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How to Build an Outbound Sales Team
How to Build an Outbound Sales Team ā 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 companyās 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 ā 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.Ā Whether you chose to build your own outbound team or to subcontract to a specialist you need a proven value proposition.Ā The more time and money you invest on proving your value proposition will be returned ten fold in your results.Ā This does not just apply to Startups.Ā Those that believe they have already proven their value proposition can equally benefit by refining and fine tuning what they have.Ā
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.Ā 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.Ā That’s characters not words.
Technology
We are blessed in the modern sales world with lots ofĀ great outbound technologiesĀ 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 andĀ 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.
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 ābought intoā 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.
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 mailĀ āĀ Sales Intel
It takes an average of 18 attempts to reach a technology buyerĀ āĀ 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 āmore importantā 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.
KlozersĀ has been selected among theĀ TopĀ Lead Generation CompaniesĀ by Designrush
Consultative Sales Training | How Customers Want to Buy
Consultative Sales Training ā Top question from Google
What is a Consultative Sales Approach?
Consultative selling is very different to more traditional forms of selling, as it doesnāt 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 selling 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.
Consultative selling 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 isnāt 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 professionals 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 sales professionals to take a genuine interest in them as a person and their business.
If your product or service matches the criteria below you should consider using consultative selling:
- Direct route to market
- Low volume of sales but high profit margins ā 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 have a conversation with potential buyers, in a structured and reputable manner. Building trust first with any potential buyer is just one fo the key selling skills required.Ā
Initially, many sales professionals 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 product.Ā
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 ā 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 ā 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 ā 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 ā 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 Ā£10,000 then this could be a very attractive proposal for the buyer. Alternatively, if the solution costs Ā£100,000, and it would only save the company Ā£10,000 each year, it will be a much less attractive proposition to the buyer.
6. Personal Impact ā Find out how the problem affects the buyer personally ā 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.
What do you need to be a good consultative salesperson?
Consultative selling requires some key selling skills which arenāt necessarily associated with more traditional selling methods. This includes:
- Active ListeningĀ ā traditionally salespeople arenāt 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 ā 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 ā 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 ā 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 customersā customer want.
- Self-awareness ā Consultative salespeople will need to understand and manage our thoughts and the impact that can have on people.
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 doesnāt 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 ā These are used to gather further information
- Closed questions ā Should be used for confirmation
- Summary questions ā 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 ā These channel the conversation through a particular area.
- Redirect questions ā Sales Professionals should use these questions to control the conversation and move the sales process forward.
- Opposing redirect ā These questions is answering a question with a question back to the buyer.
- Presumptive questions ā 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 ourĀ course on consultative salesĀ and book online here.
Klozers Sales Training
More than just sales training, we train salespeople the essential sales skills that turns them into a top performer.Ā We work with your sales team taking them on a journey from Business Development and winning new customers, through to creating long term relationships.Ā Ā
Consultative Selling is more than just asking probing questions, it’s also when and how to ask them in a way that fosters and builds trust.Ā Ā
We help you identify the key areas that your sales team needs to uncover customer needs, become problem solving gurus, and close more deals.Ā Ā
Sales Training and Consulting for B2B Companies
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.Ā
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.Ā
For these companies we provide a shortcut, we help them avoid the pitfalls and roadblocks that every growing Ā business experiences.Ā
When you engage with Klozers your team has access to over 70 years experience in B2B sales and marketing.Ā
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.Ā
Indeed, training may be part of the solution, but it is never the whole solution.Ā 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.Ā
By rushing into training we would be assuming that everything else that affects sales isĀ 100% perfect, and that is simply never the case.Ā
As with anything, the greater the investment upfront in terms of the diagnosis, the more effective the training will be.Ā
This is because the training can then be customised to meet the exact needs of the business which makes it much more impactful.
2. Why is Sales Training so effective?
Sales training builds both skills and confidence, and those are simply unbeatable in front of a customer.Ā Ā
The best salespeople are like athletes and they are hungry to learn more and stay at the top of their game.Ā
The reason they are so good is that they are constantly looking for an edge, an advantage, and this keeps driving them forward.Ā
These are small but important things that make the difference and gets more deals over the line.Ā 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.Ā 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.
4. What is the aim of Sales Training
Our goal as a provider is not to deliver sales training, but to deliver results.Ā
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 ā 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.
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.Ā
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.Ā
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.Ā The first are larger organisations who already have a Sales Plan in place.Ā
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.Ā 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.Ā
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.Ā Either way we can help. Ā
In Conclusion
Sales is an ever changing environment and more and more businesses are improving their performance, staff retention rates and workplace morale.Ā
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. Ā
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.
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Sales and Service Training Courses
If your business is typical, up to 80% of next years revenues will come from this years customers.Ā Despite this many organisations give little or no thought to customer service, viewing it merely as a cost to the business.Ā
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.Ā 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.Ā
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.
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How can Sales and Service Training help my team?
Often the biggest challenge in business is winning new customers.Ā 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.Ā
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.Ā 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.Ā 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.Ā
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.
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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.Ā
A big part of resolving customers problems should be finding new solutions to the problems customers encounter.Ā Ā 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.Ā
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.
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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.Ā 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.Ā 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.Ā Ā Ā
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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. Ā
It’s therefore important to try and keep hold of the employees that you have already invested in and continue to develop them.
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Should Managers attend Sales and Service Training?
Your Managers set the bar in terms of what is acceptable performance and what is not.Ā 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.Ā
Failure to do this will simply harm the confidence of the team and demotivate them.
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Increase your Customer Satisfaction Ratings
Training like everything else in your business needs to deliver a return on your investment.Ā Whilst not everything should be judged by customer service scores, any service training should ultimately Ā 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.Ā
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.
