For those who work in sales, you know that innovation of business models is essential. Moreover, if there is anything indisputable about sales techniques, it’s that everything changes, all the time. Eventually, the changes become part of the routine.
That is, sales strategies are directly connected to changes in the sales pipeline and this is reflected in chain.
A successful sales team is accustomed to changes in the processes of your company! it’s through the continuous updating of sales techniques that strategy is adapted and continues to lead the conversion results.
But we all know that change is not always easy. There are people who don’t even want to think about change. Even so, we have to think about this the right way: the habits of society are always changing and individuals do not act the same way forever and ever, therefore: Your sales team must also adapt.
And since we are talking about changes, I must say that recent times have demanded significant changes. The rules have been changed, as well as the macroeconomic picture, administrative workflow, and how we advertise a product or service.
So here at Postcron, we thought it might be a good idea to talk a little about some challenges that sales teams might face while they are adapting, in order to reach new objectives and obtain better results.
1. Identify the bad habits in your Sales Techniques
Who doesn’t develop their own formula to execute routines more efficiently ? This comes from natural repetition, and obviously the quest to make things easier. Well, in sales, the same thing happens. Up to this point, there is nothing new.
The problem arises when that magic formula fails to accept variations and optimizations. So, if it’s working perfectly, excellent. But if the company perceives that there are problems, it may mean it’s time to review your sales strategy and identify potential flaws.
A fact: all markets experiences turnovers. If we assume that this happens, it means that what was a success, may stop working.
We need to recognize crises as opportunities! A problem can be difficult, but it can be an excellent chance to discover new tools and possibilities. Perhaps it’s time to revise your methods, re-evaluate leads, invest in online presence, and implement the necessary actions to stay alive the market.
Evaluating performance indicators is an action that allows you to analyze the phases of your sales funnel and identify trouble spots.
2. Exercise your Patience
Somewhere or another, I’m sure that you’ve all heard the phrase “calm down, bro” Well, sales teams work in an extremely dynamic and unstable industry, so it’s vital to trust in your planning and your progress indicators, in order to keep progressing.
Conversion rates are an excellent way to accompany the execution of your sales team’s new strategies. It’s a little time consuming, but numbers don’t lie. If you are doing a good – or bad – job, the metrics will show you everything that’s going on in a much clearer and more tangible way.
I suggest studying the flow of activity. For example, a prospect that is still analyzing can not be treated as a sale, the final connection between him and your brand is still missing.
Make a comparison between the number of contacts made and the amount of actual sales, identify the differences between these values, and see how they behave over time. This will help you see if you’re contacting the right customers, satisfying their needs or not, etc. .
Everyone wants quick results, the team members want to act, but sometimes it’s time to sit down to analyze, identify the stages of the sales funnel, and strategically optimize them before putting them into practice.
That’s exactly why it’s important to study the flow of activity. Comparatively, it becomes easier to see in which stages there is a sharper contrast. Once they are identified, you can attack the deficient rates, and find a solution.
3. Cobit Yourself! (What?)
This step is very important to complement the first two topics of the article. If you want to identify the bad habits of your sales techniques or weak points in the chain, it’s important to defragment the stages of your business model and assess problems in isolation, and therefore have a better overview.
Cobit (Control Objectives for Information and related Technology) is a guide of good practices for process chains. It’s not specifically designed for commercial areas, but it’s very useful and easy to apply when analyzing operational stages.
Divide up the individual process stages and set objectives for each of them, it’s essential to keep constant control of it.
