When it comes to making sales, what’s your strategy? Too many companies have outdated sales and marketing strategies that run independently of each other, creating a disjointed experience for buyers. They also rely on manually entered data that’s been informed by their selling efforts, rather than the buyer experience.
This data gets used to coach their sales team and also inform their overall business decisions.
The problem with this outdated sales
approach is that buyers no longer trust, nor are they convinced by this
seller-focused strategy. Instead, they want to purchase from a company that
they can trust and connect with, and one that speaks to them on their level.
Creating a Strong Inbound Sales Team
If you want your company to grow, then it’s important to master the art of sales with a team of salespeople who are knowledgeable, passionate, and persistent. It starts with hiring the right people but doesn’t end there.
Sales reps need training, coaching, and mentoring to maximize their performance. They also need the right technology, like a sales engagement platform, to give them the tools they need to succeed.
For example, many sales reps suffer from sales call anxiety – even the more experienced ones will still have this problem despite working as a rep for years. Sales call anxiety can present a number of problems:
- Hesitation
or avoidance when it comes to following up with leads - Nervousness
during a call which can cause mistakes or awkwardness - More
downtime between calls due to nervousness - Lack of
confidence that the lead can easily pick up on
While training and coaching can help, the
right business solution will actually do even more for your reps. A sales
engagement platform includes automatic lead routing and auto-dialing, taking
the guesswork out of the equation. Reps are automatically connected to the next
best lead – which you can determine by setting up key indicators.
Another benefit of this technology is that leads move through the sales cycle so that reps are contacting them at each stage. Appointments can easily be set and reminders can be automatically sent out through SMS or email. The whole team has access to each other’s calendars, ensuring that everyone is on the same page.
Going Forward
After you’ve created a strong foundation
with an empowered sales team, you’ll be able to move forward with your sales
strategy. Remember that it’s important to provide continuous training, not only
to keep things fresh but because sales trends can change and the technology
they use may get updated.
From there, you may come up with whatever kind of sales strategy that works for you, but ultimately it’s important that you use the data you collect to focus on the customer’s wants and needs. You’ll need both your marketing and sales teams to work together to understand your customer base and determine the best way to approach them, attract them, and ultimately convert them.
Modern sales strategies are dependent on
connecting with consumers, creating and maintaining relationships, and
understanding what drives them on a personal level. For many companies, the
goal is to create personal relationships, even with the use of automation.
