The Top 5 Things You Need For Long-term Success In Sales
The age of the empowered consumer is here and it’s causing major shifts in the sales landscape. While customers are becoming more connected – giving businesses almost infinite opportunities to reach them – they’re also gaining the ability to avoid salespeople or advertising material by being able to find everything they need online.
On top of this, salespeople have to overcome barriers such as time constraints, inefficient sales processes and the inability to measure activities against company goals. We’ve curated the top 5 pieces of sales advice from our blog to help you achieve long-term success:
1. Reinforce your sales pipeline
“In today’s world there are more research tools and communication channels than ever before, yet for most sellers building and sustaining a strong sales pipeline is still a struggle. One of the main reasons for this is lack of real result driving activity and the fact that most outreach falls on deaf ears,” Tony J Hughes, the number one influencer in professional sales in the Asia-Pacific, said.
According to Hughes, one of biggest reasons for this is salespeople hyperfocusing on social selling and missing opportunities to interact with customers over the phone or in person. His solution: be everywhere. Having personalised conversations with your customers through multiple channels will help you develop a stronger relationship and become more attuned to your customers’ needs.
The pipeline can be further reinforced by bridging the gap between sales and marketing teams. “The perfect collaboration between both departments should ensure marketing can craft strong brand messages and salespeople can tailor that message to their prospects with scale, to create personalised and unique experiences. Both pieces of the puzzle are crucial to find, win and keep customers with the help of technology,” Hughes said.
From “Solving the #1 problem in sales today — Pipeline Atrophy” by Tony J Hughes, Managing Director, RSVPselling Pty Ltd.
2. Get gritty
According to psychologist, Angela Duckworth, grit is the emotional armour – forged from strength, stamina, and passion – that empowers us to persevere through hardships and achieve long-term success.
Duckworth said one of the keys to developing grit is taking on the ‘Growth Mindset’ – “the belief that the ability to learn [or succeed] is not fixed – it can change with your effort.”
This means maintaining a positive attitude, rolling with the punches and never giving up. However, in more challenging times, it can be hard to see the bigger picture and muster the energy to keep going. Understanding your motivation can help give you that extra boost to keep pushing towards success.
From “7 ways to develop grit — advice from top sales leaders” by Salesforce.
3. Empower new sales reps
When faced with a new challenge, it can take some time before you become confident in yourself, your understanding of what’s being asked of you and your ability to tackle it. However, new sales reps need to develop that confidence very quickly to speak to customers with conviction and build a strong pipeline.
Often, they are not only battling their goals and employer expectations, they’re also struggling with an internal conflict of not wanting to bother people or treat them differently to how they would want to be treated.
Help your sales rep build conviction by having them imagine they’re calling someone to tell them they’ve won the lottery. Ask them to think about their tone, expression, and confidence in the conversation, and then have them think about your business solution and the value it could provide the customer. Finally, give them an opportunity to practice their pitch until their conviction is at full strength. They’ll be getting people to return their calls, building customer relationships and constructing a solid pipeline in no time.
From “5 ways to help new sales reps succeed”, by Salesforce.
4. Employ AI to do your admin
One of the biggest challenges faced by salespeople is the loss of valuable selling time to excessive amounts of administrative tasks – such as forecasting, identifying opportunities, prioritising leads, updating customer details and manual data entry. Handing the admin tasks over to AI will help streamline your sales processes, freeing you up to spend more time on your customers and boost productivity.
From “AI is revolutionising the sales process – here’s how”, by Vincent Cotte, Director, Go-To Market Marketing for APAC.
5. Check your success
Creating a strategy that ties sales objectives, activities and business results together is critical to ensuring that all teams are on the same page, working towards the same goals and – most importantly – is measuring your success.
By becoming your own analyst and looking at metrics such as sales targets, sales to date, opportunities and ROI, you’ll be able to confirm if you’re achieving the company’s goals while also gaining insights into why and where you are succeeding and areas for improvement.
If you want more advice on how you can blaze a trail long-term sales success, register today for the Sydney World Tour event on March 6. Don’t miss this chance to hear how Salesforce’s community of Trailblazers are disrupting industries, shaping the future and transforming the world – and how you can too.
