Implementing a well-defined sales process is crucial to long-term sales growth and the efficiency of a sales team. Without a formal procedure in place, salespeople can easily lose track of where they are in the sales cycle, fail to keep sight of prospects, and ultimately lose deals. While sales processes will vary from one company to the next, they usually include a few basic elements that follow the same pattern.

1. Product Knowledge

It’s important that salespeople are well versed on every product, but they should explain to customers the benefits of each product, not just the features. Each salesperson needs to be ready to explain these benefits when it comes to the sales presentation. Use a CRM tool that can include your product catalog, so that all team members can access this database for quick and easy quotations.

2. Prospecting

Searching for new customers is about knowing where to focus your attention. To distinguish between leads and qualified prospects, you need to build a profile of all your contacts. When everyone on the sales team can add important details about customers and prospects to a centralized database, it’s easier to get an overall picture of all your sales leads. A single system that can handle every enquiry and email also means nothing will get lost and you’ll never miss a potential lead.

3. Approaching Prospects

During the initial stages, it’s important to qualify prospects so you can tell if they’re able and potentially willing to buy your products. If you already have custom-built forms embedded on your website, you should include any questions that will help when approaching prospects at a later stage. This makes follow-up calls and emails easier, as you already know something about the prospect. In the same way, keeping detailed notes about prospects in the early stages of the sales process is key. With historical notes, you can track where prospects are in the sales cycle and determine the most effective times to make an approach.

4. Presentation

Too many sales people focus on explaining product features instead of focusing on the benefits to the client. Referring to call notes will help you tailor every presentation to your unique audience and make the most of this crucial stage of the sales process. Every salesperson should realize that they’re not just selling a product, but they’re also selling themselves and the company.

5. Addressing Objections and the Close

Many sales are lost because a salesperson fails to close a deal. At each stage of the sales process, it helps to imagine that you’re “selling” different things. In the early stages, the goal may be to get an appointment with a prospect. Later on, you may need to hold a meeting with several key people. Here, you are “selling” a meeting. Seeing the sales process in this way can make the whole process more manageable. Before closing a deal, most salespeople will have heard objections like “I need to think about it.” Make sure you have a set of answers prepared for every possible objection.

6. Follow-Up

Following up after sales have been completed and asking for referrals is key to a strong sales process, yet many salespeople neglect this crucial step. Keeping detailed notes in a centralized database is an important part of keeping relationships with customers alive. A CRM system with automatic call reminders means salespeople will never forget to follow up. Reminders can also be set up to prompt sales agents to call clients a set number of days after sending a quote.

It’s important that all team members are aware of each stage of the sales process. While there are no strict rules, there are some best practices that most businesses should follow. With a single system in place, salespeople can focus more on selling and less on administration. A simple-to-use CRM tool like Neat Quotes means every member of a team can keep track of important sales information, stay on top of all sales deadlines, and engage with customers more efficiently.

 

Some sales people still rely on Microsoft Word and Excel to create client proposals and quotes, but in today’s competitive online environment, an increasing number of businesses are turning to new technology and software. The smart solution is cloud-based sales quotation software. It’s the most effective way to ensure your business can create and deliver quick and accurate sales quotations either in the office or remotely.

What Exactly Is Cloud-Based Sales Quotation Software?

The sales process relies on various streams of data and can be a complex operation, from capturing qualified leads, nurturing the lead and managing quotes, to closing deals. There are now numerous cloud-based sales applications to track and manage sales but not all include the ability to generate sales quotations.

Professional software, like Neat Quotes offered by Layton Technology, lets your team create, revise, send, and track multiple sales quotations with ease. Team members can also update information about future prospects, leads, calls, and sales, so that everyone is up to speed in real time. This enables your team to handle sales from the initial inquiry  to the close of every sale, all from one centralized location.

The Benefits of Using Cloud-Based Software for Sales Quotations:

While desktop applications or locally installed software can be useful, a  cloud-based solution can reduce maintenance overheads (there is no software to install and update), and a secure online location gives you peace of mind. Your team can also access the software from any location.

