If you believe it’ll work for them, it will work for you. Drinking your own kool-aid, as it turns out, adds credibility to your story. 

So I wanted to share a couple of simple but gnarly use cases for leveraging Playbooks to build a strong pipeline by engaging opportunities, and to plug revenue leaks, developed by one of our very own AE’s: the enigmatic, but always smiling, James Allen.

RESULTS TO EXPLAIN WHY YOU SHOULD CARE

Why am I picking on James? With the tactics below, James has hit a net-new win rate of 29% on Stage-2-to-Closed-Won opportunities, and he has doubled his quota attainment two years in a row.

This is the kind of stuff that actually makes a difference on performance, and we’ve replicated it across our own team. What kind of impact has that had? Our inside sales team has achieved 7 straight quarters of quota attainment.

SCENARIO 1: Discovery Call Prep & Opportunity Progression

A lot of good leads fall through because of a poorly executed discovery call. And reps waste a lot of time chasing bad opportunities that should not have made it into the pipeline in the first place. 

Our research shows reps spend 297% more time chasing bad deals as opposed to good deals. 

James, who may be related to Rain Man, has a fairly detailed process for prepping for calls with leads set up by Business Development and for developing Stage 1 opportunities.

He calls it, “My detailed process to prepare for calls with leads set up by Business Development – it streamlines how I move Stage 1 opptys to Stage 2,” AND he programmed it as a Play into Playbooks “so I don’t cut corners.”

A quick note on Plays for those who are uninitiated: Plays are strategic, multi-channel engagement strategies, or cadences.

HERE’S HOW IT GOES

First, before anything else, James built a custom Automation Robot to monitor changes on his accounts in CRM. When a new stage 1 opportunity is created by the BDR, the Robot auto-enrolls the opportunity into the below Play.

>>Important note: Yes! In Playbooks, you can build Plays off of the opportunity object, as well as off of leads, contacts, and cases AND you can auto-enroll these objects based on rules you define.

SCENARIO 2: Salvaging Neglected Opportunities

So often reps get overwhelmed juggling an unlimited stream of tasks and an infinite spectrum of client personalities and stages. 

Sometimes, stuff falls through the cracks. We’re all human. We forget stuff and we can’t watch the CRM 24/7. 

But Robots can!

Automation Robots in Playbooks come to the rescue yet again. They monitor the CRM 24/7. Managers also get added visibility because if they ever see a record enrolled in a Play like this one, they’ll know the rep is forgetting something. 

This next Play isn’t overly strategic or complex. In fact, it’s just two steps. But, it has saved more than one reps’ buttocks on multiple deals, multiple times.

HERE’S HOW IT GOES

The Automation Robot in this Play is set to monitor opportunities with a built-in alert mechanism for when they go 14 days without some kind of activity. 

If that happens, the Robot enrolls it into the below two-step Play and notifies the rep that they’re dropping the ball.

>Important note: Playbooks allows you to set up time-sequenced alerts. Think of all your CSM’s loaded with accounts that come up for renewal. Has anyone ever engaged an account too late about their renewal? Never again!

WHY THESE PLAYS MATTER

When you throw garbage into your pipeline, you’re committing your time away from closeable deals. It also increases your risk of letting good deals fall through the cracks. 

Clean up and structure your discovery process. Set up alerts. These hacks are two of easiest but most important things you can do to make sure you prioritize the things that matter most.

In my 30 years of leading sales teams, I’ve seen it all. Once I had a rep literally “phone in” his forecast for 2 months from a campsite at the base of his favorite climbing sites in Southern Utah. He did just enough email from his Blackberry and just enough on the phone to keep his manager from knowing where he was. After he hit his number (and he did hit his number), he let us know he had “gotten away” with that. But I always wondered how much he could have done if he had been fully engaged for those two months—not only closing business but also building pipeline for future quarters. For over a decade, my summer all came down to the ability of my federal/military sales team being able to hit their numbers because fortunately, most federal budgets and business are awarded in the month of September.

2020 is very different.

Time traveler: “What year is it?”

Citizen: “2020”

Time traveler: “Oh boy.”

Because so many are forced to work from home, sellers are even more “out of sight, out of mind” than in a typical summer. But on the other hand… they have nowhere to go but home. Stores are closed. Restaurants are closed. Hotels restricted. Travel risky. And even if salespeople could travel right now, the question is would they? Unfortunately, with people losing their jobs in record numbers, it seems 2020 is the exact wrong year to gamble with job performance.

All indications from our data show that selling (albeit modified) is still happening, even from home. XANT’s statistics show overall sales activities are up 43% and telephone talk time up 37% since March 1. For that to be true, sellers need to be selling and buyers engaging. Let’s assume that in 2020, both sellers and buyers want to stay in the game and keep doing their jobs as well as they can (instead of “taking the summer off.”) With that assumption in mind, here are 5 tips to help your sales team succeed:

