Mastering the Art of Asking For The Order

asking for the order

asking for the order - Top Question from Google

How do you ask customers for the sale? (The short answer)

You should always remember, people do not like being sold to, but they love buying.  With this in mind the best way to ask for the order, is not to ask for the order.  If you use a consultative sales approach the customer will realise for themselves that there is a good fit between what you are selling and their needs.  The best sales professionals never have to ask for the order.  They simply create the right conditions for the buyer to buy.  

If you are using a traditional sales approach in B2B sales, there are several ways to ask customers for sales, depending on the context and the relationship you have with them. Here are some examples:

  • If you are in a business setting and have already established a relationship with the customer, you can ask for a sale by stating the benefits of your product or service and explaining why it would be a good fit for their needs. For example, you could say, “Our product has been proven to improve efficiency and save time, which I think would be valuable for your business. Would you like to discuss a purchase?”
  • If you are cold-calling or contacting potential customers for the first time, it’s important to be polite and respectful. Start by introducing yourself and your company, and then explain how your product or service can help them. For example, you could say, “Hi, my name is [Name] and I’m with [Company]. We offer a [Product/Service] that can help [Benefit]. Can I schedule a call to discuss how it could benefit your business?”

Overall, the key to asking for the sale or indeed anything, is to be polite, respectful, and informative. Show the value of your product or service, and be prepared to answer any questions they may have.

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1. Why it's important for salespeople to ask for the sale?

Not everyone is familiar with, or uses a consultative sales approach.  Therefore, it’s very important for those using traditional sales methodologies to ask for the sale. Asking for the sale is the final step in the sales process, and it’s what ultimately determines whether the salesperson is successful in making a sale. 

By asking for the sale, the salesperson is taking the initiative and putting the decision in the hands of the customer. This can be a powerful way to persuade the customer to make a purchase, and it can also help the sales person to close the deal more efficiently.

In addition to winning more sales, asking for the sale is also a crucial part of building a successful sales career. Sales is a profession that requires persistence, confidence, and the ability to handle rejection. 

Asking for the sale helps sales professionals to develop these skills, and it can also help them to build a track record of success. The ability to ask for the sale has a direct impact on the sales performance of your sales team.

2. Why asking for the sale can lose sales professionals the deal

Asking for the sale is an important step in the sales process, and it’s essential for making a successful sale. However, if it’s not done in the right way, it’s possible that asking for the sale could lose the deal. Here are a few reasons why this might happen:

  1. The customer isn’t ready: If the customer isn’t ready to make a decision, asking for the sale can be premature and can push them away. It’s important to carefully gauge the customer’s level of interest and readiness before asking for the sale.

  2. The customer has objections: If the customer has objections or concerns, asking for the sale without addressing those issues can be counterproductive. It’s important to listen to the customer’s objections and to address them before asking for the sale.

  3. The sales person is pushy or aggressive: Asking for the sale in a pushy or aggressive manner can be off-putting to the customer. Salespeople should be direct and clear in their request, but they should also be respectful and professional.

  4. The customer is dissatisfied: If the customer is unhappy with the product or service, or with the salesperson’s performance, asking for the sale can be futile. In these cases, it may be better to address the customer’s dissatisfaction and try to resolve the issues before asking for the sale.

Overall, asking for the sale is a crucial part of the sales process, but it’s important to do it in a way that is appropriate for the specific situation and customer.

asking for the sale

3. How fear of rejection stops sales professionals asking for the sale

Fear of rejection can definitely stop salespeople from asking for the sale. Asking for the sale is an inherently vulnerable position, and it requires the salesperson to put themselves out there and potentially face rejection. This can be intimidating, and it’s natural for salespeople to be afraid of being rejected.

However, it’s important for salespeople to overcome this fear and to ask for the sale anyway. Rejection is a natural part of the sales process, and it’s something that every salesperson will experience at some point in their career. By accepting that rejection is a possibility and by developing the skills and strategies to handle it effectively, sales people can overcome their fear of rejection and become more successful in their careers.

Sales people can overcome their fear of rejection in a number of ways, including the following:

  1. Develop a positive attitude: A positive attitude can help salespeople to stay motivated and focused, even in the face of rejection. By believing in themselves and their abilities, salespeople can maintain a sense of confidence and resilience, which can help them to overcome their fear of rejection.

  2. Practice effective rejection management: Sales people can learn how to manage rejection effectively by using techniques such as reframing, refocusing, and redirecting. These techniques can help sales people to view rejection in a more positive light, and to move on from rejection quickly and confidently.

  3. Seek support: Sales people don’t have to face their fear of rejection alone. Seeking support from colleagues, mentors, and peers can provide valuable encouragement and advice, and can help sales people to feel more confident and capable.

  4. Learn from rejection: Instead of viewing rejection as a failure, sales  people can learn from it and use it as an opportunity to improve. By analyzing why a particular sale didn’t go through, salespeople can identify areas for improvement and develop strategies to overcome similar objections in the future.

By adopting these strategies, sales people can overcome their fear of rejection and become more successful in their careers.

4. How to build confidence in salespeople

Here are some tips for building confidence in a sales team:

  1. Provide training and development: A sales team who are well-trained and well-equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed are more likely to be confident in their abilities. Invest in sales training and development programs that provide sales professionals with the tools and resources they need to be successful.

  2. Encourage positive thinking: Positive thinking is a powerful tool that can help sales professionals to build confidence and overcome challenges. Encourage sales professionals to focus on their strengths and to believe in their ability to succeed.

  3. Set achievable goals: Setting challenging but achievable goals can help sales professionals to feel a sense of accomplishment and to build their confidence. Create a goal-setting framework that provides clear benchmarks and rewards for success.

  4. Provide support and encouragement: Sales can be a tough and demanding profession, and sales professionals often face rejection and disappointment. Provide support and encouragement to help salespeople stay motivated and focused, and to build their confidence over time.

  5. Celebrate success: Recognizing and celebrating the successes of salespeople can help to boost their confidence and to reinforce the behaviours and strategies that lead to success. Make sure to celebrate both individual and team successes, and to provide public recognition for outstanding achievements.

By implementing these strategies, sales managers and leaders can help sales teams to build confidence, improve sales performance and to become more successful in their careers.

asking for the sale

5. Why salespeople feel uncomfortable asking for the sale

Asking for the sale can be uncomfortable for a sales person because they may fear rejection or feel like they are being pushy or aggressive. Additionally, some people may be unsure of how to ask for the sale in a way that is polite and respectful, or they may not be confident in their product or service. Here are some reasons why a sales person may feel uncomfortable asking for the sale:

  • Fear of rejection: Asking for the sale means putting yourself out there and potentially facing rejection. This can be intimidating and uncomfortable, especially for people who are sensitive to criticism or who have low self-esteem.

  • Concern about being pushy or aggressive: Some people may worry that asking for the sale will make them appear pushy or aggressive, which can be off-putting to customers. This may be especially true for people who are naturally reserved or introverted.

  • Uncertainty about how to ask for the sale: Asking for the sale is a skill that requires practice and finesse. If a sales person does not know how to do it effectively, it can make them feel unsure and uncomfortable.

  • Lack of confidence in their product or service: If you don’t believe in your product or service, it can be difficult to persuade others to buy it. This lack of confidence can make it uncomfortable to ask for the sale.

Overall, asking for the sale can be uncomfortable for many people because it involves overcoming these fears and doubts. However, with practice and the right mindset, you can learn to ask for the sale in a way that is confident and persuasive.

6. What are sales closing techniques?

Sales closing techniques are strategies that salespeople use to persuade a potential customer to make a purchase. These techniques can take many forms, but they all aim to help the salesperson overcome any objections the customer may have and to move the conversation towards a successful sale. Some common sales closing techniques include using a trial close to gauge the customer’s level of interest, asking for the sale directly, offering a discount or special deal, and using scarcity or urgency to create a sense of need. Sales closing techniques can be effective, but it’s important for salespeople to use them in an ethical and transparent manner.

Examples of sales closing techniques:

  1. The trial close: This involves asking the customer a question that helps the salesperson gauge their level of interest in the product or service. For example, the salesperson might say, “Based on what you’ve told me, it sounds like this product could be a good fit for your needs. Am I correct?”

  2. Asking for the sale directly: This is a straightforward approach where the salesperson simply asks the customer if they would like to make a purchase. For example, the salesperson might say, “Do you want to go ahead and place your order today?”

  3. Offering a discount or special deal: This involves offering the customer a financial incentive to make a purchase. For example, the salesperson might say, “If you decide to order today, I can offer you a 10% discount on your purchase.”

  4. Using scarcity or urgency: This involves creating a sense of need or urgency to persuade the customer to make a decision quickly. For example, the salesperson might say, “This offer is only available for a limited time, so if you want to take advantage of it, you’ll need to act now.”

  5. In certain circumstances such as selling home products like kitchens and windows, it can help to introduce an order pad or order form to help capture the customers order details.  The visible introduction of the order pad can prompt the buyer into moving forward.  

It’s important to note that these are just examples, and every sales person should use the closing techniques that are most appropriate for their specific situation and customers.

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7. Handling objections in sales

Objections from prospects are common as they try to reach the best buying decision for themselves.  However, in most cases they are not objections, they are simply the buyers way of saying that they require more detail. Nonetheless, the inability to handle objections will cost both the sales person and the company in lost sales. Here are some tips for handling objections in sales:

  1. Listen carefully to the objection: It’s important to understand exactly what the customer is saying and why they are objecting. Ask clarifying questions and pay attention to their body language and tone of voice to get a better sense of their concerns.

  2. Acknowledge the objection: Show the customer that you understand their concerns and that you are taking their objections seriously. This can help to build trust and rapport with the customer.

  3. Address the objection: Once you understand the customer’s objection, provide a response that addresses their concerns. This might involve providing additional information, offering a solution, or addressing any misconceptions the customer may have.

  4. Ask for the sale: After you have addressed the customer’s objections, it’s time to ask for the sale. Be direct and clear in your request, and be prepared to overcome any additional objections that the customer may have.

  5. Follow up: If the customer still isn’t ready to make a purchase, follow up with them at a later date. This can help to keep the conversation going and can increase the chances of making a sale in the future.

It’s important to remember that handling objections is an ongoing process, and every sales person should be prepared to handle objections at every stage of the sales process.

8. What are sales transition statements and how do you use them?

Sales transition statements are phrases that help you smoothly move from one part of a sales conversation to another. They can be used to introduce a new topic, ask for a sale, or overcome objections. Here are some examples of how you can use sales transition statements:

  • Introducing a new topic: “In addition to [current topic], there is another aspect of our product that I think you might find interesting. It’s [new topic].”

  • Asking for a sale: “Based on what we’ve discussed, I think our product would be a great fit for your needs. Are you ready to move forward with a purchase?”

  • Overcoming objections: “I understand your concern about [objection]. Let me assure you that [reassurance/solution to objection].”

To use sales transition statements effectively, make sure they are smooth and natural-sounding. Avoid using language that sounds too salesy or pushy, and focus on addressing the customer’s needs and concerns. By using these phrases to move smoothly from one topic to another, you can help guide the conversation and ultimately persuade the customer to make a purchase.

9. What are the most popular sales closing phrases?

Sales closing phrases or sales closing questions are used to conclude a sales conversation and persuade the customer to make a purchase. Some of the most popular sales closing phrases include:

  • “Are you ready to move forward with a purchase?”

  • “Can I count on you to buy today?”

  • “If you’re happy with everything we’ve discussed, shall we go ahead and get started?”

  • “Based on what we’ve discussed, I think our product is a great fit for your needs. What do you think?”

  • “I’m confident that our product will help you [achieve goal/solve problem]. Are you ready to make a commitment?”

It’s important to remember that these phrases are just suggestions, and the best sales closing phrase will vary depending on the situation and the customer. The key is to find the right questions or phrase that feel natural and authentic, and that helps you conclude the conversation in a way that persuades the customer to make a purchase.

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10. Why a consultative sales approach is important in modern selling

A consultative sales approach is important in modern selling for several reasons. First, it allows the salesperson to better understand the customer’s needs, goals, and challenges, and to tailor their solutions to meet those needs. This can help to create a more personalized and effective sales pitch, and it can also help to build trust and rapport with the customer.

Second, a consultative sales approach is more focused on the customer’s needs than on the salesperson’s goals. This can help to create a more mutually beneficial and long-term relationship with the customer, rather than a transactional one-time sale.

Third, a consultative sales approach is more adaptable and flexible than traditional sales approaches. In today’s fast-paced and constantly changing business environment, salespeople need to be able to adapt quickly and to provide solutions that meet the customer’s evolving needs. A consultative sales approach allows salespeople to do this more effectively.

Overall, a consultative sales approach is important in modern selling because it allows salespeople to provide more effective solutions, to build stronger relationships with customers, and to be more adaptable to changing business conditions.

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7 Gründe, warum Sie Web Based Sales Training in Betracht ziehen sollten

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Webbasiertes Verkaufstraining - Top-Frage von Google

Ist Online-Verkaufstraining effektiv?

Online-Verkaufsschulungen sind effektiv, weil sie Organisationen helfen

  • Reduzieren Sie die Reisezeit zu Live-Events
  • Sorgen Sie für eine bessere Work-Life-Balance, indem Sie die Zeit reduzieren, die Vertriebsmitarbeiter nicht zu Hause verbringen
  • Reduzierte Lieferkosten für Verkaufsschulungen
  • Schnellere Kommunikation und Zusammenarbeit
  • Stärkung neuer Verkaufsstrategien und -taktiken nach der Erstausbildung
  • Verbesserte Rechenschaftspflicht, um Verkäufern bei neuen Verhaltensweisen zu helfen
  • Laufende Betreuung bestehender und neuer Vertriebsmitarbeiter


Die Online-Verkaufsschulung hat sich dramatisch verbessert und sollte als Teil Ihrer allgemeinen Verkaufsschulung betrachtet werden.

Webbasiertes Verkaufstraining oder Online-Verkaufstraining ist seit dem Aufkommen von Lockdowns und dem darauf folgenden Trend zur Heimarbeit zu einem wesentlichen Aspekt der Verkaufsausbildung geworden.

Die Kunst der Virtualität hat sich zu einem Vorteil für jede Branche entwickelt, um von zu Hause aus zu arbeiten oder zu studieren.

Trotzdem haben viele Unternehmen Schwierigkeiten, einen umfassenden Business Case für Online-Schulungen im Vergleich zum traditionelleren Ansatz im Präsenzunterricht bereitzustellen.

Während Präsenzschulungen immer noch eine wichtige Rolle in der Verkaufsausbildung spielen, sind hier einige Bereiche, die Sie bei der Bewertung der verschiedenen verfügbaren Optionen berücksichtigen sollten.

#Webbasiertes Verkaufstraining

1. Reduzierte Reisezeit

Traditionell wurden Face-to-Face-Schulungen im Rahmen von ein- und zweitägigen Veranstaltungen durchgeführt. In den meisten Fällen fanden sie in Hotels und Konferenzzentren statt. Da immer mehr Unternehmen Vertriebsteams beschäftigen, die geografisch weit entfernt sind, könnten einige Teilnehmer einen Tag damit verbringen, an der Veranstaltung teilzunehmen, und einen Tag, um nach Hause zurückzukehren. Das sind drei Tage für einen Tag Lernen.

Mit Web Based Training müssen Sie nicht Hunderte von Kilometern fahren, nur um zur Arbeit zu kommen. Sie müssen nicht früh aufstehen, um dem Berufsverkehr zu entgehen, und Sie brauchen kein großes Budget, um loszulegen.

webbasiertes Verkaufstraining

2. Work-Life-Balance

Zeit für die Familie zu finden, ist für viele Menschen zu einem wichtigen Bestandteil ihres Berufs geworden. Hybrides Arbeiten hat es vielen Menschen ermöglicht, langwierige Pendelwege zu eliminieren, sodass sie zusätzliche wertvolle Zeit mit ihren Lieben verbringen können.

Webbasierte Verkaufsschulungen sind Teil dieser Lösung und bieten entweder Schulungen im eigenen Tempo oder strukturierte Online-Kurse, an denen Verkaufsteams von zu Hause aus teilnehmen können.

3. Versandkosten

Traditionell wurden persönliche Schulungen für Vertriebsteams in Klassenzimmern und Hotelkonferenzräumen durchgeführt. Hinzu kommen die Kosten für die Übernachtung bei persönlichen Schulungsveranstaltungen, und die Kosten können selbst für ein kleines Team schnell in die Höhe schnellen.

Viele Schulungsanbieter werden die Reduzierung der Lieferkosten an die Kunden weitergeben, da sie selbst Reise- und Übernachtungskosten für ihre Verkaufstrainer sparen.

4. Schnellere Zusammenarbeit und Kommunikation

Die meisten traditionellen Trainings würden als „Impact-Training“ bezeichnet werden. Sie sind einmalige Veranstaltungen, die das Lernen und die Entwicklung ankurbeln sollen.