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Omnichannel Customer Support
Modern customer service training often starts before your customers have even made a purchase.Ā In most cases your customers first interaction with your brand is either your website or social media pages.Ā
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.Ā
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 Ā 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. Ā
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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.
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.Ā
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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.Ā Part of your overall programme should include how you plan to collect and share customer reviews.Ā
With 70% of people taking action based on customer reviews this is an essential component of every sales and customer service training.
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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.
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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.Ā Ā
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.Ā
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.Ā Ā
The customer service training includes two options as follows:
Enterprise Customer Service Training
SaaS Customer Success Training
Please contact us for further information.Ā Ā
In Summary
How important is retaining your existing customers?Ā
How valuable would the extra revenue be if your customer service team were actively cross selling and upselling throughout their day? Ā
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.Ā
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
The Objectives of Sales Management
There are manyĀ objectives and goals for sales managementĀ and the importance of each will vary from business to business.Ā
Business to business sales can be complex, with many variables and whilst the obvious objectives of revenue, profitability and growth are important itās easy to argue a case for the plethora of other objectives such asĀ customer satisfaction, team morale, employee retention.Ā
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.
Weāve 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.Ā
So, weāve listed below what we believe to be the main objectives of sales management, enjoy.
1. Sales Plan
Weāve listed sales plan at the very start because of itās importance.Ā Without a plan itās difficult to track progress, meet or exceed your goals and align your sales team around those goals.Ā
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.Ā
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 āan approachā 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.Ā
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.Ā An eternal hardship that consumes any profits you dreamed of as it sucks the life from your business. Ā
Once youāve agreed on a strategy you need to review this on a monthly basis and adjust as required.Ā
Beware however, of changing your strategy before it has had a chance to mature or you might just end up going round in circles. Ā
Once youāve decided on your sales strategy the next challenge is aligning all your resources including the sales team and executing on that strategy.Ā
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.Ā
Data is the new oil and Sales reporting is an essential part of the modern sales managers day to day activities.Ā
Your reporting system should Ā 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.
Itās 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.Ā
Every day the Manager sets the bar between what is acceptable and what is not, in terms performance from their team.Ā
They are responsible for not just managing, but also the training, coaching and development of the sales team.Ā
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:
- They do everything they can to help salespeople sell more
- 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, itās 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
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.Ā
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. Ā
What’s also important in terms of morale is being completely fair and not having any personal favourites in the team.Ā
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.Ā
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 itās 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 donāt believe they can hit those targets, they will quickly become demotivated.Ā
We recommend that you include your sales team as part of the planning process to help you set your sales targets.Ā
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 Ā 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.Ā
There is nothing more demotivating to sales reps than the struggle to fill the sales funnel with new leads.Ā 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.Ā
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.Ā
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. Ā
Itās important to manage expectations and collectively agree what success looks like in the initial phases.Ā
This is why we are such advocates of creating a sales plan that everyone can align themselves behind.Ā
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. Ā
Itās 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 youāve 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.Ā
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 youāve 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.Ā
For example, data analysis is hugely important for every sales manager, as is planning, strategy and people management.Ā
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
Itās easy to overlook training as a Sales Manager because there never seems to be any free time for developing your team or indeed yourself.Ā
Training falls into the category of important/not urgent and because of this it often gets overlooked.Ā 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.Ā
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.Ā
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.Ā
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, itās 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 doesnāt 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 Ā£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 doesnāt 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 Ā£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 doesnāt 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 donāt want to do this butā¦”,
- 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. Itās not what you charge itās 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 itās 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.
Hoe bouw je een SaaS-verkoopkanaal
1. Wat is een Sales Funnel?
Een sales funnel is een opeenvolging van acties, gebeurtenissen of stadia die een gebruiker doorloopt voordat hij een product of dienst koopt. Sales funnels zijn ontworpen om marketeers in staat te stellen het verkoopproces te volgen, vast te leggen en te optimaliseren om de resultaten te verbeteren.
U kunt hier meer te weten komen over onze SaaS sales training.
2. Hoe bouw je een SaaS verkoop trechter
Uw SaaS sales funnel is een essentieel onderdeel van uw Apps succes. Als je SaaS-apps aanbiedt, is het creƫren van een herhaalbare, schaalbare en traceerbare sales funnel een van de belangrijke stappen die je moet nemen.
Klinkt makkelijk? Denk dan nog eens na. De sales funnel is het punt waar veel start-ups die overgaan op het genereren van inkomsten moeite mee hebben, en in veel gevallen falen.
Voordat u begint met het bouwen van uw funnel is het de moeite waard om eerst te overwegen waar u zich bevindt in uw app reis.
3. De drie hoofdfasen van SaaS-ontwikkeling
Helaas is er in de verkoop nooit een pasklare oplossing, en het startpunt voor het bouwen van een SaaS-verkoop funnel is afhankelijk van waar je bent, in termen van de drie belangrijkste fasen van een SaaS-business?
Ben je bij:
Fase 1: het begin van de reis waarbij de stichter en het primaire team nog bezig zijn om de product/markt fit vast te stellen.
Fase 2: de oprichter en de leden van het eerste team hebben bewezen dat het product en de markt bij elkaar passen en bewijzen dat zij systemen en processen kunnen implementeren die anderen kunnen gebruiken om te verkopen.
Fase 3, de laatste horde waarin u een bewezen product-markt fit hebt, u de juiste systemen en processen voor schaalvergroting hebt geĆÆdentificeerd en bewezen en u nu klaar bent om uw verkoop te schalen, u te concentreren op klantenwerving en uw MRR op te bouwen.
