RELATED: XANT To Host Online Sales Development Summit

In this article:

1. Who is Tom Hopkins
2. Tom Hopkins and the Sales Acceleration Summit
3. Work on Yourself
4. People Buy Emotionally
5. Empathy is a Closing Strategy
6. Sales Strategies – Turn “No” into “Yes”
7. Understand the Root of “No”
8. Be Proud to Represent Your Company
9. Tom’s Techniques for the Digital Age.

Tom Hopkins’ 6 Powerhouse Closing Statement and Closing Strategies

Closing Strategy Definition: A closing strategy is a technique or approach that salespeople make when they want to seal a deal with a customer.

Who Is Tom Hopkins?

Tom is a successful real estate agent who became a sought-after sales mentor. His techniques are honed from his 40-year career as a sales strategy consultant.

In his books, Sales Closing for Dummies and When Buyers Say No, Tom has shared tips on how to finish strong with the right closing strategy.

A leading industry expert on the technique of powerhouse closing statements,
Tom has a wealth of knowledge to share. So keep reading to find out more!

Tom Hopkins and the Sales Acceleration Summit

At XANT’s Sales Acceleration Summit, the world’s largest online sales summit, Hopkins shared simple strategies in his talk. These are strategies that sales professionals should follow in order to close more deals and build a more successful business.

Work on Yourself

One of the most important things you can do to close more deals is to be a people person. Work on becoming more likable, energetic, and trustworthy.

If people find you personable, they’ll want to listen and buy from you. Thus, you should work on your approach or sales persona.

Your biggest tool when closing a deal isn’t a closing statement. It’s you.

Therefore, you should always try and improve and work on yourself as much as possible. There’s still an opportunity to grow, so take these opportunities if it’s presented.

People Buy Emotionally

Too many salespeople try to sell their products and services based entirely on logical arguments, such as money-saving benefits. While money is essential, you need to understand what is emotionally driving your prospects and address that.

The first thing to remember is that man is a creature of emotion. Instead of looking purely into reason and evidence, you should tap into emotions as well.

This closing strategy of Tom Hopkins is backed up by evidence in a study that states that people’s purchasing decisions are emotional.

Some will argue that people don’t buy through pure emotion, and that’s true as well. Again, according to the study, people do buy emotionally, but they justify their decision through facts and logic.

Empathy is a Closing Strategy

Using empathy to improve sales

Speaking of emotion, empathy and emotional selling go hand-in-hand. Hence, salespeople need to develop empathy for their prospects.

They need to put themselves in their shoes. After all, prospects care more about feeling like they’re being understood than understanding what’s being sold.

Empathy selling is the ability to put yourself in the shoes of your prospects. When you try empathy selling, you better understand your prospect’s story.

At the same time, you can better explain how their mind works.

RELATED: 5 Secrets To Closing Seven-Figure Deals

Sales Strategies – How to Turn “No” into “Yes”

Just because a prospect might say “no” doesn’t mean its game over. Reliable sales professionals know how to transform a “no” into a “yes.”

In the case of a “no,” circumvent that argument with this closing statement/strategy. Remember this simple acronym:

• The “Y” in “yes” stands for you. You are the product or service, and if you can sell yourself, you can sell anything.
• The “E” stands for excited and enthusiastic. Enthusiasm can drive a sale more than product knowledge.
• The “S” stands for a sincere desire to serve. Be truely eager to help and take care of your prospects.

By remembering the “YES” acronym, you can better judge whether a “no” is a dead-end or an opportunity for you.

Understand the Root of “No”

Another important aspect of closing a sale is understanding the typical reasons someone might say “no.” That way, you can anticipate what someone might say and strengthen your pitch.

• Lingering questions: There can’t be any confusion. If your prospects don’t see things clearly, they put off making decisions.

• Inadequate explanation of benefits: Different buyers need different amounts of info. You need to be flexible and clearly explain how your product or service will benefit them.

• Additional discovery as required: Your prospects might not always be upfront in voicing their questions or concerns. Investigate further to find what’s unclear.

• A misstep in qualification: Not all products are right for everyone. Go back to qualifying steps and present the right solution for the buyer’s situation.

• Unrevealed questions or objections: They haven’t told you everything about their needs, and you need to find out more.

• Timing: Buyers know how to slow down the sales process and delay decision making. In such cases, you need to become a follow-up specialist.

• Not you: You can’t please everyone. If your personality is hurting your sales, work on becoming more likable in order to build trust, and reduce sales resistance.

Be Proud to Represent Your Company

Prospects can tell pretty quickly whether or not you believe in what you’re selling. They can also determine how you feel toward your employer.

If you can take a moment to express your pride in representing a particular brand, your prospects will notice.

Besides, if you don’t like the company you’re representing, it stands to reason that people won’t trust that company. It’ll be tough to prove that your products are worth buying if you don’t want to sell them in the first place.

A strong belief and pride in your company is a strong defense against rebuttals from prospects themselves.

Tom’s Techniques in the Digital Age.

Tom’s techniques and sales strategies are as relevant now in the digital age as they ever were. His points about the importance of empathy for your customer is a major marketing tool in digital marketing funnels.

Tom also advocates for self-improvement, company pride, and understanding who your customer is.

Companies in 2020 have to focus on the digital marketing funnel and not lose sight of one of Tom’s core ideas; likeability. Now more than ever, people buy emotionally.

Tom Hopkins proudly shares his sales closing techniques for us in the Sales Acceleration Summit. All in all, he highlights that a good closing strategy is all a matter of understanding.

Basically, it’s about understanding and bettering yourself and your approach. Additionally, it’s also about understanding the reason behind customer actions.

When you take these approaches, your closing statement will matter less. Overall, the opportunity to close a sales deal will become more natural for you.

As long as you do the work and follow these tips we heard on closing strategies, sealing the deal will be less of a trial for you. Good luck!

Which one of these closing strategies have you tried out? Let us know in the comments section below!

Up Next:

• Grant Cardone’s 7 Simple Tips to Improve Sales Follow-up
• Jamie Shanks Reveals 5 Must-Have Skills of Modern Sales Pros
• Working Harder VS Working Smarter Five Ways To Prioritize Your Leads And Improve Contact Rates W/ Brandon Bornancin @Seamless.AI

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on March 21, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but building the new.”

Lori Harmon at XANT NEXT2020

Sales will never be the same. This may sound extreme on the surface – but in reality, sales will never return to the way it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, and this is a good thing. Many of the needed sales process changes were forced upon us as we adjusted to selling from home. And now we will keep the best of those changes going forward. Those who cling to the old ways will be left behind.

A quick characterization of these changes is “digital transformation”. In place of in-person meetings–video meetings. In place of fully synchronous communication–asynchronous communication. In place of “management by walking around”–digital tools, instrumentation, and metrics.

