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By Ryan Warren, Vice President of Marketing

As sales reps, we always look for new ways to close the sale because, let's face it, we've all been there – we did some research, maximized our pitch strategy, understood the ins and outs of why our product is the best out there, but we didn't get the sale. Why? Because many of us forget, perhaps, the one key thing – to get to know our customer. Whoops! And it's just not gleaning some information from the web before heading out on a sales call, it's diving 100 percent into market intelligence. And getting to know your customer relies on having the right tools – like that CRM investment you also keep forgetting to do – so you can be completely prepared to make the perfect pitch for that client before you even shake hands.

Get a Little Dirty
Your customer relationship management (CRM) relies on one thing – understanding what makes your customer's mind tick and what they really want out of the product you're selling. Don't believe it? Take a recent article by Inc magazine writer Jeff Haden where he talked about the time his wife wanted a new car.

A young salesman came up, gave them his rehearsed pitch, but Haden's wife wasn't buying it. Haden said the salesman started going through the whole sales-process checklist, but Haden's wife cut him off and started asking questions. Eventually the salesman figured out what Haden's wife needed in a vehicle and closed the sale.

Understanding your client can make you more confident in your own abilities. According to Entrepreneur, investing in customer insights can empower salespeople to play up their strengths.

But if you're like most sales professionals, you don't have all the time in the world. You're constantly running out on sales calls and talking with customers about the product. Because of the perpetual time constraints, researching what's going on in your customers' fields tends to get pushed to the back of the to-do pile. But what makes the top sales performers surge ahead of the pack every month is because they invest in customer insights. Yet cutting some time out to delve into client research is hard to come by.

You can cheat a little – you can boost your CRM strategies by investing in market intelligence software. When you have all the latest information at your fingertips – and you don't have to scour the Internet to find it – you have the tools you need to ensure your continued business with the client and close the sale.

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