Inside sales- communications skills at conference calls

Inside sales- communications skills at conference calls

“A man is seldom better than his conversation”- anonymous. It is imperative that communication plays a vital role in the functioning of an Inside sales team. The most important asset which we rely on is conference calls and hence it is essential that we use variety of communication techniques to both understand and be understood.

Communication is the process of sending and receiving information through speaking, writing, visual images and body language and at conference calls you can eliminate body language. The objectives to conduct a conference calls is to essentially change behaviour, to get action, to ensure understanding, to pursue and exchange of information. When you have six people talking in a two people conversation the efforts are only 70% and often it is misunderstood, misinterpreted, rejected, distorted or not heard.

The most common errors on a call would be to help finish other sentences, preparing an answer before the question is completed, multitasking while on a call, presuming meaning based on the orator, and talking on behalf of others. Mostly these days with the work from home option being available the attention paid on the conference calls is relatively less.

Ensure you join in a three to five minutes before the call starts, don’t start chatting with others until everyone joins, once you join in the call state your name and introduction if required, ensure you use the mute button and switch off or keep your mobile phones on silent.

Hence the best way to be prepared for conference calls is to have a pen and paper handy so you can stick to the outlined agenda, ensure you choose a location where you are not distracted and can focus on the subject, I recommend you to not stay away from your monitor unless you have to view the relevant business presentation because if you are then the chances are that you could respond to some email/instant message/review reports irrelevant to the subject and multi task. First essential factor is listening effectively, understand it completely before speaking, speak to be understood and seek understanding before proceeding further and most importantly repeat.

Please ensure you never, ever put on hold this is the most miserable experience on a conference call. Do not play with paper, move chairs or tap your pen or any distracting noises on the call.

Please view other articles like "story telling - a sales art"!


Happy Selling!

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Primary Responsibilities: Inside Sales Executive

Job description: Inside sales executive.

• Inside sales executive should cold-call / email prospects that are generated by external sources and identify decision makers within targeted lists to pilot the sales process.

• Inside sales executive must penetrate all assigned accounts by handling inbound enquiries, unsolicited prospect calls and outbound calls to existing customers via phone and email. He should emphasize product/service technical features, quotations, discuss payment methods and prepare sales order forms and/or reports to convert them in to sales.

• He/she should perform Post Sale Follow Up (call customer to ensure welcome letter and contract start date are correct) in coordination with service delivery engineer as appropriate

• He/she should develop quotations in cooperation with the Pre sales administrator based on identified sales strategy and information collected from customer or partners.

• He/she should collaborate with Sales Supervisor and Account Managers to determine necessary strategic sales approaches needed to perform ongoing customer need analysis, research of customer requirements through first party resources.

• He/she must create and deliver qualified opportunities to Account Managers and maintain and improve the company’s database of prospects and assist in creating RFP responses to potential clients.

• He/she should follow up by passing leads to account managers with calls to action, dates, complete profile information, setting up sales presentations product /service demo’s .

• He/she needs to assist in customer escalation as per escalation procedure and perform routine follow up calls as per renewal procedure to hit Renewal Sales Goals

• He/she needs to follow up and completing Contract Activation Variance & related reports and attend periodic sales training where applicable.

• He/she should perform reporting functions on an ongoing and timely basis including Quotations, pipeline follow up, renewals and assist in completing sales projects including proposals and marketing.

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Inside sales trajectory

Inside sales trajectory,

Efficiency is prime when considering Inside sales because its ability to reach more prospects are high, The pay structure usually is less than field sales guys and there will be no travel costs, as most of the information is readily available online the buyers are looking for value addition and other services. My first job at Dell back in 2003 was quite intriguing; I was working for an American firm, sitting in Hyderabad, India and selling to the United Kingdom. I found it very absurd that people were buying stuff through phone and I was able to do a fabulous job and when I told my friends outside of work then they laughed off and most of them did not even believe it. My customers in U.K were also finding it bizzare to talk to someone thousands of miles away, the process got them excited.