1. Adjust expectations. Most CEOs have taken Q2 new bookings expectations down by +/- 50% and Q3 by +/- 25% (this will vary by industry). Make sure your team knows you are not tone-deaf to the situation in the world and adjust their targets accordingly.
2. Adjust your message and your targeting. Right now is not a good time to be running an aggressive promotion to the travel and tourism industry—they have other things to worry about more than buying your product. Make sure you understand how your product can help your customers in the context of the current economic conditions, then adjust your message and target accounts accordingly.
3. Measure and discuss activity metrics. This is not the year to check-in only weekly for the forecast call. Track phone calls, emails, and meaningful conversations for each rep, each day. Review these stats live with your reps and have a conversation with them.  This helps sellers stay in the game and stay accountable to a program—something they need to do this year more than most. XANT’s statistics also show that manager monitoring of calls is at an all-time high; we are all learning how to adjust in this new reality. XANT’s Playbooks is a perfect tool for auto-logging and tracking activities.
4. Record and listen to sales calls, and use them for coaching. Since you can’t stop by desks or join in person for meetings, make sure you have a call recording set up so you can “drop-in” on calls and use them as the basis for coaching your reps. Chorus.ai is a great platform to help with this.
5. Hold daily “best practice” standups. The world is changing by the minute right now. Your competition is adjusting. Your customers are adjusting. What worked a week ago may be different today. Have your team dial into an informal standup each day to share what they are experiencing and learn from what others are experiencing.

To be sure, the world will come out of this current crisis. The sales teams who stay in the game over the summer of 2020 and make the necessary adjustments to stay relevant in their customers’ minds will put distance between themselves and their competitors as we come back to normal.

Stay strong, enjoy the summer, and keep selling!

Related: WHAT C-SUITE EXECS REALLY THINK WHEN CONTACTED BY INSIDE SALES REPS

In This Article;

1. The History of Marketing Funnels
2. Examples of Traditional V’s Digital Sales
3. What’s Changed in Digital Marketing Funnels?
4. The Bounce Rate
5. Voice Technology
6. Do Likes and Followers Equal Sales?
7. Content is King in 2020
8. Is it Circular or Funnel Shaped?

Understanding Marketing in the Digital Age

The History of Marketing Funnels

Converting to a digital marketing funnel may seem an intimidating prospect, so let’s look back at the history of marketing funnels.
There has been a significant shift in the past 20 years in how consumers shop and how they locate their preferred products. The pre-internet pattern was;

Awareness of a product – customer considers purchase – the customer buys a product.

Examples of Marketing Funnels

Example A:

It’s 1998, and I need to buy a book as a gift for my golfing enthusiast father. I find the address of two local bookstores in my local newspaper.

I drive to the two local bookstores; one has signage in the storefront offering ‘buy one get a second half off.’ I browse the sports section for a book on golf and find two I like. A natural choice, I bought the two books, and I was pleased that I got a bargain!

The counter staff gift wrapped the books for me for free. I decide on impulse to browse further and buy two more books the staff recommend.

Marketing funnels worked to a predictable pattern before the digital age.
The funnel moved prospective buyers from awareness-interest-to desire, and finally to action.

Mass marketing – advertise in local papers.

Interest – Sales Offers in Store.

Desire – Customer Considers a Purchase.

Action – Customer Buys Products.

Example B:

Now it’s 2020, and I need to buy another gift for my golf enthusiast father.

I open my smartphone and search ‘golf gifts for dads.’ I’m presented with 1000’s of options. I browse the first few websites, and then I see a golf store Golfwithus.com with 50% off golf putters. That seems like a good deal, so I click Buy and leave them in the Cart while I go check out the product.

I open a second browser window, search the golf club’s brand, and read the online reviews. I check the brand’s Facebook page, see lots of good reviews, and link it to a special offer in another online golf store. I also copy and share one of the funny videos on the Facebook page with my friends. I canceled the original golfwithus.com order.

I open the link from Facebook to a second website and find it has 60% off the same golf putter and free next day delivery. I quickly buy the putter for my Dad in the online store.

What I did not do was leave the comfort of my house to browse at the local golf store. I didn’t see the company website or any social media presence. That local store also had 50% off the same golf club.

What’s Changed in Digital Marketing Funnels?

Prospects are walking themselves through the funnel, then walking in the door ready to buy. In both B2B and B2C businesses, customers are doing their own research online.

Everyone has the internet in their pocket.

In 2019 1.37 Billion smartphones were sold worldwide.

A 2016 USA study showed that 88.5% of the population used the internet.

The speed of internet connections has increased year on year since fiber broadband arrived. The world is connected by 3G, 4G, and now 5G. This speed eliminates wait times for a website to load; it also allows you to open as many websites or social media platforms as you want.

Caroline Donahue, CMO at Intuit, oversees numerous web-based products. Donahue says the funnel changes because “with cross-sell and up-sell, you move from awareness to action instantaneously.”

The Bounce Rate

A ‘bounce’ happens when someone visits your website and leaves without interacting further with your site. This is tied into Google’s analytics of your website.

It is very important to keep the bounce rate low. How you keep people interested in your site long enough for them to purchase is the key to a successful digital market funnel.

Your website needs to be fool-proof for sales. It needs to look and feel contemporary. Your marketing team should be making constant small adjustments to keep it up to date and user friendly.

The days of expecting clients to navigate a complicated sales website are over.

Voice Technology

Sales through voice-activated software (Alexa / Siri / Hey Google) are likely to be + 20% in 2020 and growing year on year.

This will require monitoring as voice-activated software requires additional information. Adding words such as ‘near me’ is something that businesses will have to address.

Google can handle two keywords, but voice-activated searches will ‘listen’ to a full sentence.

Do Likes and Followers Equal Sales?

One of the most challenging aspects of digital marketing sales is finding the balance between content marketing costs and sales revenue.

Luxury brands will often have millions of followers, but not millions of customers. However, without that brand awareness, they will fall out of fashion with those who can afford the products.

