The heart of a business lies in its sales. Sales decisions are changing owing to the surging growing digital revolution. Social media, cloud, mobility solutions, advanced analytics, Internet of Things & CRM softwares are changing the rules of Sales. Today the customer has to deal with unprecedented noise from marketers and enormous distractions. Winning attention of the buyers and selling has become harder than ever before. The most effective sales persons follow a methodical approach to engage with prospects, identify the opportunities and close more deals. They are not focused on winning deals, but serving customers and presenting them solutions that solve their pain points. A great salesperson has empathy for the buyer, builds long term relationships with them and creates a win-win situation for everyone. Here are some of the ways used by top sales professionals to close deals :

1. Don’t sell products & services:

Top sales professionals are focused on looking at things from buyer’s perspective. They don’t talk about their products & services, but present features for the buyer. They understand and evaluate the needs of the buyer and pitch their products/services as per the needs of the buyer. Mapping the needs of the customer to a product/service is important.

2. Identify the pain points:

No customer wants to buy a product or service. The customer is primarily looking to increase revenue, decrease costs or solve an existing pain point. Most deals start around an existing pain point. A good sales person asks questions to identify client’s pain points. Once the pain points are identified, this helps in justifying the need for a solution.

3. Articulate the Value of their solution for the prospect:

Buyers will rarely buy a product or service if it doesn’t  offer them great returns. Articulating the true value of your solution requires you to understand ROI for prospect’s business. The value of the product/service should be known to the buyer in tangible terms. The top sales persons articulate the value of their solution and ensure that buyer agrees with that. They build a consensus on what value the solution brings for the prospect’s business.

4. Solve the problem for the buyer:

Once the key pain points are identified, it is critical to demonstrate how your solution actually solves the problem for your prospect. The best sales persons always ensure that the solution they are selling indeed solves the pain points of the customer. They go out of their way to solve the business problems of their customers. They are sincere and genuine when it comes to helping customers and that helps them to win & close business.

5. Build a long term rapport with your clients:

You don’t sell your solution in the first meeting. It takes time to build rapport with clients and sell your solutions to enterprise customers. The best sales persons take time to build a deep understanding of clients business and their needs. They identify the team involved in making decisions, take time to understand their roles & involvement. They genuinely help the customers and ensure that they benefit from the solution. They treat the deal as a start of a long term relationship. The delighted clients not only present cross selling opportunities, but also references to other customers.

6. Deal with buyer objections:

Seasoned sales persons don’t get bogged down with objections. They are patient and hear out all objections. They have empathy towards the customers. They understand the client’s objections are an opportunity for them to showcase the value of their solution. The objections are concerns that the prospect is bringing to your notice. A good salesperson finds ways to overcome these objections with satisfactory answers. Overcoming sales objections can result in closing business. For e.g. when a client says cloud is not secure, he is probing you to prove to him that your solution is secured on cloud. What security measures you have taken. Why data breach wouldn’t happen. When a client says he can wait for your solution, you need to prove to him that delaying things will be a loss to the customer.

Another interesting way to deal with objections is to tell your prospects experiences & case studies about your existing customers. Acknowledge their objections by telling them that their concern is genuine. You can tell them something like this; some of our previous customers also had these objections. But this is how we solved the issues for them & now they happily recommend us to others.

7. Thorough understanding of the buying process:

The top salesperson always ensures that leads are qualified at the earliest. They understand that not everyone is their customer. When dealing with any prospect, they ascertain the following:
Budget: Does the company have the budget for buying your solution? If not, what is their budget cycle? Is the prospect likely to buy your product in the future?
Authority: Who is the decision maker? Is there a committee or individual person who will take the decision? Are you dealing with the right person whose yes will land you the deal?
Need: Is there a need for your solution? Is this a priority for the prospect?
Timeline: Is the prospect committing a timeline for closing the deal? Is your solution needed urgently?

8. Asking the right questions:

To close a deal you need to have the prospect talking. The best way to do that is by asking questions. These questions also help you to understand client pain points and their commitment towards the deal. Below is an example of how these questions can be used for understanding the buyer’s perspective of the deal:

Need:
What are your current challenges & pain points?
How long has this been a problem for you?
What are the consequences and implications of not solving this problem?
What will you achieve by solving this problem?

Authority:
Who else will be involved in finalising this contract?
Is there a committee for procurement?
When was the last time you purchased a similar product? Who was involved?
Is there anything that can stop us from getting this contract? How do you think we should address them?

Budget:
How is procurement driven in your organisation? Do you have centralised budgets?
Is your procurement dependent on timing or budget cycle?
Do you have a budget allocation for these kinds of projects?
Hope budget is not a procurement constraint for our solution?

Timeline:
What is the cost of not solving the problem for your organisation?
When are you planning to start the project?
When would you like to have the solution to your current problem?
Do you plan to start this project now?

Closing:
If time & money weren’t constraints, would you buy this now?
Is there any reason that you wouldn’t do business with us?
If I can solve this problem for you, would you sign the contract?
What do you want us to do to start the project now?

9. A compelling reason to close the sale :

Buyers are not compelled to purchase your solution. A compelling reason is needed for them to close the deal. The buying decision often revolves around the needs of the buyer. Buyers consider closing the deal when:
a) They understand the financial benefits of your solution & also the implications of not buying.
b) Benefits to the buyer are clearly articulated. They can see how their life will become easy, if they buy your solution.
c) Buyer has an urgent need & gaps. Your solution will take care of them.
d) The prospect can clearly see the ROI and understands how the solution will pay back.
e) Buyer knows your unique competitive advantage and wants to be associated with your brand.

