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October 2021

29
Oct
B2B Sales  ·  Inside sales
Top 5 inside sales practices to crack your targets every month

Introduction

Companies across the world have taken their tents and discovered a new place called the internet. Like every other element of our lives, technology has revolutionized the face of sales. Businesses have begun to develop a workforce that finds prospects inside four walls. And patrons are much more comfortable with that too! In this blog, we will discuss the top 5 inside sales practices to crack your targets every month.

With inside sales, companies are putting more effort than just selling their products/services. They wanna make the clients happy and satisfied by understanding their difficulties and requirements and addressing them in the best possible way. How you do that is a learning curve which the best of the teams crack over a period of time.

Here we bring the top 5 practices that the best inside sales teams do to crack their targets every month.

1. Always start the conversation on a warm note

As an inside sales rep, you might frequently have to initiate contact with your prospects. Make sure you start the conversation on a friendly and respectful note with them. First things first, call them by their name and make sure you have researched on a completely unrelated topic to break the ice with them, it could be about some of the latest news or events, or even on today’s weather. If you can find something they are generally interested in or have recently mentioned in their social media posts, you will have a great way to build a rapport with them.

Do state the objective of your meeting, but make it a crisp one. Avoid too much jargon or acronyms and keep the language simple so you don’t confuse them. Once you have done that, keep the next parts of the conversation focused on them, listen openly and try to understand their goals and challenges. Ask them some questions which they are happy to talk about. Remember, don’t cut them off when they’re speaking at all.

2. Treat yourself as a consultant and chief problem-solver

In your role as an inside sales rep, you often have the great opportunity to help customers address many of the issues plaguing their operations — both to help them grow, but also to avoid problems in the first place. Make sure you don’t shy away from this and make the most use of this opportunity.

This is easier said than done and to become a problem-solver, you will have to prepare for your sales conversations in advance. You will need to research your prospect and anticipate client needs before your calls. Then, in your conversations with customers, make all the efforts to learn what issues and challenges they are facing, and then address them by providing solutions that fix those in the best possible way to your prospects’ interest.

3. Craft a powerful story that builds value and excitement

One of the most common reasons inside sales reps’ conversations start to fall flat is a lack of enthusiasm. You might have the best product, a good sales pitch, and are also well prepared. But what matters is your enthusiasm when you are into the conversation.

In the conversation, you want to position yourself as a trusted business partner who can meet the needs of your prospects. Your objective, you want to give prospects reasons to work with you rather than your competitors. The key to doing this is by telling a compelling story that shows how you can help them, how your company can solve their pain points, and how they’re going to benefit from working with you.

A compelling story builds value and excitement for your audience creates a “pull” for a prospect to want to see you in more situations, engage with you, and interact with you. It also positions you as a trusted business partner.

4. Build trust through listening

The inside sales rep’s ability to build credibility and trust with the prospect lies in their ability to listen. Too many sales reps start the conversation with a quick sales pitch without first listening, discovering the true need, and sharing the solution they can bring. This sales pitch-centric approach tends to alienate the prospect and result in a lost opportunity.

Instead, make sure to listen and understand the prospect’s journey and then share the solution you can bring to their business challenges and see where that goes from there. This approach helps you understand your prospects’ business inside out, and as it is rightly said that “Getting to know someone is the best way to build credibility and trust,” 

5. Never stop following up

As an inside sales rep, the only way you are getting to know your prospects more and establishing a rapport with them is by talking to them more and more. The best way to do this is to make sure you are actively following up with prospects.

Follow up with new sales leads and existing customers. This may mean via the phone, messages, emails, or even via social media. Find ways to keep yourself in the eyes of your prospects always. In today’s virtual world, social media has provided the option to stay connected more frequently than you ever did, it is up to you to make sure you use it in the most effective way.

When you commit to never stop following up, you’re differentiating yourself from virtually everyone else who’s competing with you for this prospects’ business (and attention). The key with your follow-up is to keep it short and sweet, yet remain persistent.

