Having the right tools for the job helps you do the best job in the least amount of time and with the greatest success. The same is true for your business. There are many tools to choose from when you’re thinking about your business strategy—and your sales strategy in particular. How do you know where to focus your time? With the right sales tools your team will save time and money, increase follow-up and make more sales.
So, how do you choose from the wide array of tools available? Think about the most critical elements of your business (customers) and the greatest resource to manage (time). Invest in the tools that will increase customer relationships, save time and, as a result, increase sales. Below are nine sales tools to guarantee success.
A (CRM) is a single web and cloud-based system that allows you to store organize and automate. CRM will gather all your contact information in a single place, track and analyze interactions, leverage [lead scoring] and improve consistency with all your customer interactions.
While your company can probably manage an email strategy for 100 customers, managing 1,000 becomes more complex. CRM helps to control the many ‘moving parts’ and email automation will ensure that your communication is consistent. Automation strategy, also improves consistency and enhances customer service because your customers get prompt follow-up.
Leveraging the internet to accelerate your business is an expectation in today’s marketplace. It’s also one of the best ways to maximize your business potential. Even if you have a physical storefront, e-commerce selling will expand your reach. To make the most of e-commerce opportunity for your business, review your website to ensure that it moves potential customers toward the point of sale on your site. Is your site clear, engaging and easy to navigate?
The best way to prioritize and organize contact strategy with your leads list is lead scoring. Lead scoring gives you a reliable, data-based method for analyzing leads and determining where to invest your time.
A strong CTA is the best—maybe the only—way to get results from your email marketing efforts. Keep your messages short, with a clear value proposition (what’s ‘in it’ for your customer?) with a clear action step that will lead your potential customer to take the next step toward becoming an actual customer.
Sales revenue is strongly influenced by social media selling. While social media platforms shouldn’t be your only sales channel, you’re missing out if you’re not building a social selling presence. Choose the social media platforms which align most closely with your target audience. Develop a strong brand presence with consistent, engaging content and a CTA that your customers won’t be able to resist.
There are basically two ways to hone your skills; do more of what you want to get better at doing and get more training. Top performing sales organizations invest in training their salespeople. Seasoned sales professionals are more likely to pursue ongoing learning because they understand the value. If you’re new to the sales industry training will provide a structure for future learning. And if you’re seasoned sales pro, continued learning will help you to hone your craft.
It may seem like a given, but some people overlook the value of picking up the phone. Selling is still a relationship business and building legitimate relationships means connecting with people on a more human basis than just virtual. A lot of business can be conducted via email, but picking up your phone and having a conversation is incredibly valuable. Often, talking person-to-person can move the relationship forward exponentially and is one of the best ways to improve customer service. While emails can go back and forth, a conversation can quickly become a meeting or even a sale.
Even with all the right tools, you will also need a process flow of activities that help you capture and engage leads and move potential customers forward in your sales funnel. Sales cadence is a strategic sequence of sales activities that keep the customer moving forward. Response to a CTA might be followed by an email and a call to the potential customer.
Remember that whatever combination of tools you choose, the real success happens when you put them to work. These nine tools to guarantee success will build a strong ‘toolbox’ to support your sales strategy.
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