Optimize Business Success By Accurately Calculating Sales Growth

If you don't know your numbers, you don't know your business." - Marcus Lemonis

Do successful business leaders rely on intuition or information to make the right decisions?

Tricky questions right? 

Experience gives us the wisdom to make wise decisions. But numbers give us the insight to make informed decisions. 

The power and accuracy of metrics in giving us a clear understanding of our business performance is unmatched. 

It makes us feel confident and assured about the decision we made. 

This is exactly why you need to calculate the sales growth of your company at regular intervals. 

In this blog, we will explain sales growth, the formula for sales increase, factors you need to keep in mind when planning sales growth, and strategies to improve your sales growth. 

Let's begin. 

What is sales growth?

Sales growth is the increase in sales over a period of time. It is usually calculated in percentage and indicates the company’s performance. 

It measures improvement in sales strategies, market penetration, product acceptance, and overall business health. 

Keeping track of the sales growth helps in evaluating if your company is growing, declining, or remaining stagnant in the market competition. 

How to calculate sales growth?

The formula to calculate sales growth: 

Here,  

Sales in the current period: Is the total sales revenue for the period you want to evaluate. 

Sales in the previous period: Is the total sales revenue for the comparable prior period. 

While calculating sales growth, make sure you select the same time period for the current and previous periods. This could be year-over-year, quarter-over-quarter, month-over-month, etc. 

This brings consistency and accuracy to your comparison in terms of length and conditions. 

These elements help you calculate sales growth and understand the improvement made for the chosen period. 

What factors impact sales growth?

Sales growth requires a strategic approach. You need to take care of several factors to ensure you achieve the desired result and target. 

So what are these factors that will impact your sales growth? Let's check: 

Market conditions

The market and its conditions are decisive in determining your sales growth. While a recession will pull consumers from buying, a positive market landscape will encourage them to buy more. 

Consumer trends

You need to keep an open eye and ear on what your customers like. Your product should adapt to the needs and preferences of your customers' demographics to ensure they create a demand for your product. 

Competition

Sales growth thrives on healthy competition. It can be improving your product from what was offered last year or offering something better than your competitors. Even ensuring good customer service impacts your sales growth.  

Price fluctuations 

For positive sales growth, your product price should reflect the value you offer and have an edge over competitors. Offering strategic discounts and promotions can also enhance your sales without compromising on long-term profitability. 

Technological advancements

Automating your sales and marketing process can positively enhance your operations and increase sales growth. Technological tools will streamline and optimize your sales process to boost growth. 

Sales growth is an ongoing process. Time and again you need to evaluate your sales strategies, apply formulas for sales increase, and enhance the process to ensure that the desired target is achieved. 

7 Strategies to improve your sales growth

Sales growth is all about strategy. It's about identifying those major factors, turning them into your best, and making the best use of them. 

So here are 7 strategies that can help improve your sales growth for the better: 

1. Understand your sales scenario- your target audience, the market trend, your product, etc. 
2. Work on improving your revenue generation- enhancing the product, its features, quality, price, etc. 
3. Improve your sales process and team by regularly providing training, resources, feedback, etc. 
4. Always prioritize customer satisfaction by focusing on customer relationships, their needs, preferences, etc. 
5. Keep looking for sales growth opportunities in existing customers by tapping the possibility of upselling and cross-selling. 
6. Take a systematic approach to sales growth by incorporating data analytics in your operations for insightful decision-making. 
7. Never back out from leveraging technological tools that can enhance your overall sales and business operations. 

Sales growth is the result of all the comprehensive measures you take to enhance your overall operations. 

Focusing on these steps will give you the foundation to build your own sales growth strategy. 

Sales growth strategies for B2B

The business-to-business sector is a niche market space. 

This means that sales strategies must also be developed to tailor-fit the requirements of the B2B industry. It must focus on customer relationships, long-term value, and other complex sales cycles of the B2B industry. 

So based on these criteria, let's look at some strategies that help B2B businesses in sales growth:

• Invest time and effort in finding high-value potential customers. 
• Focus on content marketing and emerge as a thought leader in your industry. 
• Associate with channel partners who can widen your customer base. 
• Train your salesforce to develop strategies for faster sales pipeline conversion. 
• Use data analytics to identify trends, progress and make informed decisions. 

Having these systematic and structured approaches toward your B2B sales will help in achieving your goals and targets- timely, promptly, and effectively. 

Final Thoughts

Knowing the formula for revenue growth is important for any business. 

It helps in knowing the improvement you have made over the past period, gives insights on the improvements that can be made, and ensures a systematic approach towards sales, and business development. 

With automation tools, you do not have to manually put the numbers in the equation and calculate the growth rates. 

Kennect’s sales growth calculator makes calculation easy for you. All you have to do is provide the previous year's sales and actual sales and we help you track your sales growth. 

To know more about the sales tools we provide, visit our website https://www.kennect.io/. For more information about sales automation, Book A Demo with Us.