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Shorten the Sales Cycle and Improve Sales Productivity

Apr 2014/in /by

Shortening the sales cycle can lead to an improvement in sales productivity. The shorter your sales cycle is, the more prospects you will be able to reach. On the other hand, shortening the sales cycle can be a monumental task, which may have to begin with reassessing your entire sales strategy.

1. Define Your Sales Strategies

In an article for Salesforce blog, Jason Jordan describes the importance of creating common definitions for sales terms. Until your team members are all operating under the same expectations, it will be difficult to make these procedures more efficient. Do all your people have the same definitions for company-wide sales processes? You may be surprised. Jordan describes an experience at one firm where two sales managers had vastly different pipelines because they had different opinions of what types of leads should be entered into them. These kinds of discrepancies can lead to confusion among sales teams. Neither method was wrong, but the inconsistency was causing problems. Make sure all your sales reps define and qualify leads the same way.

 

2. Eliminate the Junk

Most sales reps talk about qualifying leads, according to Tibor Shanto in a Salesforce blog. However, when you’re trying to whittle down your sales cycle, what you really need to work on is disqualifying leads. It’s often more efficient to focus on eliminating the prospects that aren’t going to convert so you can focus on the ones that will. This may require more work as well. While you’re defining a consistent sales strategy, also think about a procedure for getting rid of weak leads. As Shanto puts it, if you mistakenly eliminate a good lead, you will always be able to give them a second try. Your time, however, is a precious resource that you can’t get back.

3. Define Objectives

Shanto also notes that businesses are quick to pounce on solutions that help them avoid negative consequences or situations. While many sales reps pitch “solutions” this very term implies a problem that buyers probably don’t want to think about. The best way to demonstrate your product or service’s ability to solve this problem is to provide a measurable objective that you can help them meet. Rather than telling your prospect you can solve X issue for them, avoid mentioning the problem entirely. Instead, tell them you will deliver X objective. Put it in positive terms. In order to do so, however, you’ll have to do a fair amount of customer research. Determine the prospect’s needs and what their market looks like. Making it easy for prospects to say “yes” shortens the sales cycle.

4. Aim High

Aiming your pitch at decision-makers can cut some time off of the sales cycle if done correctly. Most sales reps tend to play it safe by calling someone at a lower level and getting the message passed up to higher management slowly. However, since these individuals don’t actually have the buying power, negotiating with them is often a waste of time. In Inc., Mark Suster suggests that reps aim even higher than the decision-maker. Instead of reaching a project manager, aim for the CEO or CTO. They will likely inform you that they aren’t involved in the decision, and will pass the query down to the person who is. However, the high level executive will probably have the power to prioritize the project. On the other hand, these individuals will also be able to shoot down the project immediately, allowing you to disqualify them as a lead. On top of these benefits, starting high can help you start to develop a relationship with the company. Before making the call, learn as much as you can using customer intelligence so you know how to make your pitch in a way that will make them respond.

Impression

Make a Good Second Impression with Customer Research

Apr 2014/in /by

Many people about how to make a good first impression, but not as much about a second impression. Why even worry about a second impression, though? No matter what situation you happen to be in, forging a professional relationship is often a multi-step process. Whether you’re coming in for a second job interview, or making a second contact with a prospect, the second impression is just as important as the first. While you may have been lucky enough to impress them the first time, you need to follow through once more (or multiple times) before totally winning them over.

As Tim Sanders puts it in an article for Oprah, the first meeting is often about gauging surface details like likability and basic skillsets. The next meeting will hone in on your competency. When gaining the trust of a potential client, you’re going to have to meet them multiple times. Learning to make a lasting second impression could be the key to improving sales productivity. Here are some tips for meeting with a business colleague or prospect for the second time:

Keep Discussion Centered on Them

Thinking about this in terms of a social call may relieve some of the pressure. When you’re going over to the neighbors’ house for dinner, you should ask them about themselves. A business situation is similar: you want them to know their industry is important to you, so you have to ask a question that demonstrates you’ve been keeping up with their progress online or in the media. Make sure you’re doing customer research between meetings so that you know of anything relevant you can bring up. While it’s tempting to fill any lull in the conversation with small talk, this is the ideal time to guide the direction in a more constructive way. According to Geoffrey James for Inc., a good question would be something along the lines of, “I saw on your blog that you were at the Worldcomp conference in Vegas this year. Did you see any innovative products that caught your eye?”

Another way to start off the conversation on the right foot is to reference your last meeting, according to Sanders. If you learned something poignant or important from your last meeting with the prospect, bring it up again. Ideally, you will have taken down notes during or after your first meeting so that you can retain this information.

Talk About Why You’re Meeting For a Second Time

Not too long into this conversation, you’re going to have to drive toward the heart of the matter. If you scheduled this meeting, it’s time to explain why. Don’t be too blunt, but don’t wait too long either. If you’ve brushed up on your customer research, it should be fairly straightforward to explain what you’d like to tackle.

Listen hard while they are talking, see if they give you something you can use to relate to the customer research you did and guide the conversation organically towards your product or their problem point. Odds are, they’ll give you an in. If not, make sure you’ve responded to their story about Worldcomp conference before diving into your pitch. Make your point quickly, and give them a chance to respond.

Be Respectful

When you contact this person for a second meeting, try to let them know exactly how much time you expect it to take. This shows you’re respectful of their time. Once you’re on the way out the door, thank them again for taking the time to talk to you.