That way, everyone knows which metrics and key objectives are relevant to their job, and surely they’ll know very well what is essential for the industry you work in. Some metrics that all sales teams should have in mind are:
- TA: Ticket Average
- LTV: Life Time Value
- RCI: Repeat Purchase Index
- NC: Number of Complaints
- DBL: Degree of Brand Loyalty
- CTC: Cost per Type of Customer
- PCC: Percentage Change in Costs
- CPS: Cost Per Seller
- BI: Brand Image
4. Improve your presence on Social Networks
It’s something we always say but worth repeating: your competitors are already on the web. It’s time to learn how to sell online. Being present on the Internet means having access to a host of tools that contribute to both the management of your content and the promotion of your products or services: website, Facebook page, Twitter account Google+ page, Pinterest account, LinkedIn company profile, are some of the tools you should be using.
And within each of these tools, there are many resources you can use to optimize your presence.
For example, on Facebook:
- an excellent resource to expand your contacts is to schedule events and invite potential leads to participate.
- Or, as you might already know, you’re allowed to sell on Facebook. There are Apps that can offer products and services directly on your Fan Page. This method is known as social ecommerce and it’s worth adding this resource and testing its results:
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- LikeStore – Easy to install and manage, it has no activation fee.
- – Beetailer – Allows you to import existing online stores to Facebook.
- – SocialTools – You can quickly and easily create your product gallery. The price varies according to the number of followers on your page and provides complementary applications to improve your sales.
- Promoting publications through small payments to Facebook is also a great way to get seen by more people and expand your fan base and improve conversions.
At this point, the interaction between the sales team and the marketing team is crucial because those who understand sales can help a lot with the marketing strategy, particularly with respect to the tone and type of messages transmitted on the company site and the Social Networks in which you participate.
Vendors are excellent professionals to ask for suggestions on how, when, and what to say to help promote a product or service.
5. Focus on Generating Added Value
In any production chain, each link should provide value, so that the final result is anticipated. When we think about the sales pipeline as a process, we should think the same.
A sales process is a production chain. That is, a set of links where we can invest in added value and not think only of the sale.
You, the sales agent must be a true consultant, a specialist of the product and show how it improves the customer’s life, and whether it is aesthetic, functional, or economic.
A negotiation must add value, provide something useful and relevant. When a lead understands what the value of the product/service brings to their life, they will feel more comfortable and open to the proposal. And everyone wins.
6. Sharpen Perception and Increase Flexibility
The challenge is to abandon the old practices and always be open to new sales techniques. When speech is not accessible, the sales flow suffers. Repeated speeches, arguments and conversations without being flexible according to the specifications of the customer leads to failure.
Each client is different, and even though they share common features, it’s very important that the members of your sales team develop the maximum perception of the needs and desires of customers, are empathic, that is, know not only how to understand the customer, but also put themselves in their shoes, be flexible in order to adapt to the business proposal to the particular characteristics of each person.
Knock these bad habits! It’s essential to devote lots of time to the customer and bring them personalized attention. There’s a reason why Premium customers have a much closer contact with the services they pay for and are therefore treated uniquely, don’t you think?
7. Diversify discount strategies
What clients don’t negotiate? How many times have you heard a potential client ask for a lower price?
The sales agent wants to sell more and sell more faster. There’s no problem with that. Everyone benefits from commissions and new leads. But the seller should also know that giving in quickly to requests for discounts can even hurt the final sale.
Well, let’s think about something: when I ask for a discount and the salesperson agrees without thinking twice, I could possibly think that “that was a little too easy”. Then, it’s probable that I start to question whether it was easy because there is some problem with the product or it’s not 100% reliable.
Obviously you have to take into account the type of product in question and the price of it, but in most cases, asking for time to submit the request to the company and saying that you’ll respond promptly (and it has to be really short) denotes seriousness and maintains an open link.
The check, please
In relation to the challenges that a sales team can face, it’s essential to be open to new ideas and avoid old solutions. Sales techniques are dynamic and require constant updating.
Sales teams, online marketing, administrative … teams can all work together on solutions that increase global rates of the company.
Did you like the article? Did you find any useful information for your company’s routine? Here at Postcron we learn a lot from you, the readers, and we love when you share our articles ? and leave us your opinions in the comment section! We’ll be there, valuing for your opinion!