Salesforce Canada

"Now calm down, young lady. It's not my job to handle that. To be honest with you, you're wrong." Those two sentences are chock-full of phrases that spell doom for any company that wants to excel in customer service, according the experts. They are culled from a recent blog post on Forbes that tried to hone in on the worst things people working in call centres or other channels can say to clients coming to them with a problem.

The obvious concern, of course, is how the average SMB can find, train (or even afford) a demand generation consultant if they're only working with a handful of people in their entire sales group. The answer lies in understanding more about what the role encompasses and how it could be applied successfully within your environment.

There’s probably always a hope, at least when the employment contract is being signed, that every new hire on the sales team will turn into a star. And by “star,” we’re talking about someone who not only meets their quota, but brings in net new business, collaborates well with the marketing department and is generally so self-sufficient that they need only the most high-level management touch.

Content marketing is an important tool for your sales team. Used well, it can help salespeople move customers through the pipeline and close sales faster.

If you’re a restaurant owner and a new eatery opens up down the street, what’s the first thing you do? Make a reservation, of course, and see what the competition is offering.

There’s going to be lot of fast food consumed. T-shirts will be flying off the shelves. Pop stars will be singing their anthems. And somewhere in the middle of it all, there might also be a little football game taking place.

The past 15 years have brought about a lot of change in the technology world. Flashback to the year 2000: a tablet was a piece of stone and birds were the only things that tweeted. It’s not just technology that has changed dramatically—the state of sales and how businesses engage with customers has too.

No one wants to offer any confidential information that would give competitors an advantage, which can sometimes make it difficult for Canadian small and medium-sized businesses to figure out their growth strategy. One way to start is to focus on what not to do.

We all have our items to check off before the work day is truly done. A sales leader might need to conduct a staff meeting, for instance, or follow up on a deal that may be moving in the wrong direction. Reps have calls to make, presentations to create or in-person pitches.

Not everyone is a born actor, but make no mistake: selling involves a degree of performance where a customer is shown the possibilities of a better future. And to do that well, you’re going to have to practice.