Obwohl es immer noch einen Platz für diese Art von Schulung gibt, haben viele Unternehmen festgestellt, dass Verkäufer Hilfe brauchen, wenn sie Hilfe brauchen. Sie wollen ihre Frage nicht für die nächste Verkaufsschulung in drei Monaten aufsparen. Webbasiertes Verkaufstraining bietet Lernen auf Knopfdruck, wenn die Verkäufer es am meisten brauchen.

Das Online-Training von Klozers bietet unseren Kunden Echtzeit-Support per Live-Chat und E-Mail. Unser webbasiertes Team unterstützt unsere Kunden “in the moment”, damit sie während der Arbeit lernen können.

5. Verstärkung der Ausbildung

Viele Studien haben gezeigt, dass die Teilnehmer bis zu 95 % der Inhalte von ein- und zweitägigen Schulungen ohne jegliche Form der Wiederholung vergessen können.

Unabhängig von der Qualität des Verkaufstrainers oder der Schulungsinhalte können Verkäufer einfach nicht alle Informationen aufnehmen, die sie in ein- und zweitägigen Verkaufsschulungen erhalten. Verkaufstraining korreliert direkt mit Wachstum in der persönlichen Entwicklung und dies geschieht nicht über Nacht.

Änderungen an Verkaufsstrategie, Verkaufstechniken, Verkaufsprozess und Verkaufsfähigkeiten tragen alle zum Verkaufserfolg bei, müssen aber mit einer langfristigen Perspektive angegangen werden. Es gibt keinen Zauberstab im Verkauf, und der Verkaufserfolg entsteht durch harte Arbeit und die Entwicklung Ihrer Vertriebsmitarbeiter im Hinblick auf die Gesamtverkaufsleistung.

Webbasierte Verkaufsschulungen werden in der Regel über längere Zeiträume verteilt und funktionieren durch einen Drip-Effekt, bei dem Inhalte in einem „wenig und oft“-Format geliefert werden, das leichter zu verarbeiten ist.

6. Vertriebsverantwortung

Einer der wichtigsten Bestandteile der besten Verkaufsschulungen ist die Durchführung und Betreuung nach der Schulung. Nicht nur Ihre Vertriebsmitarbeiter benötigen Unterstützung, sondern auch Ihr Vertriebsmanagement benötigt Hilfe bei der Umsetzung von Änderungen im Verkaufsprozess, in den Verkaufsfähigkeiten und im Verhalten des Vertriebsteams.

Leider nehmen viele Vertriebsprofis an Schulungen teil und kehren dann zu ihrem Job zurück und machen weiter, was sie immer getan haben. Das ist kein Erfolgsrezept.

Veränderung ist für jeden Menschen schwierig und die meisten von uns brauchen Unterstützung, um dies zu tun. Mit webbasiertem Training bietet Klozers kontinuierliche Coaching-Unterstützung sowohl für die Kursteilnehmer als auch für ihre Vertriebsleiter, um sicherzustellen, dass alle Änderungen im Verkaufsprozess, neue Verkaufsfähigkeiten und Verhaltensweisen vollständig übernommen werden.

7. Laufender Support

Viele Unternehmen stellen nach jeder Schulungsveranstaltung weiterhin neue Mitarbeiter ein. Dies kann einfach der Ersatz von Vertriebsmitarbeitern sein, die das Unternehmen verlassen haben, oder im Rahmen ihrer Expansionspläne.

Es ist oft finanziell nicht tragbar, jedes Mal einen Verkaufstrainer hinzuzuziehen, wenn sich Ihr Verkaufsteam ändert, und die Möglichkeit, neue Mitarbeiter online zu schulen, ist daher enorm wichtig.

Die meisten webbasierten Schulungen erfolgen im eigenen Tempo und können aufgezeichnet werden. Dies kann dann verwendet werden, um eine Bibliothek aufzubauen, auf die sowohl bestehende als auch neue Vertriebsprofis kontinuierlich zugreifen können.

Traditionelle persönliche Schulungen werden immer einen Platz in der modernen Vertriebsausbildung haben, aber es ist wichtig, die Alternativen zu berücksichtigen. Während Budgets und individuelle Umstände immer berücksichtigt werden müssen, ist webbasiertes Training hier, um zu bleiben und ein wichtiger Bestandteil jedes laufenden Vertriebsschulungsprogramms zu sein.

Klozers bietet ein umfassendes Angebot an Präsenz- und webbasierten Verkaufsschulungen. Jede dieser Veranstaltungen bietet Live-Schulungen an, bei denen die Teilnehmer interagieren können.

Ergänzend zu unseren Schulungen unterstützen wir Sie laufend durch Verkaufscoachings. Wenn Ihre Vertriebsmitarbeiter Hilfe bei der Entwicklung Ihres Wertversprechens, der Verkaufsakquise, der Verkürzung Ihres Verkaufszyklus, der Verkaufskompetenz, der Gewinnung von Folgegeschäften oder Verkaufspräsentationen benötigen, würden wir uns freuen, mit Ihnen zu sprechen.

Unser Ziel ist es, Ihnen dabei zu helfen, Ihre Geschäftsziele zu erreichen, Ihre Verkaufsziele zu senken und den angestrebten Verkaufserfolg zu erzielen.

Vorlage zur Überprüfung der Verkaufsleistung

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Vorlage für die Überprüfung der Verkaufsleistung - Top-Frage von Google

Wie schreibt man eine Verkaufsleistungsbeurteilung?

Um eine faire und ausgewogene Beurteilung der Verkaufsleistung zu verfassen, sollten Sie:

  • Führen Sie monatlich Leistungsbeurteilungen durch
  • Verwenden Sie eine Vorlage zur Überprüfung der Vertriebsleistung, um Konsistenz sicherzustellen, Aktionen aufzuzeichnen und Verantwortlichkeit sicherzustellen
  • Basieren Sie die Bewertung nach Möglichkeit auf Daten und nicht auf Meinungen
  • Verknüpfung von Verkaufsleistung mit Coaching, Gehalt und Karriereentwicklung
  • Verknüpfen Sie die Verkaufsleistung, um die Entwicklung neuer Verkaufsfertigkeiten zu fördern

Füllen Sie das Formular auf der rechten Seite aus und laden Sie unsere Vorlage für die Bewertung der Vertriebsleistung herunter.

Sie können dies an Ihre individuelle Situation anpassen und innerhalb einer Stunde damit beginnen, die Verkaufsleistung zu steigern.

Warum Leistungsbeurteilungen im Vertrieb wichtig sind

Viele Unternehmen und Vertriebsleiter übersehen die Bedeutung regelmäßiger und strukturierter Leistungsbeurteilungen mit ihren Vertriebsmitarbeitern. Manchmal wissen sie, wie wichtig diese Meetings sind, aber sie rutschen aus dem Terminkalender wegen anderer Belastungen innerhalb des Unternehmens.

In den meisten Fällen werden Mitarbeiter auf eine jährliche Leistungsbeurteilung reduziert, die wenig dazu beiträgt, die Leistung zu bewerten, geschweige denn das berufliche Wachstum voranzutreiben.

Es gibt unzählige Gründe, warum Sie sich Zeit für diese Meetings nehmen sollten, wahrscheinlich keiner mehr für die Mitarbeiterbindung. Die Kosten für die Suche und Einstellung guter Vertriebsmitarbeiter steigen, daher ist es sicherlich sinnvoll, alles zu tun, um unsere Mitarbeiter nach dieser Investition zu halten.

Die Pandemie, Lockdowns und die Arbeit von zu Hause aus haben alle dazu geführt, dass Vertriebsmitarbeiter ihren Lebensstil und ihre Lebensziele überdenken. Statistiken zeigen, dass im Jahr 2021 48 Millionen Menschen ihren Job kündigen , 41 % der weltweiten Belegschaft erwägen, ihren Job zu kündigen, und 46 % erwägen, in den nächsten 12 Monaten umzuziehen.

Unternehmen und Vertriebsleiter, die ihre Management- und Arbeitsprozesse nur zögerlich neu ausrichten, werden es sicherlich schwer haben, ihre besten Verkäufer zu halten.

Verbesserung der Verkaufsleistung

Leistungsbeurteilungen und 121er sind nicht nur für das Fortkommen eines Mitarbeiters, sondern auch für sein Wohlbefinden von entscheidender Bedeutung. Berufliches Verkaufen kann stressig sein, und psychisches Wohlbefinden ist enorm wichtig.

Sie sind eine gute Möglichkeit, um sicherzustellen, dass sowohl die Ziele des Unternehmens als auch die des Einzelnen erreicht werden und dass die berufliche Laufbahn des Mitarbeiters anerkannt wird.

Wenn ein Vertriebsprofi irgendwelche Herausforderungen in seiner Arbeit oder seinem Privatleben hat, ist eine Leistungsbeurteilung seine Gelegenheit, dies mit seinem Vertriebsleiter zu besprechen.

Eine Leistungsbeurteilung sollte ein sicherer Ort für den Vertriebsmitarbeiter sein, um zu besprechen, welche Bedürfnisse er hat, worin er gut ist und an welchen Bedürfnissen gearbeitet wurde. Weit entfernt von einem ängstlichen und beängstigenden Treffen mit dem Chef, sollten sie ein Ort sein, an dem sie jemanden haben, mit dem sie vertrauensvoll sprechen können.

Als Führungskraft möchten Sie wissen, dass Ihre Mitarbeiter Menschen sind, denen Sie vertrauen können. Im Gegenzug müssen sie dasselbe von Ihnen empfinden, und 121er sind eine großartige Möglichkeit, dies zu tun.

Verkaufsziele festzulegen, zu besprechen, was sie wirklich von der Stelle erwarten und wohin sie wollen, sind ein entscheidender Teil ihrer Position. Wenn sich der Mitarbeiter anerkannt und gehört fühlt, ist er eher geneigt, in seiner Position erfolgreich zu sein und sein Bestes zu geben.

Vertriebsleiter sollten Leistungsbeurteilungen mindestens vierteljährlich durchführen, idealerweise jedoch jeden Monat, damit Sie als Vertriebsleiter die Rolle des Vertriebsmitarbeiters und seine Erwartungen verwalten und das Beste aus ihnen herausholen können.

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Was sollte ich in einem Sales Performance Review besprechen?

Modernes Verkaufen hat heute so viele verschiedene Rollen, dass es schwierig ist, eine Einheitsformel für alle im Verkauf bereitzustellen. Beispielsweise unterscheidet sich die Leistungsbeurteilung für einen SDR stark von der eines Account Managers. Wir empfehlen Ihnen dringend, spezifische Bewertungen und Schlüsselkennzahlen auf der Grundlage der verschiedenen Rollen im Vertrieb zu entwickeln.

Der Prozess der Leistungsbeurteilung sollte recht informell gehalten werden – es handelt sich nicht um ein Disziplinargespräch, sondern um einen geschützten Raum, in dem Ihr Mitarbeiter offen und ehrlich sein kann. Ihr Vertriebsmitarbeiter sollte die Möglichkeit haben, in einem privaten Rahmen Fragen zu stellen und eventuelle Probleme anzusprechen.

Bei Klozers basiert unsere Verkaufsmanagement-Philosophie auf den vier hochwertigen Verkaufsbereichen, nämlich:

Finden – was tun wir konsequent und proaktiv, um neue Verkaufschancen und -möglichkeiten zu finden?

Klozing – Wenn wir neue Geschäfte finden, folgen wir dann unserem Verkaufsprozess und maximieren die Chance?

Wachsen – gewinnen wir aktiv neue Kunden und steigern die Einnahmen aus diesen Kunden?

Entwicklung – was tun wir persönlich, um uns zu strecken, zu wachsen, zu lernen und uns weiterzuentwickeln?

Kombinieren Sie diese mit Ihrer Vision und Ihren Grundwerten, und wenn Sie sich auf diese vier Bereiche konzentrieren, ist es einfach unmöglich, nicht mehr zu verkaufen.

Ihre Vertriebsmitarbeiter sollten motiviert und energiegeladen sein. Ein 121 ist eine großartige Möglichkeit, starke Beziehungen zu Ihrem Vertriebsteam aufzubauen und aufrechtzuerhalten. Feedback sollte immer gegeben werden, insbesondere wenn der Mitarbeiter Leistungsprobleme oder Dinge äußert, mit denen er möglicherweise zu kämpfen hat.

Konstruktives Feedback ist nie etwas Schlechtes, aber die Leistung der Mitarbeiter steigt immer nur durch Lob und Anerkennung all der guten Dinge, die sie erreicht haben.

Wenn sie den ganzen Monat hart gearbeitet haben und dies das einzige Mal ist, dass Sie sie einholen müssen, dann ist dies ihre einzige Chance, Lob und Lob zu hören, wodurch sie sich gut fühlen und härter arbeiten werden.

Wenn der Vertriebsprofi nie von seinem Vorgesetzten hört und ihm nie gesagt wird, dass er gute Arbeit leistet, kann er sich manchmal paranoid und nicht geschätzt fühlen – niemand möchte, dass sich sein Vertriebsteam so fühlt.

Vorlage zur Überprüfung der Verkaufsleistung
Beispiele für die Überprüfung der Vertriebsleistung

Roadmap & Karriereweg

Ein entscheidender Teil des Leistungsbeurteilungsprozesses besteht darin, das berufliche Wachstum voranzutreiben und Karriereziele innerhalb des Unternehmens festzulegen: Wo wollen sie in diesem Job hin? Wie können sie dorthin gelangen?

Können sie Erfahrungen in verschiedenen Abteilungen sammeln? Gibt es zusätzliche Schulungen, die sie machen können, um sie schneller dorthin zu bringen?

Klar definierte Lernpfade sind viel einfacher, als die meisten Unternehmen denken, und es ist wichtig, jedem Mitarbeiter einfache Meilensteine vorzugeben, an denen er sich orientieren kann.

Ein Vertriebsprofi sollte als eine Person behandelt werden, die innerhalb des Unternehmens wächst, und nicht nur als Nummer. Die Diskussion verschiedener Karrierewege ist also eine großartige Möglichkeit, dem Vertriebsprofi zu zeigen, wie weit er potenziell gehen kann.

Fortgeschrittenes Verkaufstraining
Klozers Leistungsbewertungen

121's für Vertriebsmitarbeiter, die aus der Ferne arbeiten

Wenn Sie Vertriebsvorbereitungen haben, die remote arbeiten, ist eine 121 genauso wichtig wie Leistungsbeurteilungen. Während die Arbeit von zu Hause aus die Work-Life-Balance vieler Vertriebsprofis verbessert und ihnen geholfen hat, produktiver und kostengünstiger zu sein, kann es für viele isolierend und einsam sein.

Viele Verkäufer sind “Menschenfresser”. Sie gedeihen in der Nähe anderer Menschen, was einer der Gründe ist, warum sie es lieben, im Verkauf zu sein. Die Arbeit von zu Hause aus war für viele ein echter Kulturwandel und für die meisten Verkäufer ein Schock.

Vertriebsmitarbeiter zögern manchmal, sich zu äußern und Fragen in einer Gruppenumgebung zu stellen, oder wenn keine Beziehung zum Vertriebsleiter besteht. Jeder Vertriebsprofi muss sich am Arbeitsplatz wohlfühlen – auch wenn er zu Hause ist.

Für neue Mitarbeiter sind 121er und Teammeetings auch großartige Eisbrecher und eine Möglichkeit, Ihre Kollegen kennenzulernen. Auf diese Weise fühlen sie sich wohler, wenn sie zu Ihnen kommen, wenn sie Hilfe brauchen oder ein Problem haben. Beginnen Sie mit Kennenlerngesprächen.

Diese sind im Vergleich zu einer Leistungsbeurteilung sehr informell und eine großartige Möglichkeit für Sie beide, sich kennenzulernen. Besprechen Sie Vorlieben und Abneigungen, Hobbys und Interessen, was sie gerne in ihrer Freizeit tun. Wenn Sie dies zunächst auf einer persönlichen Ebene halten, wird sich der Mitarbeiter sehr wohl fühlen und höchstwahrscheinlich das Gefühl haben, geschätzt zu werden, dass Sie sich die Zeit genommen haben, ihn kennenzulernen.

Nachverfolgung von Verkaufsleistungsbewertungen

Viele Vertriebsleiter sind Manager und keine Führungskräfte. Die besten Vertriebsmanager arbeiten hart daran, ihre Vertriebsteams zu unterstützen, im Gegensatz zu denen, die ihre Vertriebsmitarbeiter leiten und Tabellenkalkulationen folgen.

Oft besteht der Unterschied zwischen einem Manager und einer Führungskraft einfach in den Dingen, die sie für die Verkäufer tun. Was dem Manager unbedeutend und unwichtig erscheinen mag, kann für Verkäufer das Gegenteil sein. Die besten Manager konzentrieren sich in erster Linie auf die Menschen und erst in zweiter Linie auf die Arbeit.

Angesichts des ständigen Drucks, Verkaufsziele zu erreichen oder zu übertreffen, kann dies jedoch zweifellos schwierig sein.