A good example of a successful digital marketing strategy is the Oreo cookies brand. Oreos have over 40million online followers—more than fashion behemoth H&M.

Oreo grew in popularity as they produce daily video content, including how you can make a fun dessert or drink using Oreo cookies.

This requires a large marketing team, but it also translates into worldwide sales of an affordable product. In New York or Tokyo, you can buy a pack of Oreo Cookies.

In 2019 the Oreo brand reached $3.1 Billion in net sales globally.
Its standard cookie sells twice as much as the nearest competitor in the USA.

This success is down to an aggressive marketing strategy online. Understanding who their consumer is and what life stage they are at.

Content is King in 2020

You need to speculate to accumulate and grow your output.

Spread across multiple social media sites and produce regular content.

Keep them interested, understand what your target audience likes; sport, art or cooking, etc.

Reacting to trends is vital. What’s everybody talking about on social media?

B2B email sales need to be 1:1 and personal. No more generic mass marketing.

Is it Circular or Funnel Shaped?

While the marketing world tries to keep ahead of the game, new maps of marketing techniques are cropping up. The fast-paced changes are creating difficulty for companies.

The circular ‘Customer Decision Journey’ is the connection between purchase and advocacy. Where the CDJ fails for some experts, is that advocates do not equal sales.

You may have a lot of advocates for your company online, but it’s not guaranteed revenue streams.

In 2020, round, funnel, or spiral, one truth that’s universal and cannot be ignored is that it’s no longer a linear market funnel, it’s ever-changing and evolving.

Engaging potential buyers to garner interest in your sales website long enough for them to purchase is the key to a successful digital market funnel.

If you enter a website and search for an item, and it’s not visible in a few clicks, you will leave and move on to the next site in approximately 2 minutes.

Imagine a Sales Rep. trying to sell a product to a new client in 2 minutes.
This is why a strong marketing team is essential to a successful business

Do you think the Digital Marketing Funnel is the best option for marketing teams?

Let us know and Comment Below :

Up Next;

• SALES IS NEVER GOING BACK
• 8 TIPS TO AVOID SALES SLUMPS
• COLD MESSAGING: HOW TO EMAIL SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW

Here are a few expert-level tips and a few methods for dealing with no’s to help you fall into the latter category.

RELATED: How to Win Back Lost Customers (14 Ways)

Up Next:

1. Tips About How To Deal With Negative Pushback
   1. Validate
   2. Correct Only Misunderstandings
   3. Avoid Yes/No Questions
   4. Determine the Reason For the No
2. Methods for How to Deal with Negative Pushback
   1. Negative Reverse Selling
   2. The LOC Method

Tips about How to Deal With Negative Pushback

Validate

When making a sale, always keep this point in the back of your mind: the customer’s positions are always good ones. You should never invalidate their point or opinion by saying something that amounts to “no, you’re wrong.”

In fact, 90% of the time (the exceptions are explained in the “correct only misunderstandings” section below), you should agree with them wholeheartedly with something like “absolutely, that’s a great point, and it’s precisely why [insert your sales pitch here].”

Constant validations of the customer’s thoughts and opinions will put them in a good mood, which makes them more likely to buy. It will also make them feel in control of the sale, which is a good thing for any sales pitch.

Correct Only Misunderstandings

The only time you should correct a customer during your sales pitch is when the views they are expressing are the clear result of a misunderstanding. If they are talking about your market and are obviously misinformed, for example, it’s okay to explain the reality to them.

Even in this case, you need to be very gentle not to appear you are lecturing the customer; no one wants to be talked down to. Try something like, “that’s actually what we thought for a long time too, but eventually, we realized that [insert sales pitch].”

Never correct a customer just because you disagree with them.

Avoid Yes/No Questions

Customers are naturally wary of sales pitches, and a yes/no question is very likely to result in a straight-up “no.” That will completely close the door in your face, which you obviously want to avoid. Instead, ask open-ended questions that let you find out more about the customer’s needs and desires.

This tip is especially useful when you’re experiencing pushback because asking questions about why the customer is concerned about a product or service is an excellent way to make them feel in control of the situation. It’s also a good way to find out what you need to do to course-correct your pitch.

RELATED: Why Asking Questions in Sales is Important

Determine the Reason For the No

If, after you deliver your sales pitch, the customer is still not interested, it’s your job to determine why not right then and there. DO NOT let them get away with “I’ll think about it and get back to you later.” It’s just an excuse that wastes a lot of your time.

Instead, try something like “when someone tells me they’re not sure, it usually means one of two things: they genuinely need more information in order to decide, or they’re not interested. Which is it for you?” This should be the only time in your pitch you pose a binary question like this.

Methods for How to Deal With Negative Pushback

Next, let’s look at two advanced techniques for dealing with pushback. These methods are tough to pull off well and require practice to master.

Negative Reverse Selling

Some customers just don’t trust salespeople, and so they’ll disagree with the pitch at all costs. If you sense this is true with a customer you’re talking to, you can shepherd them towards the sale by using reverse psychology and steering the pitch in a direction opposite where you want them to go.

By saying things like “you’re probably right, it doesn’t seem like you’re ready for this kind of product,” you’ll drive a resistant customer into defending why they are ready. In essence, you can get them to sell to themselves.

Keep in mind that negative reverse selling should only be used as a last resort, once you see that a prospect just won’t buy under normal circumstances. It’s very risky and will often result in a “no,” but it’s certainly worth a try.

