Author: Sales for Life Admin

Categories
Branding Digital Selling Digital Transformation

Personal Branding: A New Defining Factor in Business

Multiracial group of young creative people in smart casual wear

America Runs on Dunkin’.

Just Do It.

Think Different.

These slogans, at first glance, have the power to remind you of which brands carry them. That’s the power of emotional, lasting branding.

Brand building is developing a company’s brand or a specific product or service. It is also about growing brand equity. The goal of branding is to connect with customers on an emotional level and build relationships due to the customer identifying with a particular image or reputation. 

Branding reflects not only who you are as a company but also what you offer and what value and prestige it carries.

But don’t be fooled – in today’s climate, branding isn’t just for businesses and companies anymore. 

As marketing looks to the digital world for innovation and inspiration, professional personal branding has become more critical than ever. And in doing so, brands have become more humanized.

What is Personal Branding?

What is Personal Branding?

What exactly is a personal brand? 

A personal brand has to be something beyond a username and a handle. It starts with your mindset and grows from there. The goal of your personal brand is to integrate your personality, character, and purpose into one coherent message.

A solid personal brand is vital because it helps individuals to stand out in the crowd. It is used to connect with others and help build a support network. A powerful personal brand allows people to recognize, remember, and refer to you more frequently. It’s like having a shortcut built into your name—an easy way for people to access who you are and the type of value you offer.

How to Fine-Tune Your Personal Brand for Success

How to Fine-Tune Your Personal Brand for Success 

#1: Have a Sense of Identity.

It’s hard to stand out as a polished and professional influencer online. Your tone, goals, and message must be clear, concise, and cohesive. Your brand identity establishes trust with followers and clients. Create a clear personal brand identity that represents you personally and professionally.

#2: Where Do You Want to Go?

You can’t be everything to everyone, but if you know your brand and how it can make your business more successful, you can be exactly what people need from someone like you.

When we think about our careers, we tend to focus on the present: what about tomorrow? How does your path fit into the future you want? Do you know what that future looks like?

What if there was a way to see all of this in one place? Understand who you are now and where you want to be tomorrow—and then find out what steps will get you there. That’s exactly what personal branding can do.

#3: Your Audience Matters.

The first step in this process is identifying your target audience. This means that before you even begin writing content for your blog, you should have an idea of who would be interested in reading it.

Who is the audience if you’re working on an article about how to grow a garden from seed? Is it just gardeners? Or is it also people who want to learn more about gardening but aren’t ready yet to commit the time or money?

Who do you want to be seen as? What kind of person are you? How do you want to be seen? The factors that go into answering these questions impact how others see you.

What do you want to say about yourself? Are there certain qualities or skills that are important to showcase? Is there something specific that your audience needs to hear from you?

Who is your target audience? What are their interests, and what do they look for when deciding whether to hire someone? What will make them say “yes”?

Once you know that, you can work toward creating a personal brand that meets their needs and speaks directly to them.

#4: Your Network Can Define You, Too.

Networking is a great way to grow your connections and expand your network of contacts, which can be beneficial for your career. In addition, it allows you to learn about opportunities and share information with others.

Networking can be done in many different ways: at social events, over coffee, or even online through social media sites like LinkedIn or Twitter. You can also connect with people through volunteer groups or online communities focusing on topics that interest you.

Here are some tips for building a robust professional network:

  • Be a good listener—take note of what others are saying, and make sure they feel heard
  • Be inclusive—invite people into conversations instead of talking over them
  • Be genuine—make sure that the relationships you’re forming are genuine and not just surface-level

Don’t take yourself too seriously—it’s okay to joke around once in a while!

Categories
sales training

Why Sales Coaching is the Most Effective Way to Scale Up Your Business

Why Sales Coaching is the Most Effective Way to Scale Up Your Business

In sales productivity training, sales coaching is the most important lever to pull. 

But what is sales coaching?

The process begins with a conversation between the manager and the rep, who will work together to set goals for the next quarter or year. The manager will also review their performance over the last three months, including calls made, lead generation, and close rates.

After this initial discussion, it’s time for some training! First, the manager will provide a list of resources for the rep to use during their time off from work, including books or online courses that focus on improving specific parts of your sales process (such as prospecting).

Once the rep has completed their training, they’ll enter the field armed with new knowledge. Their manager will check in regularly with them by phone or email while they’re working—and if they need help with anything along the way, there are always experts who can provide further assistance and mentoring as required.