Als Vertriebsleiter müssen Sie sicherstellen, dass Sie alle Maßnahmen, die Sie in der Leistungsbeurteilung besprochen haben, weiterverfolgen. Eine Aufzeichnung des Treffens sollte immer dokumentiert werden, um den Vertriebsmitarbeitern eine Aufzeichnung über alles zu geben, was besprochen wurde.

Dies bietet auch einen Fahrplan dessen, worauf sie bis zur nächsten Leistungsbeurteilung hinarbeiten werden, und hilft ihnen und dem Vertriebsleiter, zur Rechenschaft gezogen zu werden.

Dies ist eine großartige Möglichkeit, den Fortschritt zu überwachen, da sowohl der Vertriebsleiter als auch der Vertriebsmitarbeiter die Möglichkeit haben, frühere Ziele zu überprüfen und zu besprechen, wo sie in Bezug auf die vereinbarten Ziele stehen und woran gearbeitet werden muss.

Vertriebsleiter sind wohl der wichtigste Teil eines jeden Vertriebsteams. Sie setzen die Messlatte in Bezug auf die Leistung der Mitarbeiter und was akzeptabel ist und was nicht. Gute Vertriebsteams brauchen gute Vertriebsmanager – investieren Sie jetzt in Ihr Vertriebsmanagement.

Vollständiger Leitfaden für das Vertriebsmanagement
Schulungen zum Vertriebsmanagement

How to Build an Outbound Sales Team

How to Build an Outbound Sales Team

How to Build an Outbound Sales Team – Top question from Google

What is outbound sales?

Outbound sales is the process of a sales team or salespeople initiating engagement with potential and existing customers. This could encapsulate trying to secure new customers, up selling to existing customers, or general account management. In contrast, inbound sales relies on a company’s marketing strategy to drive customer interest, and customers will contact the company to enquire about their services. This blog post will tell you how to build an outbound sales team.

Preparing to go Outbound

In the rush to go outbound many companies either overlook or pay little attention to the core foundation of every successful outbound sales campaign – their value proposition. Without this most campaigns will fail at best, at worst, they will fail you will lose market traction. you will lose your best sales people and you will also lose a lot of money.

A Proven Value Proposition

Many companies make the mistake of trying to scale their sales operations without a proven value proposition with disastrous effects.  Whether you chose to build your own outbound team or to subcontract to a specialist you need a proven value proposition.  The more time and money you invest on proving your value proposition will be returned ten fold in your results.  This does not just apply to Startups.  Those that believe they have already proven their value proposition can equally benefit by refining and fine tuning what they have. 

Words Sell

Whilst most of us would accept the importance of words in the world of Business to consumer few people in B2B dedicate sufficient time and energy to finding the right words to describe our products and services.  Ask and Pay per click specialist who is restricted to 30 characters for the headline and 90 for the description of the importance of word choice.  That’s characters not words.

Technology

We are blessed in the modern sales world with lots of great outbound technologies which makes the outbound process both easier and more productive. From intent data, to auto diallers, to call recording and artificial intelligence there are a plethora of great tools to choose from that will help your outbound team be successful. Be sure to invest the time and budget to arm your sales team with the technology they need.

Sales Leadership

An often overlooked area of business is sales management. Many sales managers have come from a sales background and were at some stage a top sales rep. Unfortunately the skills required for modern sales management are very different to just selling and the position of sales manager is a key hire for any business. Without a great sales manager your best sales reps will leave and the worst reps will stay which is the exact opposite of what you want to happen. Company culture is hugely important in any business and no more so than in an inbound and outbound sales team.

In short, without a proven value proposition and good sales management, you will spend more money and take much longer to get where you want to go. These three areas are an essential component for a scalable outbound process.

Consultative Sales Training
Outbound Sales Strategies

Building an Inhouse Team or Outsourcing

When developing an outbound sales team, sales managers and company owners have two choices. They can build an in-house sales team or they can outsource the process to an external agency or group of salespeople.

Each option has its own positives and negatives, and sales managers and company owners should consider these carefully before making any changes.

Through outsourcing their outbound sales operations, companies can hire people with a proven track record of success that they might not otherwise be able to afford.

Outsourcing can be more economic for some companies, as they do not have to resource staff training or office space for them. It can also provide more cost flexibility, as the salespeople will not be tied down to long-scale contracts.

In-house sales teams are much more likely to develop excellent product knowledge over time, which they can convey to prospective clients. Outsourcing can also result in a lack of control of the sales process, and the company cannot guarantee that the leads generated are of a sufficient quality until much later.

There are also concerns that an outbound sales team may not be as “bought into” your product, company or company ethos, and this could be purveyed to prospective clients.

Remember, a poor outbound experience is the fastest way to destroy your brand. Badly executed outbound calls will have a negative impact on your brand and could lose you valuable market traction.

Outbound prospecting particularly cold calling, is very different to responding to inbound sales leads. Your sales team and lead generation strategy should be built with this in mind.

web based sales training
Outbound Sales Strategies

What are outbound sales activities?

Outbound sales requires salespeople to go to the potential clients. In contrast, inbound sales where potential clients come to the company, either for more information or to buy their product/service.

Therefore, traditionally outbound sales does not include any marketing or product development tasks.

Outbound selling can be very labour intensive, and in the case of cold calling it needs a high volume of calls to have a meaningful impact on sales. This is because:

80% of cold calls go straight to voice mail – Sales Intel

It takes an average of 18 attempts to reach a technology buyer – Gartner

In addition to being labour intensive, outbound sales has a high churn rate in terms of staff. Many companies struggle to retain the people they have, let alone build a high performing team of SDR’s.

Lead generation is the starting point of an outbound sales process. Some company’s will have a dedicated in-house lead generation team, whilst others leave it for their general salespeople to handle.

In most cases when outbound sales is left to general salespeople it simply doesn’t happen. Sales people have a skill of always finding something “more important” to do than lead generation.

Outbound sales is a contact sport, pure and simple and requires salespeople to contact prospective customers. This could be by telephone, email, LinkedIn or face to face, however predominantly this is done via phone and email.

From our own experience SDR’s who use a multichannel approach are much more successful than those who are only using the telephone or email.

Often as part of the outbound sales role SDR’s will undertake what is known as sales qualification process. This involves a salesperson determining whether or not the lead is likely to become a customer or not.

Once the leads have been qualified, leads are typically then passed to a Business Development Rep whose responsible for any form of product demo and closing the deal.

In more traditional sales organisations this may include setting appointments for the companies field sales reps. The length of the sales process will depend on the target market, the industry and the customer.

As an outbound sales person you will be expected to do the following:

  • Research leads
  • Generate new sales leads
  • Qualifying inbound sales leads and build a sales pipeline
  • Setting appointments with potential or existing customers and follow the sales process
  • Follow up proposals
  • Cold and warm calling
  • Cold and warm emails
  • Social Selling
  • Customer service calls, with a view to upselling
  • Product demos
  • Account Management

Outbound prospecting is especially vital for companies with little or no marketing budget. This is this because in these circumstances, prospective customers are unlikely to come to the company in great numbers, and as such the company will have to go to the potential clients.

Outbound sales strategy

Having a great team of outbound sales reps important, but if they don’t have a good sales strategy to follow, they are unlikely to be successful. Creating a sales strategy should be one of your first tasks when establishing an outbound sales team.

A good outbound sales strategy requires the right sales playbook (script, methods etc.) and the right methods to measure success. Opinions on sales scripts vary, but if you develop a good sales script, it ensures a consistent approach and can help new sales reps get up to speed faster.

Our research here at Klozers, find that sales teams with playbooks are 33% more likely to be high performers. If a sales script is used, preparation should be used so the salesperson will appear to be talking as naturally as possible.

Different sales methods should be explored to see if they will result in more successful sales. For example, consultative selling could result in an increase in sales.

Preparation is key for a successful outbound sales strategy. Salespeople should have all of the data, scripts and tools they need before they start calling. They should also have an excellent knowledge of the products or services.

Whatever sales strategy is used, it is important that there are processes in place to monitor its success. If certain aspects of the strategy haven’t been successful, then either the sales strategy can be amended, or extra training and coaching should be organised.

Data can be used to monitor the most successful times to make outbound sales calls. For example, if the data shows that outbound calls are more successful on a Wednesday afternoon, then greater focus should be placed on this time, and team meetings should be avoided at that time.

Outbound and Inbound Sales Support

At Klozers the inbound and outbound sales process that we teach in our sales training is based on the success we have had in our own business. We will show you exactly the sales strategies and outbound methods that we use every day to target customers, qualifying leads, make a sales call, cold calling, cold emailing and drive customer engagement.

Furthermore, if you would like to optimise your inbound and outbound channels we can teach you how we use content marketing combined with search engine optimisation, to turn our website in to a lead generation machine.

We have a number of ways we support SaaS companies. From advice on recruitment and value proposition development, through to telesales, social selling training and strategy training, we can help you win more business, grow your business. and have more fun along the way.

Klozers has been selected among the Top Lead Generation Companies by Designrush

Consultative Sales Training | How Customers Want to Buy

consultative sales training course

Consultative Sales Training – Top question from Google

What is a Consultative Sales Approach?

Consultative selling is very different to more traditional forms of selling, as it doesn’t actually focus on selling. Instead, it focuses on building relationships with customers, listening to their problems and only then, offering them solutions to their problems.

Asking open-ended questions and active listening are key components of any consultative sales approach. This approach works because potential buyers are more motivated to buy products or services that meet their own needs, rather than the needs of the sales professional.

A consultative sales approach truly puts the buyer first. Instead of just selling any old product, or what happens to be on promotion that month, sales professionals using the consultative sales approach will look to sell products and services that match the exact needs of their buyers, which makes for more productive business development results and satisfied customers.

Instead of a scripted sales pitch, sales teams can use conversational skills and listen to their buyers personal and business needs. Only then do they provide advice and guidance, which includes being adaptable to the different challenges buyers may face.

The consultative sales approach is highly effective and can lead to far greater results for your business and better long term customer relations. Using other sales techniques typically results in salespeople chasing leads that are not a good match for the buyer. Whilst they may well win a first order, if the product isn’t right for the buyer and their customers, it is unlikely that they will build long term relationships.

However, using the consultative approach, the sales rep needs to listen to the customer needs and provide meaningful solutions, meaning your new customer can come back time and time again for your product or services.

It has become increasingly popular in recent years as sales reps and sales managers managers have realised that traditional sales techniques have become less effective, because buyers have become wary of sales pitches. Instead of being sold a product, people prefer their salespeople to take a genuine interest in them as a person and their business.

The key components of a consultative sales approach is as follows:

  • Direct route to market
  • Low volume of sales but high profit margins – less popular but still relevant with transactional sales
  • Requires high level of industry knowledge with experienced sales people
  • Higher cost to employers, with lots of training required
  • Medium to long length sales cycles

Consultative selling requires a change in mindset. Instead of going out to sell, salespeople will need to go and have a conversation with potential buyers, in a structured and reputable manner. Building trust first with any potential buyer is a big aspect of consultative selling.

Initially a lot of sales people struggle to adapt to the consultative sales method, as they are almost hard wired to sell products and services via the traditional features and benefits method. However, if you choose to adapt a consultative sales approach, it is important to stick with it, as modern buyers have become more resistant to being sold products.

Steps involved in Consultative Selling

1. Research potential buyers thoroughly before contacting them

Before engaging with potential buyers, it is important that the salesperson researches the potential customer, thoroughly and effectively. If the salesperson is used to a more traditional fast-paced sales environment, taking the time at the onset of the sales process to research may seem like an alien process.

However, first impressions matter, and considering the consultative selling method prides itself on expert knowledge, you need to make sure that you have done enough research. Similarly, consultative selling involves asking probing questions, and without enough research it can be difficult or almost impossible for salespeople to ask probing questions.

2. Define the Symptoms – What are the symptoms of the problem the potential customer is facing?

During this first step the salesperson will try to get an understanding of the issue at hand. Here the salesperson will play a role of expert consultant, where their expertise of the industry can be used to discuss the issues.

It is likely that the buyer may only have a surface-level knowledge of the symptoms, therefore the expertise of a consultative salesperson is vital.

At this stage, it is vitally important that the salesperson doesn’t revert to a more traditional techniques and try to sell products or services. This is because, it is very early in the process, and it is unlikely that the salesperson will have formed a fully rounded understanding of the issues at hand, and could recommend the wrong solution.

3. Root cause analysis – ask the buyer questions to understand and diagnose the underlying causes.

During this stage, the salesperson will need to dig deeper into the problem, and find out what is causing it.

By digging deeper into the problem, the salesperson can use their knowledge to generate powerful questions that will reassure the buyer that they are dealing with an expert in the field, and that they can use their expertise to offer solutions to their problem.

This step can be a really powerful tool to build the buyers confidence in the salesperson.

4. Business impact – Ask how the issue is impacting on the business. Does it impact on morale, performance, profitability or all three?

At this stage, the salesperson and the buyer have agreed on a diagnosis of the issue, and they will now begin to understand how this impacts on the business.

If the issue has very little impact on the business, in terms of profitability or revenue, then it is very unlikely that the buyer will look to make a significant contribution (either financially or with their time) to finding a solution.

If this is the case, or if the salesperson knows that their product or service isn’t the solution to the buyers problems, then the salesperson should cut their losses here.

5. Financial Impact – Find out how much the problem will cost the business if they do not fix it.

Identifying the financial impact of the issue is another major milestone in the consultative sales method. This can be easier to measure in objective measurements, such as monetary values, rather than subjective measurements such as staff morale or culture, which are far more difficult to monitor.

If the financial impact runs into the hundreds of thousands of pounds each year, and the solution only costs £10,000 then this could be a very attractive proposal for the buyer. Alternatively, if the solution costs £100,000, and it would only save the company £10,000 each year, it will be a much less attractive proposition to the buyer.

6. Personal Impact – Find out how the problem affects the buyer personally – how does it affect their day to day job?

Potential buyers are far more likely to be convinced by a solution, if the issue directly impacts upon them. This is why when using the consultative selling skills, it is vitally important to make sure that you are speaking to the right person.

If the salesperson and buyer are involved in a complex sales solution, it is likely that the 6 step process above may need to be repeated. It may also need to be repeated with different departments and stakeholders. Whilst this inevitably adds to the time taken to sell a product or service, patience is an important aspect of consultative sales.

consultative selling skills
Consultative Selling Approach

What do you need to be a good consultative salesperson?

Consultative selling requires some key selling skills which aren’t necessarily associated with more traditional selling methods. This includes:

  • Active Listening – traditionally salespeople aren’t renowned for their listening skills, but under the consultative selling method, using active listening is a key requirement. Not only does it help understand the buyers issues, it also helps you stand out from the crowd. As buyers are being turned off by hard sales pitches, if a buyer needs to choose between two similar products, they may choose for the one with the sales person that genuinely listened to their issues.
  • Emotional intelligence – This covers peoples ability to evaluate, perceive and control emotions. Buying and selling remains an emotional process, and it is important for salespeople to respond to the buyers emotions.
  • Expertise – Because consultative selling requires the salesperson to really delve deep into issues, it is important that sellers are experts in their field. However, no one wants to be overawed with information, so the salesperson will need to communicate their expertise efficiently.
  • Domain knowledge – Similar to expertise, salespeople will need to have a specialised knowledge of the whole domain. Not only do salespeople need to know what their customers want, they need to know what their customers’ customer want.
  • Self-awareness – Consultative salespeople will need to understand and manage our thoughts and the impact that can have on people.
Consultative Sales Training
Consultative Selling Approach

What questions to ask?

Asking the right questions is probably the most important part of consultative selling. Asking aimless questions or having an unstructured conversation with a potential buyer, is unlikely to either build rapport or project confidence. Whilst consultative selling doesn’t involve hard selling, salespeople can still funnel a conversation one way by using structured and well designed questions. Using specialised questioning techniques when combined with active listening and the required expertise can be a winning combination.

There are several types of consultative selling questions. They are:

  • Open ended questions – These are used to gather further information
  • Closed questions – Should be used for confirmation
  • Summary questions – Sales professionals should will summarise or paraphrase the prospective buyers statement and turn it into a question. These are used to confirm the correct understanding of issues.
  • Funnelling questions – These channel the conversation through a particular area.
  • Redirect questions – Sales Professionals should use these questions to control the conversation and move the sales process forward.
  • Opposing redirect – These questions is answering a question with a question back to the buyer.
  • Presumptive questions – Presumptive questions are questions when the salesperson knows or presume the prospective buyer does not know the answer.

Which Products and Services are best suited to Consultative Sales Techniques?

The great thing about Consultative sales techniques are that they can be used in almost any industry, or with any product or service. Our own clients sell a wide range of services from Waste Management through to Aircraft Manufacturing each using a consultative sales approach.

Furthermore, once you have mastered the system it can be as flexible as possible. We have clients using a consultative sales approach and closing deals on one inbound sales call, and we also have clients using the exact same consultative approach to close large enterprise deals through a six month sales cycle.

What is Consultative Sales Training?

Consultative selling requires a change in mindset and as such effective training is vitally important. As a specialist sales provider we offer training in consultative sales, and a range of courses from giving people a solid baseline understanding of the method through to those seeking to master the sales techniques.