Increase Conversion Rates

Improving the speed and accuracy of sales quotations leaves a sales force free to explore more valuable leads through a variety of channels. The cloud-based software helps sales people track qualified leads from online advertising or email  campaigns reducing the need for cold calling, which is generally less effective.

Work More Efficiently as a Team

Whether you want to keep track of individual deals or the entire sales process, software like Neat Quotes enables users to see live data on all sales opportunities, meaning all the sales team can support each other to reach sales goals.

Save Time

Using a tool that is specialized for the task of creating quotes and proposals is a much more efficient and cost-effective way to handle the sales process. With automatic follow-up procedures and all communications, including email, in one place you don’t waste time searching or transferring information.  You also don’t waste time writing reports and you can reduce the need for regular meetings as all information is immediately available.

Easily Recommend Related Products

Sales reps can quickly create complex sales quotations by picking products or services from a customized online catalog. The software can be easily updated to include the latest product information so sales reps have all the relevant data at their fingertips in order to make quick and accurate quotes. You can also automatically include related product information to increase the number of up sells.

Works Across Multiple Locations

If you do business internationally, it’s important that your software is universal so it can handle multiple currencies and geographical locations. The sales team can easily update contact information so that quotes are dealt with using the correct currency and most relevant address.

The Bottom Line

With extra features that enable customers to engage with agents via sales quotations, and flexible payment options that simplify the sales process, cloud-based sales quotation software is revolutionizing the way businesses sell. It keeps everyone in the loop and helps reps spend more time closing sales and less time on administration.

The Magic of Selling with Hot Leads.

Salespeople hate cold calling nearly as much as the people they call do. Both hate it for the same reason: it’s intrusive and a waste of time. Yet some companies still cling to this process for no good reason and certainly not because it’s sound business practice. So, what’s the alternative?

The alternative is simple: the salesperson spends valuable time only on hot leads. Hot leads are prospects who initiate the sales process by indicating that they are in the market for the product or service. The salesperson contacts such a prospect and closes the sale by professionally taking care of that person’s requirements. This system hinges on two strategies: empowerment and technology. It’s about empowering both the sales team and the customer by using computer software for records, analysis and monitoring, and the Internet for finding and processing good leads. Salespeople quickly input data about leads, calls, sales, future prospects etc, on the fly. The computer system such as Neat Quotes keeps track of follow-ups and appointments and sends sales quotations to customers allowing them to respond or comment directly on the quote. Sales managers extract data in real time whenever they wish, so the sales people don’t waste time writing reports and attending meetings. This raises the obvious question: Specifically, how does a company use technology to get hot leads?

In a big company, this job is carried out by the marketing department. In a small operation, it’s usually done by the salespeople. In both cases, instead of cold calling, energy is channelled towards building lists of hot leads via advertising, P.R. and targeted mail shots. When salespeople contact those leads, their calls-to-sales conversion rate is likely to be at least sixty percent. The ratio achieved by cold calling is usually between five and fifteen percent. A good example of relatively inexpensive hot lead generation is Web advertising through companies like Google. Ads appear beside content that is related to the service or product being advertised: an advertisement for travel insurance would appear beside a newspaper article about an exotic vacation location. The reader who clicks on such an ad is already interested in the product on sale. The reader becomes a hot lead if he or she goes a step further and contacts the insurance company for more information. A successful sale is likely even before the salesperson becomes involved.

This success is achieved not only because the lead is hot, though that’s vital, but also because the salesperson is empowered by the very fact that the lead is hot. This motivation is the difference between mediocre sales results and very good sales results. A third factor ensures that this process is significantly more successful than cold calling: In a hot-lead environment, on one side is a salesperson who’s highly motivated because he knows that on the other side is a customer who wants to buy from him. As a result, he’s relaxed and has no need to pressurize the customer; the customer too is relaxed because he feels under no pressure. Compare that to cold calling where, from the start, the prospect is unlikely to buy, and resents being harassed by a salesperson who’s well aware of that fact and is demoralized as a result.