What to Expect from Sales Coaching

What to Expect from Sales Coaching

Sales coaching is a method of developing and maintaining your sales team’s skills so they can achieve their goals. It is a process that involves giving feedback to reps, who will then use this feedback to improve their performance.

Here are some benefits that a sales team can acquire from sales coaching:

#1: Retention Rates

Sales coaching improves employee retention rates by helping managers understand their employees’ goals and motivators, so they can help them achieve those goals within the company. It also helps employees understand how their work fits into the bigger picture of the company’s goals, so they don’t feel as disconnected or unappreciated as they might otherwise do if left entirely up to their devices.

It includes:

  • Encouraging the employee to set goals and make plans for achieving those goals;
  • Helping employees identify what they need to do to succeed;
  • Providing feedback on how well employees are doing and helping them learn from mistakes;
  • Assisting employees to develop a realistic view of their strengths and weaknesses; and
  • Making sure that managers have the skills they need to coach effectively.

#2: Best Practices

Sales coaching is an excellent way to share best practices and learn from others.

It’s important to remember that sales coaching is not just about you and your business. Instead, it’s a chance to learn how other people do things, how they handle certain situations, and what methods work well for them.

Sales coaching can also be an excellent opportunity to share your best practices and help others improve their sales skills.

#3: Maximize Training

Training is essential to the success of your organization’s sales team, but it is not enough. A large part of becoming a great salesperson is developing the skills and confidence to implement that training.

Using a qualified sales coach is the best way to ensure that your sales training is practical. In addition, sales coaching maximizes your investment in sales training by helping you to apply what you’ve learned, providing feedback on how well you are doing, and helping you to develop new skills and strategies.

Coaching Goals

Coaching Goals

Sales coaching is an integral part of improving your business’s sales. Your sales team should be coached on building relationships with potential customers, developing a rapport, and closing the deal.

There are many different types of sales coaching that you can implement in your business. For example, you can choose from one-on-one coaching, group classes, or webinars. Each kind will have its advantages and disadvantages.

For example, one-on-one coaching allows you to get individualized attention for each employee but can be expensive and time-consuming. Group classes allow employees to learn from each other but may not provide enough support for some people who need more individualized attention. Webinars are cheap but have a lower retention rate than different types of sales coaching because they do not involve face-to-face interaction between coach and employee.

If you’re in a new market and trying to build a foundation of relationships, it might be more important to focus on developing rapport with clients than closing deals. On the other hand, if you’ve already achieved some traction in the market, but want to improve your conversion rates, then it might make sense to focus on improving how you present yourself and what you say during sales calls.

Categories
Sales Advice Sales Leadership Sales Management

Set Your Sales Team Up For Success By Implementing Accountability

Set Your Sales Team Up For Success By Implementing Accountability

Why is accountability so crucial for those who work in sales teams?

Accountability is necessary for sales team members to desire and maintain consistent performance. The key to understanding and increasing accountability is to start with a good, effective sales structure and policy. 

Accountability is a huge factor in sales and one you may overlook. If your prospect feels the need to report to someone or justify their actions, they will be more dedicated and successful in closing deals. This will only increase their drive to make the sale because they want higher approval ratings and are being measured by a third party.

As a sales leader, you must always know the process: who the customer was, what the product or service was, the communication plan, etc. Once a sales team understands what success looks like in the defined sales pipeline, it doesn’t take long to know exactly where they are at all times! Then, as a result of clear expectations from leadership and an understanding of their role and responsibilities and their customer’s expectations… they act!

Establishing Accountability in Your Sales Team

Establishing Accountability in Your Sales Team

That’s what we’re talking about today. Do you want to build a better and more engaged company culture?

Your monthly sales goals are in mind, and you’re happy to see how well your team is performing. But, unfortunately, something’s not right, but your sales goals aren’t being met! Your sales team is doing the work, but you can’t have a sound system to track their achievements.

A sales team is only as good as its goals, and accurate tracking is the key to setting and reaching those goals. A sales accountability system ensures that everyone on your team has a role in meeting your company’s sales quotas and hitting your revenue goals month after month.

Set Clear Goals

The best way to ensure that your sellers are on track is by setting clear goals, backed with objective evidence that they can be achieved. That way, when they fall short of their goals, there’s no room for confusion about whether or not their efforts were successful—and no excuses for why the project failed.

Clear goals also help guide your sellers toward better work habits and practices. If you want them to work toward long-term success instead of short-term gains, everything must be laid out clearly in advance, so there aren’t any surprises along the way.