Inside sales in most organizations used as an additional support structure to aid the field sales personal, like performing research, preparing presentations, setting appointments,  generating leads and they can help increase more consumer contacts and Inside sales is a growing force and will continue to be an important part of any company’s growth.

However they should be ideally termed as lead generators and should also perform tasks all the tasks which involve generating leads to the company, The focus in not just about tele- dials or social media campaigning but also effectively work on website visitors ( Internal chat mechanism on web), search engine optimization and social media marketing. Focus on remarketing strategies to hunt potential clients is extremely crucial, hence it is not just about conducting business but also the process of conducting business by nurturing the potential clients by constantly proving and demonstrating value.
You could also look at how sales is converting in to a science than being an art.
Happy selling!

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Delegate & Educate - Stressful Sales Managers

Delegate/educate - Stressful Sales Managers

The modern era of workplace has become very demanding; it not only seeks your execution with precision but also demands you to focus on rapid strategic improvements to redesign and conceptualize the existing process. The way forward is to ensure we take time out from the current rigmarole and educate tirelessly. It is important that we focus on learning things from an organizational view which can help you look at the clear factors which are blocking you and your organization to succeed. 

If you are a sales manager, it is not only important to revise your MBA text books but also know about key people in the industry and read their books and their recommendations, Following them on social media sites to understand their view points and how they combat conflicts and improve performance. Next you would need to take up a few courses and try to do research in the stipulated time; It is also advisable to pursue another master’s degree or submit a research document which will help look at things from a different perspective. Add yourself to groups of similar individuals and start contributing about the most intriguing subjects/ pain areas which will help others to share ideas and contribute. You would also request people from similar industry to join the groups and monitor their performance. You could also start blogging about things which are relevant in the industry.

And while you pursue educating yourself it is also important that the work you do should not suffer hence it is imperative that you need to effectively delegate responsibility. The keys to delegate is to look at an aspiring subordinate whose individual plan state that he would want to grow, then you would need to coach and review constantly. Technology advancements will help you  review bi hourly so it will help you to jump in if you would need help or effecting productivity. While it is important that you get the work done from delegation you should also appreciate and reward the person by writing a testimonial or a letter of appreciation in his profile.

Never let a single day pass without knowing something new, and if you fall in the rigmarole the competition will catch up and eat your share.You can also look at articles like " how to deal with sales pressure". 

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Inside sales Infrastructure

Inside sales Infrastructure

If you planning to start an inside sales team the below infrastructure is a must, Inside sales today holds critical aspect in the revenue generation process for a company. Though we have various text book definitions we simply can comprehend it as partial marketing and partial sales.
And While you are planning for a new inside sales team you would need to look at these critical factors as they are vital infrastructure for conducting it,

a) High Speed Internet access
b) Premium telephone lines
c) Access to social networking sites
d) Active social networking promotions
e) Groups
f) Blogging
g) Website visitors

To generate revenues you would need to certain essential factors, first you would need a high speed internet access and your company should not block social networking sites like facebook, twitter and especially linked in, You would need to get some premium access if you perform your search faster, You would then also need a very good profile which is appealing and interesting to your potential clients. You should have access to various research reports like gartner, forrester, delloite etc . and these have to be published constantly.

You may want to see other articles like inside sales planning and sales beginners.
Happy Selling !

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Sales Planning

Sales Planning

Before you finalize your revenue goals you need to look at your traffic goals, lead goals, quote/ proposal goals sales goals and finally revenue goals. Sales are tightly integrated operation with talent and technology, whilst it has been quite important it could be only achieved by a conjoint effort of marketing. The key ingredients on planning are lead generation, account management and account development, the culmination of all these activities need to provide you a predictable stream of qualified leads. New client acquisition system can be successful either through referrals or heavy marketing efforts. You would need to have target audience criteria set   like the industry, revenue size, employee count, locations etc. Though you would work effectively on your funnel without adequate marketing/ digital marketing leads you would not be able to function.