The digital transformation that many in sales half-heartedly embraced is now mandatory.

CRM–not optional. Remote presentations–not optional. Screen sharing, email, documentation, call recordings, sales engagement cadences–all not optional.  Technologies many “senior” salespeople viewed as tools for their younger counterparts are now required to succeed: LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, XANT Playbooks, Chorus, Vidyard, Sendoso, Outreach… these are no longer novelties, but necessities for doing business in a digitally revolutionized world.

And these changes are not temporary.  Bob Summers, Managing Partner of Vertical Relevance, points out that although some may be ready to get back to face-to-face meetings, customers may not be. He estimates financial services business development professionals will not be able to get face to face with their customers well into 2021, indicating that building new remote selling habits and adopting new technologies and processes will be required. “Companies must adapt to a digital-first mindset from both a product development and an organizational perspective. Helping companies get there is a core part of what Vertical Relevance helps large-scale sales organizations achieve.”

Inside Sales Teams are Already Digital

We’ve known digital transformation was coming for a long time; many have already transformed their sales development and inside sales teams. These teams are younger, digitally native, and open to change. If you examine a typical inside team, you will see clear aspects of the future. A good sales development rep pivots effortlessly between email, LinkedIn, XANT, Vidyard… She leverages technology for remote and asynchronous interactions at unprecedented speed. She’s often more comfortable in WhatsApp than she is on the phone – which works because so are her target customers.

B2B Customers are Already Digital

As of 2020, 50% of the global workforce is now of the millennial age or younger. This includes of course B2B buyers. These B2B buyers can complete 62% of their buying process without ever talking to a salesperson (Forrester Research). They have access to unprecedented amounts of information about products, vendors, competitors, and peers. More and more, they are not interested  in in-person lunches and in-person meetings. They know what they know, they know what they need to find out, and they would like a salesperson to help them learn in an efficient manner. For today’s buyers, a link to an online resource is perfectly adequate–when they need a voiceover they ask for it. A quick text exchange to answer a question is respectful and efficient. Of course, the buyer will need to rally their own buying committee and orchestrate larger conversations to make big purchases, but these are meetings that can be done just as easily over a video conference.

For Enterprise Sales, Digital Transformation is Here

Very few of us have gone so far as to suppose our seasoned enterprise reps want or need new digital tools to get their jobs done. Often our reps have been on their own–lone wolves more or less–executing a personal playbook they have perfected over years or decades of experience. They have their own personal formula for success. Management might wonder, but rarely question, how they organize their time or plan their work. The field rep shows up on forecast calls, QBRs, and enters minimal details about deals into CRM so they can get paid. Very little else about their job is standardized or automated. They may use a personal cell phone to follow up on customers and prospects. They may travel to pay a visit to a prospect for a formal or informal meeting. They may ask for help from one of the company’s expert resources in a meeting they organized. Highly visible in-person meetings punctuate this cadence, where the rep’s manager, selling team, and often C-level executives show up on-site to meet with the deal’s exec sponsor and key influencers. These meetings are important on both sides of the deal as they focus on energy and commitment and force preparation and progress toward alignment.

All these efforts culminate in a  “gut feel”  forecast that gets reported on the weekly calls.

All this has changed with the disruption that is COVID-19–all field reps are now inside reps. As Justin Edwards points out, now “100% of meetings are online instead of face-to-face.” All communication is digital.

Reps and managers have two choices:

1. Wait for things to get back to Those making this choice might be working on projects around the house, catching up on Netflix, and waiting to “be able to do their job.”
2. Work in the new normal. These people are creating workarounds. They are busier than ever. They are learning new tools and processes. They are leveraging digital and asynchronous communication. They are re-thinking how they interact with their own team and with their customers.

The professionals in camp #2 will have an advantage on the other side of this pandemic. They will have advanced their own “digital transformation” and become that much more in tune with how buyers want to buy. Those in camp #1 will be left behind.

According to Sales Futurist, Justin Michael, “The role definitions are blending, even going away. Field reps now inside can gain a unique competitive advantage by learning to adapt and power-use their existing and future tech stacks. Once technology avoidant, the modernized field becomes one with the stack almost like a Jarvis Iron Man Suit.”

And Sally Duby, Bridge Group Chief Sales Officer, “Companies that had a great tech stack and were using modern tools and technology before the pandemic are ahead of the curve and should come out of this stronger than the ones scrambling now to get it together. The companies that were already measuring, tracking, and reporting their metrics are also ahead of the curve.”

The Future of Sales

The future version of sales, “the new normal,” will have five characteristics that distinguish it from its predecessor versions:

• Digital
• Fast
• Self-guided Buying
• Content-rich
• Instrumented

1. Digital

Winning by Design, a thought-leading consultancy based out of Silicon Valley, recently studied sales performance data from over 500 SaaS companies and focused specifically on successful SMB reps transitioning to Enterprise.

These reps did between 25-50% of their meetings remotely, even at $500,000 and above contract values. They leveraged the tools they learned in SMB for prospecting (LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, XANT, etc), as well as Zoom / GoToMeeting / Google Hangouts for remote meetings. They developed specific techniques for replicating an in-person meeting online, including:

• Preparation beforehand (average of 2-8 hours preparing for each meeting)
• Clear agenda
• Engagement of everyone during the call (they assigned someone on their side to actively work the chat window during the meeting)
• Timely notes and follow-ups afterward

In addition to hosting digital, synchronous meetings, these reps were more likely to use asynchronous communication techniques, such as email and pre-recorded video. For instance, best practice when emailing a proposal was to send it with a video-recorded walk-through overlaid (recorded on a platform like Vidyard), which then not only ensures everyone the proposal is forwarded to sees and hears the rationale behind the proposal, but it also allows the seller to track opens, clicks and forwards to see how engaged the buyer is.

Source: Winning By Design, The impact of remote selling on Enterprise Sales

“Today’s buyers want to buy impact right now, not 12-18 months from now,” notes Jacco van der Kooij, co-CEO of Winning by Design. “Therefore, the speed of the sale is not determined by the speed at which a seller sells, but rather by the speed at which a buyer buys. Digital Selling is an answer to Digital Buying and it happens at a faster speed.”

2. Fast

One of the main characteristics of a modern seller is speed. Part of this is because the modern seller is always on. Time to respond to an email? Minutes or hours (never days). From the buyer’s millennial mindset, a perfect answer a few days from now is not nearly as valuable as a pretty good answer a few minutes from now.

Among other things, the pandemic has increased the importance of sales speed. In Aligning Strategy and Sales (Harvard Business Review Press), Frank Cespedes points out that in most companies the selling cycle is the biggest driver of cash out and cash in. Accounts payable accrue during selling, and accounts receivable are mainly determined by what’s sold at what price and how fast. Consider the impact on your business, now and after the crisis, of shortening selling cycles and accelerating time- to-cash by a week or more.