De strategieƫn die je gebruikt voor het bouwen van een SaaS sales funnel zullen variƫren afhankelijk van wat je precies geleerd hebt in stap 1 hierboven.
Voor deze oefening ga ik er dus van uit dat u bij stap 1 bent. Als je nog steeds moeite hebt om een sales funnel op te bouwen bij stap 2 en 3 dan heb je ofwel iets gemist bij stap 1 of er is iets veranderd waardoor alles wat je geleerd hebt bij stap 1 niet meer werkt.
4. Bouw een marketing funnel voor uw sales funnel
Bij elk bedrijf is het belangrijk dat u de optimale omstandigheden creƫert voor uw verkoopteam om succesvol te zijn. In de SaaS-wereld is het niet genoeg om een goede website te hebben, je hebt een website nodig die:
a) gevonden kunnen worden door uw producten en diensten in de belangrijkste zoekmachines – Google, Bing, Yahoo & YouTube
b) kan worden gevonden door de problemen die u oplost in de grote zoekmachines – Google, Bing, Yahoo & YouTube
c) webverkeer kan omzetten in marketing gekwalificeerde leads
Veel bedrijven negeren dit en haasten zich om een outbound sales team op te bouwen. Het is een feit dat elke potentiƫle prospect die uw outbound Team interesseert, vervolgens naar uw website zal gaan om verder onderzoek te doen.
Tenzij de webervaring gelijk is aan of groter dan de ervaring van de prospects met uw outbound team, zullen zij onmiddellijk afhaken.
Om een marketing funnel op te bouwen moet je “dwingende user first content” creĆ«ren. Dit is inhoud waarnaar de gebruiker actief op zoek is, niet de inhoud die uw verkoop- en marketingteam willen pushen.
Uw SaaS marketing funnel is een essentieel onderdeel van uw Inbound verkoopstrategie. Om dit met succes te doen, moet u in elke fase van het kopersverloop inhoud van hoge kwaliteit creƫren, zoals hieronder wordt weergegeven.
De inhoud moet subtiel uw merkverhaal vertellen en het succes dat u aan andere gebruikers hebt gebracht . Maak van je early adopters de helden, niet van jou.
TOFU – Top van trechter
Het eerste deel van uw sales funnel, ook bekend als TOFU, is de bewustwordingsfase van de funnel. De prospect is zich bewust van de problemen die hij heeft en zoekt naar oplossingen.
Uw website moet inhoud hebben die op deze problemen ingaat en uw bedrijf positioneren als de Subject Matter Experts. De meest populaire inhoud hier zou zijn:
Hoe te gidsen
Uitleg video’s
Blog berichten
Lead Magneten
In dit stadium bevindt de prospect zich in de onderzoeksmodus, niet de koopmodus, en is hij gewoon informatie aan het verzamelen.
Uw prospect is in dit stadium misschien niet eens geĆÆnteresseerd in oplossingen, omdat hij nog steeds probeert zijn eigen problemen nauwkeurig zelf te diagnosticeren. Het is onwaarschijnlijk dat uw prospect in dit stadium met de verkoopafdeling zal willen praten.
Wij raden u aan marketingautomatisering te gebruiken om bij te houden op welke artikelen/pagina’s uw prospects de site binnenkomen, aangezien dit het probleem is dat hen het meest bezighoudt. Dit weten kan het voor sales makkelijker maken om een relevant gesprek met hen te voeren.
U kunt er ook in slagen de prospect te benaderen met chatbots op uw site, maar velen zullen in dit stadium anoniem willen blijven.
Midden van trechter
Het midden van uw verkooptrechter is wanneer prospects specifieke oplossingen beginnen te evalueren op basis van wat ze in fase 1 hebben geleerd. Midden in de trechter inhoud zou omvatten:
Presentaties
Demonstraties
Casestudies
In de praktijk zullen zij een soort shortlist van potentiƫle leveranciers hebben opgesteld, en vervolgens zullen zij dieper ingaan op de details van elke potentiƫle oplossing.
In dit stadium is het mogelijk dat de prospect nog steeds geen contact met u opneemt, aangezien hij vaak gewoon onderzoek doet namens andere mensen binnen zijn eigen organisatie en zijn prioriteit nog steeds bij het verzamelen van informatie ligt.
Bodem van trechter
Tegen de tijd dat uw prospect de bodem van uw marketing funnel heeft bereikt, hebben zij in veel gevallen al “gekocht” in een bepaalde leverancier of oplossing.
Zij hebben hun beslissing grotendeels genomen op basis van hun webervaring met het merk, uw verkoopboodschap en uw vermogen om uzelf niet alleen als een echter leider te positioneren, maar als een thought leader in die hun problemen begrijpt.
Bottom of Funnel inhoud zou omvatten dingen zoals:
Prijsstelling
Vergelijkende tabellen
Getuigenissen
Recensies
Voor de eenvoudigere, goedkopere oplossingen zult u merken dat ze nu bereid zijn om de proef op de som te nemen als u een sterke Call to Action (CTA) aanbiedt, terwijl ze voor de duurdere en complexere oplossingen nu zullen overgaan tot verkoop.
De afbeelding hieronder toont waar een eenvoudige marketing funnel overgaat in een winkelwagen en de meer complexe B2B verkoop overgaat in een lead voor verkoop.
Succes zit niet in het kiezen van het juiste model, maar in het bouwen van je eigen model op basis van gegevens en trial and error.
De meeste marketingsoftware houdt nu het gebruikersgedrag op uw website bij en kan lead scoring gebruiken om verkopers te waarschuwen wanneer het beste moment is om prospects proactief te benaderen.