The LOC Method

One of the hardest types of pushback to deal with is the kind fueled by previous negative experiences with your company. The LOC method (listen, own, choose) is a method for handling prior negative experience pushback. It’s an extremely delicate procedure, though, and should be dealt with the same care as defusing a bomb.

First, you need to listen to everything negative your customer has to say about their prior experience. Do not interrupt them. Let them vent until all their grievances are aired.

Next, own your company’s mistakes as if they were your own. Do not defer blame. This step is essential to make the customer feel vindicated and to show them they have been heard.

Last, let the customer choose if they want to continue with your company. Assure them you understand their objections and are ready to right your wrongs, but make it clear the choice is up to them and them alone. Make sure not to come off as pushy or needy.

The sales pitch is a delicate art. And knowing how to deal with negative pushback is an important component of it. Let this quick overview guide you, and your performance when you deal with negative pushback is sure to improve.

Up Next:

• Email Prospecting vs Cold Calling: What’s Best?
• 5 Best Practices to Deal with Phone Anxiety As a Sales Rep
• Top 3 Things You Need to Perfect Your Sales Cadence

RELATED: How to Train New Salespeople When You’re Not in the Office

In This Article:

1. Make Sure It’s a Slump
2. Stay Up-to-Date
3. Revisit Positive Reviews
4. Listen to Motivational Podcasts
5. Micromanage Your Process
6. Be a Helper, Not a Closer
7. Teach Less Experienced Salespeople
8. Open Up to Your Peers

Make Sure It’s a Slump

Before you try addressing a slump, make sure it’s actually a slump and not just a decrease in performance due to a totally different reason!

Keep in mind, for example, that adjustments require you to go through a brief period of decreased performance. Are you trying a new sales technique that you think will improve your performance in the long run? Then it will probably cause a lull that you might mistake for a slump in the short term.

There is a myriad of reasons for performance dip that might look like slumps but are actually not. Before you can start working on a cure for bad performance, you need to determine the cause.

Stay Up-to-Dateavoid sales slumps

Being out of touch with current trends is not a good position for a salesperson. If a salesperson loses touch with what their customers want at the moment, they may find they are suddenly unable to sell as efficiently.

To avoid sales slumps, be sure to stay up-to-date on what’s going on in pop culture and the wider world around it, especially if there are changes directly related to your target market.

Revisit Positive Reviews

To be the best salesperson you can be, you need to remain passionate about the product. Perhaps the best way to do that is by revisiting positive testimonials from your satisfied customers.

The other benefit of this practice is that you learn exactly what customers love about your product. That knowledge will improve your sales pitches since you will have a better feel for what consumers want.

Listen to Motivational Podcasts

It’s not easy to stay motivated in a profession where the vast majority of prospects give you a hard “no.” But salespeople need to find ways to keep motivated anyway because losing motivation will result in decreased job performance.

To avoid sales slumps, you need to surround yourself with encouragement. One of the best ways to do that is by listening to motivational podcasts. You can consume them while commuting, doing chores, walking the dog, or cooking, and audio is a fantastic medium to lift spirits if the host knows how to be inspirational.

There are lots of great motivational podcasts specifically about sales.

Micromanage Your Process

Sales is a very temperamental business. It’s very easy to throw off your sales rhythm with even a small change in your routine. Sometimes, the change can be so small that you don’t even know you made it unless you take some time to think about it!

To avoid sales slumps, try to maintain your work-related schedule as militantly as possible. If you do find yourself in a slump, systematically pick apart your plan to see what you are doing differently.

Be a Helper, Not a Closer

Sales slumps are usually preceded by periods of sales fatigue. If you deal with the fatigue correctly, you can often avert the slump from happening at all!

Possibly the best way to deal with sales fatigue is by focusing on helping your customers rather than closing. Give it a try: during your next few sales pitches, focus on helping the prospect understand your product and your market better. Don’t even mention the sale. If you take away the possibility of closing, you’ll be able to de-stress and focus on the other parts of your sales pitch. It’s a valuable exercise for every sales rep to go through every now and then in order to avoid sales slumps.

RELATED: The #1 Mistake Sales Reps are Making Right Now

Teach Less Experienced Salespeople

Teaching is actually an extremely effective method of learning; imparting some of the things you’ve learned about sales to less experienced salespeople is an effective way to cement them in your mind. It’s also a nice ego boost because it reminds you that you actually know a lot about your industry.

Remembering that you know a lot about sales is a self-fulfilling prophecy; the added confidence will help you perform better and avoid sales slumps.

Open Up to Your Peers

Salespeople are generally a pretty proud bunch, and they are hesitant to ask anyone — especially each other — for feedback on their technique. If you want to avoid sales slumps, you need to overcome that hesitancy.

Although sales can feel like a very competitive world, the truth is that it’s also a kind of family and people in it want to help each other out.

Avoiding sales slumps is an essential skill for sales professionals, right up there with knowing how to close. Everyone is different and is bound to have their own “treatments” to help them avoid sales slumps, but these nine tips should get you started.

TRY AS YOU MAY TO AVOID SALES SLUMPS, YOU WILL PROBABLY FALL INTO THEM FROM TIME TO TIME. CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO FOR HOW TO GET OUT OF A SLUMP IF THAT’S WHERE YOU FIND YOURSELF.

Up Next:

• 6 Mind-Blowing Sales Acceleration Videos on Youtube
• 9 Disruptive Sales Trends
• The Best Words That Sell Every Sales Team Should Know

In the 9 tips below, we’ve organized some ground rules that will help you do just that.