As an international training provider we believe that sales teams learn better if they are doing the task, rather than reading text books or watching a presentation, and as such part of our training includes role place sessions. Consultative sales training also cover all aspects of the sales process, including social selling techniques.

It is also important to remember that consultative selling requires ongoing reinforcement training, so you should consider booking in several sessions, to ensure that your sales team do not revert to their natural selling habits.

Outside of training, under any sales technique it is important that sales professionals have enough support and encouragement. This is even more important under the consultative selling technique. Sales coaching from a sales manager between training sessions, can be a vitally important resource.

You can check out our course on consultative sales and book online here.

Selling Information Technology Services | Everything you need to Know

Selling Information Technology Services

Top question from Google - How to sell IT Services

How to sell IT services?

Selling it support services is very similar to selling other intangible services.

  1. Build your brand and make it as attractive as possible
  2. Develop a detailed ideal client profile and create a niche for yourself
  3. Link your intangible services to tangible deliverables that are important to your customer
  4. Lear as much about your products and services as possible and how they impact your customers
  5. Develop your relationship building skills and your emotional intelligence

As a business owner selling technology, managed services or custom development client satisfaction plays a key role in your long term success. Clients expect Rolls Royce service at competitive prices as competition in the technology industry is fierce.

1. Building your brand

As you would expect building a Brand in a competitive market like IT is not an overnight job.  There are however, many companies who have successfully entered the market and gained rapid market share by being more agile than existing brands. 

For example, the introduction of Microsoft Office 365 allowed new players to enter the Microsoft Channel while the existing partners continued to focus on Small Business Server sales. 

New companies specialising in Cloud services and SaaS have disrupted the market by starting off with very niche services and expanding out as they grew.

In our experience the best way to build a brand is to first focus on your Inbound Sales Channel which inevitably will raise your awareness in the market and start to generate inbound sales leads.

For more information on developing your Inbound Sales Channel or any of our other consulting services please get in touch with one of our coaches via the contact us page.

2. Ideal Client Profile – who are you selling to?

Success in selling technology will require in depth research and creating your ideal client profile. This is something that most companies either forget or fail to see the importance of.  The result is – if you’re trying to sell to everybody, you will end up selling to nobody”. 

Taking time to thoroughly research your target market and identify the business pains they have that you intent to help them solve is one of the most important parts when selling information technology services.

At Klozers we use both an Ideal Client Profile which is focussed on the types of companies we sell to and a Perfect Prospect Profile which is targeted at the individuals within the ideal client profile that we sell to.

You can access the template below and many more via the SaaS Sales Playbook contained within our Resources section.

Ideal Client Profile Template
Selling Information Technology Services

3. Your Value Proposition – what makes you different?

The reality is that many IT service companies appear the same – one Microsoft Partner can look the same as many others.  Yes, it’s possible to differentiate with the area within the Microsoft stack that you focus on, such as SharePoint or Teams, however, what makes you different to all the other Partners focussing on those same technologies.

How you differentiate your value proposition is key because, unless you get this right, you will be seen as a “me too” player which means that you will end up competing on price.  The best way to discover how you differentiate your business is to research both your target audience and your competition and find the gaps. 

Initially these gaps may seem too small to build an empire, however, they are there as starting points as your brand will evolve over the years.

In addition to your differentiation you should also ensure that you have a strategy to make your entire team Subject Matter Experts. 

Your company and your people should be seen as Thought Leaders and be the first to market talking about new products, services and trends.  You don’t even have to deliver these new services, just talking about them puts your personal and company brand out there.

4. The Complex Sale

It’s important when selling technology services to remember, in nearly every case there will be multiple people in your customers decision making unit. 

Studies show that most technology sales fall into the category of the Complex Sale meaning they will have anything between 14 and 23 potential people involved with 80% of them having senior roles.

The addition of extra decision makers elongate the sales cycle and further complicates the sales process.  Many of the decision makers will be in different departments and often have competing priorities. 

For example, when looking for Marketing Automation software the marketing department will typically want what they perceive to be the best marketing solution. 

The decision makers from sales may want an automation platform that integrates with their existing CRM system.

How to Master the Complex Sale
Selling Information Technology Services

5. Stages of the Sales Process

As with any complex sale it’s important to have a strong sales process that both your team can follow and works for your customers. 

Nearly every organisation has their own unique sales process, however, it’s worth noting, any process is only as good as those implementing it and detail and consistency are king. 

If you are selling to large enterprise organisations it’s important to understand these companies will not change their buying process to match your sales process.  The vendor needs to first understand what the Enterprise Buying process is and then align their internal process with this.   

Whilst having a sales process is important, what’s equally important in our experience is understanding:

  1. What “qualifies” a prospect to move from one stage to the next?
  2. What soft skills do I need to move a prospect from one stage to the next?

My first experience of this was with the 10 stage Microsoft Solution Selling Process (MSSP).  This was not necessarily a bad sales process but little thought had been given at the time as to how you could move prospects through the process. 

Microsoft have since invested heavily in their whole sales process and sales enablement and have some of the best training and support available.

6. Selling a product vs selling a service

Before the advent of the cloud and SaaS solutions, IT was predominantly a product sale.  “Shifting boxes” and “selling tin” were common phrases among IT Sales Professionals.  Selling servers and IT hardware were predominantly products, and the solutions were mostly the mixing and configuration of the different types of hardware with some custom development software thrown in for good measure.

SaaS has changed this forever as fewer and fewer companies have on premise hardware or software.  With everything now hosted in the cloud, many companies now only have Laptops, a printer and a modem on premise.

This move from what was largely a transactional and tangible sale of a product, to a more solution orientated, intangible sale, has proven difficult for many sales professionals as one is

Most people find selling a product much easier than selling a service because your prospects get to see, touch and experience a product.  Human beings communicate through our five senses and these are extremely important in selling.  Next time you’re walking past a coffee shop or your local bakers I’m sure the aromas will be trying to entice you in the door.

Car salespeople love getting potential buyers to sit inside a new car as the small of the new car, the feeling of the leather seats and comfort of sitting down creates a desirable experience for most of us.

Compare these scenarios with Insurance or Pensions or cloud based technology solutions where the five senses are rarely engaged by the “product”.

7. Technology Sales Models

When it comes to Technology Sales Models there are many different models to choose from:

SPIN Selling developed by Neil Rackham in the late 80’s focussed on S – situation, P – problem, I – implication and N – need or payoff.  This is still hugely popular, however, some people believe this SPIN is much better suited to simple transactional sales with few buyers, rather than the complex technology sales of todays market.

Solution Selling as the name says focusses on selling a solution rather than a product and is widely used among technology sales professionals. Solution Selling involves much more time in the early stages of the sales uncovering the prospects needs and pain points and uncovering the underlying problems that are causing the pain.  Furthermore, solution selling is better suited to selling technology services as it also helps uncover different decision makers and stakeholders within the business. 

Consultative Sales Methodology is very similar to Solution Selling, however, where Solution Selling is based around selling a technology Consultative Selling is more focussed on the pre-sales consulting stage and building relationships through empathy.

Whilst choosing the right sales methodology is important these are all things that can be learned.  What’s more important, are the values and work ethics of your team. 

How to Master the Complex Sale
Selling Information Technology Services

8. Selling Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS Sales Campaign in a BoxTraditionally software was sold as an on premise solution and was often customised to the individual company’s requirements.  The advent of SaaS has changed this dramatically and reduced the amount of custom software development undertaken in house.

The Custom Development of software was expensive, time consuming and in some cases took so long that the original requirement had either changed or was no longer required by the time the software had been built and deployed.

SaaS software is essentially a switch on and switch off service allowing greater flexibility with the added benefit of lower entry costs as the software or platform is being resold multiple times.  No more high up from capital costs with SaaS providing the perfect Op Ex solution.

Selling SaaS solutions are different to selling technology services.  Whereby most SaaS sales are focussed on the software, features and benefits and demos these things are sometimes never touched on when selling managed services.

SaaS companies also have a slightly different methodology with most using MEDDIC or even CHAMP.

MEDDIC is probably the best known SaaS sales process with M standing for Metrics, E standing for the economic buyer, D stands for Decision making criteria as in why choose you. The next D stand for Decision making process, I stands for Identification of the pains and lastly C stands for Champion, who will help you sell internally.

CHAMP – is a simpler version with CH representing Challenges, A standing for Authority, M standing for Money and P standing for Priority. 

9. Selling IT Managed Services

Managed Services or Managed IT Services are what we would describe as the Business as Usual IT services that a business needs to keep the doors open.

As a services business very large part of your market will be SME’s and you will be dealing with the Business Owner who may have little or no knowledge around technology.

As always when selling technology risk avoidance for these clients is key as they will need reassurance certain disaster scenarios are covered.

Whereas historically these would have included a lot of hardware sales the modern Managed Services contracts predominantly involve delivering services such as licensing, patch updates, remote monitoring, technical support and advice, deployment and possibly configuration of SaaS software. 

The outsourced managed services model is particularly popular with Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs) organisations who typically are not large enough to have their own in house IT Department and therefore outsource the IT function in their business via a Managed Services contract.

The alternative to outsourced managed services is sometimes referred to as a break-fix contract where the customer is simply charged on a form of pay as you go. 

Break-fix contracts now seem to be very rare as most services businesses prefer to sell the security of a Managed Services contract whereby the clients know the costs every month and can plan around this.

Many larger organisations will also outsource part of their IT function but often retain some specialist IT staff to manage the contracts and deal with specialist IT projects unique to their organisation.

Consultative Sales Process
Selling Information Technology Services

10. IT Professional Services

Selling information technology services may involve what’s called IT Professional Services.  These are typically intangible services based around:

  1. Fault Diagnosis and Problem Solving. Let’s pretend that you’re organisations IT system develops a fault and no one internally is capable of identifying the root cause of the problem an fixing it.  You may choose to approach an external contractor who provide IT Professional Services and they will supply a specialist to find and fix the problem. 
  2. Consulting.  With technology moving so rapidly it’s almost impossible to keep up with everything.  Your organisation may choose to hire an IT Professional Services firm to benchmark where you currently are from an IT perspective and then make recommendations based on your current and future requirements. Examples of this could be moving from On Premise to the Cloud or some form of Business Process Automation.
  3. Bespoke Solutions. Some organisations require completely bespoke solutions designed and built for them.  This may require business analysts, project managers in addition to the technologists in order to achieve the outcomes the client desires.

Both Professional Services and Managed Service contracts are classed as Business to Business (B2B) Sales.  Largely speaking, Professional Services sales tend to be to larger enterprise organisations, with Managed Services contracts more suited to SME and Mid Market companies who have a limited IT Department.

11. Turning your IT Product Knowledge into powerful sales questions

Product knowledge when selling technology services as you can imagine is hugely important, however, it’s not for the reasons you may be thinking. 

Everyone has heard the saying “when you’re telling you’re not selling”.  Modern selling regardless of which sales methodology you are using is based around intelligent questioning.  The value of any sales professional is not in the information they give, but in the information the gather. 

Technology sales people have previously earned a reputation of talking “bits and bytes” which left the non-technical buyers even more confused. 

The most successful Technology Services reps now focus on selling business solutions that solve business problems.  The technology in many cases is completely irrelevant to the user, its what the technology enables them to do that is important.  Those are the reasons people will buy.

Product knowledge in any sale has only two benefits as follows:

  1. The product knowledge should be turned into powerful sales questions that make the prospect stop and think: “wow what a great question”, “wow, why didn’t I think of that”, “wow this sales rep has done this before”, “wow this sales rep really is a subject matter expert”, “wow I wished my sales reps were as good as this one”.
  2. The product knowledge should provide the self confidence the sales rep needs to go into any board room and not be intimidated or fearful.  The product knowledge should allow the sales rep to say to themselves “this company may be great at abc but they need me because I am an expert in xyz.  Without confidence in the boardroom sales people will be outmanoeuvred by both their competitors and savvy buyers.
Selling Information Technology Services

12. CIO’s and other Buyers you need to target.

In many cases the CIO or Head of IT is at the very least involved in the decision making process when selling technology services if not the final decision maker.  This has however, changed for line of business applications over the years, with the advent of SaaS or cloud-based software. 

In some cases where companies have developed very specific SaaS solutions that will only be used within the one department the “Line of Business Head” would fulfil the role of the CIO. 

For example, purchases of a SaaS solution such as Digital Signature software that will be used to allow the companys sales people to get contracts signed digitally would typically not involve the CIO.

It’s also worth noting that studies show 93% of B2B buyers will require a business case before they can make a decision. In general a Business Case usually means that something is going to require board approval which takes us back to the complex sale.

CIO’s are highly valuable buyers and they know this. With many being introverts they often keep a low profile on social media and are difficult to start relationships with.

With this in mind it’s important to be armed with research, data, insights and case studies to demonstrate the value.

As previously mentioned these clients expect and require in depth research before approaching them, a track record of successfully delivering services in their niche with a high level of client satisfaction.

Sales Training and Consulting for B2B Companies

sales training and consulting

Why invest in Sales Training and Consulting?

There are normally two reasons companies invest in our Sales Training and Consulting services. Firstly, they are often in a hurry to find sales growth and are looking for a short cut, a growth hack. 

Often these companies would eventually find the right strategies and tactics themselves, but they may be keen to capitalise on their first mover advantage or satisfy the needs of external investors. 

For these companies we provide a shortcut, we help them avoid the pitfalls and roadblocks that every growing  business experiences. 

When you engage with Klozers your team has access to over 70 years experience in B2B sales and marketing. 

Our sales training can help you get the best out of your team, alongside our consultancy services that will help you deploy the changes identified by our consultancy

Let’s take a closer look at why it makes so much sense to use sales training and consulting services together.

1. Why sales consulting compliments your sales training?

Many companies make the mistake of rushing into training as the solution to improving sales performance. 

Indeed, training may be part of the solution, but it is never the whole solution.  Before any training takes place it’s important to understand the root causes of the challenges within the sales department and only when we truly understand the problems can we prescribe the best possible solution. 

By rushing into training we would be assuming that everything else that affects sales is 100% perfect, and that is simply never the case. 

As with anything, the greater the investment upfront in terms of the diagnosis, the more effective the training will be. 

This is because the training can then be customised to meet the exact needs of the business which makes it much more impactful.

Sales Training and consulting companies

2. Why is Sales Training so effective?

Sales training builds both skills and confidence, and those are simply unbeatable in front of a customer.   

The best salespeople are like athletes and they are hungry to learn more and stay at the top of their game. 

The reason they are so good is that they are constantly looking for an edge, an advantage, and this keeps driving them forward. 

These are small but important things that make the difference and gets more deals over the line.  Our training is designed to keep your team at the top of their game and help them benefit from the very latest insights and industry best practice.

Our sales trainers work hard to keep your team engaged and motivated during training sessions, using a range of mediums to maintain their attention and inspire them.

Your sales trainer will help your team sell more effectively whether that be over the phone, in-person or online.

They can help them improve their lead generation, closing and account management skills, and provide indispensable mentoring services.

3. What happens before training takes place?

Before your training sessions begin, it’s important to identify what you want to get from them. As a sales training provider we offer bespoke services that are based on your specific needs and challenges.

We can provide a full sales consultancy service in advance of any training.  This would typically include an evaluation of your current sales unit in relation to sales maturity and best practice.

We can also provide full training needs analysis so you can gain a better understanding of your requirements before staring any training course.

For sales training to be effective, they need to be delivered in a way that maintains your teams’ attention, which means your sessions will include a great deal of interactivity.

Our sales training sessions include a range of demonstrations, exercises, games and roleplay.

Sales Consulting Services
Sales Consulting Services

4. What is the aim of Sales Training

Our goal as a provider is not to deliver sales training, but to deliver results. 

Therefore we believe the goal of Sales training is to help you meet a range of sales goals faster than you would if you were to continue without any intervention.

Not every company’s needs are the same, but businesses often invest in sales training because they want to improve their staff’s sales skills, close more deals, create more conversions, make their staff feel more supported, improve morale and boost the average value of their sales.

However, ultimately all of these lead to one overall benefit – an improvement in results. Some companies invest in training because they have identified a particular problem that needs addressing which is being caused by a skills gaps within their businesses.

Training may also benefit your team if they seem to be lacking direction, or are feeling unmotivated. A lack of motivation can often occur because staff are unclear on what their roles are, or because the current strategies they are using are not working.

In many occasions this is why Sales consultancy is a perfect fit alongside sales training as it can also help you identify and deal with additional challenges.

5. How can a Sales Consultant help our business?

A sales consultant will help your business by taking a close look at your current situation, identifying strengths and weaknesses, and helping you make positive changes to drive revenue growth.

If you are not currently meeting your sales targets, our sales consultants can help you find out why this is happening and develop strategies to address the issues.

Our experienced consultants can help with optimising your sales processes and ensuring you get the maximum conversion ratios from the leads you are generating.

With our years of experience in B2B sales our sales consultants can introduce you to specific resources that will support your business.