Iterations, responsiveness, and multi-modality characterize the modern buyer and now the modern seller. It’s easy to find examples of conversations that start on LinkedIn messenger, the transition to email, and then transition to text. Some interactions are text, some are video, some are phone. But the common denominator is that the seller is willing and able to set a pace that keeps the buyer moving forward in the process and leaning in. Winning By Design defines 3 “speeds:”

• Speed 1: In-person (take time to schedule, travel takes time,)
• Speed 2: Remote synchronous (saves the travel time)
• Speed 3: Remote asynchronous (saves scheduling time and increases ‘touches’)

3. Self-guided Buying

One of the major shifts of the past decade is the balance of power between buyer and seller. B2B buyers say they can complete 62% of their selection criteria, including developing a shortlist of potential vendors, without ever speaking with a sales rep. In that environment, what value does the sales rep add?

Yes… that is the question. “What value does the sales rep add? We have to have a clear answer to that question every time we engage,” said Katie Azuma, global VP of Business Development for Infor. Since buyers are largely self-sufficient on the basics, reps need to bring value beyond the basics–consultative skills the buyer can only get from an experienced and studied ‘expert.’

4. Content Rich

Sometimes not all the necessary knowledge and skills are in the rep’s head. In that case, she can always broker expertise, but she needs to know how and where to find it so she can curate the right information and get it to her customer in a timely way that supports their self-guided buying journey.

According to a group of senior executives assembled at XANT NEXT2020, the problem is not a lack of information–the problem now is too much information. “I know the data is out there,” said Jacquie White, SVP Customer Success at DXC, “I just need someone to tell me what to pay attention to. When I engage with a rep, I need them to add value and save me time.”

Modern reps are buying concierges. Precisely because buyers now have access to so much information about product and price, research indicates they place a higher value on the salesperson who can usefully curate that information to their business context. (Frank Cespedes and Jared Hamilton, “Selling to Consumers Who Do Their Homework Online,” HBR.org March 16, 2016; Frank V. Cespedes and Tiffani Bova, “What Salespeople Need to Know About the New B2B Landscape,” HBR.org August 5, 2015)

5. Instrumented

Remember how we said above that field reps have traditionally been lone wolves, checking in only periodically to report on results? That is rapidly changing. As modern reps engage in modern sales processes (right now 100% online), data is available as never before about what reps are doing when and with whom. It’s as if we’ve outfitted each rep with a fitness tracker. The good sales organizations treat this the same way you would treat data for an elite athlete. What are they doing that’s working? What are they doing that’s not working? Elite athletes and coaches alike depend on data to get better every day and every week. With today’s digital selling process, we can do the same thing.

Welcome to the New World of Selling

Let’s face it, we are never going back.

What B2B seller, after spending 90-180 days fine-tuning their sell-from- home motion, now wants to get on planes again and spend 14 days waiting for the travel day then 48 hours to travel to and from a corporate headquarters for a single meeting?

What B2B buyer wants to agree to in-person meetings when we just proved to ourselves that we can get it all done over video conference?

“Sellers are realizing how much more productive it can be to sell virtually because they are traveling less and can make more sales calls. Companies are realizing how productive and cost-effective it is to have sellers traveling less and working remotely. Most importantly, buyers are seeing the advantage of video meetings instead of in-office visits from vendors. And in today’s circumstances, buyers are more likely to be available to meet. Even when we return to our offices, virtual sales will still be easier and more cost-effective for buyers, who won’t have vendors coming by their offices, getting badged in, and taking additional time to network after the sales call.”

Lori Harmon, SVP Virtual Sales, NetApp

Within the new reality of sales, we can be:

• More digital
• Faster
• More self-guided
• More content-rich
• More instrumented

We can do this and we will do this. Or at least the winning teams will do this. Now is the time to get all systems and processes built and tested so that we come out of COVID-19 lockdown ready to put distance between us and our competitors who do not use this time to re-tool.

Sales is never going back, and that is a good thing. Let’s be on the right side of change–the promoters and catalysts, not the resisters. The future belongs to the bold. Comments and suggestions welcome as always.

Rock on!

-Dave Boyce & Chris Harrington

Resources:

XANT Playbooks Winning by Design

• Research
• Webinar on Remote Selling

Justin Michael Webinar on Building Pipeline

Justin Edwards, 3 Things COVID-19 Forced That Are Here to Stay XANT Labs, The Definitive Guide to Sales Cadence

Frank V. Cespedes and Jared Hamilton, “Selling to Consumers Who Do Their Homework Online,” HBR.org March 16, 2016

Frank V. Cespedes and Tiffani Bova, “What Salespeople Need to Know About the New B2B Landscape,” HBR.org August 5, 2015

Lori Harmon, “Our Finest Hour: How to Create a Virtual Sales Revenue Engine in a COVID-19 World and Beyond,” NetApp Blog, May 4, 2020

RELATED: 10 GOOD HABITS OF A NATURAL SALESPERSON FOR YOUR BUSINESS

In this article:

• Why Customer Loyalty is Important
• 14 Ways to Win Back Lost Customers

1. 1. Decide if you want your lost customer back
   2. Ask why they left
   3. Take responsibility
   4. Engage with your customers
   5. Encourage their contribution
   6. Measure customer satisfaction
   7. Create a customer service-centric environment
   8. Personalize communication
   9. Inform customers
   10. Use social media
   11. Reward customers
   12. Don’t let them leave in the first place
   13. Promote your product
   14. Build more rapport

Win Back Lost Customers: Tips

Why Customer Loyalty is Important

Loyal customers are profitable. Customer loyalty improves profits by: –

• encouraging repeat business
• generating referrals
• establishing a favorable price premium
• reducing the operating costs for a business

It’s important for companies to find new customers, but a business’s existing customer base can determine the foundation of their future success.

Focussing on providing a good customer experience is key to increased revenue. Whether great customer experience becomes more important to driving sales than product or price is yet to be seen, but many industry experts believe so, and the following statistics back this up.

Each year, $136.8 billion is lost by U.S. companies due to avoidable consumer switching. (CallMiner)

Over half of Americans have canceled a transaction due to bad service. (American Express)

A third of Americans say they will leave a company and switch to another after just one incident of bad service. (American Express)

Also, one in three customers will pay more money to receive a better level of service. (Genesys)

15 Ways to Win Back Lost Customers

Decide if you want your lost customer back

First of all, decide whether you want your lost customer back? Not every customer is ideal and depending on your relationship the best decision could be to let them leave happy, so they continue to refer to you.

Ask why they left

Ask your customers why they left. Let your former customer know they are valued and that you’re interested in knowing why the business was lost, and of course, what you can do to win them back.

Targeting common pain points will also increase retention across the board. Gaining feedback will help you understand your customers, but you will have to take action if you want to win back lost customers.