RELATED: How to Lead from Home

In This Article:

1. Determine a Meeting Schedule
2. Let Your Team Focus on Specializations
3. Judge by Results, Not Performance
4. Let Your Team Know You’re Tracking KPIs
5. Acknowledge Success
6. Listen to Ideas
7. Set Realistic Goals
8. Admit Your Flaws, Help With Theirs
9. Be Hands-Off

Work Team Ground Rules

Determine a Meeting Schedule

At the start of each month, draw up a schedule that dictates when you’re going to have every meeting during that month. Doing so will make scheduling easier for everyone. It will also make people more comfortable saving their questions about projects until the next meeting.

It might seem that very frequent team meetings is the best strategy, but it isn’t! Some companies meet at the beginning of every day, and it’s a massive time-suck that doesn’t add much at all to actual functionality. Usually, a meeting or maybe two every week will be enough.

Let Your Team Focus on Specializations

Good teams are composed of people who have diverse work specializations. A tech specialist, for instance, a PR rep, a writer, an event organizer. As a team leader, it’s your primary job to make sure each specialist gets to focus on his or her area. If they are continually doing each other’s jobs, their workflow will become muddied and confused.

Make it easy for team members to communicate with each other and ask for help from each other when needed.

Judge by Results, Not Hours ground rules

As a ground rule, make sure never to judge your team members’ performances based on the amount of time they put into their work. Because ultimately, those hours don’t matter at all if they are not producing results.

Instead of hours, judge purely based on performance. If you can view results without reminding yourself how many hours it took to produce them, that’s even better.

Let Your Team Know You’re Tracking KPIs

Make sure your team knows you’re paying attention to their performance. Not in a “you better watch your back” sort of way, but in more of a “your work is valued, and I’m keeping track attentively” kind of way. There is nothing worse for productivity than an employee feeling their work (or lack thereof) goes unnoticed, and you need to avoid that situation at all costs.

RELATED: 7 Ways to Increase Visibility for a Sales Organization

Acknowledge Success

When someone accomplishes something especially commendable, let them know they’re doing a great job! As we said, people love being acknowledged for their work.

You don’t need to throw a company party every time someone does something good — they’re another way to waste time if held too often. A pat on the back and an expression of appreciation should suffice.

Listen to Ideas

Make sure team members know they can suggest ideas. Set up an anonymous portal for employees to propose changes they think the company should implement, and publicize it.

Once the ideas start pouring in, show you are listening! Let employees know the workplace is a democracy through the policies you implement.

Set Realistic Goals ground rules

Don’t be over-enthusiastic about your goals. It’s very hard for team members to give their all when they know they’re going to come up short anyway.

In fact, it’s a good idea to let team members help suggest deadlines. When you receive a client’s project, tell them you’ll talk to your team and ask them when they think they can have it done by. Then, bring it up at your next meeting.

Here are a few more ideas on what to cover during office meetings as a team leader.

Admit Your Flaws, Help With Theirs

It’s important the upper management at any company can bond with its team members, and one important part of that is showing humanity. In other words, you need to show you are just people rather than a soulless entity calling itself a company.

To help connect, admit your flaws. Letting employees know what their company could do better not only humanizes you but also gives them chances to help fill where you really need them.

Be Hands-Off

Once you establish ground rules, step away, and let your team work. Nearly everyone hates
micromanagement, and they actually love to do what they’re good at if they are allowed some free reign.

This is also an essential step in making team members feel respected, another important aspect of creating a productive work environment.

Establishing ground rules that will let your team thrive is not easy, but it is a huge part of the team leader’s job. These 9 tips are great places to start.

Up Next:

• 7 Steps to Gain Respect from Your Sales Team
• Are You a Leader or Manager of Your Sales Team?
• The 5 Characteristics of Great Leaders

Sales acceleration is a crucial factor in ensuring that all aspects and resources of your business are moving forward. How is your top sales-people performing? Are your client base needs being adequately met and developed?

RELATED: HOW TO WIN BACK LOST CUSTOMERS (14 WAYS)

In this article;

1. Review the Company Sales Strategy
2. Software
3. Evaluate the Sales Team
4. Sales Bonus
5. Sales Territories
6. Company-Wide Training
7. Evaluate Your Client Base
8. Product Evaluations
9. Lead Time Efficiency

Put Your Company Under The Microscope.

Review the Company Sales Strategy

It is vital that your company is continuously sustaining its competitive edge in its target market. Understanding how you stand out from your competitors, and how to exploit this to grow sales revenue requires constant focus in an ever-growing marketplace.

A comprehensive sales strategy will ensure that your sales team understands the opportunities and threats in the marketplace.

Software

To ensure that your company continues to grow its sales revenue, the company software should be reviewed and updated accordingly.

Software is not only to monitor and track sales data, but it is essential to provide necessary marketing and sales training to both sales teams and clients.

Evaluate the Sales Team

Your company will have team members of differing abilities. It is good practice to run an in-house audit to ensure all staff are fully up to date on training practices and sales strategies and are implementing these with clients. A one-to-one review gives your team a chance to air any concerns or make any suggestions that may not be covered in meetings.

In addition, you should ensure all the sales team are exploiting their sales contacts and client base to grow new leads and potential clients. A new team member may have prior client relationships that can be developed for your companies benefit.

Sales Bonus

An incentive system, such as on-target bonus earnings on sales revenue, is a worthwhile strategy to motivate the whole team. While some companies are resistant to the idea of a bonus structure, it is a proven industry method to improve sales.

