You’ve heard it said often enough in your Australian sales training and call centre training courses. Time is money.
To be successful in sales, all sales people have to meet as many potential buyers as possible without compromising quality and naturally this requires time.Therefore sales people need to be disciplined, efficient and productive. It’s never easy, but hey, nobody ever said selling was a picnic!
To be successful in sales, all sales people have to meet as many potential buyers as possible without compromising quality and naturally this requires time.Therefore sales people need to be disciplined, efficient and productive. It’s never easy, but hey, nobody ever said selling was a picnic!
However, with a few smart tips you can help your sales person become more productive and successful.
1. Don’t Waste Too Much Time on Research.
As crazy as it sounds if there is one thing that has actually held sales people back it is the internet
At KONA we are constantly disappointed at how many sales people we see who are spending countless hours in preparation ‘researching’ a customer or company prior to a meeting, and then using this research as an excuse to not doing enough sales calls
Absolutely, going out on a sales call when you’re well-informed is almost always going to help you.
Making sure some time is spent researching a prospect is crucial by Googling your prospects name, doing a Linked In search, and obviously a website search of what the company does to understand their history, products, key people, locations and market segments
In addition, checking your internal system or CRM to know the last contact your company had with the target prospect, the products he/she purchased, and what issues (if any) were raised.
This research will help their sales approach and prepare their questions.
However don’t let your sales people replace face to face meetings with hours of detailed research .
The best research you can do is by actually sitting in front of a customer and asking them questions rather gathering reams of information off a website that is quite possibly out of date or not 100% accurate in relation to the person you are meeting
2. Make Sure Your Reps Have a Follow-Up Plan.
The stats say it all. 80% of all sales are closed after an average of 5 meetings with customers.
And yet the same stats show that on average a sales person stops chasing a customer after an average of 3 meetings (and then many even start to blame the customer for not making a commitment)
Sure if we are buying a bottle of coke we purchase in one meeting. However the more expensive or higher the value of your products/services, the longer it takes, and the more people involved in making the purchase
It is easy to fall into the “rush-rush trap”.
If you want your team to rush through and cover as many calls as possible sales people will typically tend to not waste any more time on people who have turned them down already.
The thing is, with just a few extra quality conversations these rejections could be turned into concrete sales.
In any Sales Training or Australian Sales Management Training and Coaching we strongly recommend you coach your sales people to be resilient and practice persistence. as it works!
3. Don’t Let Technology Be an Excuse for None Performance
We recently spoke with a sales person who when asked why “haven’t you hit your sales target for the last 3 months ” he replied “because on my territory I have had problems entering
information into the CRM”!!!
The latest technology is not going to make or break your sales, however the QDQ of your Sales People’s Activity will
So don’t listen to, or make ‘technology excuses’ and focus on the Quantity of Customer Conversations/Meetings you have; in the right Direction (segment, level, product); and with the right Quality of Conversation
4. Train Your New People Early How to Speak to Customers
Training a sales person the right way before they hit the ground will go a long way towards increased productivity.
We have a client whose new sales people didn’t used to make a sale for at least the first 3 months, and they acceopted that as the norm
1. Don’t Waste Too Much Time on Research.
As crazy as it sounds if there is one thing that has actually held sales people back it is the internet
At KONA we are constantly disappointed at how many sales people we see who are spending countless hours in preparation ‘researching’ a customer or company prior to a meeting, and then using this research as an excuse to not doing enough sales calls
Absolutely, going out on a sales call when you’re well-informed is almost always going to help you.
Making sure some time is spent researching a prospect is crucial by Googling your prospects name, doing a Linked In search, and obviously a website search of what the company does to understand their history, products, key people, locations and market segments
In addition, checking your internal system or CRM to know the last contact your company had with the target prospect, the products he/she purchased, and what issues (if any) were raised.
This research will help their sales approach and prepare their questions.
However don’t let your sales people replace face to face meetings with hours of detailed research .
The best research you can do is by actually sitting in front of a customer and asking them questions rather gathering reams of information off a website that is quite possibly out of date or not 100% accurate in relation to the person you are meeting
2. Make Sure Your Reps Have a Follow-Up Plan.
The stats say it all. 80% of all sales are closed after an average of 5 meetings with customers.
And yet the same stats show that on average a sales person stops chasing a customer after an average of 3 meetings (and then many even start to blame the customer for not making a commitment)
Sure if we are buying a bottle of coke we purchase in one meeting. However the more expensive or higher the value of your products/services, the longer it takes, and the more people involved in making the purchase
It is easy to fall into the “rush-rush trap”.
If you want your team to rush through and cover as many calls as possible sales people will typically tend to not waste any more time on people who have turned them down already.
The thing is, with just a few extra quality conversations these rejections could be turned into concrete sales.
In any Sales Training or Australian Sales Management Training and Coaching we strongly recommend you coach your sales people to be resilient and practice persistence. as it works!
3. Don’t Let Technology Be an Excuse for None Performance
We recently spoke with a sales person who when asked why “haven’t you hit your sales target for the last 3 months ” he replied “because on my territory I have had problems entering
information into the CRM”!!!
The latest technology is not going to make or break your sales, however the QDQ of your Sales People’s Activity will
So don’t listen to, or make ‘technology excuses’ and focus on the Quantity of Customer Conversations/Meetings you have; in the right Direction (segment, level, product); and with the right Quality of Conversation
4. Train Your New People Early How to Speak to Customers
Training a sales person the right way before they hit the ground will go a long way towards increased productivity.
We have a client whose new sales people didn’t used to make a sale for at least the first 3 months, and they acceopted that as the norm
So as part of their induction sales training courses Sydney and Melbourne, on their 3rd day with the company we teach new people how to make cold call telephone appointments and how to speak to customer,s not just bombard them with product knowledge
Through these sales training sessions and call centre training sessions they came away stronger and more confident and are now making sales in their 1st month
Putting in the customer engagement training time early will help your people to work more efficiently sooner rather than later
These 4 tips have one common denominator – dedicating extra time to invest in training how to be more productive, rather than just more knowledgeable about your product is crucial and needs to be part of your Sales Management Training and Coaching in Australia if you want to manage a more productive process. and improve results.
Through these sales training sessions and call centre training sessions they came away stronger and more confident and are now making sales in their 1st month
Putting in the customer engagement training time early will help your people to work more efficiently sooner rather than later
These 4 tips have one common denominator – dedicating extra time to invest in training how to be more productive, rather than just more knowledgeable about your product is crucial and needs to be part of your Sales Management Training and Coaching in Australia if you want to manage a more productive process. and improve results.