These can include lead generation, marketing, sales tracking, and training programmes and software that will give you a better insight into how your sales team are performing.

Sales Consulting System
Sales Consulting System

6. Adding Sales Experience to your Leadership Team

When you are immersed in the day-to-day running of your company, it can be hard to assess your situation objectively.

It’s often impossible to find anyone around you who is not objective as your team all have a role which in some way will make them subjective. 

Our sales consultants aren’t just there to identify problems that you weren’t previously aware of, we are completely hands on and happy to work alongside your team to implement any solutions.

Where applicable we will highlight your strengths and help you make the most of the resources that you currently have. In most cases this revolves around the creation of a sales plan, which we work with you to develop and if required are happy to help with executing against the plan. 

Our consultants will work with you to help you improve relationships between departments and colleagues. For instance, we are often called upon for detailed advice on aligning sales and marketing departments so you’re delivering coherent messages to your customers.

Indeed aligning sales and marketing is one of our most popular services.

7. Which Companies benefit the most from Consulting Services

We typically have two types of customers of our consulting services.  The first are larger organisations who already have a Sales Plan in place. 

They need help executing and delivering against the plan as they simply lack the internal resources to do this themselves.

The second group are those looking for external and objective advice.  In some cases they have seen a substantial decline in sales recently or aren’t meeting their targets they need to reach and hence are reaching out for support.

These businesses hire us because we have a track record of turning companies around. Alternately you may need external support if you have experienced changes in your industry and you’re struggling to keep up with your competitors.

Companies also may hire us because they feel missed sales targets are starting to affect morale and staff retention rates.

By investing in training and consultancy services, you can show your team you’re determined to improve and start achieving more.

8. Build a Selling System

It’s also common for companies to invest in sales consultancy services because their sales processes are confused and unclear, with team members pulling in different directions.

We are a huge advocate of having a selling system. Finance has a system, operations have a system so why not sales. Building a repeatable scalable selling system is simply a must for any business.

By mapping this out we can help your salespeople to understand how and where they can influence buyers and sell to people on different parts of their journey, helping you secure more sales.

Our consultants can also help you gain a richer understanding of the data available to you, from both your marketing automation and CRM platforms

In many cases our clients either don’t have enough data or they are overwhelmed by data, and miss out on the most important parts.  Either way we can help.  

In Conclusion

Sales is an ever changing environment and more and more businesses are improving their performance, staff retention rates and workplace morale. 

For most of use this means competition is tough and by investing in our sales training and consultancy services we can give you that edge you need to not just compete, but win.  

Sales consultants and trainers can provide invaluable mentorship, help you identify and eradicate weaknesses, and help you make the changes that you need to not only survive but prosper.

Our team can breathe new life into your organisation and inspire people throughout your company. Whether you’ve been missing your targets or are simply ready to build upon recent success and take your business to the next level, there are many great reasons for hiring sales training and consultancy professionals.

If you are ready to hire a sales trainer, sales consultant or both, come and talk with us.

 

Sales and Service Training Courses

If your business is typical, up to 80% of next years revenues will come from this years customers.  Despite this many organisations give little or no thought to customer service, viewing it merely as a cost to the business. 

In many cases customer service is a cost to the business, however, survey after survey shows customer service as a core component of your brand.  In certain cases some brands who understand the commercial value of great customer service, use it as an opportunity to cross sell and upsell, thus driving additional revenue into the business.

There are so many great statistics for investing in sales and service training once you look into it, it’s difficult to ignore. As an example studies show that 82% of customers leave because of a poor experience and of those 73% leave because of a reaction to rude staff. 

Structured and well supported training can help your team meet your customers expectations and even exceed them. The right sales and service training can make your team more adept at winning customers’ trust, whilst boosting your teams confidence.

The best sales and service training programmes are designed to help companies move away from customer service and towards customer experiences.

 

How can Sales and Service Training help my team?

Often the biggest challenge in business is winning new customers.  Given that’s the case it surely makes sense to do everything possible to not only keep those customers, but to maximise the revenue from them. 

Most service issues have a simple root problem, for example, 55% of customers are leaving because of delays in resolving a dispute and 51% are leaving because of poor staff training.  What’s possibly most important to note, is that all these problems can be easily remedied.

Sales and service training can give your team a system to measure, track and consistently improve your customer service and sales.  This will help change the mindset of your team, enabling them to make a real impact by being able to identify what matters most and take action to improve. 

When done correctly training can enhance your workplace culture substantially and provide your sales team with additional skills that can benefit them personally throughout their careers.

 

Why Sales and Service Training is Important

 

Sales and Service Training

Close More Deals and Learn New Skills

Most companies are unaware of the potential sales opportunities they have with existing customers. With repeat customer spending up to 67% more, sales and service training is more than just handling complaints and returns. 

A big part of resolving customers problems should be finding new solutions to the problems customers encounter.   In most cases the problems that customers experience are actually the best opportunities for cross selling and upselling.

Training can introduce your team to new strategies and tactics that they may simply never come across before. In addition to external input, there are often great lessons that can be shared internally, and these should be captured and documented for the benefit of others. 

Training will help your team become more familiar with your own company’s best practices. In a well structured sales and service training programme, your staff will not only learn new techniques, but also find out why they are so effective and which situations they should be deployed in.

 

Benefit from External Sales Specialists

Often a key benefit of sales and service training is that it gives your team a chance to take onboard new ideas and strategies from outside the business.  In many cases they are more open to learning from external facilitators with an in-depth knowledge than from internal colleagues.

Sales and service specialists can give your team more than just the skills they need to engage potential customers in meaningful conversations.  They can help you explain on your customers terms why your products and service may be a good fit for them.

Sales and service training will help your team use the product knowledge and information that they have about your products and services, and turn this into powerful questions that make the buyer want to buy rather than them having to sell to them.    

 

Retain the Best Staff

Many companies are now switched on to the fact that it’s easier to retain quality staff when you invest in training courses for them.

If your team members feel you aren’t investing in them, there’s a high possibility that they will move to a company that will. Investing in training shows your employees that you are eager to help them improve.

When staff receive quality training, they tend to feel more supported, which in turn boosts their confidence. Recruitment costs to replace team members can be incredibly expensive and take up an inordinate amount of management time.  

It’s therefore important to try and keep hold of the employees that you have already invested in and continue to develop them.

benefits of sales and service training

 

Sales and Service Training

Should Managers attend Sales and Service Training?

Sales Managers are responsible for the day to day activities and performance of those activities for members in their team

Your Managers set the bar in terms of what is acceptable performance and what is not.  With this in mind, it’s important that sales managers attend every sales and service training along with their staff so they can hear the information first-hand.

When managers know exactly what’s covered and agreed during training, they can ensure their staff apply this knowledge to real-life scenarios and coach them if they are struggling.

Sales training often includes an element of goal-setting, which is yet another reason why it’s so important for managers to attend. It’s important for the managers to set realistic, yet achievable goals, rather than targets that are out of your team’s reach. 

Failure to do this will simply harm the confidence of the team and demotivate them.

 

Increase your Customer Satisfaction Ratings

Training like everything else in your business needs to deliver a return on your investment.  Whilst not everything should be judged by customer service scores, any service training should ultimately  improve your customer satisfaction ratings.

Customer expectations are arguably higher than they have ever been and today’s customers expect to receive high-quality service more than ever before.

If they have a bad experience with a member of your team, they’re likely to make their opinions public and Social Media can amplify bad news like never before. 

Customer Service training will not only teach your team to deliver the best customer experiences possible, but also turn your happy customers into advocates for your brand, thus generating new business referrals.

 

Omnichannel Customer Support

Modern customer service training often starts before your customers have even made a purchase.  In most cases your customers first interaction with your brand is either your website or social media pages. 

It’s important to include these as part of your wider customer experience strategy. This is supported by many statistics for example, using three channels instead of one for marketing campaigns results in a 287% higher purchase rate. 

Providing Omnichannel customer support helps your team keep your clients happy across a range of channels and mediums. It can help them communicate with your customers better not only over traditional channels like the phone, but also via live chat, email, social media, SMS and other platforms.

The most successful customer service teams around today adopt an omnichannel approach with research showing that companies with an omnichannel approach experience a 23 fold increase in customer satisfaction.

We believe it’s really  important to include these areas in your service programme. Many companies are failing to meet their customers’ expectations which makes it easier for you and your team to stand out from the crowd and win business from them.  

 

Sales and Service Training Course

 

Sales and Service Training

Build Expert Product Knowledge

No matter the industry customers want to deal with experts and not agents who are simply following a call centre script.

Sales and service training encourages your team to get to know your products inside out so they can answer any and every relevant question they might be faced with.

If sales reps don’t have the knowledge that they require, they are more likely to leave customers feeling frustrated, with the customer going on to air their feedback publicly.

The more your reps know about your products and services, the better they can address customer pain points and explain why your solutions are the answer to their problems. 

 

Enhance Customer Loyalty

Repeated studies show that customers tend to be much more loyal to companies that offer outstanding customer service. Many of today’s customers say that customer service is more important than price when they’re deciding who to do business with.

By investing in sales and service training, you can attract and retain more customers and gain a real edge over your competitors.  Part of your overall programme should include how you plan to collect and share customer reviews. 

With 70% of people taking action based on customer reviews this is an essential component of every sales and customer service training.

 

Resolve Disputes Quickly

Delays when resolving complaints can often be the straw that breaks the camels back with 55% of people leaving a brand because of delays in resolution.

Sales and service training can help your reps resolve complaints quickly which is important when dealing with angry and frustrated customers.

Training can help them show tactical empathy when they are dealing with an angry customer and enable them to steer the conversation in the right direction, no matter which medium they are communicating on.

Understanding active listening skills can turn your team into better, more helpful listeners that pay close attention to what your customers have to say and then use the skills and information they have to deliver the best outcome possible.

 

 

Customer Service Training

Unlike traditional customer service training courses, Klozers provides the latest in business simulation software, that allows your team to experience a 2 year customer experience transformation program in 1 day.  

Our state of the art business simulation goes way beyond basic communication skills and helps your sales team understand customer expectations, sales process, and what truly drives sales performance across the organisation. 

Designed specifically as a holistic cross departmental our customer service courses are designed to engage everyone from your front line sales team, product and services teams and company management.  

The customer service training includes two options as follows:

Enterprise Customer Service Training

SaaS Customer Success Training

Please contact us for further information.  

customer service training courses

In Summary

How important is retaining your existing customers? 

How valuable would the extra revenue be if your customer service team were actively cross selling and upselling throughout their day?  

Investing in sales and service training will make your staff and customers much happier. If you look after your staff they will in turn look after your customers. 

If you feel you need to make improvements in these areas, please give us a call. We would love to work with you and make the sales and service goals you have in mind a reality.

12 Critical Objectives of Sales Management

Objectives of Sales Management

The Objectives of Sales Management

There are many objectives and goals for sales management and the importance of each will vary from business to business. 

Business to business sales can be complex, with many variables and whilst the obvious objectives of revenue, profitability and growth are important it’s easy to argue a case for the plethora of other objectives such as customer satisfaction, team morale, employee retention. 

Effective sales management is the key to running every successful sales team. When sales management is executed correctly, the rest of your enterprise benefits.

Sales managers are responsible for inspiring teams, leading by example, maximising profits and providing customers with the best experience to make sure they return for more.

We’ve resisted the urge to include the all to common piece around smart goals, because we assume your past all that and looking for something more meaningful. 

So, we’ve listed below what we believe to be the main objectives of sales management, enjoy.

1. Sales Plan

We’ve listed sales plan at the very start because of it’s importance.  Without a plan it’s difficult to track progress, meet or exceed your goals and align your sales team around those goals. 

Quite simply, the sales plan ensures that not only is everyone on your company boat rowing in the same direction, it ensures that the boat itself is going in the right direction.

As with any objective or goal, the sales manager should be measured on the execution of the sales plan. 

For some reason the majority of companies do not have a sales plan and miss out on the many benefits they bring.

2. Sales Strategy

Strategy is listed in the dictionary as “an approach” and although it sounds simple coming up with the best approach or strategy to how you gain maximum market penetration with the budget available to you is never easy. 

At best if you nail your sales strategy sales will take off and at worst you will find that sales become like wading through treacle.  An eternal hardship that consumes any profits you dreamed of as it sucks the life from your business.  

Once you’ve agreed on a strategy you need to review this on a monthly basis and adjust as required. 

Beware however, of changing your strategy before it has had a chance to mature or you might just end up going round in circles.  

Once you’ve decided on your sales strategy the next challenge is aligning all your resources including the sales team and executing on that strategy. 

How to manage sales activity

3. Reporting and Metrics

Before you start to implement and share your strategy and sales plan you will need to give some thought as to how you are going to measure your progress. 

Data is the new oil and Sales reporting is an essential part of the modern sales managers day to day activities. 

Your reporting system should  tell you everything from how well your reps are performing on a daily basis, to the cost of customer acquisition on your latest sales campaign.

Reports will tell you which areas you are succeeding in and areas need your attention. You should draw up a list of baseline sales metrics and then from there you can measure progress towards your targets.

In almost every scenario, you will be asked to generate Management Reports for your board and these will include things like your current sales funnel/sales pipeline which will provide information such as how many live deals you currently have in your funnel, the average size of each deal and the average length of the journey through the funnel.

It’s critically important that you not only can generate the right reports, but that you can interpret the results in a meaningful way.

4. Sales Performance

There is no one individual who has as much influence over sales than the sales manager. 

Every day the Manager sets the bar between what is acceptable and what is not, in terms performance from their team. 

They are responsible for not just managing, but also the training, coaching and development of the sales team

Every salesperson wants to sell, every salesperson wants to be part of a winning team and the sales managers that succeed are those that focus on 2 things:

  1. They do everything they can to help salespeople sell more
  2. They do everything they can to develop their salespeople.

Unfortunately, as the manager has the power to make everything a success, they can also be architects of their own failure.

5. Key duties of the Sales Manager

Sales managers are tasked with developing sales teams, coordinating all operations within sales departments and identifying and implement the right sales techniques to deliver success.

Although the aim is to meet sales targets, it’s not uncommon for these aims to be surpassed.

The right sales management processes can give you a substantial edge over your competitors and ensure your company is thriving rather than simply surviving.

As a minimum the sales manager should address the following areas in their plan. Strategy, Process, People, Channels, Technology, Customers and Leadership

Sales Management Framework
Objectives of Sales Management

6. Team Morale

Morale is extremely important when it comes to building a winning sales team. The more inspired and confident your team are, the more they will achieve.

This is why it’s so important to ensure each member of your team feels listened to and respected. The easiest way to do this is by including them in the sales planning wherever possible. 

Provide real-time information on as much as possible including things like the exact costs to the business to employ them, the profitability of your sales and how many deals they need to close to breakeven in terms of their own cost to the company.

Transparency is essential, so make sure each member of your team knows how well you’re currently performing.  

What’s also important in terms of morale is being completely fair and not having any personal favourites in the team. 

It’s normally easy for managers not to have favourites, however, many find it more difficult to deal with disruptive sales reps and often ignore them rather than look to resolve the problem. 

Often times the most disruptive sales reps can be a top performer but you will still need to let them go if you feel they are damaging the overall morale and productivity of the team.

It’s incredibly important to foster a positive workplace culture where workplace friction is addressed as soon as it arises.

7. Setting realistic but ambitious targets

When it comes to setting your sales targets it’s vital to strike a balance between being ambitious and being realistic.

If your targets are unrealistically high, your sales team and your sales team fall so far behind that they don’t believe they can hit those targets, they will quickly become demotivated. 

We recommend that you include your sales team as part of the planning process to help you set your sales targets. 

By doing this you are much more likely to get buy in from the sales team and as the manager, you can still guide the team to create targets that are challenging.

Unrealistic targets will only serve to  damage morale substantially and in turn, this will lower the overall performance of the team.

Managers should guide and coach their team members through the entire period of the targets to help ensure they remain on track and re-motivate them if they begin to lose confidence.

Managers typically have lots of experiences and skills that they can draw on from when they were a salesperson that will support their sales reps.

8. Building a sales funnel

Creating a sales funnel that continually is topped up with new, high quality sales leads is one of the most important objectives of sales management.

A sales funnel, also known as a pipeline is used to outline each step a customer takes throughout their journey towards making a purchase.

In B2B sales the salespeople are responsible for moving the deals or opportunities through the sales funnel. 

There is nothing more demotivating to sales reps than the struggle to fill the sales funnel with new leads.  It’s therefore important that you work with your marketing team to ensure a continuous flow of good quality sales leads.

If you are using Sales Development Reps (SDRs) to generate their own sales leads then you must give them the strategies and tactics to generate those leads. 

Tactics like cold calling and cold email campaigns do work but they on their own it is a slow way to scale your business. As the sales manager it’s your responsibility to break the entire sales process down into easy, manageable stages.

Sales funnels enable salespeople to remain organised and in control, especially when used in conjunction with a good CRM system.

With the right CRM dashboards in place Sales reps can easily see the progress they have already made towards their sales targets. 

