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21 TIPS SEASONED SALES REPS

WON’T TELL YOU

Prospect better. Sell smarter. Close more.

SummaryTargets big and small require persistence and skill. From attitude to aptitude, being a superstar sales rep takes hard work. But what exactly do you need to do in order to prospect better, sell smarter, and close more?

A note: If you’re like most sales reps, rejection is something you face every day. You’re tired of it and want to perform better at your job. The truth is, in sales, rejection will always be there. But here’s what the best sales reps will tell you: What you should take away from rejection is not learning to live with it, but accepting the challenge to turn it around.

Of course, if you’re not closing, something needs to improve–simple as that.

In this ebook, we will go over 21 tips that should help you closely examine the way you sell.

From prospecting to closing, there’s something in here for veterans and newcomers alike.

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Define Your Target

Gain Your Prospect’s Trust

Learn to Actively Listen

Bridge the Connection With Your Questions

Know Your Product Inside Out

Master the Art of Product Presentations

Always Get Your Prospect’s Commitment

Always Reference Your Past Calls

Follow Up With Purpose

Always Update Your Contact List

Work on the Way You Speak and How You Sound

Use Analytics and Call Notes to Identify Better Leads

Don’t Solely Rely on Phone Calls

Buy Into Social Selling

Know When to Rest a Lead

Recognize Buying Signals

Stop Talking After Asking Questions, Especially Near the Close

Highlight Benefits Over Features

Review Current Client Base for Messaging

Never Over-promise

Measure Your Success

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Aki MercedMarketing and Webwriter @ tenfold

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Define Your Target

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The key to an effective sales campaign is laser-targeting your prospects. Casting a wide net will only lead to mountains of unfruitful sales calls and a very frustrated sales rep.

When prospecting, the first thing you must do is clearly define who your targets are. Who do you want to sell to? More importantly, who will benefit from purchasing the product you’re selling?

Start with the industry (technology, communication services, retail, fashion, etc.). When you’ve identified which industry or industries where your prospects are, you have to determine the exact job title of the decision-makers. Some companies have a whole department for buying, but it’s best if you can zero in on the exact person or even the role. It can be the Tech Lead if you’re selling an IT service, maybe the sales director if you’re selling a sales tool. The idea is to know who you can really close a deal with so you know who to get on the phone.

Identifying the location where there is an abundance of prospects for your lead is also a good technique. Say for example, you are selling software for educational institutions, the Northeastern states are a good place to start.

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Check out these additional prospecting tips from the Tenfold blog.

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Gain Your Prospect’s Trust

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Make it your goal to get to know your prospects, get comfortable, and be sincere in wanting to address their needs.

As a sales rep, making your prospects comfortable is crucial as you move through them through sales process–but it doesn’t stop there. A good initial connection is not enough to establish good rapport, you must be able to dig up their problems and pain points that need to be addressed.

It doesn’t help that people are generally skeptical about others. A World Values Survey revealed that in the USA, people trust 40 percent of those around them. In a New York Times poll asking “What percent of people are trustworthy?”, the respondents registered a measly 30 percent.

When asked how many of the people they already know do they trust, the respondents recorded an average of 70 percent. What we can take from this poll is that prospects will only begin trusting you when they get to know you.

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Learn to Actively Listen

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Active listening is an underrated skill. I say skill, because it really doesn’t come natural to a lot of people. In order to establish good rapport, sales reps need to build on the information the prospects are willing to give. You need to be able to talk about things that are interesting to the prospect, and this is not possible unless you really listen.

The non-stop talking sales rep is a stereotype that has run its course. It was true in the past–when reps were going through mountains of lists, selling their products with a more one-way approach. Now, a lot has changed and we’ve learned that listening to prospects first before talking about ourselves and our pitch is what works.

In Professor Albert Mehrabian’s widely known communication theory, 55 percent of meaning is conveyed through facial expression. As an inside sales rep, you do not have the benefit of that, so you really have to pay close attention and understand the nuances of your prospect’s words to properly manage the conversation.