Take responsibility

Admit that you could have done better, and what you will do to make changes. Work on the basis that there are logical solutions to fixing any previous problems and don’t make it sound like you’re following rigid guidelines that can’t be changed to help your customer.

Assuming responsibility could win back lost customers but getting hold of your ex-customers will be more difficult once they’ve left. After poor customer service, a customer is likely to avoid contact with you.

Engage with your customers

Your main goal should be to fulfill all their needs and deliver full satisfaction. Ask your customers for feedback regularly while they are still customers. Engaging with them will show you want to make a difference. There are many surveys available, and through different media, asking questions like “would you recommend our business to others”?

Encourage their contribution

Encourage customers to express their concerns and share feedback, possibly by offering rewards. Make it apparent that you value their contribution.

Measure customer satisfaction

Measure customer expectations and set goals for your sales and service teams. Metrics reflect how your customers are feeling, but only generically. Integrate surveys within your sales platforms.

Create a customer service-centric environment

Don’t just incentivize staff for sales but also reward them for providing excellent service. Not all bonuses should be based on sales figures and service and sales should go hand in hand. Build a customer service-centric environment and share good news stories. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to fake a good relationship with your customers and as a leader, you should devote resources and strategy to better customer experience.

Personalize communication

Personalize your communication with your former customer and tell them they have been missed. A generic email will not work as they will want to know they are special. Provide your undivided attention.

Inform customers

Provide any information about new products or services since they left. Offer discounts or promotions.

Use social media

Social media marketing is important for businesses to connect with their customers and build relationships. Use this tool to improve customer service, develop public relations, and increase customer acquisition. If your previous customers take to social media to complain, they must be responded to, preferably in a private conversation.

Reward customers

Other than service, most exiting customers will be trying to save money and reduce costs. New customer deals make existing customers feel less valued, so ensure they are rewarded enough.

Don’t let them leave in the first place

Don’t let your customers leave in the first instance. Have a well-developed customer retention department to specifically work with customers intending to walk away. Try to assure your customers that things will change.

Promote your product

Believe in your product or service and tell your customers the positive aspects that made them ‘sign up’ the first time. Your product is the reason they connected in the first place so add value through your products and services. Offering high-quality products/services, that are keeping up with expectations, will drive customer loyalty.

Build more rapport

Build more rapport. Ask or remind your customer what was good during the relationship. Cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship and let your customer feel invested in the future of your business.

Increasing customer loyalty is a business tactic that advantages an organization now and helps to ensure its survival in the future. Combating churn and boosting customer retention will help your organization grow; it’s rational to think keeping an existing customer is cheaper than acquiring a new one.

What are the main reasons your business sees churn? What other tips can you provide on how to win back lost customers? Please comment in the section below.

Up Next: 

• THE CYCLE OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY: 8 TIPS TO LIVE BY
• Face-to-Face Closes 2.5x Better, But Inside Sales Makes 7x More Calls
• 6 FORECASTING STRATEGIES FOR MORE ACCURATE SALES [INFOGRAPHIC]

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 16, 2018, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.

RELATED: WHAT 3 TOP SDR LEADERS ARE DOING RIGHT NOW

In this article:

SDR vs. BDR

1. What Importance do SDRs and BDRs Hold?
2. How are the Roles Defined?
3. The General Consensus
4. What is a Business Development Rep?
5. What is a Sales Development Rep?
6. Reordering Sales
7. Summary

SDR vs. BDR

What Importance do SDRs and BDRs Hold?

Together the SDR and BDR roles entail building a business’s prospect database with leads. Differentiating between jobs is crucial when building a robust sales force. Each department has a specific task taking care of different aspects of prospect development.

Both jobs ensure an organization delivers an efficient revenue machine by making the sales cycle streamlined, and they position within the inside sales team.

It’s inefficient and expensive to employ account executives to call prospects all day. Hence, a dedicated inside sales team who does this work is much more successful, particularly when aligned with your customer’s buying cycle.

Both positions take much of the time-consuming and administrative work away from other salespeople, specifically the pitchers and closers. Without SDRs and BDRs, sales teams’ production is 40% less in reference to lead conversion.

How are the Roles Defined?

According to LinkedIn “business development is the process of finding the match between a product (or solution) and a segment in the market. Sales development is the process of systematically generating revenue with the product (solution) in the chosen market segment in the race for market leadership”.

The roles of SDR and BDR can be confused with each other, but clarity can only really be found within individual companies as everyone does it differently. There seems to be no official definition, with some organizations having conflicting definitions.

The general consensus

• BDR is focussed on outbound lead prospecting
• SDR is focussed on qualifying inbound leads
• Neither are responsible for closing business
• Both move leads through the sales pipeline
• The roles will normally only be separated in larger companies

That said, here’s our explanation of SDR vs. BDR.

What is a Business Development Rep?

A BDR’s responsibility is to focus on generating qualified marketing leads. They convert cold leads into warm leads, and effectively they pass the baton from marketing to sales.

BDRs have a difficult job when it comes to research, and leads can potentially come from anywhere. They network, research on Google, use social media, make calls, and email to generate leads to fill their pipeline with new contacts.

Engagement is aggressive (in the sense of targeting cold prospects), and there is less automation than in the SDR role. The BDR usually has to make more attempts to get a response. The BDRs pipeline isn’t so much a funnel, so they have to track down leads, which changes communication somewhat.

What is a Sales Development Rep?

An SDR’s responsibility is to focus on inbound lead qualification, and process leads through the sales cycle by qualifying prospects and setting sales appointments.

Traditionally phone-based, SDRs now connect with organizations using a variety of methods.

SDRs get their leads from a variety of sources:

• Advertising and marketing, for example, on social media.
• Leads generated by BDRs
• Inbound
• SEO
• Referrals

SDRs must quickly respond and contact inbound leads within minutes.

They use tools such as social media, phone, and email, as well as mastering lead generation software and other CRM platforms.

At the qualifying stage, the SDR ensures that the lead is interested and labeled as acceptable. This is done through lead scoring. The customer hits a pre-set score and is then called, and hopefully, an appointment is booked.

SDRs engage with leads through nurturing and monitoring behaviors. They identify who is a prospect, i.e., who is a potential going to buy, and who is a suspect, i.e., who is not going to buy. The leads are funneled through automated platforms, and the SDR sets out to book appointments.

Reordering Sales

The fastest-growing companies are investing money into their sales development, and where the roles originally began in marketing teams, the growing trend is shifting them towards the sales teams. Looking back further, over 20 years, there were only sales reps who were responsible for every stage of the sales process.

Lead generation is a critical factor for many organizations. The nature of a sales force has undergone many changes in recent years, which have sculpted the process of obtaining prospects.