Your forecasting should not ignore marketing forecast or you will be struggling to back fill your pipeline and not able to sustain consistency in the revenues achieved.

While planning you would need to consider external factors like environment, seasonality, risk, demand planning, supply planning, political etc.
You could also watch sales planning video.

Happy Selling! 

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For sales beginners

For sales beginners:

When you first start the market will always be unfriendly, it says no body needs this stuff, the consultants say no body needs this stuff, these are objections which you would need to overcome by creating the need, ability to paint the picture, some products don’t need that selling because the customers know already what they need it but if you are going to sell that product then you are not really making money, The gap in between successful sales people and others is about presentation.

People will say yes or no for various reasons, sometimes they can’t afford it, sometimes they don’t want it, sometimes they don’t like you, sometimes they are not ready for it, it’s a timing issue often times, there is a time when people are ready and there is a time when people couldn’t care less. There will be a time when people are open to try your suggestions, but don’t get down on yourself saying I didn’t do a good job, they get upset but don’t do it, it just says that you and the customer don’t match, and once you accept that and stop worrying about it and just look at the other million people who are willing to talk to, so focus on trying to find people who are going to do have time to solve their problems, you got to learn that not everybody are going to  choose you or your products but if you tell them to enough people then you will sell.

Once you want to present something and they reject it you feel like you failed, and you get a failure attitude that this business is no good, the products are priced high, not competitive and nobody wants them, but every time you are socially conversing you are selling ideas, everybody can sell because you are doing it all the time, you are trying to sell the idea of going for a movie, telling your kids to study harder. You are selling every day and everywhere and you are a sales person,

You would need to believe in the concept, and the marketing system. You should focus on getting positive engagements which means repeat business, Customers are a lot easier to get, don’t ever lose focus while pitching your offerings. You know you can’t sell everything but your offerings should not confuse the customer, and focus on the offering which you are going to strongly pitch, Pitch for a demo and ask  them to try it to experience the superiority of the product, Illustrate the special features of the product, You would need to know the hot buttons of that product, talk about quality, old time establishments, about the experience and satisfied customers and their testimonials.

And last but not least read out the sales mantra everyday.

Happy Selling !

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Presales - Essentials

Pre sales - Essentials 

After my years of sales experience it is evident that most qualified sales people should join presales, it is the final presentation stage in the revenue generation cycle, It the face of your company like a curriculum vitae, There should be a certain amount of nimbleness when it comes to presales. Before you submit your proposal you need to evaluate if you can deliver this product or service, and can you win this service and is it going to be profitable if you deliver this services.

You would need to work on story boarding the clients profile by proving that there is a synergies between both the vision statements, It is important for you to self-evaluate if you have any thought leadership team which can advise on the functionalities, your awards which you received, publishing your quality certifications plays a vital role in winning the bid. Perform a SWOT analysis which will help you identify where your current position is, It is important that there should be a show stopper, like if you cannot deliver on time there would be stringent penalties, implementation schedule that you would guarantee which cannot be met. Additional throw in’s also play a vital role in winning a bid.

You would also need to show case your references from the similar projects which have been executed, any testimonials which you have won, biographies of key people who play a significant role in the execution of your project, and finally it comes to presenting the document.

It has to be creative and very eye catchy, it should be clear about the pricing, place your expertise, quality, culture fit and your charging mechanism.
You could also look at my articles "is sales science or and art"? .

Happy Selling!

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Sales Mantra -

The Sales mantra - You & Why.... for all sales personal out there… Read this out Loud.

The most important thing in selling is “you”.

The customer buys “you” first.

The first sale that is made is by “you”.

The customer buys it because it is “you” who matters,

It is “you” who are the face of the product,

It is “you” who is the face of the company.

The first person who wants to make the difference is “you”.

