Tough times demand a tougher approach to sales

Resellers need to make sure their sales efforts are working as efficiently as possible, and selling to the best of their ability. More than ever, customers need to see clear, stand-out reasons as to why they should invest in a new telecommunication solution of any type, and the sales effort needs to be fully capable of addressing the prospect’s specific requirements.

Step one: getting a foot in the door
At the very beginning of the sales process a reseller’s lead generation must focus on targeted campaigns at director level, followed up by a good sized telemarketing team to book appointments. Whilst the team should be well versed in the features of the product, it is more important to discover what the prospect is looking for from their telecommunication platform. It is more effective to align specific features to the issues faced by the prospect, rather than reeling off features and functions that may or may not be of relevance. The team should then make sure meetings are booked in the same geographical location, to maximise the sales person’s time.

Step two: what the customer wants
Once the sales appointment is booked, it falls to the sales person to ensure that they delve deeper into the needs of the customer. Some sales people still believe demonstrating every feature of the solution, along with bamboozling the prospect with buzz words that promise to improve efficiency for a large price tag, is the best way to win as large a deal as possible. In the current economic climate, however, customers want a reliable and cost effective solution, which will be able to grow with their future requirements. The sales person needs to provide a high level of consultancy around the features a prospect needs, and clearly demonstrate how the solution can meet the business objectives.

It is also important to remember any spend will be scrutinised internally by the prospect, so demonstrating the solutions is a good long-term investment and proving the Return on Investment (ROI) is key. The prime objective here is to demonstrate hard savings that the customer can experience (for example through SIP trunking), along with efficiency and productivity gains (such as through IP telephony) that will allow the system to effectively pay for itself over a number of years. They should also provide information on the reliability of the solution, such as Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rates, and how the customer’s investment can be protected through upgrading the solution in the future. This helps customers to see the value in the new system, and encourage them to go ahead with the sale.

Step three: is it working?
It is not just down to the sales person to ensure that they have these relevant skills. Resellers need to invest in training their sales people to make sure they have the tools they need to meet their targets and increase the revenues of the company. Aside from product training from the vendor or distributor this should also include other skills training, such as sales skills and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques, to help them fully address the prospect’s needs and successfully complete the sale.

Finally, and potentially most importantly, the entire sales process needs to be constantly reviewed to see what is working, what needs work and where training is required. This ensures that the sales process is as effective as possible, helping everybody achieve their goals.

Whilst the economic climate will undoubtedly turn around, it is vital resellers adopt these strategies now to ensure that their sales staff can meet targets during the downturn, and are ready to take full advantage when the situation improves.