Uit onze eigen ervaring blijkt dat de timing bijna altijd te vroeg is en dat een goed gedefinieerd lead-nurturingprogramma even doeltreffend is.
Om dit te doen moet u in uw marketing ten minste drie verschillende leadmagneten inbouwen waarmee u van uw webbezoekers een abonnee kunt maken zodat u contact kunt houden.
5. Reclame om uw Sales Funnel te vullen
Veel bedrijven vullen met succes hun sales funnel via reclame. Digitaal adverteren is volwassen geworden tot een niveau dat aanzienlijke tracking en rapportage mogelijk maakt, zodat u binnen een paar weken kunt begrijpen wat uw conversieratio en CAC zullen zijn.
In eerste instantie zouden wij pleiten voor “Re-targeting Campaigns”. Dit is gewoon het proces van het plaatsen van advertenties voor mensen die uw website al hebben bezocht.
Studies tonen aan dat retargeting zeven keer effectiever is dan nieuwe campagnes en daarom pleiten wij hiervoor als startpunt.
Deze strategie werkt uitermate goed met een sterke content marketing campagne. Het populairste toevoegkanaal voor B2B is LinkedIn, maar veel bedrijven hebben het ook goed gedaan met Facebook en Instagram.
Onnodig te zeggen dat dit wordt bepaald door uw publiek. Reclame kan worden gebruikt in eenvoudige trechters om de verkoop te stimuleren en in meer complexe trechters om nieuwe aanvragen voor verkopers te genereren.
Voor complexere verkopen kan een bepaalde volgorde nodig zijn waarbij gebruikers klikken op en adverteren voor het ontvangen van een leadmagnet, waarbij elke lead 3 dollar kost.
Als u er vervolgens in slaagt 5% van deze nieuwe leads om te zetten, kunt u per verkoop $60 uit reclame aan uw CAC toerekenen.
U kunt een traceerbare reeks of model van elke activiteit bouwen, niet alleen reclame. Bijvoorbeeld evenementen, webinars en telesales, zodat u kunt begrijpen welke activiteiten het meest kosteneffectief zijn, niet alleen voor het vullen van uw trechter, maar ook voor het daadwerkelijk converteren in orders.
6. Hoe bouw je een SaaS verkoop trechter
Uw sales funnel zal variƫren afhankelijk van uw verkoopstrategie. Verkoopt u uw app rechtstreeks of via partners? Op welke kanalen heeft u besloten zich in eerste instantie te richten?
1. Identificeer uw Perfecte Prospect Profiel. Dit is de verkopers versie van een marketing persona. Het omvat alles wat een marketing persona zou omvatten, plus wat extra informatie die verkoop helpt om de prospect op een dieper niveau te begrijpen en met hem te communiceren.
2. Bouw uw verkoopboodschap. Een deel van de product/markt fit is begrijpen welk zakelijk en of persoonlijk probleem uw product oplost.
Onze ervaring is dat de meest succesvolle SaaS-diensten bedrijfsoplossingen zijn die bedrijfsproblemen oplossen.
Zodra u begrijpt hoe dit zich verhoudt tot uw eigen product/dienst op een diep niveau, kunt u beginnen met het opbouwen van uw verkoopboodschap.
Dit zijn de woorden en genuanceerde taal waarvan u hebt bewezen dat prospects zich ermee verbinden. Het is niet genoeg om uw eigen bedrijf en oplossingen te kennen, u moet ook uw klanten kennen.
U moet precies weten hoe uw oplossing uw klant helpt geld te besparen, geld te verdienen en hun leven gemakkelijker te maken.
3. Lead Generation Campagne.
Zodra u uw doelprospects hebt geĆÆdentificeerd en uw verkoopboodschap hebt opgebouwd, moet u beginnen te werken aan een Lead Generation-campagne.
Er zijn twee hoofdbenaderingen voor het genereren van leads:
a) Inkomende Leadgeneratie. Inbound lead generation campagnes zijn campagnes waarbij de prospect eerst contact met u opneemt. Zij kunnen een formulier invullen op uw webpagina, u bellen of u een e-mail sturen. Om inbound sales leads te genereren zult u een vorm van content creatie, advertentie campagnes, webinars, referral programma’s of SEO moeten doen.
b) Outbound lead generatie. Outbound lead generation campagnes zijn campagnes waarbij u prospects bereikt via telefoon, e-mail, direct mail, evenementen of account based marketing. Outbound campagnes betekenen steevast dat u een outbound says team moet samenstellen, wat duur kan zijn.
De meeste SaaS-bedrijven gebruiken een combinatie van inbound en outbound, maar bijna altijd ligt de nadruk meer op het ene dan op het andere.
Een zeer ruwe schatting is dat SaaS-diensten die goedkoper zijn en zich op het MKB richten, marketinggericht zijn en voornamelijk op inbound gericht zijn.
SaaS-diensten die zich meer richten op het middensegment van de markt en op ondernemingen, zullen een meer verkoopgerichte aanpak hanteren via Account Based Marketing.
7. Wat zijn de stadia van een SaaS-verkoopfunnel?
De fasen van uw sales funnel zijn eenvoudigweg een reeks stappen die uw prospects doorlopen om een bestelling te plaatsen.
Deze fasen kunnen sterk variƫren en er is niet ƩƩn trechter die je op elke app kunt toepassen. Zelfs als de fasen dezelfde zijn, kan de methode waarmee u prospects door de trechter laat bewegen, verschillen.
Uw verkooptrechter is een goede plaats om te beginnen met het verzamelen van gegevens om de prestaties te meten en na verloop van tijd verbeteringen aan te brengen.
In het algemeen moeten prospects zo snel mogelijk door de sales funnel bewegen – dit wordt de sales cycle of pipe speed genoemd.