It all begins with the most important person “you”,

The person who is being put to test every moment every day is “you”

Once you recognize the power in “you” then you would need to look at why. Why leads to one thing you can’t make sales without. “Why you” and “why are you doing this”, what’s in for you once you are done? Why are you involved in the selling profession? What do you have to gain out of it, Is it money then get out of sales, if it is for some greater purpose like helping people, provide value , provide answers, you are there to provide, Learn your best and do your best than you are in the right place. Evaluate why and why them, what is in it for them, how do they benefit, why should they buy from you , why ask and why ask why? But if you don’t master the power of asking questions you will never understand the element of engagement.

The two most important words are “you” and “why” and if you master them you will master your cheque book.
You could also look at sales beginners which will be useful to improve additional revenues.
Happy Selling!

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Inside sales process map

Inside sales process map-
It is extremely important that you choose the right approach to be successful in sales. Your winning edge lies in delivering success through effective research. Firstly you would need to identify your target customer from the specific geography where your comfort level of conducting business is easy.
 You would need to choose any of the three methodologies, an email campaign; social media connect which needs to be followed up by dialing in the client.
Once you dial you never speak to him about the product or the process but request for a congenial time for him so you could explain your products in detail, while you say so you should be careful to choose the initial script and it should be precise of the benefits and advantages you are going to offer.
Next is to follow up with an calendar invite and update the technician about it. Now you would need to perform research and based on around 55 factors you would need to strategize your move.
I have also pic of the map and would want you to prepare a detailed one for your team.

Next on the call you would need to introduce your company and your offerings to identify if there are any potential to partner up. Once you identify the need you evaluate it and pass it to the technical discussion. And he does not have any requirement now you would need to follow up with the client.
It is imperative that you prepare and produce the visual copy of the high level process flow chart and update it to all the sales executives in the team.
You could also view my other article "sales mantra".
Happy Selling !

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how to deal with sales pressure

How to deal with sales pressure -

It is quite evident that sales is a high pressure job, your combat begins if you commit to a number your boss wants you to achieve and if it isn't a realistic number that is where the struggle begins. You would need to be quite tactful while you selecting your targets, Just because some peer is not feeling well or going on a long vacation there will be pressure on you to take his target but that will eventually frustrate you to the degree where you will start hating your job without even knowing.

 Ensure you consider all the factors which conclude a sale and based on your pipeline and gut feel try to accept a target which is not a huge burden, Also try to evaluate your target by weeks and calculate the run rate that gives you a fair idea as to how you would need to achieve your targets.

 You have to logically evaluate how much you could achieve and based on the environmental conditions, number of appointments booked and follow up’s.

“Follow up’s” my favorite part, once you identified a potential buyer for the deal you would tend to lose interest if he is not responsive after a certain time and the equation built usually fizzles out. You tend to look for new opportunities and ignore the one’s which may lead to a sale. While following up on the potential clients you would call randomly and say that it is a casual call and you were following up on to see if the decision maker has made up his mind, without any value addition.

Rather you should try to email the potential client some research data and industry trends which will be conversation starters on your follow up calls, One new document should be prepared which could be used to follow up with all your clients at the same time, So by force you keep the potential clients excited and when the time comes for him to pursue evaluating a vendor you have already proved how considerate you are about educating your clients and help them choose the best return on their investments.

Being disciplined and punctual in sales is an essential factor for success and the same applies for life, so you have to be punctual to take your holidays also on time. Once you fall in the sales cycle you will have to keep following up which does not allow you to exit or take a break, Remember it is a cycle which never has an end. You will have to work until you retire so you have to take regular breaks and plan holidays in advance. If you compromise on your holidays you would await some devastating effects on your health.

If there is insurmountable pressure people are forced to choose alcohol and smoking. But that makes the matter worse it would lead you to depression quickly, you will start to procrastinate and hate everything. You will move to brown out stage first and then black out. Once you reach this stage you will start to miss all deadlines. This is not just alarming but a very dangerous zone because coming out of it is very difficult. God forbid if you get fired during this phase getting a job with the psychological condition is very difficult.

