I write about the three topics that I am most passionate about; Sales, Marketing and Social Media. These topics are covered from my experiences in outside sales and marketing. My objective is to use my expertise to help business and the individual.
Sales processes include the following: customer development, prospecting, discovery calls, closing deals, cross-selling, upselling, post-sales implementation, customer experience, obtaining referrals, and testimonials.
What is the hardest part of the sales process?
I surveyed my LinkedIn audience to find out.
Survey Results
Of those surveyed, 53 % said closing deals was the hardest part of the Sales Process, followed by understanding market fit at 22%, Calling on buyers, and knowing their needs at 19% with the lowest being cross-selling, referrals, testimonials, or other reasons at 6%.
Based on these findings, I have included nine ways to enable sales teams to close more deals.
9 Strategies to Empower and Enable Sales Teams to Make more Sales
1.Have Sales and Marketing Management discuss Sales Cycle mapping out Sales, Marketing, and the Customer Journey.
2. Have Marketing go with Sales on calls to observe customer interactions regularly.
3. Take notes from Sales calls to develop answers to customer objections.
4. Role play with the Sales to get better at objection handling.
5. Develop an on-demand LMS for Sales including Decks, Videos, Sales Training materials, Product training materials, Scripts, and FAQs.
6. Use feedback from Sales calls and objections to improve Sales and Marketing Collateral.
7. Assign readings on sales strategy and techniques.
8. Conduct market research to show how is your products and services are better than the competitor. Present market research creating a chart that Sales can refer to when dealing with customers.
9. Develop buyer personas to understand customer buying motives. Share the buyer personas with Sales.
I write about the three topics that I am most passionate about; Sales, Marketing and Social Media. These topics are covered from my experiences in outside sales and marketing. My objective is to use my expertise to help business and the individual.
The council’s mission is to: collectively representing tech, life science and tech-related companies and organizations as well as the professional firms that support them, the Tech Council has the unique ability to:
Offer opportunities to learn, network and grow
Recognize and promote member companies and their leadership
Nurture the tech and STEM talent pipeline critical to growth
Provide access to financing sources and additional resources
Advocate and support public policy which strengthens our ecosystem
Founded in 1996, the Council is a private, nonprofit membership organization, which supports the tech, innovation, and entrepreneurial ecosystems across the state and region. It is among the largest and most respected trade organizations of its kind nationwide.
The focus of the event was to help New Jersey start ups grow and raise funds. Start ups pitched their businesses and asked for funding.
There were two rounds of pitches along with networking opportunities.
The startups that pitched represented industries such as but not limited to: EdTech, E-Learning, Healthcare, Sports Betting and esports .
Round 1 included
Scriptertainment Wapanda LifeCuff Technologies Inc. QwikScript Boxcar Upside Health teliapp SiLAS eCare21, Inc VibeGather, LLC TrueConnect Systems, Inc Krow Network WearWorks MARCo Technologies LLC Lambent Data Life Skill Software OculoMotor Technologies Sporttrade TLCengine SRL Group Ribbit.io Nutrivide MedifVu, LLC Totally Pregnant
Round 2 Included
PeerChecked, Inc. Datafy Medality Medical Smirta Innovations Inc. Vikar Technologies Malbek Verstill Commerce Blitz, LLC. PlayDate XPEED Turbine Technology Pochette, LLC Genomic Prediction Pullup Technologies ROAR for Good Indie Art World Elemeno Health Bloqcube Caregiver Smart Solutions MYXR Events Corp. Paratrees Speak2 Software Gamefuly Entractiv Quintrix
You could feel the energy and excitement in the air as I was able to speak with 48 innovate startups.
I really enjoyed the keynote speech by the Fanduel EVP & Head of Strategy David Van Egmond.
In the speech, he discussed how he helped FanDuel grow and succeed. He also discussed the industry of online sports betting and esports; both are growth industries. These industries are legal in New Jersey and serve as a great source of revenue for the state.
It was a great event. I want to thank the New Jersey Tech Council for allowing me to cover the conference.
Posted 286 weeks ago
Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today
I write about the three topics that I am most passionate about; Sales, Marketing and Social Media. These topics are covered from my experiences in outside sales and marketing. My objective is to use my expertise to help business and the individual.
Building relationships with customers and closing deals is critical for sales success. In business, customer acquisition and customer retention are crucial to generating revenue. It is cheaper to keep existing customers than to acquire new ones.
Once a sale is made, it is tempting for sales reps to move on to the next customer.
However, the sale is not complete when the customer signs the contract. Customers should pay their invoices on time to ensure the business has enough cash to operate and potentially turn a profit.
What on time means is dependent on a company payment policy. Customers can have payment terms raining from C.O.D, net 30, net 60, net 90, net 120, or longer. Some cycles can run for a year or longer. Certain companies offer financing options. Payment structures are structured based on the length of the sales cycle.
How can we make sure customers pay their invoices on time?
Here are six ways to keep customers and get them to pay their invoices on time.
Build and nurture customer relationships.
When the sale is complete, put all details in writing.
Follow through with the implementation product or service post-sale.
Check-in with your customer to make sure they are happy with their purchase. This can present an opportunity for upselling, cross-selling, repeat business, referrals, and testimonials.
If the customer voices concerns or has an issue with a product or service, address it immediately.
Make sure to honor any promises and warranties extended during the sales cycle.
If you follow these steps, you will get most customers to pay their invoices on time.
What do I do if a customer will not pay their invoice?
In large organizations, the accounts receivable manager will handle the customer by sending past-due notices and charging penalties. However, if Sales Reps work for a small company as I did, this will be the Sales Rep’s responsibility. Ideally, the Sales Rep should be able to handle customer issues because they have a relationship with the customer.
Sales Reps should call and visit the customer. During the visit, Sales Reps need to try to solve the issue. Be polite. Never raise your voice or swear at a customer. The goal is to get paid while keeping the customer whenever.
As a result of implementing the strategies above, my receivables (open invoices) were the lowest in the company! This allowed me to earn more commissions, make more sales and develop great relationships with my customers.
It is important to note that Sales and Service across acquisition and retention are subdivided in larger organizations.
How have you improved customer retention and gotten your customers to pay on time?
I’m a Strategic Marketer with Field Sales, Sales Enablement, Content Creation, and, Classroom Teacher/Trainer skill sets using Marketing to drive Sales/Growth.
As a Marketer, I’ve worked with Start-Ups, a Political Campaign, and a Digital Marketing Conference.
I’m certified in Inbound Marketing with classes in Marketing, Product Management, Product Marketing, SEO, and SEM.
Before teaching, I was an Outside Sales and Marketing Rep. selling and marketing dental products to Dentists using consultative selling, trade show marketing, field marketing, and market research.
I publish Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today; a blog that covers industry events and trends.