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Build Rapport with Potential Buyers

Feb 2014/in /by

What’s one sure-fire way to improve sales productivity? Work on developing a rapport with your prospective buyers. Yes, you want your clients to like you, but that’s not necessarily what rapport means. As Anthony Iannarino explains it on The Sales Blog:

“Rapport isn’t ‘I like you.’ Rapport is ‘I am like you.’”

This word implies a mutual understanding and an ease of communication. If that doesn’t sound like the typical relationship your salespeople have with potential clients, they may need to work on developing empathy. There are several steps that go into developing this kind of trusting relationship.

What Does Your Customer Want?

With the customer research tools available today, it’s easy to discover what your customer needs. Take a look at some big data analytics and determine what’s happening out there in the potential client’s market. What are the big events and potential problems? Part of being a good resource for clients is having an in-depth understanding of what they do.

Trust Your Customer

It’s important to have some faith in your potential client. Salespeople can be often be condescending when discussing customers, but this is exactly the wrong kind of attitude to have. Often, sales reps have a low opinion of clients, believing that they lie or they’re uninformed. These preconceptions have a major impact on how salespeople interact with potential clients one on one, according to Dave Brock for his Partners in Excellence blog. In order to be a great salesperson, you have to understand that client buyers are people who make mistakes. They may not tell you the truth every time, however, this is likely because they’re misinformed, not because they’re trying to mislead you. To be a trusted resource, you have to be able to connect with these individuals as people, not just buyers.

Be a Good Listener

So, you have the background details that you got from your customer intelligence research. That’s great, but these numbers don’t always tell the whole story. You need a real person to fill in the blanks. Don’t assume you know everything about your customer’s market. Use the data you do know to ask pointed questions. Listening to the answers is what will earn you trust, not telling your potential client something they already know. Use their answers to guide the conversation.

Meet Them on Their Turf

Let your potential client determine how you will communicate. This doesn’t just mean the channel, which you should also take into consideration. It means their conversational style, says Selling Power. Do they like to start out a conversation with small talk, or get right into the meat of things? Are they laid back or chatty? Matching their energy is another good way to build rapport.

Smile and Be Funny

When it comes to customer service, smiling is one of the oldest rules in the book. While business-to-business often seems radically different from say, a restaurant, some parts are still the same. To a certain extent, people are programmed to mirror the emotions we see in others. Your smiling face should be the first thing the prospect sees. You don’t have to grin like an idiot the entire time, just be happy to see them. Humor is also a good icebreaker. Don’t go overboard with the knock-knock jokes, but be affable. Being self-effacing also portrays some vulnerability, which goes a long way in establishing rapport, according to Iannarino.

With a little empathy, you can gain the trust of your prospects, paving the way towards a mutually beneficial relationship. It all starts with building rapport.

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The 5 Most Important Sales Commandments

Jul 2013/in /by

By Ryan Warren, Vice President of Marketing

There’s so much to remember when you’re trying to close a sale—conduct customer research beforehand, make eye contact, have a firm handshake—that it can get overwhelming for new and experienced reps alike. Sometimes, the stress of keeping everything in mind can even cause even a skilled sales professional to stumble. Yet, you have options. Dan Cole, vice president for the International CES, recently gave sales reps 10 sales commandments. While 10 is an even, nice number, sometimes that many guidelines can be too much. So here’s just few commandments—five, not 10, because, let’s face it, sometimes less is more—to use to improve your sales productivity and make your life just a little bit easier.

1. Thou Shalt Conduct Research 
You can’t really sell a product successfully if you haven’t prepared. Reviewing what’s going on in the industry is essential to interacting with the customer. Not being able to speak to what they currently need—or will need in the future—can result in a difficult relationship. But collecting market insights is more than just a preparation technique to build a rapport—it shows the client that you respect their needs and are willing to go the extra mile to deliver results, and they’ll trust you for it.

2. Thou Shalt Stay Confident 
This is on Cole’s list—and many others’, for that matter—for a reason. Being confident in your own abilities and the value you are providing can make all the difference. Positivity radiates from you, your body language is more open and you’re able to make the client laugh when you are confident. Making eye contact and having a firm handshake just happens naturally.

3. Thou Shalt Communicate 
Grant Cardone, sales expert, advised professionals in an Entrepreneur article to focus on speaking and writing clearly. Effective communication is often overlooked by reps when there’s a sale on the line, but don’t forget your relationship with the client suffers when there’s confusion. Cardone suggested sales professionals tape themselves on a recorder to hear themselves. Sometimes we don’t know we’re not being clear. So pick up a video camera and speak with other members of your sales team.

But communication is more than just talking with another person—it’s also important to express yourself clearly in writing. Cardone recommended reps present a proposal in writing that is extensive but to the point to prevent any future confusion or unmet client expectations.

4. Thou Shalt Serve the Customer 
Perhaps the golden rule of sales—focusing on the customer—yet it can take a backseat to other issues. But think about it—you’re providing a service that another person is paying for, so give them a reason to do business with you. This can take the form of listening to concerns with empathy and patience to showcasing a product’s results over its features. While Cole separated this golden rule into many smaller commandments, if you are constantly striving to serve the customer, other things, such as working hard and seeking understanding, come more easily.

5. Thou Shalt Never Quit 
Last but not least, do not give up. You know when a sale is 100% not going to happen, and you know when to have hope. Don’t get pushy, but don’t get pushed to the side either. Cole recommended you not be satisfied and Cardone advised you to stay with the buyer. Yet you can take this one piece of wisdom from Tom Hopkins, a sales expert, that I got from Inc. magazine:

“The number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying.”

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