just starting your career in sales, my advice is to embrace every opportunity that comes your way. Don’t approach sales with a scarcity mindset or think that people won’t buy due to a tough economy. Embrace the opportunities in sales. Another piece of advice is not to limit yourself to working with just one company or selling a single product.

I always advise people not to pursue sales just for a salary or to survive, but to focus on earning commissions. For example, instead of being on a company’s monthly payroll, you can approach a bank and offer to bring in customers in exchange for a commission. Establish similar commission-based partnerships with other companies, such as insurance firms, real estate agencies, and automobile dealerships.

As a salesperson, you can sell for multiple companies that offer similar or related products. For instance, if a customer buys a car from you, you can introduce them to an insurance product from your partner company and earn a commission. You can also refer them to a real estate property within the same setting. In summary, my advice to new salespeople is: don’t approach sales with a scarcity mindset, and embrace all the opportunities within the sales environment.

Business Doctor: Okay, thank you. Are there any books, courses, or resources you recommend for improving sales skills?

Tobi Emmanuel: So the last question, just quickly, If you want to improve your sales skills, here are some resources I recommend. For sales technologies and tools, check out the HubSpot Academy and their sales training. You can also learn about CRM tools like Salesforce, monday.com, and Close. Coursera offers sales courses as well. As for books, I suggest “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” “How to Win Friends & Influence People” by Dale Carnegie, “The Psychology of Selling” by Brian Tracy, and “DotCom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online” by Russell Brunson. I hope you find these recommendations helpful for improving your sales skills!

Business Doctor: Thank you so much for your time and the outpouring of your endowed knowledge. This has been an eye-opening session for me, thank you.

Conclusion

This has been an interesting conversation with Tobi Emmanuel, and I hope you learned some sales optimisation strategies that will help you drive more sales and improve your revenue. Thank you for sticking to the end, and don’t forget to join the conversation on LinkedIn. Let’s unlock the potential of your business together.