Conclusion

Inside sales is an art, something which you enjoy doing because you like listening, solving problems and talking to more and more people. Every conversation gives you the opportunity to make yourself better at this art. We hope these 5 inside sales practices give you a good direction to make yourself better and convert more deals.

We bring best selling practices and stories from across the world every day to help you become an X to 10X Sales Team. Do follow and get your teams to follow Zipteams and our LinkedIn page.

by Saanya George


23
Oct
B2B Sales  ·  Sales
5 early to-dos to have a great sales quarter

Introduction

How has been the new quarter starting weeks for you? Is your lead pipeline in place? How are you looking at incorporating some of the learnings of last quarter? Do you have some massive external factors in favour or against you this quarter? Here, we will discuss 5 early to-dos to have a great sales quarter.

Having some of these questions addressed early in the quarter gives you a great direction and guides you to focus on segments and deals where you will get maximum conversions. We have further highlighted here 5 early to-dos to have a great sales quarter.

1. Prioritise and close the deals which had high propensity but didn’t convert in the last quarter

A good encouraging start is a must for your own and your team’s confidence. It creates amazing energy in the team for the next set of months. Make sure you close a few deals early in the quarter and spread this energy sooner than later.

Best opportunities lie in the last quarter funnel where you can dig out prospects who were close to converting, but for some reason or the other didn’t close. Revisit their discussions, identify their needs and find a few who can be approached for closure now.

You may also look at what is new in the current quarter in your product or service layer. It can help attract those prospects and then tailor your sales pitch accordingly.

2. Adjust your lead pipeline as per learnings of the last quarter

Your lead quality is the first and ultimately one of the biggest factors in helping you achieve your targets. Every new quarter is a good opportunity to take a pause, assess the lost leads, and identify the major reasons why you lost them.

The ones related to lead profile and source of leads are the ones to be immediately targeted. Invariably you would be able to find a pattern to your lead profile to identify which types of profiles are definitely not promising and so you don’t need to spend time on those. If you are doing your own lead generation, create a lead qualification checklist and add some of these filters there.

If you have a marketing team doing lead generation, send these patterns to them so that they can change their lead generation criterion accordingly.

3. Make sure you know the external factors and events that will impact your sales this quarter

A very important aspect is to ensure you have mapped out external factors including socio-economic factors, political situations, festivals, or any other holiday periods that will impact your sales cycles.

You should also note the kind of sectors and businesses your customers are in. And how their business situations will affect their purchase cycles.

There could also be potential opportunities with events. These are happening related to your product or service which you can tap into to either get more leads or find an opportunity to meet prospects. Do make sure you calendarize all these events and factors into your selling cycles so you can plan your sales targets around them.

4. Set your lead measures right

An important aspect for you is to stay on track with your targets. It is to ensure your lead measures are well in place and getting tracked on a daily/weekly basis.

Lead measures give you an excellent indication of whether you will meet your targets and guide you to take corrective actions sooner than later. Some important lead measures may include no. of calls and meetings being done by sales reps every day, lead to opportunity funnel movement, prospects’ reaction, and sentiment during the meetings, frequency of meeting with the customer, and so on.

It is extremely important to not just track the lead measures at your end, but also enable the team to track them by themselves so they are taking their own corrective actions on them on a daily basis.

5. Make sure your review mechanisms are in place and followed with discipline

Reviews are a must for selling teams and to do them constructively and keep on learning from every day. From each other’s experiences will make you successful as a team.

A good way to ensure reviews are done disciplined is to set your review timelines and calendarize them for the quarter so that everyone is well aware and aligned to those.

Make sure there is a way to have the necessary sales data for review, having a good format for highlighting and discussing the key areas where there are impediments, and generating new ideas will do wonders for your review cycles.

Conclusion

Where there is a will, there is a way! And yes selling quarters can be fun and 100% targets can be achieved if the fundamentals are well in place and the right measures are being tracked well. You are well set, so go and beat your this quarter targets. Cheers and all the best!