Target-based rewards allow a sales team to self-monitor their progress through sales metrics.

Sales Territories

If your sales team is divided into territories, are these generating the sales revenue as expected by forecasting data? Merging or dividing up sales territories can increase sales.

You can utilize your best sales representative by placing them in the high grossing territory to generate increased returns.

Company-Wide Training

Along with evaluating your sales team, you need to take a holistic view of the company as a whole. Your sales, marketing, and development teams should have a symbiotic relationship that benefits the company. These relations can be developed through in-house training days.

Evaluate Your Client Base

A company needs to maintain a constant dialogue with its client base. While it is tempting to give less time to those ‘easy’ clients who bring in a continual stream of sales revenue and only focus on new sales, it is not advisable.

A good client is always open to new product lines. However, it is vital that they feel valued by their supplier. Ensuring your sales staff are up to date on new products, along with client incentives, can help grow existing relationships and ensure that your client base feels valued.

As there are good clients, there are also bad clients. If a client is taking up a lot of your sales team’s time without placing orders or is returning too much product unsold, it may be time to cut ties with this client politely.

Product Evaluations

It is essential to monitor the quality and design of your product. Complacency may set in with a successful product, but it is critical to stay competitive.

Along with forecasting for future client needs, it is vital to monitor marketplace trends.

Lead Time Efficiency

How long it takes your product to travel through the pipeline from manufacture/design to the client will have a substantial effect on how your company is viewed in your potential marketplace. Time is money, and clients will look elsewhere if they experience repeated delays in product delivery.

It is vital to manage the journey of your product and handle any disruptions in the pipeline. Clear dialogue between departments will hi-light these issues. If the sales team is aware of a potential delay, it allows time for them to start a dialogue and reassure your clients.

Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

It can be time-consuming to take an in-depth assessment of your own company’s strengths and weaknesses. However, the companies that make time to assess all aspects of their business are the companies that future-proof themselves against losses of sales revenue.

What’s your view on accelerating your sales revenue? Do you think these strategies work? Share your ideas in the comments section below.

UP NEXT:

• 9 SDR INTERVIEW QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR NEXT SALES REP
• 6 FORECASTING STRATEGIES FOR MORE ACCURATE SALES
• THE ULTIMATE LIST OF FOLLOW UP EMAIL SUBJECT LINE EXAMPLE

RELATED: 12 PROVEN SALES PROSPECTING METHODS THE BEST SALES TEAMS KNOW

In this article:

1. The Importance of Using Words That Sell
2. Words That Sell
   1. Client
   2. Your Client’s Name
   3. We
   4. Imagine
   5. I Don’t Know
   6. Opportunity
   7. AI
3. Words That Don’t Sell

Words That Sell

The Importance of Using Words That Sell

Different words trigger certain behaviors in people and the language we use when communicating with customers impacts a sales team’s ability to entice and excite them. What sales teams say matters, and when it comes to closing the sale, every word said can either cause a prospect to open up or become wary.

Words That Sell

Client

Using the term “client” instead of “customer” indicates a more long-term relationship.

In practice, a client is typically someone who pays for highly specialized services and those who are being given advice and support. Choosing which word to call your clients (or customers) might seem a small decision but the consequences will affect how they perceive themselves. A B2B software business might opt to refer to its customers as “clients,” to highlight their interest in assisting their success.

Your Client’s Name

People react strongly when they hear their name and in doing so, they’ll give their undivided attention. To succeed in the marketplace businesses have to provide a personal touch to their customers. Addressing a customer by name provides them with this valued experience and gives them a sense of importance and validity.

We

Successful sellers ensure their customers feel part of a team, so using the word “we” (“together”, “us”, “our” etc.) references the venture as a joint effort. If prospects have a collaborative focus, they will believe in an equally advantageous association leading to better cooperation.

Imagine

Asking a customer to imagine the benefits of your product or service, puts them in an optimistic mindset. Imagining how the product can be applied to their business, they buy a better version of themselves and thus consumers are more likely to agree to the sales proposal. Stories record better in people’s minds than regular messaging and using the word “imagine” is a useful tool in sharing a joint vision; you selling the product, and the customer buying it.

I Don’t Know

Top salespeople know their stuff and ideally should know everything there is to know about their products or service. But sometimes, in absence of all information, admitting “I don’t know” is the best policy. Lying can lead down a very slippery slope, particularly when speaking to hundreds of people each day, and trying to remember what was said and to whom. By admitting this builds trust with the client, and a great follow up response should be to say – “but I will find out and let you know as soon as possible”. It’s always better to provide factual information than to hazard a guess and customers will appreciate the honesty.

Opportunity

Turn issues around by using positive wording with a positive connotation. This makes customers feel easier about the process. Seeing an “opportunity” can turn a sales conversation around.

RELATED: 7 STEPS TO GAIN RESPECT FROM YOUR SALES TEAM

AI

Artificially intelligent sales recording systems, and other technological advancements, are making coaching more efficient than ever before. Call recording has developed and now AI functionality means that managers, or salespeople, can search for key words to understand behaviors and which conversations add value in their interactions with customers or prospects.

Words That Don’t Sell

As important as the words that sell, all good salespeople should know the words that put clients off and drop close rates.

Gong research reveals some of the worst words for sales conversion rates.