This in turn will inspire them to continue focussing on moving deals through the sales funnel.

9. When can I expect results?

In our experience every overnight success has taken years of hard work to get there. With that said, you should see early indications of success in months, not years.  

It’s important to manage expectations and collectively agree what success looks like in the initial phases. 

This is why we are such advocates of creating a sales plan that everyone can align themselves behind. 

Your sales plan should identify what we call the lead indicators rather than the lag indicators for success and you can start tracking them immediately.  

It’s unlikely your sales management will deliver exceptional results immediately but with planning, patience and persistence you will slowly turn the ship around.

Trial-and-error can play a big role in helping you create the right sales process for you.

Even when you start seeing the results that you’ve been aiming for, you should always be prepared to make amendments as customer behaviours and requirements, technology and markets change.

10. Motivating your Sales Team

As a sales manager, you will be tasked with overseeing things like data, technology, processes and sales pipelines which you may or may not find easy.

However, often the biggest challenge is people management and listening to your team is very important. 

It’s essential to ask your team what drives them and what their personal goals are and then tie them into your own business objectives.

Not every member of your sales team will be motivated by money alone, so try to find out what else drives them and why they were interested in a career in sales in the first place.

It’s also essential to deliver additional support for those members working remotely during any lockdown period.

Some team members will be comfortable working from home, whilst others will prefer to be out in the field visiting customers and working in a busy office environment.

11. Do great salespeople make great sales managers?

One problem many companies encounter is that not all great salespeople make a fantastic sales manager.

Being a sales manager requires a whole host of different skills not required by salespeople, and it may take time to start seeing success once you’ve moved from making sales to overseeing them.

Most of the key tasks assigned to sales managers are strategic versus the tactical skills required by salespeople. 

For example, data analysis is hugely important for every sales manager, as is planning, strategy and people management. 

In addition, identifying realistic goals, hiring the right salespeople, creating incentives, arranging ongoing training and learning and matching the right kind of guidance to specific individuals in your team are all important.

12. Learning & Development

It’s easy to overlook training as a Sales Manager because there never seems to be any free time for developing your team or indeed yourself. 

Training falls into the category of important/not urgent and because of this it often gets overlooked.  In nearly every case the salespeople who don’t want training are those that need it the most.

Learning and development starts by hiring the right salespeople and only recruiting those who are driven and determined with great people skills.

The team that you inherit may be very different from this and it’s your objective as the sales manager to improve the team that you’re working with over the coming months or years.

It’s also important to seek out coachable people as these people are great learners and will continuously improve given the right support.

You will encounter people that already have good sales skills but seem unwilling to continue learning or taking feedback and this can become a problem. 

These people not only don’t want to learn but they don’t want others to learn either and can sabotage and undermine your leadership. 

Under these circumstances, as long as you have done everything possible to try and support these people if they still refuse then you will have no alternative to letting them go.

If you’re able to offer real-time information that you can display in the workplace, you should certainly do this as this creates incentives and keeps your salespeople’s eyes on the ball.

Transparency is essential, so make sure each member of your team knows how well you’re currently performing.

In conclusion

Sales managers are arguably the single most important part of your sales team and the right manager will help you achieve outstanding results when they build an exceptional and focussed team that they take the time to support.

They will ensure the organisation has the right people, structures, technology and sales processes in place progress which can be tracked and clearly visible for all the stakeholders. 

By ensuring team members remain willing to learn and committing to learning more themselves, sales managers can deliver real success, even in the most competitive markets.

Sales Negotiation Training

Key Negotiation Skills – Introduction

There is a common misconception that sales negotiation skills are only required towards the end of the sales process.  The part in every sales process where costs and terms are agreed.  Whilst this is undoubtedly true, it’s also true that the best salespeople are negotiating all the way through the sales process.  In fact every Professional salesperson negotiates, every single day which is why it’s an important part of any training programme

From negotiating with their children on what to have for breakfast, to negotiating with a Partner on where to go for dinner.  In between times they will negotiate workloads with their line managers, negotiate meeting times with co-workers, negotiate dates & times for appointments with prospects and lastly negotiating sales contracts, project delivery and aftercare contracts.  In short, Negotiation is actually unavoidable, and the ability to Negotiate is a core skill for every Salesperson.

Planning for Sales Negotiations

Like most things in life when it comes to Negotiation knowledge is power.  The more information you have and better prepared you are then the more likely you will achieve a successful negotiation. Follow the information below to discover how to research and plan your next negotiation.

Sales Negotiation Goals

These are the needs, wants and desires of the parties involved in the negotiation.  In business this can be complicated as not only may both sides have differing goals, but parties within each side may have differing and even conflicting Goals.

Goals can be subjective for example “We need to increase the confidence of our people.” or they can be more objective like “We need to reduce our overheads by 10 this quarter”.  Either way it’s important to know both your own Goals and that of the other side.  Important questions you must ask are:

  • Have we identified all the Goals?
  • What are the Prioritised Goals?
  • What are the Business Goals?
  • What are the Personal Goals?
  • Are there conflicting Goals?
Business Goals Examples Personal Goals Examples
Strategic Security
Change Satisfaction
Growth Peer Pressure
Improvement Financial Gain

Please note Goals are NOT the same as outcomes.

Example:

Goals – George is 65 years old and would like to retire (Goal).  In order to fund his retirement he needs to sell his business but no one wants to invest a large sum of capital.  Mike would like to buy a business (Goal) but does not have any capital to invest. 

The Outcome is the Negotiated agreement that they come to.

Negotiation Options

These are all the possible solutions that satisfy the goals of both parties.  They are all possibilities that both parties agree or say Yes to.

By investing time to explore all the Options then you are more likely to find:

  • Alternative solutions
  • Enable both parties to achieve their goals
  • Reach the Best Possible Agreement (BPA)

Example:

Goals – George is 65 years old and would like to retire (Goal).  In order to fund his retirement he needs to sell his business but no one wants to invest a large sum of capital.  Mike would like to buy a business (Goal) but does not have any capital to invest. 

Option – George can sell his business to Mike but rather than invest a lump sum he agrees to pay George on a Monthly basis from the profits for the next 5 years and hence fund his retirement. 

Criteria for Negotiation

Criteria are the “terms” of any possible Option

Example:

Goals – George is 65 years old and would like to retire (Goal).  In order to fund his retirement he needs to sell his business but no one wants to invest a large sum of capital.  Mike would like to buy a business (Goal) but does not have any capital to invest. 

Option – George can sell his business to Mike but rather than invest a lump sum he agrees to pay George on a Monthly basis from the profits for the next 5 years and hence fund his retirement. 

Criteria – George needs to guarantee a minimum payment every month regardless of the profitability of that month.  Mike needs to ensure ensure he will not be liable for any warranty, liability or compensations claims from the period before he take responsibility/ownership of the business.

Get expert Sales Negotiation Training from our Sales Coaches

CNA – Cost of No Agreement

Not all Negotiations end in an agreement, it is therefore vital before entering into any Negotiation that you first work out what the Cost of No Agreement is for both parties.  The costs of no agreement can be both Objective and Subjective.

Example:

Goals – George is 65 years old and would like to retire (Goal).  In order to fund his retirement he needs to sell his business but no one wants to invest a large sum of capital.  Mike would like to buy a business (Goal) but does not have any capital to invest. 

Option – George can sell his business to Mike but rather than invest a lump sum he agrees to pay George on a Monthly basis from the profits for the next 5 years and hence fund his retirement. 

Criteria – George needs to guarantee a minimum payment every month regardless of the profitability of that month.  Mike needs to ensure ensure he will not be liable for any warranty, liability or compensations claims from the period before he take responsibility/ownership of the business.

CNA – George does not have the financial resources to retire (Objective) however he has been trying unsuccessfully to sell his business for three years and is now desperate (Subjective) for a solution.  Mike is keen to buy a business (Objective) but knows there are hundreds of businesses for sale and he is pretty relaxed (Subjective) if this deal doesn’t go through another one will come along.

The Subjective Cost of No Agreement can be more powerful than the Objective ones as people make decisions emotionally and then justify their position intellectually afterwards. 

BATNA – Best Alternative to No Agreement

Not all Negotiations end in an Agreement, it is therefore vital before entering into any Negotiations that you first work out what the Best Alternative to No Agreement is.  In some cases you may well experience that the other party is so entrenched in their position that they have no desire to Negotiate.  BATNA is typically but not always, an alternative course of action that can be taken if no agreement is reached.

BATNA helps you prepare for a Negotiation by:

  • Helps prevent you from agreeing to something you will regret
  • Defining your Minimum Possible Agreement (MPA)
  • Provides you with a Plan B
  • Helps prevent you from over or underestimating the your own and the other party’s position
  • Helps you understand where the leverage is
  • Identifying alternative Options

Example:

Goals – George is 65 years old and would like to retire (Goal).  In order to fund his retirement he needs to sell his business but no one wants to invest a large sum of capital.  Mike would like to buy a business (Goal) but does not have any capital to invest. 

Option – George can sell his business to Mike but rather than invest a lump sum he agrees to pay George on a Monthly basis from the profits for the next 5 years and hence fund his retirement. 

Criteria – George needs to guarantee a minimum payment every month regardless of the profitability of that month.  Mike needs to ensure ensure he will not be liable for any warranty, liability or compensations claims from the period before he take responsibility/ownership of the business.

CNA – George does not have the financial resources to retire (CNA) and has been trying unsuccessfully to sell his business for three years and is now desperate for a solution.  Mike is keen to buy a business and has spent £3,000 with Solicitors and Accountants thus far completing his due diligence on the company. 

BATNA – George is in discussion with his Lawyers to explore the possibilities of a Management Buyout for the business.  Mike knows there are hundreds of businesses for sale and he is pretty relaxed if this deal doesn’t go through another one will come along.

Concessions for Negotiation

A concession is something given to the other party in furtherance of the agreement.  These concessions should be identified in advance and segmented for both parties in terms of:

High Value – High Cost

High Value – Low Cost

Remember – Never give anything away without receiving something of equal or greater value in return.

Example:

Goals – George is 65 years old and would like to retire (Goal).  In order to fund his retirement he needs to sell his business but no one wants to invest a large sum of capital.  Mike would like to buy a business (Goal) but does not have any capital to invest. 

Option – George can sell his business to Mike but rather than invest a lump sum he agrees to pay George on a Monthly basis from the profits for the next 5 years and hence fund his retirement. 

Criteria – George needs to guarantee a minimum payment every month regardless of the profitability of that month.  Mike needs to ensure ensure he will not be liable for any warranty, liability or compensations claims from the period before he take responsibility/ownership of the business.

CNA – George does not have the financial resources to retire (CNA) and has been trying unsuccessfully to sell his business for three years and is now desperate for a solution.  Mike is keen to buy a business and has spent £3,000 with Solicitors and Accountants thus far completing his due diligence on the company. 

BATNA – George is in discussion with his Lawyers to explore the possibilities of a Management Buyout for the business.  Mike knows there are hundreds of businesses for sale and he is pretty relaxed if this deal doesn’t go through another one will come along.

Concessions – George is prepared to spend 3 months of his time ensuring during the handover period which is Low Cost to him as he will be retired but High Value to Mike as he is new to the industry and recognises the benefit of George’s experience.

Mike is prepared to move quickly which has no cost to him however this is High Value to George as the last thing he wants is a long protracted sale.

Negotiation Strategies

Aggressive Tactics

  • Shoot the hostage
    • This strategy is extremely aggressive as it involves an immediate offer to walk away with no deal which is designed to throw and unsettle the other party.  This is often delivered in a reluctant tone “we don’t want to do this but…”,
  • Delaying tactics
    • When time is clearly on one parties side the process can often be deliberately slowed which is extremely effective when there are cost implications if talks over run.  This tactic also applies if the other party has another meeting or needs to leave.  The negotiator deliberately talks around the subject to delay the real conversation and then uses time to put pressure on the other party to come to an agreement.
  • Poor Me
    • This strategy is used to play the false victim that needs rescued by the other party.
  • Last Minute.com
    • As the name suggests this strategy involves the Negotiator agreeing to a solution right up until they are required to sign and then withdrawing.  The withdrawal is usually followed up quickly with a counter offer at dramatically reduced terms.
  • Misleading/lying
    • Often Negotiators will make exaggerated claims or even lie so without hard data to support them you should discount these.  They may also issue warnings and threats or make matters personal to unbalance you.
  • Missing People
    • Everyone knows the importance of having all the Decision Makers in the room but Negotiators may even turn up with complete strangers.  In sales some companies will remove Sales People from the final negotiations.  If the Sales People have a relationship with the other party they could be more empathetic and weaker negotiators.  Turning up without warning with complete strangers also unbalances the other party.

Co-operative Tactics

  • Agree on the Process
    • Spend time up front agreeing the process and format of the Negotiations including what’s in scope and what’s not.
  • Win Win Agreements
    • Most professional Negotiators accept that any final agreement must be fair and sustainable for the life of the time period.  In most business scenarios it should never be win at all costs as this destroys relationships.
  • Matching Rights
    • Offer the other party the right to match any solution that you receive.  For example if one of two business partners decides to sell their shares to another party they may have the agreement that the other party gets first refusal if they match the offer.
  • Contingent Agreements
    • These are simply agreements based on future events.  Financial Bonus may be tied to Performance.  Football transfer fees can be include Contingent Agreements that provides the selling club additional revenue if a player is sold on and or if a player is capped by their country or simply makes a certain number of appearances.
  • Multiple Offers
    • When multiple offers are placed on the table this allows both parties to indicate preferences and encourages creativity as a winning hybrid offer can be formed.  Placing one offer on the table often leads to a refusal and a stall in the process.

Sales Negotiation Checklist

1.  Be prepared to walk away.  Sales Negotiation is 70% Mindset and 30% Strategy and unless you are prepared to walk away, no strategy will help you.

2.  It’s not what you charge it’s what your worth.  Thoroughly research the market and discuss with the buyer the Value you bring to the table?

3. Take council from colleagues and external advisors and agree a pre-meeting strategy for the negotiations then PRACTICE.

4. Never give anything away without receiving something of equal or greater value in return.

5. Never enter a Negotiation without first providing your price and outline terms in advance, to anchor the prospect to a higher number and terms.

6. Where possible in high value deals do not include your sales people in Negotiations, as they will be emotionally involved in the sale and not objective.

7. Ensure everyone in your team have agreed in advance your trade-offs, your concessions, and your best alternative to a negotiated settlement.

8. You must be comfortable with silence and at most only talk 30% of the time, as the more you talk the more information you are giving away.

9. If it’s not Win Win then you run the danger of the prospect backing out or failing to implement your agreement, then the lawyers are the only winners.

10.  Negotiation is between human beings, you must therefore be familiar with Human Psychology, DiSC, Neuro Linguistic and Programming.

Wie man einen SaaS-Verkaufstrichter aufbaut

saas-verkaufstrichter

1. Was ist ein Verkaufstrichter?

Ein Verkaufstrichter ist eine Abfolge von Aktionen, Ereignissen oder Phasen, die ein Nutzer durchläuft, bevor er ein Produkt oder eine Dienstleistung kauft. Mit Hilfe von Verkaufstrichtern können Marketingexperten den Verkaufsprozess verfolgen, aufzeichnen und optimieren, um die Ergebnisse zu verbessern.

Mehr über unsere SaaS-Vertriebsschulungen erfahren Sie hier.

2. Wie man einen SaaS-Verkaufstrichter aufbaut

Ihr SaaS-Verkaufstrichter ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil des Erfolgs Ihrer Apps. Wenn Sie SaaS-Anwendungen anbieten, ist die Erstellung eines wiederholbaren, skalierbaren und nachvollziehbaren Verkaufstrichters einer der wichtigsten Schritte, die Sie unternehmen müssen.

Klingt einfach? Dann denken Sie noch einmal nach. Der Verkaufstrichter ist der Punkt, an dem viele Start-ups, die in die Umsatzgenerierung einsteigen, Schwierigkeiten haben und in vielen Fällen scheitern.

Bevor Sie mit dem Aufbau Ihres Trichters beginnen, sollten Sie sich zunächst überlegen, wo Sie sich in Ihrer App-Reise befinden.

3. Die drei Hauptphasen der SaaS-Entwicklung

Leider gibt es im Vertrieb nie eine Einheitslösung, und der Ausgangspunkt für den Aufbau eines SaaS-Verkaufstrichters hängt davon ab, wo Sie sich in Bezug auf die drei Hauptphasen eines SaaS-Geschäfts befinden?

Sind Sie bei:
Phase 1: der Beginn der Reise, in der der Gründer und das Hauptteam noch versuchen, die Passung zwischen Produkt und Markt herzustellen.

Phase 2: Der Gründer und die wichtigsten Teammitglieder haben bewiesen, dass ihr Produkt zum Markt passt, und sie haben bewiesen, dass sie Systeme und Prozesse implementieren können, die andere zum Verkauf nutzen können.