Lead generation practices are evolving, and traditional methods have significantly changed. Digital interactions and telecommunications are equally as important as calls and emails.

Kraig Kleeman, a world-leading growth advisor and sales strategist, says we should radically reorder the way we think about sales. His view is that you should load your BDR & SDR team balance to a minimum of 5:1 ratio, i.e., five BDRs/SDRs minimum per seller.

Those BDRs/SDRs need to be equipped with messaging and content that’s been highly customized, and that’s rooted in hermeneutics (the science of language) and sales proposal writing.

The SDRs should take part in demo meetings and do all the administrative tasks relating to CRM. Kraig believes the SDR should carry all motions and follow the customer meetings until close, freeing up the seller to sell/pitch and close the sale.

Summary

The different nature of these two sales roles means both are useful within a company to grow sales. Both are there to provide sales qualified appointments (SQAs) – the SDR from warm leads and prospects who have heard about your product and the BDR from new sources.

What’s your view on SDR vs BDR? Do you think the line is too fine or a necessary development? Share your ideas in the comments section below.

Up Next:

• ARE YOU A LEADER OR MANAGER OF YOUR TEAM?
• POSITIVE WAYS COMPANIES ARE REACTING TO CORONAVIRUS

RELATED: WHAT 3 TOP SDR LEADERS ARE DOING RIGHT NOW

In this article:

1. Why do you want a career in sales?
2. Why did you apply for the role with (company name)?
3. Can you do a demo call with a colleague right now?
4. Do you have any questions?
5. Curveball question.
6. Rate this interview and tell us how you could improve it?
7. What hobbies do you invest time and money into?
8. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
9. What’s a recent thing you’ve learned?

SDR Interview Questions Techniques Explained

SDR interview questions should be focused around prospecting and other SDR functions, but typically to get candidates to provide detailed responses to tough questions. Segregated sales teams call on SDRs to source revenue in a bespoke manner, and candidates need to show their energy, confidence, team-player skills, and coachability.

SDR Interview Questions

Why do you want a career in sales?

Although a classic and straightforward question, asking your interviewee why they want (or why they chose) a career in sales is a great opener, which should get them talking broadly. There are a variety of answers to this question, and you’ll get a good idea of how passionate your candidate is about sales. If they are instinctive, they will be able to talk about the current climate of the industry and possibly relate it to your organization.

Why did you apply for the role with (company name)?

TThis next question leads on from the first very naturally. Your candidate has said why they love sales, but now they need to tell you why they want to work in your organization. Interviewees should be well prepared for this one and have done their homework and research. Candidates who’ve done a basic check of your company’s website might likely fall through the cracks for a role that is based on personalized communication. What you’re trying to glean from them is something original and something which really tells you they would be a good fit for your organization. You’ll be able to gauge how they perceive your company, and again, their passion should come through about your product or service.

Can you do a demo call with a colleague right now?

Arrange for a demo call, whichever style suits the role; it would entail a colleague from another office or a second interviewer in the room. Get your candidate to prospect, and if they can pitch your product, even better. This will clearly show you who has done research on your organization’s product, and who has all the ‘sales’ characteristics you’re looking for. If your potential candidate is unable to do this comfortably, then it’s unlikely they will have the confidence to make calls on the job or will be able to handle pressure and show poise.

Do you have any questions?

This is another classic SDR interview question possibly used in every interview. What you want to be demonstrated is how much ‘homework’ your candidate has done. Answering a question that isn’t about the role, product, or culture might put you off your interviewee. Ideally, you want to hear several well-planned questions that will reveal a lot about what your candidate finds important in their job. Asking this question early in the interview negates the chance for your candidate to say something like ‘no, I think you covered it all.’

Curveball question.

Throwing in a curveball question is a fun way to liven an interview and to see how your candidate reacts. It’s unlikely your interviewee is a bag of nerves because of the role they are applying for, but breaking the ice always helps to build rapport and relaxed people will often talk more and give you a better insight into their character. The whimsical question also lets you see how quickly your potential rep can respond, and how they think on their feet.

Examples might be: –

• If you had to be a kitchen utensil, what would you be and why?
• If you had $1,000 and you had to double it in a day, how would you do this?

Rate this interview and tell us how you could improve it?

This could be a telling question – will the candidate talk about how they think they have failed or what they can do to improve their side of the interview, or will they talk about how they think you could improve your questions, etc. Uncomfortable questions like this one force the candidate to sell themselves. Hiring someone who sounds self-entitled could be a headache for the team, but someone who sees strengths in others but can also elaborate on their own strengths is a winner.

What hobbies do you invest time and money into?

Asking what hobbies someone invests time and money into, and why, is an interesting alternative to the original ‘what hobbies do you have’ question. You will be able to evaluate the cultural fit of your candidate with your organization and team and open a discussion about the values of money and time. Sales reps are usually proactive and energetic, so this is likely to reflect on their hobbies.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

Or a spin on this question; what is your greatest achievement? Ideally, your candidate will tell you something that meant a lot to them, show you their passion, and indicate what qualifies as hard work. They should detail what they had to do to achieve their goal, and hopefully, they will give an SDR work-related answer and a personal goal.

What’s a recent thing you’ve learned?

Part of an SDRs job is to ask insightful questions or make personalized communications with prospects. So, they often have to learn new tools, platforms, or techniques to get the best responses. By asking this question, they will hopefully tell you a great trick they incorporated into their role. They shouldn’t have any problems being enthusiastic and demonstrating their curiosity at work.

What time of day do you do your first-time calls? What sales mistakes have you made in the past? Please share your sales mistakes and thoughts in the comments section below.

Up Next:

• 7 SALES HIRING QUESTIONS TO IDENTIFY TOP TALENT
• HOW TO BECOME A TOP PERFORMER IN SALES (7 QUALITIES)

In this article:

Productivity Tools

1. Know Who to Target
2. Identify Good Customers
3. Attention to Detail
4. Communication
5. Email
6. Phone Calls
7. Questioning Ability
8. Listening Skills
9. Customization
10. Product Expert
11. Process Driven
12. Tech Savvy
13. Social Media
14. Coachable and Keen to Learn

RELATED: WHAT 3 TOP SDR LEADERS ARE DOING RIGHT NOW

Essential SDR Skills

A Sales Development Representative, or SDR, is one of the primary roles within a sales and marketing team. They are inside reps who are focussed more on inbound lead qualification and channeling those leads into qualified appointments.

This vital sales role is not for everyone, and good SDRs need to stay ahead of the game, and on top of the minds of the prospects and clients they work with. SDRs have to master specific SDR skills that play an essential job within a healthy sales procedure.

Know Who to Target

The decision-maker isn’t always the target, and SDRs should be skilled to know whom to target within an organization. Influencers, direct and indirect, often help SDRs get the appointment booked, and regular conversations with various prospects within an organization are likely to become a primary prospect.