• “Discount” decreases close rates by 17%. Oddly enough, using the word “discount” decreases close rates because customers don’t believe in the long term value.
• “Competitor”: Makes you less likely to get to the next step or close.
• “Show you how”: Drops close rates by 13% when used more than four times during a single call. Patronizing filler words like “does that make sense?” is an annoying way to check customer understanding.
• Using large numbers like “million,” “billion,” “trillion” is too abstract, so they damage close rates.
• “Contract”: Weakens sales conversion rates by 7%.
• “Free trial”: Reduces the likelihood of moving on to the next steps by 5%.
• Your company’s name: Damages close rates by 14% when used four or more times in one call.

So, it’s not just about how you communicate, it’s about what you say, rightly or wrongly, or what you don’t say that makes a difference between top-performing reps and everyone else. A subtle change can make a huge difference.

What words that sell bring you the most success? Share your stories in the comments section below.

Up Next:

• HOW TO WIN BACK LOST CUSTOMERS (14 WAYS)
• HOW TO SOUND MORE CONFIDENT ON THE PHONE
• EMAIL PROSPECTING VS COLD CALLING: WHAT’S BEST?

RELATED: THE ULTIMATE LIST OF FOLLOW UP EMAIL SUBJECT LINE EXAMPLES

In this article

1. Cold Emails
2. How To Email Someone You Don’t Know
   
   • Use Correct Headers
   • Address The Receiver
   • Make It Relevant
   • Keep It Simple
3. Common Cold Email Mistakes
4. Why Should You Send Cold Emails?
5. When Should You Send Cold Emails?
6. How Many Cold Emails Should You Send Per Day?

Cold Emails cold messaging

Cold emails are automatic emails that are sent to potential clients or collaborators without prior contact. Cold emails usually come in templates, and it’s a subset of email marketing.

Cold emails usually consist of the sender’s name and information, job description, content for the receiver, a potential request, and an action call.

There are various templates of cold emails and numerous mistakes that can make your emails look unprofessional and spam-like. Here are some common mistakes and how to avoid them.

How To Email Someone You Don’t Know cold messaging

When we are sending out cold emails, certain mistakes will make our emails look like spam and will repulse the receiver. Avoiding these mistakes can help your business to be more successful by bringing in more customers.

Use Correct Headers

An email header shows the receiver where the email is coming from and whether it’s spam or not. Always use your real name and personal or corporate email address to confirm the receiver that you’re a real person, with genuine intentions.

Address the Receiver

Addressing the receiver with their name will show them that your email is sent explicitly to them and not randomly through an internet search.

Make It Relevant cold messaging

To get the attention of the receiver, you should make your point apparent. Be clear about your intentions; whether you have an offer for them, or you’re asking them to help you – it needs to be obvious.

Focus on the benefits of your possible services or collaboration. But do not overkill it by creating hypothetical situations.

Keep It Simple

Keep your emails simple and to the point. Lengthy introductions make it difficult to read and make it sound dull and spam-like. You don’t need to make lengthy introductions unless you’re mentioning a mutual contact.

Keep the subject line relevant and clean. A subject line is supposed to explain to the receiver exactly what they’ll read in the email itself. Avoid writing “urgent”, “please read”, “dear x” etc. Follow up email subject lines are crucial to getting people to click on your email and, therefore, the key to increasing sales conversion rates.

Catching your prospect’s attention is half the battle, so the follow-up email subject line, although a seemingly minor amount of work, could be the difference between starting a new client relationship or saying goodbye to that person forever.

Common Cold Email Mistakes

There are common cold email mistakes that can cost you your sales and your customers.

Sounding Too Robotic

If you use big words to sound professional, you might end up sounding like a robot. Avoid using a lot of generic marketing, sales terms in your email. It’ll have a negative effect on the potential customer, and they will not reply. Try writing your cold emails as you’re talking to that person.

Generic Descriptions cold messaging

When you start your email with a long introduction about the different types of work your company does and keep rambling, it will turn off customers. You don’t want to sound too arrogant by bragging about your company, so focus on your message instead.

Bad Introduction

Starting an email with “Hello, you don’t know me but..” is one of the biggest mistakes you can do. Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customers and imaging receiving such an email. You won’t read it to the end because you know a stranger emailing you will try to sell you something.

Why Should You Send Cold Emails? cold messaging

Businesses exist because they have things to offer. But if businesses don’t have customers, they will fail. To reach out to more potential customers and potential partners, most companies end up using cold emails.

When Should You Send Cold Emails?

According to researchers, the best time to send out cold emails is 10 am EST. You can also find the best time for your business to send cold emails by checking the openings, responses, and clicks via cold email tools. Paying attention to such reports will show you when you should send out your cold emails.

How Many Cold Emails Should You Send Per Day?

The ideal is less than 200 cold emails per day if you don’t want to be identified as a spam account. Don’t forget that there’ll be follow up emails, so this means that you have a four-part email sequence, and then 500 prospects daily are the maximum number you’d want to add. By the time you send out your fourth follow up email, you’ll be sending your 200th email that day.

In conclusion, all businesses end up using cold emails to reach out to more people. With the information provided in this article, you can craft your cold emails in a way that will bring you more business.

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section! How do you generate your cold emails while reaching out to potential customers?

UP NEXT

• 14 SKILLS SALES DEVELOPMENT REPRESENTATIVE HAVE MASTERED
• 9 SALES TOOLS TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
• SALES IS NEVER GOING BACK

In this article, XANT will give you a guide on sales prospecting methods you can utilize to maximize their benefits.