Door de snelheid te meten waarmee prospects de cyclus doorlopen, kunt u blokkades in uw trechter identificeren en gebieden waar prospects vertragen.
Deze “knelpunten” zijn de plaatsen waar u verbeteringen moet aanbrengen.
8. Wanneer moet ik mijn SaaS-product aan klanten demonstreren?
De timing van SaaS app-demo’s binnen het verkoopproces is voor veel bedrijven onderwerp van discussie geweest.
Het antwoord op de vraag is helaas “dat hangt ervan af”. Veel bedrijven geven met succes een demo van hun app aan het begin van het verkoopproces, maar er zijn er evenveel die een demo geven aan het begin en dan hun prospects zien verdwijnen in het zwarte gat van voicemail en onbeantwoorde e-mails.
Kortom, hoe goedkoper en eenvoudiger de oplossing, hoe vroeger in het proces u een demo kunt geven en hoe duurder en complexer de oplossing, hoe verder in het verkoopproces de demo moet worden doorgeschoven.
De realiteit is dat ondernemers en verkopers de neiging hebben om haastig een demo te geven van hun app, in de hoop dat de demo de prospect zal overtuigen om in te tekenen.
Zelfs als de prospect gekwalificeerd is en er een goede klik is, loopt een demo zonder enige vorm van diagnose van de pijn van de prospect het risico de prospect te verliezen.
Uw prospect moet weten dat u het weet en dat u hun wereld begrijpt. Dit kan alleen worden bereikt door intelligent en gericht te ondervragen. Als je de verkoop wilt versnellen, vertraag de verkoop dan.
De demo is meestal het grootste hefboomeffect van de verkoper en als u die te snel weggeeft, verliest u het hefboomeffect en naar alle waarschijnlijkheid de prospect.
Als algemene vuistregel geldt: plaats de app-demo zo ver mogelijk terug in uw verkoopproces.
Demo’s kosten tijd en geld, vooral bij complexe verkoop waarbij vaker wel dan niet een demo op maat nodig is.
Demonstraties op maat mogen alleen worden gegeven aan de hogere besluitvormers in het aankoopteam van de prospect. Indien nodig kunt u zelfs twee demo’s hebben binnen het verkoopproces – er zijn geen regels, behalve dat als het werkt, doe het dan.
De meeste verkopers maken de fout om dit deel van het verkoopproces te gebruiken om de voordelen van het product in meer detail uit te leggen.
Als je vertelt, verkoop je niet. Gebruik intelligente indringende vragen om de prospect te laten vertellen hoe de oplossing hun zakelijke pijn zal oplossen.
U moet vermijden te praten over kenmerken waarvan u denkt dat ze voor hen relevant zijn. Als u dit niet hebt ontdekt in de ontdekkingsfase van het verkoopproces, is het inherent riskant om verderop in het proces iets nieuws te introduceren.
Voor de eenvoudigere, goedkopere oplossingen zult u merken dat zij nu bereid zijn om een proefperiode te nemen, terwijl zij voor de duurdere en complexere oplossingen nu contact zullen opnemen met een verkoper.
Om aan te tonen dat zij de nodige zorgvuldigheid hebben betracht, zullen zij altijd met twee of drie potentiƫle leveranciers spreken.
Dit is niet noodzakelijkerwijs om een leverancier op prijs te verslaan, maar soms moeten zij aan de bredere inkoopgroep binnen hun organisatie duidelijk maken waarom zij een voorkeur hebben.
App trials zijn ook een goede manier om gebruikers over te halen zich aan te melden, maar de conversieratio van trials naar close is meestal slecht in de meeste SaaS-gevallen.
Afhankelijk van de prijsstelling zou u een beheerde proefperiode kunnen aanbieden, zodat zij uw software kunnen evalueren terwijl u hen verder in het verkoopproces begeleidt.
Tijdens een proef kan de prospect zien hoe het product voor hem in de praktijk zal werken. Het is belangrijk dat u de proef op het juiste moment neemt en dat u van tevoren afspreekt wat er gebeurt als de proef slaagt.
We hebben de bovenstaande grafiek gemaakt om te proberen visueel uit te leggen hoe dit voor uw organisatie zou kunnen werken.
In het voorbeeld zal het grootste deel van uw CAC uit marketing bestaan, terwijl in de meer complexe trechter uw kosten marketing, verkoop + klantenonboarding zullen omvatten.
9. SaaS-Verkooptrechter voorbeelden
De onderstaande verkoop funnels zijn voorbeelden. U moet deze NIET kopiƫren tenzij ze passen in uw verkoopproces.
Ze zijn ontworpen als startpunt voor wie een verkooptrechter wil ontwikkelen.
Zoals u kunt zien in de grafiek, zijn er veel alternatieven voor de fasen waaruit uw sales funnel bestaat, afhankelijk van het type funnel dat u aan het maken bent.
Voor zuiver digitale trechters zou je kunnen hebben:
Lead Magnet Landing page – waar prospects terechtkomen nadat ze op uw advertentie hebben geklikt
Bevestigingspagina – bevestiging van uw gratis aanbieding, proefperiode of aankoop
Upsell-pagina – waar prospects een kans hebben om extra diensten toe te voegen of te upgraden
Afrekenpagina – waar prospects betalen voor de dienst
Felicitatie- of dankpagina – waar u prospects kunt aanmelden met de juiste volgende stappen.
10. SaaS-verkoop trechter metrieken
Als het op metrics aankomt, denken wij dat dit de gebruikelijke sales operations metrics en KPI’s zijn waar de meeste mensen mee vertrouwd zijn. Het spreekt voor zich dat deze gegevens belangrijk zijn en dat u ze moet registreren en erover moet rapporteren.