Establishing Accountability in Your Sales Team

Give Them Tools to Succeed

Setting goals is a great way to keep your sales team focused on the most critical tasks. It’s also a great way to help you measure the success of each member of your team, as well as their individual performance over time.

But for goal-setting to work, you need to provide your sales team with the tools—like reports and dashboards—that will help them track their progress toward those goals.

You need to make sure they have the correct data, can communicate with each other and their clients efficiently, and have access to any other resources they may need—including training and support.

Specifically, this means:

  • You are providing your sales team with the right data. Data should be available at all times for them to be able to quickly assess trends and make decisions based on what’s happening in real-time, rather than having to wait for reports or downloads from other sources of information.
  • Giving them access to a communication platform that allows them to communicate effectively with their clients and other members of their team (and vice versa). This can include texting or email as well as phone calls or video calls if needed—whatever works best for each situation!
  • Giving them easy access (through an app or website) at all times so they don’t miss out on any opportunities.

Follow Up On Their Progress

Accountability is the key to success. It’s how you know your sales team is giving it their all and that they’re not just coasting on their previous achievements.

But if there’s no follow-through on accountability, the system falls apart. Your sales team will start taking shortcuts, relying on old tricks and gimmicks instead of finding new ones. They’ll get lazy and complacent, which means they’ll stop caring about their work as much as they used to—and then you’ll see your numbers start falling off.

Accountability is an essential part of any business, but it can only be effective when there are consequences for not following through with what you’ve promised to do; otherwise, it’s just lip service.

Categories
Content Marketing Demand Generation digital marketing marketing Marketing Management social content marketing social media selling

Why Content Marketing Is Still a Crucial Growth Method in Sales

Why Content Marketing Is Still a Crucial Growth Method in Sales

Content marketing has become a staple for most companies – whether Fortune 500s or new startups.  Much like the gargantuan oak tree began from a tiny acorn, content marketing is the same – so important and valuable that even the latest businesses can use it to their advantage.

Everyone is familiar with content marketing. Why? Why is content marketing powerful? What benefits can you expect? How do you do it?

How Content Impacts Your Marketing and Sales Strategies

How Content Impacts Your Marketing and Sales Strategies

All content is not created equal. Some of it is just plain bad.

We know this because we’ve seen it firsthand: in our content and the content we see from other businesses. And when there’s terrible content on the internet, people stop trusting your brand. They don’t want to give you their money or their time anymore.

Think about the last few articles you read. Were they short? Were they long? How did you feel about them?

Like most people, you felt the longer articles were more thorough. However, you also felt shorter articles were more concise and direct. Do you think about how much better it feels to know the author has been consistent over time? Or taking time to make sure every word was important and well-crafted?

No doubt writing quality content takes time—but it’s worth it. Because when your audience can see how much effort goes into each piece of content, they will feel much more invested in what you have to say. When they see your consistency, they’ll know they can trust this information and expect more from you in future pieces of content!

Capturing Attention

Great content can be used in many ways to grow your business. It can help build customer relationships, generate leads, and increase sales. But how do you know if your content is effective?

To keep your audience engaged, you need to understand their needs, wants, and desires. This means you need to know what they’re looking for in a product or service like yours. When you understand this, developing content that will resonate with them and help them feel connected with your brand is easy.

When creating great content, you must ensure that everything is focused on one goal: attracting new customers while retaining existing ones. The best way to do this is by creating quality content that educates them about your brand or product line without being too salesy or promotional-sounding; this will help build trust between you and your readers, so they’ll want to continue reading more from you in the future!

Quality content is the key to success on social media

Social Media Traction

As a business owner, you know how difficult it can be to get noticed on Facebook and Twitter. You’ve probably tried posting funny photos, links to articles that will interest your followers and clients, or even updates about what’s going on in your personal life. But did any of those things work?

It’s time to change your approach. Instead of posting random updates that no one cares about, focus on creating quality content that will attract the people who matter most to your business: your customers!

Quality content is the key to success on social media because it allows you to connect with potential customers in a way that feels genuine and authentic—and they’ll trust you because of it. Even better? 

Quality content stands out from the noise online, which means more people are likely to see it than if you were just trying to get clicks by posting clickbait titles or sharing outdated memes. 

Online presence is essential because it allows people to learn more about what makes your company different from others in its industry—and why they should do business with YOU instead of someone else.

Lead Generation

When you write blog posts, infographics, and other content that is helpful to your audience and solves their problems, they will want to read it. This helps them feel they know what they’re doing regarding your products or services. They’ll be more likely to make purchases from you because they trust you and what you have to offer.