Phase 3, die letzte Hürde, in der Sie bewiesen haben, dass Ihr Produkt zum Markt passt, in der Sie die richtigen Systeme und Prozesse für die Skalierung identifiziert und erprobt haben und in der Sie nun bereit sind, Ihren Vertrieb zu skalieren, sich auf die Kundenakquise zu konzentrieren und Ihre MRR aufzubauen.

Die Strategien, die Sie für den Aufbau eines SaaS-Verkaufstrichters verwenden, hängen davon ab, was Sie in Schritt 1 oben gelernt haben.

Für die Zwecke dieser Übung gehe ich davon aus, dass Sie sich bei Schritt 1 befinden. Wenn Sie bei den Schritten 2 und 3 immer noch Schwierigkeiten haben, einen Verkaufstrichter aufzubauen, dann haben Sie entweder bei Schritt 1 etwas übersehen oder es hat sich etwas geändert, so dass alles, was Sie bei Schritt 1 gelernt haben, nicht mehr funktioniert.

4. Erstellen Sie einen Marketingtrichter vor Ihrem Verkaufstrichter

In jedem Unternehmen ist es wichtig, dass Sie Ihrem Verkaufsteam die optimalen Voraussetzungen für den Erfolg bieten. In der SaaS-Welt reicht es nicht aus, eine großartige Website zu haben, Sie brauchen eine Website, die:

a) Ihre Produkte und Dienstleistungen in den wichtigsten Suchmaschinen – Google, Bing, Yahoo und YouTube – gefunden werden können
b) durch die von Ihnen gelösten Probleme in den großen Suchmaschinen – Google, Bing, Yahoo & YouTube – gefunden werden können
c) den Webverkehr in marketingqualifizierte Leads umwandeln kann

Viele Unternehmen ignorieren dies und bauen in aller Eile ein Outbound-Verkaufsteam auf. Tatsache ist, dass jeder potenzielle Interessent, den Ihr Outbound-Team anspricht, anschließend auf Ihre Website geht, um weitere Nachforschungen anzustellen.

Wenn die Web-Erfahrung nicht gleich oder besser ist als die Erfahrung, die der Interessent mit Ihrem Outbound-Team gemacht hat, wird er sich sofort abwenden.

Um einen Marketingtrichter aufzubauen, müssen Sie “überzeugende Inhalte für den ersten Nutzer” erstellen. Dies sind Inhalte, nach denen die Nutzer aktiv suchen, nicht die Inhalte, die Ihr Vertriebs- und Marketingteam pushen möchte.

Ihr SaaS-Marketingtrichter ist ein wesentlicher Bestandteil Ihrer Inbound-Vertriebsstrategie. Um dies erfolgreich zu tun, müssen Sie in jeder Phase der Buyer Journey qualitativ hochwertige Inhalte erstellen (siehe unten).

Der Inhalt sollte auf subtile Weise Ihre Markengeschichte und den Erfolg erzählen, den Sie anderen Nutzern gebracht haben . Machen Sie Ihre Early Adopters zu Helden, nicht Sie selbst.

TOFU – Oberer Teil des Trichters
Der erste Teil Ihres Verkaufstrichters, auch bekannt als TOFU, ist die Bewusstseinsstufe des Trichters. Der Interessent ist sich der Probleme bewusst, die er hat, und sucht nach Lösungen.

Ihre Website muss Inhalte enthalten, die diese Probleme ansprechen und Ihr Unternehmen als Experten in diesem Bereich positionieren. Die beliebtesten Inhalte wären hier:

Anleitungen
Erklärungsvideos
Blog-Beiträge
Blei-Magnete

In dieser Phase befindet sich der Interessent im Forschungsmodus, nicht im Kaufmodus und sammelt lediglich Informationen.

Möglicherweise ist Ihr Interessent in diesem Stadium noch gar nicht an Lösungen interessiert, da er noch versucht, seine eigenen Probleme genau zu diagnostizieren. Es ist unwahrscheinlich, dass Ihr Interessent in dieser Phase mit dem Vertrieb sprechen möchte.

Wir empfehlen Ihnen, die Marketing-Automatisierung zu nutzen, um zu verfolgen, über welche Artikel/Seiten Ihre potenziellen Kunden die Website betreten, da dies das Problem ist, das für sie am wichtigsten ist. Dies zu wissen, kann es dem Vertrieb leichter machen, ein relevantes Gespräch mit ihnen zu führen.

Sie können auch mit Chatbots auf Ihrer Website Erfolg haben, aber viele werden in dieser Phase anonym bleiben wollen.

Mitte des Trichters
In der Mitte Ihres Verkaufstrichters beginnen potenzielle Kunden, auf der Grundlage der in Stufe 1 gewonnenen Erkenntnisse spezifische Lösungen zu bewerten. Zu den Inhalten in der Mitte des Trichters gehören:

Präsentationen
Demonstrationen
Fallstudien

In der Praxis werden sie eine Art Auswahlliste potenzieller Anbieter erstellt haben und sich dann mit den Einzelheiten jeder potenziellen Lösung befassen.

In diesem Stadium ist der Interessent möglicherweise noch nicht bereit, sich auf Sie einzulassen, da er oft nur im Auftrag anderer Personen in seinem eigenen Unternehmen recherchiert und seine Priorität immer noch in der Informationsbeschaffung liegt.

Boden des Trichters
Wenn Ihr potenzieller Kunde das untere Ende Ihres Marketingtrichters erreicht hat, hat er sich in vielen Fällen bereits für einen bestimmten Anbieter oder eine bestimmte Lösung “entschieden”.

Sie haben ihre Entscheidung größtenteils auf der Grundlage ihrer Web-Erfahrung mit der Marke, Ihrer Vertriebsbotschaft und Ihrer Fähigkeit getroffen, sich nicht nur als Marktführer, sondern als Vordenker zu positionieren, der ihre Probleme versteht.

Bottom-of-Funnel-Inhalte würden Dinge beinhalten wie:

Preisgestaltung
Vergleichstabellen
Testimonials
Bewertungen

Bei einfacheren, preisgünstigeren Lösungen werden Sie feststellen, dass sie jetzt bereit sind, eine Testversion zu nutzen, wenn Sie einen starken Aufruf zum Handeln (CTA) anbieten, während sie sich bei teureren und komplexeren Lösungen jetzt auf den Verkauf einlassen werden.

Die folgende Abbildung zeigt, wie ein einfacher Marketingtrichter in einen Einkaufswagen und ein komplexerer B2B-Verkauf in einen Lead für den Vertrieb übergeht.

Der Erfolg liegt nicht in der Wahl des richtigen Modells, sondern im Aufbau eines eigenen Modells auf der Grundlage von Daten und Versuch und Irrtum.

Einfacher SaaS-Marketing-Trichter
SaaS-Verkaufstrichter

Die meisten Marketingsoftwares verfolgen inzwischen das Nutzerverhalten auf Ihrer Website und können mit Hilfe von Lead Scoring die Vertriebsmitarbeiter darauf hinweisen, wann der beste Zeitpunkt für eine proaktive Kontaktaufnahme mit potenziellen Kunden ist.

Unserer Erfahrung nach ist der Zeitpunkt fast immer zu früh, und ein gut definiertes Lead-Nurturing-Programm ist ebenso effektiv.

Um dies zu erreichen, sollten Sie in Ihr Marketing mindestens drei verschiedene Lead-Magneten einbauen, die Ihnen helfen, Ihre Web-Besucher in Abonnenten zu verwandeln, damit Sie in Kontakt bleiben können.

5. Werbung zum Füllen Ihres Verkaufstrichters

Viele Unternehmen füllen ihren Verkaufstrichter erfolgreich über Werbung. Die digitale Werbung ist inzwischen so ausgereift, dass sie ein umfangreiches Tracking und Reporting ermöglicht, so dass Sie innerhalb weniger Wochen wissen, wie hoch Ihre Conversion Ratio und Ihr CAC sein werden.

In erster Linie würden wir “Re-Targeting-Kampagnen” befürworten. Dies ist einfach der Prozess der Platzierung von Werbemitteln vor Leuten, die bereits Ihre Website besucht haben.

Studien zeigen, dass Retargeting siebenmal effektiver ist als neue Kampagnen, weshalb wir dies als Ausgangspunkt befürworten.

Diese Strategie funktioniert sehr gut mit einer starken Content-Marketing-Kampagne. Der beliebteste Add-Kanal für B2B ist LinkedIn, aber viele Unternehmen sind auch mit Facebook und Instagram gut gefahren.

Dies wird natürlich von Ihrem Publikum bestimmt. Werbung kann in einfachen Trichtern eingesetzt werden, um Verkäufe zu fördern, und in komplexeren, um neue Anfragen für Vertriebsmitarbeiter zu generieren.

Komplexere Verkäufe benötigen möglicherweise eine definierte Sequenz, bei der die Benutzer auf einen Lead-Magneten klicken und eine Anzeige schalten, um einen Lead-Magneten zu erhalten, wobei jeder Lead $3 kostet.

Wenn es Ihnen anschließend gelingt, 5 % dieser neuen Leads zu konvertieren, können Sie 60 $ pro Verkauf aus der Werbung auf Ihre CAC anrechnen.

Sie können aus jeder Aktivität, nicht nur aus der Werbung, eine nachvollziehbare Sequenz oder ein Modell erstellen. So können Sie beispielsweise anhand von Veranstaltungen, Webinaren und Telesales nachvollziehen, welche Aktivitäten am kosteneffizientesten sind, um nicht nur Ihren Trichter zu füllen, sondern auch tatsächlich zu Aufträgen zu führen.

6. Wie man einen SaaS-Verkaufstrichter aufbaut

Ihr Verkaufstrichter wird sich je nach Ihrer Verkaufsstrategie unterscheiden. Verkaufen Sie Ihre App direkt oder verkaufen Sie sie über Partner? Auf welche Kanäle haben Sie sich zunächst konzentriert?

1. Identifizieren Sie Ihr perfektes Interessentenprofil. Dies ist die Version einer Marketing-Persona für den Vertriebsmitarbeiter. Sie enthält alles, was auch eine Marketing-Persona enthalten würde, sowie einige zusätzliche Informationen, die dem Vertrieb helfen, den potenziellen Kunden besser zu verstehen und mit ihm zu kommunizieren.

Profilvorlage für Interessenten
Profilvorlage für Interessenten

2. Erstellen Sie Ihre Vertriebsbotschaft. Ein Teil der Produkt-/Marktanpassung besteht darin zu verstehen, welches geschäftliche oder persönliche Problem Ihr Produkt löst.

Nach unserer Erfahrung sind die erfolgreichsten SaaS-Dienste Unternehmenslösungen, die Geschäftsprobleme lösen.

Wenn Sie erst einmal verstanden haben, wie dies mit Ihrem eigenen Produkt/Dienstleistung zusammenhängt, können Sie damit beginnen, Ihre Vertriebsbotschaften zu erstellen.

Es sind die Worte und die differenzierte Sprache, mit denen Sie nachweislich eine Verbindung zu potenziellen Kunden herstellen. Es reicht nicht aus, über Ihr eigenes Unternehmen und Ihre Lösungen Bescheid zu wissen, Sie sollten auch Ihre Kunden kennen.

Sie sollten genau wissen, wie Ihre Lösung Ihrem Kunden hilft, Geld zu sparen, Geld zu verdienen und ihm das Leben zu erleichtern.

3. Lead-Generierungs-Kampagne.

Sobald Sie Ihre potenziellen Kunden identifiziert und Ihre Vertriebsbotschaft erstellt haben, müssen Sie mit der Arbeit an einer Lead-Generierungskampagne beginnen.

Es gibt zwei Hauptansätze für die Lead-Generierung wie folgt:

a) Inbound-Lead-Generierung. Bei Inbound-Kampagnen zur Lead-Generierung nimmt der Interessent zuerst Kontakt mit Ihnen auf. Sie können ein Formular auf Ihrer Website ausfüllen, Sie anrufen oder Ihnen eine E-Mail schicken. Um eingehende Leads zu generieren, müssen Sie in irgendeiner Form Inhalte erstellen, Anzeigenkampagnen, Webinare, Empfehlungsprogramme oder SEO durchführen.

b) Outbound-Lead-Generierung. Outbound-Kampagnen zur Lead-Generierung sind Kampagnen, bei denen Sie potenzielle Kunden über Telefon, E-Mail, Direktwerbung, Veranstaltungen oder kontobasiertes Marketing ansprechen. Outbound-Kampagnen bedeuten immer, dass Sie ein Outbound-Team aufbauen müssen, was teuer sein kann.

Die meisten SaaS-Unternehmen nutzen eine Kombination aus Inbound- und Outbound-Kampagnen, wobei der Schwerpunkt fast immer auf einer der beiden Vorgehensweisen liegt.

Als grober Anhaltspunkt kann gelten, dass SaaS-Dienste, die kostengünstiger sind und auf KMU abzielen, marketingorientiert sind und sich vorwiegend auf Inbound konzentrieren.

SaaS-Dienste, die eher kostenintensiv sind und auf mittelständische bis große Unternehmen abzielen, verfolgen einen eher vertriebsorientierten Ansatz über Account Based Marketing.

7. Was sind die Stufen eines SaaS-Verkaufstrichters?

saas-verkaufstrichter
Wie man einen SaaS-Verkaufstrichter aufbaut

Die Stufen Ihres Verkaufstrichters sind einfach eine Reihe von Schritten, die Ihre Interessenten durchlaufen, um eine Bestellung aufzugeben.

Diese Phasen können sehr unterschiedlich sein, und es gibt nicht den einen Trichter, den Sie auf jede App anwenden können. Auch wenn die Phasen gleich sind, kann die Methode, mit der Sie potenzielle Kunden durch den Trichter bewegen, unterschiedlich sein.

Ihr Verkaufstrichter ist ein hervorragender Ausgangspunkt für die Erfassung von Daten, um die Leistung zu messen und im Laufe der Zeit Verbesserungen vorzunehmen.

Im Allgemeinen sollten potenzielle Kunden den Verkaufstrichter so schnell wie möglich durchlaufen – dies wird als Verkaufszyklus oder Rohrgeschwindigkeit bezeichnet.

Durch die Messung der Geschwindigkeit, mit der sich potenzielle Kunden durch den Zyklus bewegen, können Sie Blockaden in Ihrem Trichter und Bereiche, in denen potenzielle Kunden langsamer werden, identifizieren.

Diese “Knackpunkte” sind die Punkte, an denen Sie Verbesserungen vornehmen sollten.

8. Wann führe ich mein SaaS-Produkt den Kunden vor?

Das Timing von SaaS-Anwendungsdemonstrationen innerhalb des Verkaufsprozesses ist für viele Unternehmen ein Diskussionsthema.

Die Antwort auf diese Frage lautet leider “es kommt darauf an”. Viele Unternehmen führen ihre App zu Beginn des Verkaufsprozesses erfolgreich vor, aber es gibt auch viele, die ihre App zu Beginn vorführen und dann ihre potenziellen Kunden in einem schwarzen Loch aus Voicemail und unbeantworteten E-Mails verschwinden lassen.

Kurz gesagt, je billiger und einfacher die Lösung ist, desto früher im Prozess können Sie sie vorführen, und je teurer und komplexer die Lösung ist, desto weiter hinten im Verkaufsprozess sollte sie vorgeführt werden.

saas app demos
Wie man einen SaaS-Verkaufstrichter aufbaut


In der Realität neigen Unternehmer und Vertriebsmitarbeiter dazu, ihre App in aller Eile zu demonstrieren, in der Hoffnung, dass die Demo den potenziellen Kunden davon überzeugt, sich zu registrieren.

Selbst wenn der Interessent qualifiziert ist und gut zu uns passt, besteht bei einer Demo ohne irgendeine Form der Diagnose des Schmerzes des Interessenten die Gefahr, dass der Interessent verloren geht.

Ihr Interessent muss wissen, dass Sie seine Welt kennen und verstehen. Dies kann nur durch intelligente und gezielte Befragung erreicht werden. Wenn Sie den Verkauf beschleunigen wollen, verlangsamen Sie den Verkauf.

Die Demo ist in der Regel der größte Hebel des Verkäufers, und wenn Sie sie zu schnell verschenken, verlieren Sie den Hebel und höchstwahrscheinlich auch den Interessenten.

Als Faustregel gilt: Schieben Sie die App-Demo in Ihrem Verkaufsprozess so weit wie möglich nach hinten.

Demos kosten Zeit und Geld, insbesondere bei komplexen Verkäufen, bei denen häufig eine maßgeschneiderte Demo erforderlich ist.

Jede maßgeschneiderte Demonstration darf nur den leitenden Entscheidungsträgern im Einkaufsteam des Interessenten vorgelegt werden. Gegebenenfalls können Sie sogar zwei Demos innerhalb des Verkaufsprozesses durchführen – es gibt keine anderen Regeln als die, dass Sie es tun, wenn es funktioniert.

Die meisten Vertriebsmitarbeiter machen den Fehler, diesen Teil des Verkaufsprozesses zu nutzen, um die Vorteile des Produkts im Detail zu erläutern.