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Bridge the Connection With Your Questions

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You ask questions depending on whom you’re selling to. Using verbatim scripts and spiels are just bad practice and will cause frustration, not only to you but the other person on the line. Of course, scripts that guide you through the sales process are helpful. But they should be used just as a guide.

The questions you ask don’t have to be the wittiest or smartest, but they have to connect.

Knowing your prospect well and taking cues from what they say are the keys to asking the right questions that move the sales process forward.

Here are some things you need to accomplish:

Be very acquainted with the nature of the prospect’s company or business

Dig up their needs and challenges

Know exactly how your products could help them

Watch out for buying and closing cues

Identify whether it’s a closing call or requiring a prompt for the next step

Remember, it takes 6 to 8 touches before generating a viable sales lead. Don’t rush but be smart. Be persistent in asking, but also ask the right questions so as to not freeze a lead.

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Know Your Product Inside Out

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Aside from getting the people to like and trust you, being an inside sales rep also means you have to demo your product well–over the phone.

Knowing the features in and out is something that’s often overlooked. Yes, the sales pitches are great–but a very qualified lead will have a lot of specific questions. Having to pass them to another department may turn them off.

As a prospect-facing rep, you need to be able to substantially answer questions related to your solution. Failing to answer those questions will almost always spell the sale. Of course, you can always direct them to your site’s knowledge base–but in sales, it’s all about sustaining that personal connection.

Take charge of the conversation, and let them know how the benefits of acquiring your products stack up against their needs.

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Master the Art of Product Presentations

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First off, be confident. Your confidence reflects in your voice, the way you talk, and absorb the information your prospect gives you. If this is a point of struggle for you right now, learning a few phrases to ease you into the flow of the conversation will help. Have a cheat list of questions you can ask to not only break your ice but engage your prospect.

Confidence counts the most when your prospects begin to ask you questions about your product. It’s showtime–you have to present what you and your product are all about.

Practice. Take your plan and practice it. Practice it so much that you know the ins and outs of your product and its relation to your prospect’s needs. Write down potential questions or cut-off points, then practice your responses. A solid plan is good, but if you’re stunted by a question here and there, you’re going to reek of incompetence–and nobody wants to buy from an incompetent sales rep.

Come to the call prepared. Be as detailed as you can be with your pitches and presentations, but only share details in the context of your prospect’s needs. Plan everything out. If you think this is a weird way of approaching pitches and presentations, you’ve been forewarned. If you don’t take the information you have about your prospect and incorporate that into your sales pitch, you’re part of those who will not connect to the buyer-- that’s 82 percent of all salespeople according to Salesforce.

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Always Get Your Prospect’s Commitment

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The first few calls seldom end in a close. What you’re after is securing commitment–commitment to knowing more about the product, commitment to accepting another call, commitment to a demo, and so on.

It doesn’t have to be stressful or confrontational--you already have their interest. Just lead the customer through the buying process by getting them involved and asking questions all throughout. The goal is to make the prospect close the sale themselves.

This can be done by simply going over the benefits that apply to your prospect’s needs and desires, then asking them a open-ended question like, “Could we work together?”.

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Always Reference Your Past Calls

8 As we’ve established, prospects respond when they’re spoken with, not spoken to. You really want to have all the talking points from the last call available to you when you make the next call. Your CRM has these details, but it can be time consuming to comb through all that data and information before each call.

A workaround is by using a tool that will help you access these details easier. Our Tenfold popup in particular lets you take notes while in-call. These notes will be easily accessible once you dial out to the same prospect as the notes for a contact appears each time you make a call to their number.

Make sure that you keep an easily accessible record of information about calls with prospects. Having notes around will ensure that you’re able to personalize each time you reach out. Not doing so will alienate prospects and freeze up your leads.

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Follow Up With Purpose

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Your calls will not go from initial prospecting to closing. Following up will always be a part of your agenda. If you’re not following up, you’re losing deals.

According to Marketing Donut, 80 percent of sales require 5 follow-up phone calls after the first contact. Because of this, making the most of each call is essential not only in moving forward with the sales process but also improving your engagement with the prospect. You have to follow up but don’t do it just because you have to.

