If your sales leave much to be desired, don't rush to employ new team — instead, try to reinvigorate the existing.
start from sales audit
Follow a standard deal closure procedure in your company carefully analyzing each stage. Assess each step, think of the ones you can improve — and improve them, so that your sales reps could smoothly follow the new algorithm, which will serve as an investment in long-time business development.
Calculate your sales indexes, if you have never done it before.
- Input effort. Here, everything counts: the number of phone calls and conversations, emails and appointments. This index shows the average effort your sales reps make to close one deal with one client. For example, the index may look like this: 20 calls — 8 emails — 3 appointments. These figures may vary: deal closure speed often depends on the type of business, sales team expertise, company goals and strategy. Always strive for the high index, as the low one reveals insufficient competitiveness and a huge error in your sales algorithm.
- Average deal value. This index can help you make forecasts and see how you can increase the value of your deals (for instance, by upsells).
- Sales timing. This index is expressed by the number of days, weeks and months it takes sales reps to close each deal. The lower the index is, the better. If it is high, you have to find the reasons hindering the smooth sales progress and try to get rid of them.
Study the figures and set a goal, together with the new strategy you are going to pursue.
automate tasks
Every day sales reps send dozens of emails, fill out piles of documents and compile endless reports... — automate all these processes and make the life of your sales team much easier! If you haven't yet done so — lose no more time! Get rid of the routine distracting your sales team from selling: automate email campaigns, introduce appointments organizer, create documents templates and much more — adjust all possible business processes and make the most of your CRM. Focus on selling and let your CRM do the rest.
what makes a good sales rep
Sales reps need nerves of steel, lots of guts and a huge positive charge to fight persistent rejections, tolerate cold calls and quench troublesome clients. They sometimes need to tumble over themselves — just to hear the client say "Yes".
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
Any craft requires constant improvement: you must keep up with the trends, be always aware of new cutting edge inventions and ready to adopt new methods and practices.
Sales is no different from any other profession. You must always make the choice to stay agile and explore new ways to increase your expertise. It is most important to stay tuned and always strive to progress in what you are doing. What you once proved to be efficient is not enough to excel. Training and learning new sales technologies is too little either. If a sales rep holds oneself out as a professional expert on a certain product, he/she needs to be always aware of the market trends and offer the best to clients.
SELL SOLUTIONS, NOT PRODUCTS
People no longer need things — they rather need solutions to their problems. What makes a good sales rep is the ability to understand what the client really wants and offer it. Focus on your product advantages, tell your clients how exactly it can make their life easier.
RESPECT COMPETITION
Pranking competitors by telling your customers about their disadvantages is out of the question. Not just because it is impolite, but mostly because it produces an irritating impact on clients and paints your company reputation black. Flinging mud is no rescue, when you are out of real arguments. Better resort to praising tactics: "Yes, they really produce an outstanding product, while ours has the following advantages...". If formulated as such, your offer will look much more attractive than aggressive to the client.
MONITOR INDEXES
Collect and regularly monitor statistics on the number of calls, emails, appointments and conversations about deals registered in CRM. This will enable you to calculate the average effort it takes you to make one sale. Having these figures at hand makes it easier to see the opportunities for personal development.
PLANNING THE NEXT STEP
Always ask yourself: "What is my next step" — it may be an email, a call or an appointment, contract signature, etc. There is a huge difference between keeping this step in mind and having it verbalized/written. Pronounced forms are obligating — you just won't slink away.
EXPERT STATUS
Know your product thick and thin. For you, there must be no secrets or ambiguity in its understanding; you must be ready to provide an irrefragable answer to any client question, a any time. You must know how the product works and what it is designed for, none of its features or functions must remain a mystery to you. A sales rep, who knows exactly what he is talking about, produces a good impression and enjoy customer trust.
FEAR NOT REJECTIONS
Consider rejections as an indispensable part of your work, take them for granted. 100% successful deals do not exist. Never get stuck and just move on to another sale, even when your ratio is 5-9 rejections to only one closed deal.
IMPROVISE
Each client is unique and demands individual approach. A good sales rep knows it well and would try different approaches to find the way to a client's heart. Excel as a professional, polish your skills and develop new methods of persuasion.
WORK WITH OBJECTIONS
Come on, this is not too bad! And — you can always get ready for them, if you take the time to analyze all possible scenarios of the negotiation process and find the weak points in your presentation. Develop solid arguments and explicit examples to your standpoint. Make notes.
nota bene
- Analyze your sales cycle. Reveal its weak points and reinforce them.
- Calculate sales indexes: input resources, deal value and average timing.
- Automate business processes.
- Improve your sales team.