When it comes to breaking down the key success factors in managing complex B2B sales opportunities, it is apparent that there are certain sales activities that do the job for businesses. From mastering the first contact with the potential prospects to closing a sale, there is a lot that salespeople do on a daily basis. But it’s not necessary for all of them to get the same results. It’s mainly in the hands of every salesperson how he/she sees his/her prospects and how well the prospect’s needs are taken care of.
Like any other profession in the world, the way people make sales is changing radically. Salespeople cannot depend on age-old sales tactics. To survive, they need to do a lot that they might not have done before. Sometimes they will have to play the role of researchers to find ways that will help them close more deals. To start with, we have compiled a list of a few activities that help high-performing salespeople sell better.
So, let’s take a look at the key sales activities that differentiate high-performing salespeople from average salespeople.
Centralizing their Activities with a CRM:
Lack of tracking is a big hurdle when it comes to identifying the most important sales activities. With a Sales CRM, high-performing salespeople tend to track their contacts, deals and tasks and easily figure out which activities work the best for them. As a CRM also makes sales processes much more efficient and effective, it’s a great tool for every salesperson.
Using Measurable, Repeatable Sales Processes:
High-performing salespeople don’t depend on their intuition to make important sales decisions. Rather, they create processes that are optimized to move sales prospects through the funnel. They review key metrics and make changes to their processes as necessary. They make trials until they have a successful process in hand.
Knowing the Product:
Salespeople can sell better if they know what they are selling. This becomes even more important because sales prospects have more access to information than ever before. To gain their trust, salespeople need to know their product so that they can deliver value through their conversations with the prospects.
Assessing the Prime Contact:
Whether the salespeople are responding to an inbound query or reaching out to a potential target, they must judge if the prime contact is the decision-maker or not. They don’t have to be grateful to be talking to anyone and assess this early to save their time and energy.
Understanding what the Buyer Wants:
Understanding the buyer lays the foundation for effective selling. And it’s a lot more than just knowing the buyer. It’s about identifying the experience the buyer is looking for with your product/services. Every salesperson’s job is to exceed the buyer’s expectations and deliver services accordingly. That’s exactly what successful salespeople do.
Scheduling their Daily Activities:
In the sales department, salespeople are needed to juggle different tasks and priorities on a regular basis. This is why they must schedule everything on their to-do list to execute every task properly. If you don’t schedule your daily tasks, you will end up wasting hours looking through spreadsheets while failing at delivering results.
Finding Shortcuts and Hacks:
Once a high-performing salesperson finds a strategy that works, they use it over and over again until it stops working. As sales reps are mostly working against the clock, experimenting often would mean spending less time selling. Change your approach only when the current one stops delivering results.
Qualifying Leads:
Initial qualification of leads is extremely important. In the initial conversations, the sales reps must find answers to questions like if their product/service can solve the issues that the customer is facing, if the prospect runs the type of business, they have had successful relationships, with, etc.
Using Psychology to Engage the Buyer:
There are several psychological techniques that work great when you are trying to sell to new customers. The goal is to create a deeper engagement with your target audience. Tell them that you can help them achieve their business goals without wasting their time and they would want to spend time listening to you.
Nurturing Customer Relationships:
For any salesperson to win in the modern world, it’s necessary to nurture their relationships with their customers. After all, repeat customers spend 67% more then new customers. Keeping them happy would help you boost your business even when new customers are not coming.
Practicing Active Selling:
While talking to their prospects, successful salespeople are completely present. They are involved with their leads which results in deeper and more meaningful conversations. They are active listeners too, which helps them unlock information about their prospects that helps in better selling.
Personalizing their Messages:
Great salespeople know that adding their recipient’s name to the conversation can increase the effectiveness of the messages and force prospects to read them. Instead of following a script, they personalize every message they send to their prospects to convert leads and close more leads.
There is no single way that works equally well for all salespeople. Sometimes, they have to find their own ways to close more deals and satisfy more customers. It’s not just selling that should rule the way you deal with your prospects. But you must also be ready to listen to what they must ask and help them understand how your product/service can add value to their business.