LTT – conversie van leads naar proeven
Dit is het aantal leads dat is geconverteerd naar een proef.
DCR – Demo conversie ratio
Het aantal demo’s dat succesvol converteert naar de volgende fase in het verkoopproces.
TTS – Omzetting van proef naar verkoop
Dit is het aantal prospects op de gratis proefversie die zijn omgezet in betalende klanten.
LTV – Lifetime Value van de klant
Dit is de gemiddelde totale waarde die een klant zal uitgeven voordat hij de dienst verlaat. Ironisch genoeg kan dit moeilijker te meten zijn naarmate uw product beter is, omdat u zonder klanten niet weet hoe lang zij blijven en wat hun totale waarde voor het bedrijf is.
Churn – Aantal klanten dat vertrekt
Klanten zullen weggaan en dat is niet altijd een slechte zaak. Als de klanten die weggaan passen in uw ICP (Ideal Client Profile) dan heeft u een probleem. Klanten die vertrekken en niet in uw ICP passen, kunnen waardevolle middelen vrijmaken die aan uw ICP kunnen worden besteed.
MRR – maandelijks terugkerende inkomsten
De maandelijkse terugkerende inkomsten geven u een overzicht van uw succes, maar het is slechts een overzicht en u moet kijken naar de details binnen de gegevens om een nauwkeuriger beeld te krijgen.
ARR – Jaarlijkse terugkerende inkomsten
De jaarlijkse recurrente inkomsten geven een goed beeld van de onderneming, maar net als de MRR moet u alle gegevens bestuderen om een nauwkeuriger beeld te krijgen van de gezondheid van uw onderneming.
Verkoopcyclus – de tijd vanaf het eerste contact tot en met een gesloten order
Dit is meestal kort voor eenvoudigere oplossingen met een lagere waarde en langer voor complexe bedrijfsverkopen. Een verkoop aan een Tier 1 bank kan bijvoorbeeld 18 maanden duren van het eerste contact tot de afsluiting.
CAC – kosten voor klantenwerving
Het is belangrijk te begrijpen hoeveel het u kost om Ć©Ć©n enkele klant te werven. In een ideale wereld zou u dit ontdekken in de eerste fasen van het bedrijf, wanneer u het waardevoorstel bewijst. Zonder dit cijfer is het onmogelijk de systemen en processen in te voeren om het bedrijf te laten groeien, aangezien u niet weet hoeveel u kunt besteden aan marketing en verkoop aan de voorkant.
Negatieve Churn –
Negatieve churn is een krachtige groeimetriek die aangeeft dat de inkomsten uit upselling en cross selling van bestaande klanten opwegen tegen de inkomsten die verloren gaan wanneer klanten vertrekken.
11. Ingediende SaaS-voorstellen
Na de laatste demo, moet je nooit aanbieden om een voorstel te sturen.
Voorstellen kosten tijd en geld en als uw prospect geĆÆnteresseerd is , zal hij u om een voorstel vragen.
Als uw prospect u niet om een voorstel vraagt, betekent dit dat hij niet geĆÆnteresseerd is in een samenwerking met u en dat u terug moet gaan in het verkoopproces om te begrijpen waar u de fout bent ingegaan.
Wanneer het verkoopproces vastloopt, is dat zelden te wijten aan iets wat u op dat moment verkeerd hebt gedaan – vaker is het iets wat u eerder in het verkoopproces hebt gemist.
Zorg ervoor dat u er zeker van bent dat alle voordelen van de software duidelijk aan hen zijn uitgelegd en in kaart zijn gebracht in het licht van hun aangegeven behoeften.
Indien mogelijk, vraag uw Witte Ridder altijd om u te helpen bij het opstellen van het voorstel, en controleer samen met hem of haar een conceptversie voordat u het officiƫle exemplaar verstuurt.
Voordat u uw voorstel verstuurt, moet u een duidelijk beeld hebben van wat de volgende stappen zijn als u wint of verliest.
Zonder dit is de kans groot dat je de komende drie maanden achter spoken in voice mail aan zit.
12. Prijsbepaling van uw SaaS-contracten
Veel bedrijven vermelden weinig of geen prijzen op hun website omdat zij niet willen dat hun concurrenten hun prijzen zien, of omdat zij denken dat het potentiƫle klanten zal afschrikken.
Je moet trots zijn op je prijs en de waarde die je brengt. Laat de concurrentie u ondermijnen en al hun middelen inzetten op onrendabele deals.
Mensen kopen zelden de goedkoopste oplossing, dus sta uw prospects toe u te onderbieden.
Als u nog steeds angstig over het hebben van uw prijzen op uw website dan na te denken over hoe je je voelt als je het onderzoek van een oplossing die u geĆÆnteresseerd bent in alleen te vinden de prijs pagina is bezaaid met POA.
Als u zoals de meeste mensen bent, vindt u dit echt vervelend en gaat u snel naar de volgende potentiƫle leverancier.
Ten slotte is een ander voordeel van het met trots tonen van uw prijzen dat het iedereen die niet bereid is op dat niveau te investeren, eruit kwalificeert.
Dit kan u veel tijd en middelen besparen bij prospects die gewoon een ander budgetniveau hebben.
Er zijn tal van prijsstrategieƫn voor u beschikbaar, maar uit onze ervaring blijkt dat het enige wat gegarandeerd is, is dat u uw prijsstelling zult wijzigen.
Als vuistregel geldt dat als uw prijzen te hoog zijn voor een kortlopend contract of een betaalde proefperiode, de kans bestaat dat de prospect niet alle voordelen van de software zal ervaren voordat het contract afloopt, en dat hij zal besluiten niet te verlengen.