Wenn du erzählst, verkaufst du nicht. Verwenden Sie intelligente Fragen, um den Interessenten dazu zu bringen, Ihnen mitzuteilen, wie die Lösung seine geschäftlichen Probleme lösen wird.

Sie sollten es vermeiden, über Merkmale zu sprechen, von denen Sie glauben, dass sie für sie relevant sind. Wenn Sie dies in der Entdeckungsphase des Verkaufsprozesses nicht aufgedeckt haben, ist es von Natur aus riskant, im weiteren Verlauf des Prozesses etwas Neues einzuführen.

Bei einfacheren, preisgünstigeren Lösungen sind sie nun bereit, eine Testversion zu nutzen, während sie bei teureren und komplexeren Lösungen nun mit einem Vertriebsmitarbeiter sprechen werden.

Um nachzuweisen, dass sie ihre Sorgfaltspflicht erfüllt haben, werden sie immer mit zwei oder drei potenziellen Lieferanten sprechen.

Dabei geht es nicht unbedingt darum, einen Lieferanten über den Preis zu schlagen, aber manchmal müssen sie der breiteren Beschaffungsgruppe innerhalb ihrer Organisation erklären, warum sie eine Präferenz haben.

Testversionen von Anwendungen sind ebenfalls ein guter Weg, um Nutzer zur Registrierung zu bewegen, allerdings ist das Verhältnis von Testversionen zu Geschäftsabschlüssen in den meisten SaaS-Fällen schlecht.

Je nach Preisgestaltung können Sie eine verwaltete Testversion anbieten, damit der Kunde Ihre Software testen kann, während Sie ihn im weiteren Verlauf des Verkaufsprozesses betreuen.

Bei einem Test kann der Interessent sehen, wie das Produkt in der Praxis funktioniert. Es ist wichtig, dass Sie den Termin für die Verhandlung gut planen und im Voraus vereinbaren, was passiert, wenn die Verhandlung erfolgreich ist.

Wir haben die obige Grafik erstellt, um visuell zu erklären, wie dies für Ihre Organisation funktionieren könnte.

Es ist erwähnenswert, dass in diesem Beispiel der Großteil der CAC auf das Marketing entfällt, wohingegen bei einem komplexeren Trichter die Kosten Marketing, Vertrieb und Kundeneinführung umfassen.

9. Beispiele für SaaS-Verkaufstrichter

Die folgenden Verkaufstrichter sind Beispiele. Sie sollten diese NICHT nachbilden, es sei denn, sie passen zu Ihrem Verkaufsprozess.

Sie sind als Ausgangspunkt für diejenigen gedacht, die einen Verkaufstrichter entwickeln wollen.

Wie Sie aus der Grafik ersehen können, gibt es viele Alternativen zu den Stufen, aus denen Ihr Verkaufstrichter besteht, je nachdem, welche Art von Trichter Sie erstellen wollen.

Für rein digitale Trichter könnten Sie haben:

Lead Magnet Landing Page – wo potenzielle Kunden ankommen, nachdem sie auf Ihre Anzeige geklickt haben
Bestätigungsseite – Bestätigung Ihres kostenlosen Angebots, Ihrer Testversion oder Ihres Kaufs
Upsell-Seite – auf der potenzielle Kunden die Möglichkeit haben, zusätzliche Dienstleistungen oder Upgrades zu erwerben
Kassenseite – hier bezahlen Interessenten für den Dienst
Gratulations- oder Dankeseite – hier können Sie Interessenten mit den entsprechenden nächsten Schritten unterrichten.

Verkaufstrichter mit Pipeline
Wie man einen SaaS-Verkaufstrichter aufbaut

10. SaaS-Verkaufstrichter-Metriken

Wenn es um Kennzahlen geht, sind wir der Meinung, dass dies die üblichen Vertriebskennzahlen und KPIs sind, mit denen die meisten Menschen vertraut sind. Es versteht sich von selbst, dass diese Kennzahlen wichtig sind und Sie sie aufzeichnen und auswerten sollten.

LTT – Umwandlung von Leads in Tests
Dies ist die Anzahl der Leads, die in einen Versuch umgewandelt wurden.

DCR – Demo-Umwandlungsverhältnis
Die Anzahl der Demos, die erfolgreich in die nächste Stufe des Verkaufsprozesses übergehen.

TTS – Umwandlung von Probezeit in Verkauf
Dies ist die Anzahl der potenziellen Kunden in der kostenlosen Testphase, die zu zahlenden Kunden geworden sind.

LTV – Lifetime Value des Kunden
Dies ist der durchschnittliche Gesamtwert, den ein Kunde ausgibt, bevor er den Dienst verlässt. Ironischerweise ist dies umso schwieriger zu messen, je besser Ihr Produkt ist, denn wenn die Kunden nicht gehen, wissen Sie nicht, wie lange sie bleiben und welchen Gesamtwert sie für Ihr Unternehmen haben.

Churn – Anzahl der Kunden, die abwandern
Die Kunden werden abwandern, und das ist nicht immer etwas Schlechtes. Wenn die Kunden, die Sie verlassen, Ihrem ICP (Ideal Client Profile) entsprechen, haben Sie ein Problem. Kunden, die abwandern und nicht in Ihren ICP passen, setzen möglicherweise wertvolle Ressourcen frei, die für Ihren ICP verwendet werden können.

MRR – Monatlich wiederkehrender Umsatz
Die monatlich wiederkehrenden Einnahmen geben Ihnen einen Überblick über Ihren Erfolg, aber es ist nur ein Überblick, und Sie müssen sich die Details innerhalb der Daten ansehen, um ein genaueres Bild zu erhalten.

ARR – Jährlich wiederkehrender Umsatz
Die jährlich wiederkehrenden Einnahmen geben einen guten Überblick über das Geschäft, aber wie die MRR sollten Sie alle Daten untersuchen, um ein genaueres Bild über den Zustand Ihres Unternehmens zu erhalten.

Verkaufszyklus – Die Zeit vom ersten Kontakt bis zum Abschluss eines Auftrags
Dieser Zeitraum ist in der Regel kurz für einfachere Lösungen mit geringem Wert und länger für komplexe Unternehmensverkäufe. So kann beispielsweise ein Verkauf an eine Tier-1-Bank vom ersten Kontakt bis zum Abschluss 18 Monate dauern.

CAC – Kundenakquisitionskosten
Es ist wichtig zu wissen, wie viel es Sie kostet, einen einzigen Kunden zu gewinnen. In einer idealen Welt würden Sie dies in der Anfangsphase des Unternehmens entdecken, wenn Sie das Wertversprechen unter Beweis stellen. Ohne diese Zahl ist es unmöglich, die Systeme und Prozesse für die Skalierung des Unternehmens einzurichten, da Sie nicht wissen, wie viel Sie für das Marketing und den Vertrieb an der Front ausgeben können.

Negative Abwanderung –
Negative Abwanderung ist eine aussagekräftige Wachstumskennzahl, die anzeigt, dass die Einnahmen aus dem Upselling und Cross-Selling bestehender Kunden die Einnahmen übersteigen, die durch den Weggang von Kunden verloren gehen.

11. Einreichung von SaaS-Vorschlägen

Nach der abschließenden Vorführung sollten Sie niemals anbieten, ein Angebot zu unterbreiten.

Angebote kosten Zeit und Geld, und wenn Ihr Interessent interessiert ist , wird er Sie um ein Angebot bitten.

Wenn Ihr potenzieller Kunde Sie nicht um ein Angebot bittet, bedeutet dies, dass er nicht an einer Zusammenarbeit mit Ihnen interessiert ist und Sie den Verkaufsprozess zurückverfolgen müssen, um zu verstehen, was Sie falsch gemacht haben.

Wenn der Verkaufsprozess ins Stocken gerät, liegt das selten an etwas, das Sie in diesem Moment falsch gemacht haben – häufiger ist es etwas, das Sie zu einem früheren Zeitpunkt im Verkaufsprozess übersehen haben.

Vergewissern Sie sich, dass Ihnen alle Vorteile der Software klar und deutlich erklärt wurden und dass sie mit ihren Bedürfnissen übereinstimmen.

Lassen Sie sich nach Möglichkeit immer von Ihrem Weißen Ritter bei der Ausarbeitung des Vorschlags unterstützen, und prüfen Sie einen Entwurf mit ihm, bevor Sie die offizielle Fassung abschicken.

Bevor Sie Ihren Vorschlag abschicken, müssen Sie sich darüber im Klaren sein, was im Falle eines Zuschlags oder einer Niederlage als nächstes zu tun ist.

Wenn Sie dies nicht tun, werden Sie höchstwahrscheinlich die nächsten drei Monate damit verbringen, Geister in der Mailbox zu jagen.

12. Preisgestaltung für Ihre SaaS-Verträge

Viele Unternehmen geben auf ihrer Website nur begrenzte oder gar keine Preise an, weil sie nicht wollen, dass ihre Konkurrenten ihre Preise sehen, oder weil sie glauben, dass dies potenzielle Kunden abschrecken würde.

Sie sollten stolz sein auf Ihren Preis und den Wert, den Sie bieten. Lassen Sie sich von der Konkurrenz unterbieten und alle Ressourcen für unrentable Geschäfte binden.

Menschen kaufen selten die billigste Lösung, also erlauben Sie Ihren Interessenten, Sie zu unterbieten.

Wenn Sie immer noch Bedenken haben, Ihre Preise auf Ihrer Website anzugeben, dann denken Sie daran, wie Sie sich fühlen, wenn Sie sich über eine Lösung informieren, an der Sie interessiert sind, und dann feststellen, dass die Preisseite mit POA übersät ist.

Wenn Sie wie die meisten Menschen sind, finden Sie das wirklich ärgerlich und gehen schnell zum nächsten potenziellen Anbieter weiter.

Ein weiterer Vorteil der stolzen Preisangabe ist schließlich, dass sie jeden ausschließt, der nicht bereit ist, in diesem Umfang zu investieren.

Dies kann Ihnen viel Zeit und Ressourcen bei Interessenten sparen, die einfach ein anderes Budget haben.

Es gibt zahlreiche Preisstrategien, die Ihnen zur Verfügung stehen, aber nach unserer Erfahrung ist das Einzige, was garantiert ist, dass Sie Ihre Preisgestaltung ändern werden.

Als Faustregel gilt: Wenn Ihre Preise für einen kurzfristigen Vertrag oder eine kostenpflichtige Testversion zu hoch angesetzt sind, kann es sein, dass der Interessent die Vorteile der Software nicht in vollem Umfang nutzen kann, bevor der Vertrag ausläuft, und dass er sich gegen eine Verlängerung entscheidet.

Wenn möglich, sollten Sie potenzielle Kunden während des Testzeitraums für das Hinzufügen von Informationen und die Nutzung des Dienstes belohnen.

Bieten Sie z. B. eine kürzere Testphase an und schaffen Sie Anreize, wenn die Nutzer ihr Profil/Konto vollständig einrichten.

Bieten Sie einen weiteren kostenlosen Zeitraum an, um sie zu ermutigen, das Produkt zu nutzen, wenn sie beispielsweise Daten in das System hochladen.

Die Idee ist, Ihre neuen Nutzer Schritt für Schritt “einzubinden” und Ihr Produkt so klebrig wie möglich zu machen.
Möchte der Interessent dennoch weitergehen, sollten Sie Verträge mit digitaler Unterschrift verwenden, um den Verkaufsprozess zu beschleunigen.

Senden Sie niemals Verträge in E-Mails oder Links zu digitalen Verträgen, da diese leicht übersehen werden können.

Vereinbaren Sie einen Termin mit dem Interessenten am Telefon, um den Vertrag mit ihm zu besprechen. Sobald sie allen Punkten im Vertrag zugestimmt haben, bitten Sie sie einfach, zu unterschreiben, während Sie sie am Telefon haben.

Auf diese Weise behalten Sie die Kontrolle über den Verkaufsprozess.

13. Warum der Verkaufstrichter für SaaS-Anbieter so wichtig ist

Viele Unternehmen sind gescheitert, weil sie nicht in der Lage waren, einen Verkaufstrichter zu implementieren. Die Vermarktung und der Verkauf von SaaS-Produkten kann eine unglaubliche Herausforderung sein, und die Chancen stehen gut, dass Ihre Zielkunden bereits mit Angeboten von konkurrierenden Softwareanbietern überschüttet werden.

Überlegen Sie, aus welchem Teil des vorhandenen Budgets des Käufers Sie Einnahmen erzielen wollen. Welchen direkten oder indirekten Konkurrenten werden Sie Budget wegnehmen?

Sie konkurrieren möglicherweise mit einigen der größten und mächtigsten Marken der Welt, die generische Lösungen für die gleichen Probleme anbieten, die Sie lösen.

Das bedeutet, dass Sie etwas Besonderes anbieten müssen, das Ihre Kunden tatsächlich benötigen.

Laut einer Studie von CB Insights scheitern 42 % der SaaS-Start-ups, weil sie Produkte anbieten, die ihre Zielkunden nicht brauchen.

Es ist wichtig, potenzielle Kunden davon zu überzeugen, dass Ihre Software einen echten Mehrwert bietet.

Warum Saas-Start-ups scheitern

14. Umgang mit den Erwartungen der Interessenten

Bei der Erstellung eines Verkaufstrichters geht es darum, eine Reise vom Webbesucher zum Abonnenten aufzubauen, die durch Demos und Pfade führt und mit der Vertragsunterzeichnung endet.

Ihr Verkaufstrichter sollte jede der wichtigsten Phasen hervorheben, die Ihre potenziellen Kunden auf dem Weg zu einem Vertragsabschluss durchlaufen werden.

Seien Sie offen und ehrlich und teilen Sie Ihren potenziellen Kunden die einzelnen Phasen des Prozesses im Voraus mit.
Sie sollten genau auf alle Reibungspunkte achten, die auf dem Weg Ihrer potenziellen Kunden durch Ihre Vertriebskette auftreten können.

Dies gibt Ihnen die Möglichkeit, Verbesserungen an Ihrem Trichter vorzunehmen.
Das Wichtigste ist, dass Sie alle Datenpunkte in Ihrem Verkaufstrichter aufzeichnen.

Dies wird Ihnen helfen, Entscheidungen auf der Grundlage von Fakten und nicht nach Ihrem Bauchgefühl zu treffen. Es kann einige Zeit dauern, bis Ihr Verkaufstrichter seine volle Wirkung entfaltet, und Sie müssen möglicherweise mehrere Verfeinerungen vornehmen, bevor Sie einen wirklich optimierten Verkaufstrichter haben.

Viele Kunden wissen nicht genau, was sie brauchen, wenn sie Ihnen zum ersten Mal begegnen. Bieten Sie Lösungen und nicht nur Produkte an, indem Sie potenziellen Kunden helfen, die Verbindung zwischen beiden herzustellen.

Es stimmt auch, dass die Nutzer oft das kaufen, was sie wollen, und nicht das, was sie brauchen.

Deshalb ist es so wichtig, gezielte Fragen zu stellen, um die Bedürfnisse der Kunden genau zu ermitteln, damit Sie Ihre Software möglichst günstig positionieren können.

Anhand dieser Fragen können Sie auch feststellen, wie nah oder fern sie einer Entscheidung sind.

15. Das Aufkommen von SaaS-Lösungen

Es scheint, als ob alles in der Welt jetzt durch SaaS-Anwendungen online betrieben wird. Von Netflix und Amazon Prime bis hin zu LinkedIn und Microsoft M365 sind wir heute von SaaS-Lösungen der einen oder anderen Art umgeben.

Aus finanzieller Sicht ist SaaS sinnvoll, da es hohe Anfangsinvestitionen vermeidet und die Lösung weniger risikoreich macht.

Denn wenn es nicht klappt, ist man in der Regel nur für maximal 12 Monate gebunden. Zu den weiteren Vorteilen von SaaS gehört, dass es in der Regel schnell eingesetzt werden kann und keine Wartung seitens des Kunden erfordert.

Upgrades werden in der Regel automatisch geliefert, wobei den Kunden in der Regel ein garantiertes Serviceniveau angeboten wird.

Backups und Datenwiederherstellung werden in der Regel im Auftrag des Kunden durchgeführt, so dass dieser sich auf seine eigentliche Arbeit konzentrieren kann, in der Gewissheit, dass alles von den Softwareentwicklern selbst erledigt wird.

Lockdown hat SaaS mit Turbo aufgeladen
Die Tatsache, dass SaaS-Produkte es ermöglichen, von überall aus zu arbeiten und zusammenzuarbeiten, hat dazu beigetragen, SaaS noch stärker in unserem Alltag zu verankern, denn Fernarbeit war schon vor der Pandemie auf dem Vormarsch.

In jedem Land der Welt werden Tausende von neuen SaaS-Produkten entwickelt, so dass der Wettbewerb hart ist, aber der Appetit von Verbrauchern und Unternehmen auf SaaS-Lösungen ist ungebrochen.

Ein kohärenter Verkaufstrichter kann den Unterschied ausmachen, ob Ihr Produkt ein viraler Erfolg wird oder ob Sie gezwungen sind, zum Reißbrett zurückzukehren.