Identify Good Customers

An SDR should be able to notice any ‘defects’ and determine if a given (or found) lead is fit for the product being sold. While there are plenty of systems that automate this process using AI technology, an SDR should integrate their own skills with sales outreach tools.

Attention to Detail

In a hectic environment, there is a fair amount that can go wrong when writing and sending emails, such as duplication, incorrect, or out of date information.

SDRs must be able to master their CRM system and check all information is correct and fix things when they go wrong.

Communication

An SDRs job is to have conversations with the right people by reaching out and starting conversations with leads. These early stages of the sales process are crucial to finding out if the prospect can be processed through the ‘sales pipeline’ to a sales closer.

Email

Email outreach skills must be excellent to succeed as an SDR since sending cold or warm emails is a primary function. Sending emails must be met with a good amount of responses from leads and second stage prospects. SDRs should be able to mix up their copywriting styles and make emails personalized, punchy, relevant, and accurate.

Phone Calls

Calls should be perfected to qualify leads and find out data of target accounts. Calls should be made quickly but efficiently to get the highest number of conversions while providing the best customer service. SDRs should know how to get the right person on the phone, talk about needs/solutions, and be able to ask people the right questions. The best SDRs will earn good commission from sales qualified appointments or SQAs.

Questioning Ability

Good SDRs will be able to ask questions that are out of the comfort zone of many. They can push customers to the limit without being too ‘salesy’ by asking the right questions. Being able to understand an organization’s goal through questioning is a master skill.

Listening Skills

Selling is not so much about talking, but actually about active listening. Good SDRs ask fantastic questions then listen to their customers’ responses to gain more insight and determine customer needs. The conversation should be weighted, so the customer talks freely with the SDR, only interjecting to point out product value.

Customization

To get good response rates, SDRs must master the skill of customizing each contact they make with prospects and customers. It’s not enough anymore to send out a standardized email or read from a script. Although quantity matters, relevant quality contact catches the eye of the prospect to win appointments.

Product Expert

An SDR should be prepared for any question from a client and live and breathe the organization’s product or products. If they don’t believe in the product or have limited knowledge, then it will be more difficult to prospect or be confident explaining things.

Process Driven

Sales development is a repetitive process, and reps can spend their days doing the same functions. Having a killer process and strategy is essential to increase efficiency and remove wasted or monotonous steps from the sales cycle. Many CRMs and other AI tools can support an SDR in their role, but these tools still need to be properly understood and utilized to the max.

Tech Savvy

Much of the process within sales can be automated, and SDRs have to be technologically savvy and continually learning new tech. SDRs spend hours on importing lists, calling, emailing, and booking demos. Some SDRs do much more and follow the sales process until a sale is made. All steps use sales and CRM software.

Social Media

Social media is a vital tool in the B2B world, and SDRs need to know how to navigate and become an expert on sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. They will need to set themselves up as experts in their field or industry leaders and convey their knowledge. All information posted should be highly valuable and relevant to interact with more prospects and build rapport.

Coachable and Keen to Learn

A good SDR should be open to continuously improving their performance, listening to their peers for suggestions, and implementing new strategies. Sales is an ever-evolving process, and so it makes sense to adapt and change with ever-evolving models or systems. An excellent SDR will seek out feedback, learn new skills, and proactively better themselves through training opportunities or online tutorials, for example.

What other SDR skills can you share with us? Please comment in the section below.

Up Next:

• 10 GOOD HABITS OF A NATURAL SALESPERSON FOR YOUR BUSINESS
• WHY EMAIL MARKETING IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR SALES PROCESS
• 3 STEPS TO BUILD A GREAT SALES TEAM

RELATED: 6 Effective Time Management Strategies From Sales Experts

In this article:

1. Top Organization Tips for the Office: Make a To-Do-List and Use Time Blocks
2. Top Organization Tips for Outside Sales: Plan Your Route and Prepare to Pivot
3. Use Technology and Automation to Your Advantage
4. Manage Your Inbox
5. Organization Tips You Can Implement Immediately
6. Personal Investment
7. Paranoia

Sales Organization Tips To Be Productive and Sell More

Not Too Personable

The common conception, even among much of the sales community, is that a salesperson should be as friendly and gregarious with the customer as possible while still plugging the product. Surprisingly, though, the top performers are not always the friendliest salespeople.

According to Harvard Business Review, the most successful salespeople exhibited 30% less gregariousness (another word for friendly and outgoing nature) than their most outgoing colleagues.

The reason for this phenomenon, they explain, is that establishing yourself as a dominant authority is important in sales. And being too friendly makes the customer see you on the same level as them, which takes away your authority.

Make Them Think It Was Their Idea

Salespeople should not tell their customers to buy the product being sold. Instead, they should introduce the product and gently nudge the customer down a path ending with the sale. In other words, the salesperson should make the customer want to buy the product on their own accord.

People are stubborn by nature. Most of us are a lot less likely to do something if someone else tells us to than if we make the decision ourselves — or at least feel that’s what we’re doing. Salespeople should familiarize themselves with this concept and use it to their advantage.

Submissiveness

Although establishing authority is essential, making yourself seem better than the customer is a huge no-no. People love feeling like the top dog in an interaction, and they’re more likely to buy if they do.

Use subtle cues and psychological tricks to make yourself seem submissive and inferior, even if you are secretly the one in control of the exchange. For example, try:

Read Subtle Clues

A sales pitch is not about reading a script, even if that script is perfectly prepared. It’s necessary for the salesperson to monitor their customer behaviors continually and factor them into how they deliver the pitch.

The behaviors are often very subtle. Very small shifts in body language, expression, or vocal tone can and should be noticed, and they will drastically alter the direction in which a master salesperson takes the conversation.

RELATED: Top 3 Things You Need To Perfect Your Sales Cadence

Empathy

“Empathy” is basically another word for the ability to put yourself in another’s shoes and feel things through their emotions.

A top performer in sales should be able to do this emotional transference at will. They should utilize that ability during their pitches to help identify what pains the customer and what they want to hear about.

Here are some examples of empathy dos and don’ts that salespeople can incorporate into their interactions with customers.

Personal Investment

Another common misconception is that salespeople just go for the sale, without any thought about how well the product will perform after it is in the customer’s care. While this might be true with some salespeople, the best ones are deeply invested in the quality of their products and the integrity of their sales.

When a salesperson believes in the product, the conviction will shine through during their pitch. Even the best in the field can’t replicate that conviction and pull the wool over the eyes of their customers if it is not genuine.

Paranoia top performers

Great salespeople know a sale can fall through the cracks in a million different ways, even after a customer agrees to buy. They hound their customers at a rate that verges on annoying until the money is in the bank, because they need to make absolutely sure nothing goes wrong and that the customer does not change their mind.