Waar mogelijk moet u prospects tijdens de proefperiode belonen voor het toevoegen van informatie en het gebruik van de dienst.
Bied bijvoorbeeld een kortere proefperiode aan en geef gebruikers een beloning als ze hun profiel/account volledig hebben ingesteld.
Bied een extra gratis periode aan om hen aan te moedigen het product te gebruiken, bijvoorbeeld als zij gegevens uploaden in het systeem.
Het idee is om uw nieuwe gebruikers stap voor stap te “onboarden” en uw product zo kleverig mogelijk te maken.
Als de prospect toch wil doorgaan, moet u contracten met digitale handtekening gebruiken om het verkoopproces te versnellen.
Stuur nooit contracten in e-mails of links naar digitale contracten, want die kunnen gemakkelijk worden genegeerd.
Zorg ervoor dat u de prospect aan de telefoon krijgt en neem het contract met hem door. Zodra zij hebben ingestemd met alles in het contract, vraagt u hen gewoon te tekenen terwijl u hen aan de telefoon hebt.
Op die manier behoudt u de controle over het verkoopproces.
13. Waarom de sales funnel zo belangrijk is voor SaaS aanbieders
Veel bedrijven zijn failliet gegaan nadat ze moeite hadden om een verkooptrechter te implementeren. De marketing en verkoop van SaaS-producten kan een enorme uitdaging zijn, en de kans is groot dat uw doelklanten al overstelpt worden met aanbiedingen van concurrerende softwareleveranciers.
Bedenk uit welk deel van het bestaande budget van de koper u inkomsten gaat halen. Bij welke directe of indirecte concurrenten zult u budget weghalen?
U concurreert wellicht met enkele van de grootste en machtigste merken ter wereld die generieke oplossingen bieden voor dezelfde problemen die u oplost.
Dit betekent dat u iets onderscheidends moet aanbieden waar uw klanten daadwerkelijk behoefte aan hebben.
Volgens een studie van CB Insights mislukt 42% van de SaaS-start-ups omdat ze producten aanbieden die hun doelklanten niet nodig hebben.
Potentiƫle klanten ervan overtuigen dat uw software echt waarde biedt, is essentieel.
14. Verwachtingen van prospects managen
Het creĆ«ren van een sales funnel gaat over het bouwen van een reis helemaal van webbezoeker, tot abonnee en door middel van demo’s en trails en eindigend met de ondertekening van het contract.
Uw verkooptrechter moet de nadruk leggen op elk van de belangrijkste stadia die uw prospects zullen doorlopen op hun weg naar een overeenkomst.
Wees open en eerlijk en deel de fasen van het proces vooraf met uw prospects.
U moet goed letten op eventuele wrijvingspunten die zich kunnen voordoen wanneer uw prospects door uw verkooppijplijn reizen.
Dit geeft u de mogelijkheid om verbeteringen aan te brengen in uw trechter voor de toekomst.
Het belangrijkste is dat je alle datapunten in je sales funnel vastlegt.
Dit zal u helpen beslissingen te nemen op basis van feiten in plaats van uw onderbuikgevoelens. Het kan even duren voordat uw sales funnel volledig effectief is, en het kan zijn dat u verschillende verfijningen moet aanbrengen voordat u een echt geoptimaliseerde sales funnel hebt.
Veel klanten hebben geen goed beeld van wat ze nodig hebben als ze voor het eerst met u in contact komen. Bied oplossingen, niet alleen producten, door prospects te helpen het verband tussen de twee te leggen.
Wat ook waar is, is dat gebruikers vaak kopen wat ze willen, niet wat ze nodig hebben.
Daarom is het zo belangrijk om gerichte vragen te stellen, zodat u nauwkeurig kunt bepalen wat hun behoeften zijn en uw software op de meest gunstige manier kunt positioneren.
Deze vragen zullen u ook vertellen hoe dichtbij of ver weg zij zijn om een beslissing te nemen.
15. De opkomst van SaaS-oplossingen
Het lijkt wel of alles in de wereld nu online wordt aangedreven door SaaS-applicaties. Van Netflix en Amazon Prime tot LinkedIn en Microsoft M365 worden we nu omringd door SaaS-oplossingen van de een of andere soort.
Financieel gezien is SaaS zinvol omdat zo zware kapitaaluitgaven vooraf worden vermeden en de risico’s van de oplossing worden verminderd.
Immers, als het niet werkt, zit u meestal maar aan een maximum van 12 maanden vast. Andere voordelen van SaaS zijn dat het gewoonlijk snel kan worden geĆÆmplementeerd en geen onderhoud van de kant van de klant vereist.
Upgrades worden normaliter automatisch geleverd, waarbij klanten over het algemeen een gegarandeerd niveau van dienstverlening wordt geboden.
Back-ups en gegevensherstel worden meestal uitgevoerd voor rekening van de klant, zodat deze zich kan concentreren op wat hij het beste kan, in de veilige wetenschap dat alles wordt afgehandeld door de softwareontwikkelaars zelf.
Lockdown heeft SaaS turbo geladen
Werken op afstand was al in opkomst vĆ³Ć³r de pandemie, dus het feit dat SaaS-producten mensen in staat stellen om van overal te werken en samen te werken, heeft SaaS alleen maar nog dieper in ons dagelijks leven verankerd.
Er worden duizenden nieuwe SaaS-producten ontwikkeld in elk land over de hele wereld, dus de concurrentie is hevig, maar er lijkt geen einde te komen aan de honger van consumenten en bedrijven naar SaaS-oplossingen.