In order to avoid the pit you will need to pursue healthy options. Like getting a massage done, travel and fishing or learn a new sport. Usually sales is a collaborative effort and sometimes you get an earful for not your fault, just patiently listen but that has nothing to do with what you need to do.So don’t take it too seriously that your health is compromised. If you don’t like your job or your boss do not hesitate to compromise and continue to live like that. Try to escalate or work harder to find a new job for yourself. Don’t compromise on your health….. It is your only god’s greatest gift no one else has the right to ruin it.
You can also view my other article "how to delegate as a sales manager".
Happy Selling !

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Is Sales a science or an art – An argument with an interviewer?

Is Sales a science or an art – An argument with an interviewer?

It has been quite an intriguing experience when my education credentials and sales certifications were discarded in the first few seconds of the interview,He was a senior sales director of a $ 7 billion enterprise. He stated sales is actually an inbuilt talent, an art being street smart, not something which could be learnt a science. Oh My God ! now how do I contradict this?

Things prevailing on my mind at that moment.
a)Is the interviewed looking at resilience factor, so I combat with all logical conclusions and not give up without a strong fight?
b)The Interviewer with a strong background of 15+ yrs of  field sales experience must genuinely have resistance to this  idea, The advent of Inside sales are now shaping the future of organizations, So the question now is that should I subvert his ideas and experience and relate how productive this new process..

c)Or am I wasting my time as the hiring manager, my potential boss as anticipated is like senior sales leaders who would use insurmountable pressure tactics on you to deliver targets without any logical reasoning. Is it truly worth taking that risk…. Having said that I am not afraid of taking risks but not at the cost of my health. (That week, I was mourning the death of my mom’s younger brother aged 52 and we lost him due to extreme stress followed by a heart attack ).

I want to live a longer and a healthier life, Sometimes you have to evaluate is it worth the pain!

The above thoughts  flashed on my mind …Time was running out ...I quickly came back to my senses and explained him vividly the how sales has changed over time, Using a common phrase “Nobody likes being sold to” we now need to avoid hard knocks , cold calls and using fancy scripts which would depict the sales greed in the tone.
The way forward is about looking for mutually beneficial partnerships, prospecting approach, adequate research on the potential clients, business through referrals.

Most important is effective marketing, story boarding, pitching our case studies and testimonials and how we helped solve the problem by avoiding technical jargon. Eventually I was not selected probably for other reasons.

However this experience had a lasting impression on me,  I was always clear as a Sales person it was important for me to focus on understanding from the client’s perspective.

Client is investing time so the first thing that would attract is the what is he benefiting, and what kind of advantages it has followed by features and your company padding.

The recent economic times was celebrating Flip kart’s journey to $1 billion, it never spoke about how it made life easy for users to purchase on line….. Cash on delivery, buying process is reduced to a very few steps etc.

 Amazon did not fail to realize the potential of Indian market but it failed to realize the problem in its e commerce portal…. Ease of doing business, user experience, and security.

When companies talk about their financial success does it not mean that they have robbed us to make that wealth, Have they offered any significant difference to pay that premium, This paradigm shift is very important for us to focus, before we evaluate to sell our product to potential client it is important how does the our solution suffice the needs of the client, have we identified what would we offer significantly different.

If you find someone over achieving his target by five to ten times then there is definite not potential integrity issue you would need to battle up as a leader.
GE, Toyota, Motorola and other companies have been using six sigma and various other tools to improve quality, I recommend you should use the same energies to improve sales quality by adopting scientifically proven statistical sales techniques which guarantees predictable revenues.

I am writing this to assert that a sales is a definite science and you would need to master it by researching deeply from a client’s perspective. Question skilfully and listen patiently.
Not the other way around.
You could also look at my article "how to deal with sales pressure".

Happy Selling !

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