Have a purpose for each time you reach out. For every follow up, set a task and your focus is to get that task done within your call. Tenfold helps you manage follow up calls better and improve call interactions through its task creation feature right in your call notes on the popup.

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Always Update Your Contact List

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Sales is a high-pressure field. You should be able to make a lot of calls on a productive day. To meet his speed, you try to cut time where possible. But sometimes, working fast can also cost you when you make small mistakes because of being in a rush.

One of the most crucial mistakes you can make is not saving lead information. You have a long list of outbound and inbound calls, and sometimes there’s that handful of numbers with no names. This is inexcusable and will cost you sales. How do you suppose you’d reach out to this nameless contact?

Use tools that will remind you to save and keep track of your contacts. Tenfold allows you to easily create leads in every phone call through our call popup window, which then syncs to your CRM.

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Work on the Way You Speak and How You Sound

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Your voice, volume, and speaking pace are deeply important in your work as an inside sales rep. And sometimes, how you say things matter more than what you say.

A good way to keep your responses positive even when you’re making an assertive point is to mimic your prospect’s style of speaking and tone.

According to Dr. Mehrabian, 38 percent of communication is about all other things besides content and facial expression. Since you’re behind a phone, you rely greatly on this 38 percent to make a good impression.

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Use Analytics and Call Notes to Identify Better Leads

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In fact, a good lead may freeze early, contrary to how it seemed in the beginning. Sales is more of an art–but with how we can now keep track of many metrics in relation to sales operations, sales professionals should definitely make use of the data.

Google reported that data analytics is crucial to lead generation because it helps with the collection of information when prospecting and qualifying leads.

Leads are not created equal.

Our clients use the analytics dashboard for a visual presentation of otherwise cumbersome data. We created this feature recognizing that data analytics partnered with qualitative feedback from call notes is the best way to identify whether leads are still worthy of follow ups.

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Don’t Solely Rely on Phone Calls

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If your engagement with a lead ends with just a phone call, you’ll be in tough luck to hit your quotas. With how everyone is always connected–social media, websites, membership platforms, emails–not reaching out through other channels is hurting you more than you think. Just simply liking and commenting on their LinkedIn posts will already help you a lot.

Reach out when appropriate and possible, and don’t forget to integrate that information with your existing records.

It’s easy to forget logging these details and get caught up with other tasks. So, remember: reach out and take notes.

Tenfold’s note-taking function comes convenient in recording information which are not entered automatically into your system, like personal conversations, Facebook messages, or texts.

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Buy Into Social Selling

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Reaching to your prospects through channels outside phone calls is one thing, making social media part of your sales strategy is another. In recent years, social selling has gained more and more credibility as a sales approach.

For B2B, LinkedIn is widely regarded as the starting point of many sales activities. It makes sense--the decision-makers are on the platform. As a sales rep, you should coordinate with your department and discuss social selling as an added tactic in your strategy.

These pro les represent you in the eyes of your prospects when you are not in direct contact.

According to CEB Global, buyers already made 57 percent of their purchase decisions before being in touch with a sales rep. Get your pro les--both yours and your company’s--in top shape.

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Know When to Rest a Lead

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Sales reps are a competitive bunch. It’s a cutthroat world–you snooze, you lose and all those buzz phrases apply.

But, a smart inside sales rep will know when to stop. Of course, there’s always hope, but the timing is essential. Do you call now or rest the lead? Has it been six calls and the prospect isn’t opening up? Examine your process, review your notes, and decide.

Remember, you can reach out to prospects through other channels aside from phone calls. Connect with your leads through these channels while keeping the calls at bay, just to rest the more direct and tensioned approach.

Again, rest; not quit. Too many salespeople quit too soon. A study conducted by Dartnell Corporation revealed this about sales reps:

48 % quit after the first contact

72 % quit after the second contact

84 % quit after the third contact

90 % quit after the fourth contact

Keep in mind, though, that 80 percent of sales are made on the fifth call, so examine the situation thoroughly.

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Recognize Buying Signals

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How do you know it’s time to move to closing? Buying signals. It’s crucial to react quickly to buying signals and move to close the deal.