It sounds irritating to the customer, and it probably is a bit, but persistence is vital in the world of sales.

Don’t leave your success as a salesperson up to chance. Don’t rely on your appearance, charisma, or smooth way of talking because those things won’t work on everyone.

The qualities discussed above, on the other hand, are universal. Master them, and you will make more sales.

TO HEAR ABOUT OF FEW OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS FOR SALESPEOPLE NOT TO DO, CHECK OUT THE VIDEO ABOVE FROM SALES EXPERT DAN LOK.

Up Next:

• 81 Motivational Sales Quotes to Fire You Up
• How Sales Teams Can Change Their Approach During Coronavirus
• Helpful Tips for Working from Home While Social Distancing

RELATED: 6 Effective Time Management Strategies From Sales Experts

In this article:

1. Top Organization Tips for the Office: Make a To-Do-List and Use Time Blocks
2. Top Organization Tips for Outside Sales: Plan Your Route and Prepare to Pivot
3. Use Technology and Automation to Your Advantage
4. Manage Your Inbox
5. Organization Tips You Can Implement Immediately

Sales Organization Tips To Be Productive and Sell More

Top Organization Tips for the Office: Make a To-Do-List and Use Time Blocks organization tips

Making a to-do list is one of the best-known organization tips for a reason: to be productive, you must know what needs to be done every day.

Besides helping you prioritize tasks and organize your day, a to-do-list may lessen anxiety, according to a Florida State University study. Unfinished tasks linger in your mind and interfere with performance, but writing it down free’s up your mind to focus on the task at hand.

There’s nothing more intimidating than a long to-do-list, and it can demotivate you. A good to-do-list only includes the most significant tasks and the relevant details for each job.

Another list-making error is doing it during the most productive morning hours. Instead, make the most of the end of your day, when you’re worn-out, to get a list ready for the next day.

Once you have a to-do-list, schedule time blocks to complete each task. The Pomodoro technique segments your day into periods of focus and breaks to maximize productivity.

The idea is to set a timer for 25 minutes and get to work. Focus on the task, avoid all distractions, take a 5-minute break once time runs out, then repeat the process. Time blocks enable you to find a good flow and schedule tasks that will work best at the time of day.

For example, the last hour of work is often the least productive, but by filling this time with non-taxing activities, you can get more done with the rest of the day.

Top Organization Tips for Outside Sales: Plan Your Route and Prepare to Pivot

Don’t waste valuable time driving up and down to meet clients. Organize leads and clients by locations and optimize your route accordingly before scheduling meetings.

Planning your route makes it easier to pivot if a client or prospect cancels. Instead of waiting around for the next meeting or driving back to the office, contact other clients nearby to secure a new appointment.

However, make sure you’re prepared to pivot. Always have the date and notes of your previous meetings ready. This way, you can quickly prepare and make the most out of an unplanned appointment.

RELATED: Productive Time Management Hacks I Learned After 10 Years In Sales

Use Technology and Automation to Your Advantage organization tips

Managing workflow can be daunting, especially when dealing with various prospects at any point. Besides, administrative tasks take up a large part of the day. Technology and automation can improve workflow and free you up to spend more time selling.

One of the best tools for sales is CMR. It increases organizational knowledge, tracks all contact with prospects, gives the entire team access to data, and allows sales reps to see what activities have taken place with their leads.

Automation tools can qualify prospects, send emails, and schedule follow-ups. You’ll find an app, plug-in, or an extension for most repetitive tasks.

If you haven’t employed technology and automation to streamline time-consuming, repetitive tasks, it is time to start.

Manage Your Inbox organization tips

If you’re like most people, you check your email 15 times a day. While staying on top of your inbox is important, disrupting your workflow lessens productivity.

Set some times to check emails and limit the time spent on each. Use an auto-reply email to let clients know you’ve received the email and will respond during a specific time block in your schedule. Here’s an example from The 4-Hour Work Week:

“Due to high workload, I am currently checking and responding to email twice daily at 12:00 pm ET [or your time zone] and 4:00 pm ET.
If you require urgent assistance (please ensure it is urgent) that cannot wait until either 12:00 pm or 4:00 pm, please contact me via phone at 555-555-5555.”

When it’s time to check emails, delete useless emails like spam, and sort the remainder into folders or add labels. You don’t want to delay anything you can accomplish now, so take immediate action when possible.

Finally, unsubscribe from social media notifications and most subscriptions. Unsubscribing from unnecessary emails may take a few minutes now but will save time in the long run. It’ll also make you more careful about subscribing to a site in the future.

Organization Tips You Can Implement Immediately

While some organization tips can take some time to get right, there are actions you can take immediately to be more productive.

• Swallow the frog: Do the task you dislike the most as soon as possible.
• Don’t procrastinate.
• Don’t multitask because it increases mistakes, lowers productivity, and uses more brainpower than simply completing one task at a time.
• Eliminate distractions.

If you feel like there’s never enough time in the day, these organizational tips can help you gain control over your time, improve your workflow, and allow you to spend more time doing things that lead to sales. Organizational and time management skills are vital. Investing a little time now developing these skills will save you a lot of time in the future.

Are you ready to reclaim your time and increase your productivity? Have any more organization tips? Share your thoughts in the comment section!

Up Next:

• Time Management Secrets Of Billionaires
• Forbes.Com – Best Practices In Time Management
• 7 Advantages Of Using Crm Software

To help you sound more confident when communicating with clients or customers, we’ve put together a list of five great tips to portray that air during phone conversations.

RELATED: Cold Calling Is Not Dead: How We Built 1.1m In Pipeline Using The Phone

In this article:

1. 1. Tell, Don’t Ask
      1. Sentence Structure
      2. Intonation
   2. Be Prepared
      1. Don’t use Filler Phrases
      2. Speak with Authority
   3. Smile
   4. Speak Slowly and Deeply
   5. Assume Proper Form

Sound More Confident on the Phone: 5 Tips

Tell, Don’t Ask

When you’re talking on the phone, you should know what you’re going to say and state it authoritatively. Doing so will help you accomplish two important things.

Sentence Structure

When you can, make your questions into statements.

Instead of asking, “So what do you want to do about this situation?” try stating that “So I’m wondering what you want to do about this situation.” It’s a small change, but it makes you sound a lot more confident and commanding.

Intonation

Many people have a habit of using a rising intonation at the end of many of their sentences, also known as “upspeak.” It’s perfectly fine for questions (sentences that would be punctuated with a “?”), but it should never be used for statements if you are trying to sound confident.

Upspeaking during statements can make your tone sound more inviting and less formal, which might be a useful tool during friendly exchanges. It also discourages interruption and seeks reassurance. In business, though, it is definitely a no-no.

Be Prepared

Don’t Use Filler Phrases

Using “um, “uh,” “y’ know,” “well,” and other filler phrases kill your credibility. Whether your listener is aware of it or not, they will think of you as nervous and ineloquent.

