The Right Sales Practices Makes Marketing Team Stronger, More Prolific
Staying competitive in today’s market is tasking for the most established of companies. Without the luxury of a massive sales team or extravagant resources to throw into the sales pipeline, a small business’s sales challenges are magnified.
JP Werlin, CEO and co-founder of PipelineDeals, knows that the secret to sales success, no matter what the size of the company, comes from a focused team, resources, intelligence and planning. With the right practices in place, an SMB’s sales team can perform beyond their size, exceedingtheir enterprise counterparts. Werlin’s seven key practices to maximize sales success are:
Help… don’t sell: Be on the customer’s side. Focus conversations on customers’ needs and goals by listening and answering questions to improve your chances of shaking the “salesman” label, and becoming a trusted advisor.
Collect the right intelligence to strengthen the pipeline: Work smarter, not harder. Understand people change roles and jobs. Keep an eye on these changes to find new leads and maintain existing customer relationships. When one of your leads changes jobs, it creates four new lead opportunities. 1) Who did they replace? 2) Where did that person go? 3) Who replaced them? 4) Where did the replacement come from?
1. Focus on what’s in it for them: Stop selling products and start selling outcomes. Focus on what can be accomplished with the product to meet their bottom line. It’s about their needs, not sales compensation plans.
2. Show up earl: No, not getting up at the crack of dawn, but arriving at the beginning of the decision-making process. Focusing on prospects that are ready to buy now is starting too late. Engage in conversations earlier to learn about their needs for the best pitch possible.
3. Live by the 3 P’s: Preparation, practice and planning: Get a system in place. Prepare by spending a bit of time researching a company or person before making contact. Constantly practice pitches and anticipate questions to improve over time. Plan with measureable goals and create a system of accountability to stay on track. Each meeting should have a desired end state to measure success rates.
4. Prioritize by understanding the quality of a lead: It is the ultimate cliché, but the old adage “time is money” is more relevant than ever before. Invest your precious time on the sales leads with the most potential first. Referrals and word of mouth are best, followed by those generated by direct outreach programs, with website and marketing programs next.
5. Establish fans for lif: Sales is like a relay race. Getting a meeting or closing a new deal is only the first leg. Strong customer relationships have long-term benefits, including repeat business, referrals and positive market perception.