Recognizing them begins with knowing how buying signals look in the wild so to speak. Watch out for these:

All these indicate that they’re convinced or close to being convinced. When you spot one or more of these, let them talk and finish, and get ready to ask the closing question.

1 • Heightened interest - asking probing questions about the product

2 • Talking in ‘My’ and I - referring to the product as if they already bought it

3 • Involving other people - asking for other’s feedback

4 • Thorough evaluation - giving you a lot of time to explain and asking for a lot of time to evaluate

5 • Saying ‘yes’ or other affirmatives constantly - constantly agreeing to what you’re saying

6 • Excitement or enthusiasm - change in tone of voice, or talking about hypothetical scenarios where they’re benefiting from the product

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Stop Talking After Asking Questions, Especially Near the Close

17The key is to give the prospect time to answer. If you talk, you lose. You might get caught up in the moment and get excited by the possibility of closing the sale.

Fact is, as you open your mouth, your ears may be shut. Dangerous. If you’re not careful about this, you might even talk the prospect out of the sale by accidentally bringing up something that turns out to be an issue for the buyer.

You asked the closing question and you’re anxious to hear the response. Before you blurt a barrage of rehashed reasons why they should purchase, take a pause.

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Highlight Benefits Over Features

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Sales and marketing have shifted from using mostly in-your-face approaches to more helpful, value-based practice.

When talking to your prospects, you want to tell them about your product without sounding like a recorded message. How do you do this? Talk about how the product will help them. It begins from your initial research about your prospects: What needs are we responding to? Is the product addressing the client’s pain points? You want to talk about these. Present data in a way that speaks to their situation.

Also, when you’re in a sector with high competition, remember to avoid competing on price. As stated in this B2B International study, it can be a challenge to find your unique benefits, but pitching your product through a different perspective benefits-wise is the adjustment you need.

For example, Instead of saying that your product is the best and it’s hard to find others like it, tell your customer that their conversion rates will improve and their management problems will be easily sorted out by using your product.

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Review Current Client Base for Messaging

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These buyers already spend money on your products meaning you just want to find more businesses and decision-makers like them. It’s like reverse prospecting–categorize them, find the intersections, and identify points of saturation.

Using this information, you can even reach out to companies of the same nature in other territories. If you’re bold and there are no non-competes in place, target your client’s’ direct competitors.

According to B2B Marketing Insider, 85 percent of companies are not using personas correctly. Starting from your user base is a good way to filter out wrong notions that can arise from your prospecting and persona development.

Want to develop the persona of your target buyers? Review your existing client portfolio.

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Never Over-promise

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Talking about potential growth your product could bring to your prospect is also a good way to present your product in a good light while digging up more info you can use to further the sales process.

State facts, don’t exaggerate, and never promise something that’s not even possible. That is how companies gain loyal customers. They understand when there’s a mishap because you didn’t pretend that your company is faultless.

They get what they need, and they will come back.

Keep your promises lowkey and focus on the benefits you will get once they start using your solution.

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Measure Your Success

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Whether it’s good performance or a bad month, knowing where you stand is the key to planning the next steps.

Sales successes are not measured only by closed deals.

Track calls, note the changes, and look for trends that will tell you about your strengths and weaknesses.

After examining results, you have to look at your pipeline. Is it full? Is it moving? Is it balanced? This approach ensures that you progress and don’t get fixated on just the numbers.

It’s said that improvement starts with acknowledgement.

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Tenfold is the world’s leading Sales Performance Platform. Built for enterprises and high-growth companies, Tenfold helps companies increase revenue and build better relationships with their customers by allowing them to measure, analyze and improve every aspect of the customer journey.

The old style world of single-transaction relationships and hard closing is gone. Modern sales is a world where prospects are educated and revenue growth comes from the long-term customer lifecycle instead of a one-call close. Instead of closing sales, at Tenfold we believe in helping companies open customer relationships that will continue to grow and create value over time, while at the same time enabling them to retain these relationships by providing an exceptional customer experience.

About us

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Get in touch hello@callinize.comProudly made in Austin, TX

2222 Rio Grande St #250 - Austin, TX 78705

(415) 599-1170www.tenfold.com

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