We at Zipteams are working on making these lead measures available to sales teams in real time. Do reach out to us if you need help with setting and tracking this for your sales teams. Do follow our LinkedIn page for more updates.

by Saanya George


08
Oct
Sales
5 possible reasons why your prospect might not answer your call

If you’re in sales and reaching out to a prospect, one of your biggest challenges will be getting them to answer your call. A phone call from a company is so common these days. Many people have gotten very jaded with regard to receiving them.

In this article, sales teams at Zipteams outline 5 possible reasons why this could be the case. Read on!

1. You’re Calling at the Wrong Time

Remember that prospects are people, and they always have one or another thing going on in their lives. Maybe they are busy with their personal or professional work. If they don’t answer, or if the call goes straight to voicemail need not worry. We know as sales professionals you’ve done your best to reach the prospect. You’re prepared and we just want to get the ball rolling. 

In these instances, it could be a good time to wait a little longer to see if the prospect returns the call. There might be a personal or professional crisis going on. While there is nothing wrong with being in a meeting or on an important phone call, it is very unlikely the prospect is unaware of their incoming call. 

Try to pre-call before getting on the phone with your prospect. So, you would know how likely they are to buy before you try to reach them.

2. You Are Doing All the Talking

You are doing all the talking during a new sales call. But you’re not sure how to get your prospect to open up. You’ve got questions but no answers. What can you do? Break the ice and get more information from your prospect.

One reason why your prospect isn’t opening up is that they feel their concerns aren’t being heard. And their requirements will not be met by your company.

As a sales professional, you need to understand what your clients are looking for and what are their requirements and work towards it, re-evaluate your sales approach and also make sure you ask a few questions while speaking to encourage a two-sided conversation.

3. Generational Disconnect

As sales professionals, we are sure that you get to connect with different people belonging to different generations. The Millennial generation is less likely to pick up their phone. So salespeople need to start approaching them on the platforms which they use the most.

Remember that every generation has its interests, values, and purchasing habits. As sales professionals, we need to have different approaches and tactics while interacting with different generations. If this is not taken care of, you would have a hard time connecting with these generations which would eventually affect your sales.

4. Aren’t using Multi-Channel Contact Strategy

As a sales professional, you would have known that now all clients take calls from representatives. They have never heard from companies they don’t recognize, they just don’t answer the call. When such a situation occurs multi-channel or multi-media contact strategy comes into play.

Social media has given companies new ways to connect with their customers. Using platforms like Twitter, Gmail, Facebook, and LinkedIn companies can quickly answer potential buyers’ queries, update them on the latest product announcements, and get feedback from customers who might not have otherwise reached out.

The real benefit of social media is in the active nature in which consumers interact with the brands they follow and to which companies respond. By enabling companies to use messaging tools in a variety of environments, such as the web and mobile devices, traditional media strategies can be adjusted to fit prospects’ social media preferences.

5. They Simply Aren’t Interested

It’s entirely normal for a prospect to take their phone off the hook now and again because it might be that they are not interested in what you have to offer anymore. If this happens, then you should rethink what type of business relationship you are selling to them. Because if they’re not interested, then it’s likely that no amount of selling will change their mind.

The best thing to do is to look at the bigger picture and consider what it is your client wants from your company. See if there are any other features or benefits you can offer them by looking at their situation as a whole rather than just the product itself. This might take a little more time upfront, but it can be well worth it in the future.

Conclusion

If you’re thinking about how to improve your sales conversion rate, consider this for a moment – do your prospects answer the phone when you call?

This is a question that many business owners neglect to ask themselves, hopefully, this article helps you reflect on some of the possible reasons for more decline than answers. Do follow sales teams at Zipteams for micro nuggets of selling every day and grow your sales from X to 10X.

Wish you a lot many ‘Answers’ today! Cheers and have a great day.

by Saanya George




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