RELATED: THE SALES CADENCE TOOL YOU NEED TO GENERATE MORE LEADS

In this article:

• What is Prospecting?
• Why is Prospecting Important?
• What are Sales Prospecting Methods?
• Proven Sales Prospecting Methods and Tips
  1. Research and Preparation
  2. Qualify
  3. Prioritize
  4. Identify Key Stakeholders
  5. Be Prepared
  6. Discipline Your Call Times
  7. Use Social Media
  8. Use a Sales Platform
  9. Coaching
  10. Change Methods
  11. Using a Combination of Strategies
  12. Don’t Give Up
• Sales Prospecting Tools

Sales Prospecting Methods

What is Prospecting?

Prospecting is usually the first stage in the sales cycle. It consists of identifying future customers, also referred to as prospects. The aim of prospecting is to grow a database of likely clients, which can then be contacted in the hope of converting them to actual customers. Moving prospects through the sales funnel or sales cycle ultimately generates revenue for the business.

Why is Prospecting Important?

Prospecting takes much time and energy, but it is essential to get it right to ensure potential customers are identified, but which suits the product or service on offer.

Developing and initiating new business through the search for new buyers means finding leads and establishing customer needs.

Loyal customers, who add value to your business, are best sought while prospecting to ensure a good fit. Qualifying leads and prospects ensure there are less churn and more long-term business.

What are Sales Prospecting Methods?

Sales prospecting methods are anyway that a salesperson performs outreach to find new leads or prospects. Variations include email, events/networking, phone calls, and social media.

Proven Sales Prospecting Methods and Tips

Research and Preparation

Don’t waste too much time on research and look to limit each prospect to a few minutes, though this may largely depend on your product, service, or the value of the prospect.

Get familiar with your ICP (ideal customer profile) to reduce research time. Establish pain points that can be discussed with the prospect, so they recognize their problems for you to discuss solutions.

Assemble in-depth information about your prospects so that you can personalize the message. Establish what is important for your opportunity through blogs, social media, or company websites. Then find a reason to connect, for example, through mutual contacts or website hits.

Sales leaders should monitor the time spent on research, which could be a result of call reluctance.

Qualify

Qualify your prospects to increase the chances of them providing value to the business.

Ascertain if the prospect is feasible and fits the product or service, for example, ask questions like – do we sell in their industry? Do they fit our buyer persona? You wouldn’t contact a prospect from a small business if your target were 1,000+ employees.

Prioritize

Establish which prospects have more potential or on the size of the opportunity, particularly as a long-term customer. Doing this saves time and dedicates the best efforts to prospects that are the most likely to become customers.

Qualify prospects and assign a value for each opportunity; the higher the score, the higher priority they are. Other options are to mark prospects as low, medium, or high. Lead management software will automatically do this.

Identify Key Stakeholders

Identify key stakeholders such as the decision-makers and the influencers. Although the influencers may not have the power to say yes to the purchase, they could be the ones using your product or service and who would be an advocate.

Be Prepared

Create a list of qualified calls the day before you make the calls, or better still, delegate this work to junior sales reps. Have a call list ready to go so you can spend all your energy on speaking with prospects.

Discipline Your Call Times

Make first-time calls in the morning when salespeople generally have more energy. This will result in higher call volumes and heightened enthusiasm. Push back any follow-up calls to the afternoon, which take less time and energy. Create call blocks in your calendar to discipline this simple but effective tip from Michael Pedone, CEO at Salesbuzz. Commit to making all the calls before you move on to other tasks.

Use Social Media

Get an idea of what your prospect finds important through social media. Use Twitter’s advanced search to sort through your prospect’s feed and start a conversation.

LinkedIn is useful to discover industry news and events, which gives you an excellent excuse to strike up a conversation. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a sophisticated system supporting B2B contacting.

Use a Sales Platform

Use a good sales platform like Playbooks to establish a process for supporting and leading reps through the sales process steps.

Coaching

Only 15% of employees feel engaged, so as a sales manager, your job should be to interact more with your staff. If the sales reps don’t feel involved, they will not be as effective as they otherwise could be.

Change Methods

If something is not working, fix it! If you’re not satisfied with the results you’re getting, then research other methods to make things work for you.

Using a Combination of Strategies

A combination of prospecting methodology is best for reps to diversify and generate more interest.

Don’t Give Up

Always try to connect a few times with your prospect, and once connected, keep them in the loop at each stage of the process.

Note which activities added value to the prospecting process for use next time and assess your performance and challenges.

If prospects reject, follow up with an email to ask how you can improve.

RELATED: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE ON SALES PROSPECTING

Sales Prospecting Tools

Utilize CRM tools that boost productivity throughout each step. Take advantage of free trials to test which system works best for you and covers all your needs.

A good CRM should do the following: –

• Track sales activity
• Source new prospects
• Manage sales pipeline
• Log rep activity automatically
• Record contact information
• Personalize emails
• Automate tasks
• Track emails
• Track website visits

Use Google Alerts to track company updates and make use of AI-based calendars and time zone trackers to stay on top of things.

Correctly applying sales prospecting methods can help businesses increase sales and reach their sales goals in no time. Try a few strategies mentioned above, see what works best for you, and add value to your workflow.

Experiment with the prospecting tips we’ve shared and let us know which ones work best for you.

Up Next:

• WHY EMAIL MARKETING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR SALES PROCESS
• HOW TO CONNECT AND ENGAGE WITH C-LEVEL EXECUTIVES
• THE 9 BEST SALES PROSPECTING TIPS AND TECHNIQUES YOU CAN DO NOW