HARDISON’S TIPS – OCTOBER 21, 2021 – SALES TIPS FOR THE NEW OR THINKING ABOUT SALES -4
Advanced Sales Tips and Techniques
So you’ve got the selling basics down, but every day on the job still proves challenging. Congratulations — you’re officially a salesperson!
Now how can you take your sales game to the next level, and surpass your quota month after month? There are easy strategies you can adopt that will help you evolve with the industry and make the most of your time with your customers.
Manage Your Time Effectively
It’s no secret that in sales, time is money. As such, treat blocks on your calendar like the commodity that they are.
The life of a salesperson can feel like a juggling act with a dozen different balls in the air. An important sales strategy is to prioritize your time and make the most of every hour you have in the day.
To be a great salesperson, your calendar needs to be the first thing you look at in the morning, the last thing you look at before you go to bed, and something you’re always aware of in the hours between.
One major time loss salespeople experience is getting caught up in conversation with customers. While it’s imperative that you connect with customers on a personal and friendly level, it is equally important to know when to cut to the chase.
When the conversation veers a bit too far away from business, you can politely offer up a future time to get back to the personal side of the conversation. This allows you to meet your next customer at the promised time and keep things friendly, while keeping the momentum of your sales pitch moving forward.
Focus more time on closing deals that will bring in more money. This does not mean that you should neglect clients willing to spend less money, but it is important to prioritize your client list and maximize the use of your hours.
It’s also important to use the right tools to organize your schedule. Which brings us to our next point…
Leverage the Right Technology
Thanks to mobile devices, any customer information a salesperson needs is just a few clicks away. The best sales strategy is to use these cutting-edge tools designed specifically for your needs.
By using the right resources to keep your day organized, your customers happy, and all relevant information accessible at a moment’s notice, you take advantage of some of the most advanced sales-enabling technology in the world.
Digital calendars and appointment setting tools are instrumental in organizing your days. It’s also great for coordinating your schedule with the schedules of your customers. Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar are industry favorites, while Calendly integration allows prospects to schedule meetings for whatever days and times work best for them.
For outside sales tips, one of the biggest time-wasters in their day is time behind the wheel. Optimizing your routes with the right technology will free up valuable time, as well as save you money on gas and vehicle wear-and-tear. Badger Maps is a great all-in-one tool for route optimization and visualization features, customer check-ins, and lead optimization on-the-go. There’s no better time-saver for salespeople on the road.
Prospecting new clients is vitally important and has never been easier thanks to technology. For prospecting tools, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is the way to go. Great for finding ideal potential customers, it allows salespeople access to relevant information about their prospects in preparation for important meetings.
Using the right CRM is also crucial, though which CRM your company uses can sometimes be out of your control. While Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics are the biggest CRMs in the industry, there are many great options designed specifically to help you sell more.
Understand Your Prospect’s Role
There’s no “one size fits all” approach to sales. Sometimes the person you’re talking to isn’t the person who has the ability to purchase. Sometimes the person you’re talking to is the CEO, who expects you to wow her with your sales pitch. And, sometimes, your customer is an ordinary Joe who needs a good reason to spend his hard-earned money.
Before each customer interaction, do your due diligence to understand not only who you are going to be speaking with, but where they fall within the hierarchy of their company when applicable.
This comes down to preparation. It makes no sense to speak with a sales rep about something that their manager should handle. It also makes no sense to engage your retiree next-door neighbor about B2B software if they have no need for it.
Quality prospecting is what makes or breaks a salesperson. You must know who it is you’re dealing with, and how your product can impact their life positively.
It also impacts how you should speak to the prospective customer. Speaking their language is vitally important to customer connection. You have to know the lingo and apply the correct vernacular when dealing with different personas.
The right language breeds credibility, and is a quick way to earn the customer’s trust.