Een coherente verkooptrechter kan het verschil betekenen tussen een viraal succes van uw product en gedwongen worden terug te keren naar de tekentafel.
How to Sell to BIG Companies
How to Sell to Big Companies
Discover how to Find, Kloze and Grow Large Enterprise Accounts
Next FREE session – Tuesday 2nd Feb 2021
We’ve got all the templates & tools to make it easy for you
How to Sell to Big Companies. In order to sell to big companies you need to first create a shortlist of targets that meet your perfect prospect profile. Next, focus all your sales and marketing resources to research and create a unique sales approach for multiple contacts within the big company you are selling to.
What’s Inside
SESSION 1
The WHO
Introduction to Enterprise Selling
Selecting the right targets
Segmenting your accounts
Mastering the complex sale
Prep for Session 2
Get this session FREE
SESSION 2
The WHAT
The Door Opener
Right content, right contact, right time
How to write persuasive copy
The cadence of big account selling
The profitable, easy to deliver and replicate offer
SESSION 3
The HOW
What to say to Big Companies
How to control the sales conversation
The Contact Plan
Listen & Learn LIVE over the coaches shoulder
Your personal Action Plan
Course Author
Iain Swanston
Founder, Klozers
After 35 years in B2B sales Iain just loves solving sales problems.
If you’ve ever attended one of his live events you’ll know, even during the breaks and after the event he always likes talking about sales. Iain is an Author, Speaker & our Lead Sales Coach.
Iain is on a mission to make sales easier for B2B companies and their salespeople.
“In the short time I’ve been working with Klozers I’ve used his guidance to develop positive new sales activities, techniques and a mindset that has significantly helped my sales confidence. As a results I’ve already seen excellent performance benefits that are directly attributable to working to the coaching.”
Alan Wood
Scotland Director
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
“This was my first ever sales training and genuinely still the most pertinent in my sales career. Iain taught us how to take leads through the sales journey from lead to opportunity to closure, I still use these skills today and encourage my colleagues to do the same. My earnings have more than doubled since Iain gave that pertinent training and his latest blogs have been shared internally between our sales and marketing teams as the advice rings true to what we are currently working on as a department”
Lynne Hall
Strategic Accounts Manager
E-On Energy
“My coach was really flexible and was happy to talk in between my scheduled coaching slots, especially when I had burning questions and needed support fast. The debriefing calls we had after my sales meetings not only helped me understand where I could improve, they also gave me the right words to say, in the right sequence and at the right time.“
Elliott Boll
Enterprise Learning Consultant
Docebo
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“The first session was full of useful and practical sales information. I took so many notes and have come away with exercises I will carry out to help further clarify our approach to sales. I would highly recommend”
Rebecca Pick
Founder
Pick Protection
“Great training session with so much information packed into an hour. Looking forward to completing sessions 2 and 3. “
Max Anderson
Director
SuperBot Experts
Very insightful content from Klozers this afternoon. Thank you Iain Swanston for the invite to attend. This shall be hugely beneficial for our business moving forward and I am looking forward to putting my learning into practice
Laurie Wilson
Regional Sales Manager
CMP Products
Learn How to Sell to Big Companies
If you are new to sales at some stage you will want to learn how to sell to big companies. It’s common for most ambitious sales people and businesses, yet this can be a challenging or even, a near impossible experience.
For example, finding the right people to talk with (yes there will also be more than one decision maker) can be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, and then trying to coordinate all these decision makers can be like herding cats.
The longer sales cycles that inevitably arise from having multiple decision makers in a complex sale, then frustrate most sales people as time drags on.
The large revenues that Enterprise sales can deliver, more often than not, prove so elusive that the salespeople give up and focus on smaller opportunities, they know they can convert.
However, in some circumstances it can take the same amount of sales resources to convert a small opportunity as it does when selling the same product or service to a big company, so don’t give up just yet.
Learn More, Sell More, Earn More
How to Sell an Idea to a Big Company
Maybe you don’t have a product or service but instead you have an idea that you want to sell. It’s the sames process and the fact is, it is possible to sell to big companies and large enterprise organisations, although it does need a slightly different approach.
The first FREE 60 minute session in this course walks you through the preparation and planning required before you approach big companies.
When you sell to big companies you may also need some additional sales resources that are not as commonly used when selling to smaller organisations, such as a Business Case, a Cost Benefit Analysis – don’t worry we’ve got templates you can use for all of these.
If this sounds like lots of work, then Yes it is, and because of this many companies will not rely on any one individual, instead they will work as a team to win large accounts. Part of that team should include Marketing in order that you can target the right people in the buying organisation, with the right messaging, at the right time.
Run the sales campaign as a mini project with scope, roles and responsibilities, costings, objectives and milestones. Needless to say that it usually makes sense to be targeting more than one big company if you are going to do this professionally, but donāt make the mistake of having too many, as the campaign can then turn into a marketing initiative which by their very nature are more generic.
The key to success is that all the messaging must be bespoke and relevant to every target which takes time, which is time that you wonāt have if you have too many targets. Again this course covers everything you need.
Before you start selling to big companies there are however two important considerations you should address as follows:
1) Does your company have the capability to successfully deliver a project on the scale that a big company will require?
In most cases you will only get one chance to sell to a big company and delivering success for your first big company will also give you a reference point that will help you sell to other big companies.
2) Does your company have the financial resources required to sell to a big company?
If you buy materials in January to create stock for February and have agreed 90 day payment terms this means you have to run 150 days without being paid. Some small businesses are not sufficiently funded to do this, so be careful what you wish for.
Selling to big companies can transform your business, but like most things in life that are worthwhile itās usually not easy and doesnāt happen overnight, but it certainly can be worth it.
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your first session FREE