10. Establish Trust & eliminate risks:

Most companies don’t have a problem buying something that will create value for them. The price, time constraints are mostly superficial. The most important thing is that the buyer really needs to trust you as a solution provider to get the job done. You need to create a roadmap for the buyer that eliminates and minimises risks. A complete picture and understanding on where they are currently, what your solution proposes to do for them, how it will be implemented & the end goal.

Closing deals requires great persistence & efforts. To stand out from your competitors, it is important that buyer knows your competitive advantages and what your brand stands for. Why you are the best choice for the buyer? How your solution will help them to improve their business? What they will lose out, if they don’t have a deal with you? Customers are looking to associate with businesses that can offer them tangible ROI, great service & long term partnership. Closing deals is infact beginning of a new partnership that can create a win-win opportunity for both parties.

Kreyon Systems provides software products & solutions for sales management. We are a CRM development company and build data driven analytics solutions for sales. If you need any assistance, please get in touch.

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Selling is to business, what oxygen is to humans. Businesses cannot survive without selling. The pressure to sell has never been higher than now. With the increasing amount of competition in the global market place, the traditional business models are constantly under threat and being challenged. So, organisations need quick, effective and profitable ways to sell.

Here are some of the fundamental sales drivers for a business:
Which are the best markets for your products and services?
Which sectors are most likely to give quick conversions for your products and services?
How do you filter contacts and create a bunch of high probability convertible leads?
Are you chasing the right prospects, is the deal moving forward effectively?
Are you able to analyse the various channels for acquiring customers?
What is the cost to acquire a customer? Is it going up or down?
Which products and services are easiest to sell?
What is the expense of serving a customer complaint?
What is the cost of an ongoing project for a customer?
Which areas provide the best profitability for your company?

Most organisations are challenged when they need to answer these questions. A good CRM will help you answer the above questions with instant metrics.  A good CRM implementation will ensure not only answers to these questions but also an analysis of key business areas with real numbers. These numbers are critical to make or break a business. A look at how some of the organisations are selling more effectively with a CRM:

1. Sales Information

The effectiveness of sales team increases with the right tools and guidance. Facilitate and share required information for prospects on the go. The sales team must have the required information for the products/services, the sales pitch, customer contact history and quotation to advance deals. This makes the processes fast and results in quicker conversions.

2. Sales process Automation

A sale is a repeatable process.  With effective tools, this process can be accessible to people. The best practices are incorporated in a step by step way to guide sales men. The series of steps from the first point of contact with the prospect to the close are mapped. It helps in a more consistent approach to selling and improves conversions.

3. Sales Targets

Business of a company thrives on sales targets. Well defined goals and targets motivate the team. The CRM allows the supervisors to track the sales targets more closely. Every individual knows his targets and the supervisors can track information and progress with data. The advanced filter options, better lead prospecting and probability based follow-ups can improve sales performance of individuals.

4. Measure what matters

Real time metrics for the average deal size, days to convert deals, no of open opportunities, hot leads, average quota per sales person, and other sales statistics help organisations to see things with clarity. The key performance indicators are benchmarked across the organisation to compare performance of sales persons over different periods, regions, products/services. It also facilitates to share best practices at an organisation level with concrete numbers to back up the methodology.

5. Client Escalations and Support Services

The support services for client escalations can be improved with CRM. The key events are notified to the specific users and their supervisors resulting in better resolution of customer issues. The customer pain points can be resolved on priority basis leading to satisfied customers and increased business opportunities.

6. Social Media Tracking

Brands which are constantly delivering high value content for their prospective customers are surging ahead in the digital race. The content is promoted by prospective customers on social media channels. The authority, value and quality of the content helps a brand to attract leads. CRM provides a way to monitor the social media channels and impact of the content generated by the companies.

7. Improve field Service with Mobility

Facilitate required information for prospects on the go. The sales team must be capable of resolving client’s queries and concerns immediately. When the sales team is equipped with tools where they can access detailed information on the mobile devices, it makes a winning impression on the prospects. With CRM mobility, the sales persons are able to stay on the field to meet more customers and still remain connected to the back office. This makes the processes fast and results in better business opportunities.

8.Shorten Sales Cycles

Automate follow-ups and to do action items for sales. Improve efficiency of operations to spend more time with customers. Access qualified leads, data & history of your prospects to convert deals faster. Use proven methodology for shortening sales cycles and get quicker results with CRM. Use Data Insights, step by step conversions, sales planning, action items and other effective tools to sell your products and services quicker.

9. Call Centers & Campaign Management

The campaign management can help you start market your products and services. Whether it is an email, telesales, social media, radio, TV, event management, print media or any other type of campaign, CRM system can help you to create campaigns for that. Manage all campaigns from the same system and also measure the traction received or the ROI for your money spent on these campaigns. The analytics tools can be used to measure the effectiveness and returns of different channels for improving results.

10. Choose the right CRM

Most of the existing CRMs are hard to use, difficult to customise and can involve long implementation cycles according to your organisational needs. Choose a CRM system that can help you delivery what you need, on time and within your budget. The CRM should help you to manage the sales cycles of your company and also track projects, budgets, expenses, employee time and complete business information according to your needs. Choose the right partner for transformation and business growth.

Top organizations are constantly evolving and improvising their sales processes to meet expectations of the market. The drive for sales transformation and growth sets them apart. CRM is helping organisations to optimise their sales, predict revenue opportunities, improve sales performance, reduce time for conversions and maintain profitability. Today CRM systems are equipped with artificial Intelligence and machine learning tools for improving sales and business performance.

CRM is a business platform to power an organisation to achieve growth and sell more effectively. Kreyon Systems provides customized CRM development services, ERP software and offshore software development solutions. If you need any assistance, please get in touch.

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