Going over what you’re going to say over and over again will drill it into your mind, so you won’t have to trip over your words with filler.

Speak with Authority

Make your audience believe you are an expert in everything you talk about. Be prepared with statistics and anecdotal evidence that back up each of your points. If you always have something else to say on deck, you’ll never feel unconfident.

RELATED: Sales Tip — Confidence vs. Intellectual Laziness

Smile

Studies show that people can hear a speaker’s expression in their voice. If you are smiling while you say a phrase, for example, it will sound distinctly different than if you say the same phase through a frown. This is true even if you are trying to use the same intonation.

And people respond much better to a speaker who is smiling. They feel a happy orator is more confident and trustworthy.

The point is, you should try to smile while speaking on the phone. It will inspire trust and confidence, and it will make you feel better about the message you’re delivering too.

Speak Slowly and Deeply

People who leave space between their words come off as more confident in the message. Spacing out your words allows your audience time to digest them, and it conveys that you have taken the time to deliberate over each one.

People with deeper voices are also seen as more confident-sounding. This one is a bit harder to control than slowing down your speech, but try to avoid pitching your voice up into the higher registers.

Assume Proper Form

power pose for maximum confidence, although you might feel a bit silly posing like a superhero during a business call.

Good posture will also help with the depth and clarity of your voice. As we noted above, a strong voice is another key to sound more confident.

Whether in a social situation or business, confidence is king. It makes everyone gravitate towards you if you get it right, and learning how to exude confidence over the phone is a huge step in that direction.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER TIPS THAT HELP YOU IN SOUNDING MORE CONFIDENT OVER THE PHONE? LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW!

Up Next:

• • • • Five Best Practices to Deal with Phone Anxiety as a Sales Rep
      • Three Steps for Breaking Through the Fear and Doing the Hard Things
      • Secrets of Phone Prospecting with Jeb Blount, CEO of Sales Gravy

RELATED: 11 TIPS TO BUILD A SUCCESSFUL SALES STRATEGY PLAN

In this article:

1. 1. 1. Recruit Well
      2. Offer Extensive Onboarding, Training & Coaching
      3. Build an Excellent Sales Culture

Simple Steps to a First-Rate Sales Team

Recruit Well build sales team

Skillful and accomplished salespeople are a crucial asset for all organizations; their primary role is to build value for the business. Often the first main contact for your customers, salespeople must have a certain set of skills and traits to succeed. Recruiting for a high-quality sales force is not always easy, and significant investment is required.

Recruitment referral programs work well in an already established sales team. People connect in various jobs and roles, and a salesperson will know what kind of person is needed for the job.

Establish a continual recruitment process that doesn’t lie dormant when there are no vacancies within the business. We all know that recruiting someone can take months, and hiring to fill the shoes of a great salesperson can mean decisions can be rushed. Don’t compromise on talent and attract salespeople on an ongoing basis.

This can be done by promoting your organization’s values and cultures on your website or social media. Looking at your competitors can result in head-hunting great salespeople whom you know are already well experienced.

If you have specific ideas for the types of salespeople you want to hire, take a hands-on approach to recruitment. Outsourcing to a recruitment agency can be costly, and they don’t always get it right.

Scrutinize resumes and weed out the people who don’t fit your company. Your job description should reflect precisely what you want from a candidate. The recruitment process should involve multiple stages, including, for example, a phone interview to qualify candidates, a video call, personality test, aptitude test, face to face interview (possibly a two-stage process involving a panel of recruiters), demo presentation, etc. Ensure you ask for proof of past performance and set various tests to confirm figures.

Also, look at what transferable skills the candidate has. Not all great salespeople come from an obvious ‘sales’ background.

Offer Extensive Onboarding, Training & Coaching

It’s paramount to get a salesperson up to speed as quickly as possible, and top-performing organizations do this well by providing the best in class onboarding and training processes. Retention rates can be high for businesses that don’t immediately look after their staff.

Consider starting your onboarding process before the salesperson’s first day, in fact, to a certain degree; this would already have begun because of the recruitment process. You want your salespeople to hit the ground running and to send out welcome packages are an excellent way to enable this. Content should include your company’s values, mission, offerings, and relevant information, such as background, hierarchy, and leadership.

A formal onboarding and training program should give a solid framework with clear milestones that need to be achieved. Salespeople should have regular 1:1’s, which communicate progress and expectations but ultimately provide support.

Success must be defined so employees can strive to achieve SMART goals. Quality online training programs should be relevant and up to date with the organization’s methods and processes. If you have the luxury of established sales reps, use them to mentor new starters.

RELATED: MAPPING THE SALES PROCESS: 7 STEPS FOR SUCCESS

Build an Excellent Sales Culture build sales team

Culture is the foundation of every sales team and is intrinsic to your company’s longevity and profitability. It reflects what you aspire to achieve and reflects the personality of the organization. It keeps momentum, motivates employees, and engages a positive environment.

Hire the right people to fit your culture. There’s no point hiring the most experienced salesperson when their character will be completely out of place, and they won’t respect your mission. Look for people who are team players, who can adapt to change and have a great work ethic.

Ensure staff are motivated through recognition but don’t encourage negative competition. You can build a strong team who are driven but be cautious when competition causes rivalry. Communicate standards, targets, and revenues, but facilitate knowledge sharing so colleagues can work together to achieve personal and group objectives.

Each employee will want to know their worth, so understand their motivational forces and let staff know their contribution really matters.

Promote good rapport and trust within your team through fun activities. Content staff will always work their hardest for the business and be less distracted by adverse events.

Move on from failure quickly; it will happen; you will get rejections, so get tactical. Share experiences and allow staff to learn from mistakes. Allow staff to implement new practices, methods, or equipment to increase sales.

Communication is essential to build trust in leadership. Establish excellent communication channels and use good platforms for communicating include a reliable CRM system and company intranet. Share goals and visions but involve employees to collectively contribute to the success of your business.

Invest in Good Technology; more so than ever, we are seeing what technology can do for us. As much of the nation work in a remote environment, salespeople are adapting the way they pitch and close deals.

Summary build sales team

Always assess your organization and continuously improve standards. Business culture changes so often, it would almost be impossible not to change with the times and continually improve your processes. Successful sales teams will already have a mindset of continuous improvement and will adapt well to changes.

As a leader, you must always lead from the front, understand your employees, and be an exemplary example.

Have you built a sales team from scratch before? What tips can you share? Please comment in the section below.

Up Next:

• • • HOW TO COMP SALES TEAMS IN A CRISIS
    • PRACTICAL ADJUSTMENTS TO REMOTE SELLING IN A COVID AND POST-COVID WORLD
    • HOW TO SELL WELL WHILE YOU WORK FROM HOME