In addition to generating leads, content marketing is also an excellent way to get more views on your website. For example, when people see what kind of information you share on social media or through email newsletters, they might click over and check out more details about what you have available for sale. 

This can help increase traffic on your site, which may lead them down a path towards becoming paying customers for whatever it is that you sell!

SEO

If you want people to find your site when they search for specific information or products, then it makes sense that you would like to create content that is as relevant as possible.

This doesn’t mean that every page on your website needs to provide information about every product or service you offer—but it does mean that if someone searches for something specific on Google and finds your site near the top of the results page, they’re likely going to stick around long enough to see what else you have available.

The first step in SEO is to write great content, not just old content. Next, you must focus on creating helpful stuff that interests readers and makes them want to share it with their friends.

The second step is ensuring that when people search for things related to what you write about, they find your site first. That’s where keyword research comes in: you need to learn what words or phrases people use when they search for things related to your business to optimize your site for those terms (and avoid using them yourself).

Categories
Sales Technology sales training

The How and Why of Building Your Sales Stack

The How and Why of Building Your Sales Stack
64% of Sales Reps’ Time Goes to Non-Selling Tasks: Here’s How to Fix This

Did you know the average sales professional uses 64% of their day on tasks other than selling? That’s 64%! That’s a lot of productivity lost. Most of the time, that’s because reps aren’t equipped with the right technology for today’s buyers, or they don’t have the skills or knowledge to access or deliver data from their CRM.

Fortunately, there are dozens of sales tools that can help. In this post, we’ll cover some of the best apps for sales and rate them based on multiple factors.

Working Smarter with a Sales Stack

What is a sales tech stack? It’s a collection of tools that help sales teams do their job better. Put simply, using a sales tech stack helps sales reps boost productivity and access essential data. The right sales technologies can turn your helpless team into an invincible sales machine in no time.

Having a sales technology stack enables sales teams to spend less time on administrative tasks, freeing them up to focus on what they do best — selling! It also simplifies the sales process by automating the collection, organization, and management of data and accounts. For example, salespeople can easily access their prospecting lists and search through past records of conversations and notes.

Building Your Sales Stack

Do you want to know what sales stack is the best fit for your company? Chances are, most, if not all, of your competitors, also run into this dilemma. Your decision is going to come down to what works for your company the best.

There are certain tools companies use and swear by — yet there are other businesses that have the exact opposite stack. Everyone has their favorite tools (sometimes called stacks) that help them do their job — whether they’re a developer, designer, or marketer. This is ultimately what sets you apart from your competitors: the solutions you’re able to create with the right tools. 

CRM

CRM

If you’re like us, you work with a vast number of leads each month. Some are old, and most are cold, so it’s not easy to remember who they are and where they are in the sales process, right? That’s where a CRM comes in. A CRM database is like a giant database that stores all your leads (or contacts) information. A CRM makes it easy to keep track of all the critical information that you need to know about your contacts, so you can easily reach them when the time is right.

Having a CRM that works for you can drastically improve your marketing and sales process. For example, if you’re not catching every lead and customer and staying organized with the lead follow-up process, then you could be losing out on potential customers. And missed opportunities to convert can cost you money – and lots of it if you’re not doing things correctly.

Popular CRMs include:

Lead Generation

Lead Generation

When we think of sales, we might picture a guy in a pink shirt with a cigar smoking on a boat. Times have certainly changed, but lead generation is still an essential part of the sales process.

For some people, prospecting can be an arduous task. You may get lost in the day-to-day tasks, struggling to find the time to research new leads and contact them. If you’ve ever had one of those days when you’re just not feeling it, lead generation and prospecting tools can help.

Popular lead generation tools include:

Automation

Automation

Automation is the key to boosting your sales team’s productivity.

Hiring a new employee takes time, money, and resources. Not only that, but the employee will need training and development before they can perform at the level your business requires.

Automation is fast, reliable, and cost-effective. It can be set up quickly without any additional training required for your staff. There are no supplemental materials or costs involved in using automation software compared to hiring an employee who would need these things!

If you want to grow your business and make sure it stays profitable every year—automate!

Popular automation tools include:

Sales Training Systems

Sales Training Systems

Sales training systems help companies provide employees with the information they need to succeed in their jobs. Using a sales training system is an effective way for companies to train employees in a systematic manner that reduces costs and improves performance.

Sales reps are the lifeblood of your business. Without them, you don’t have a company—you just have a bunch of people who work in an office.

So it’s essential to make sure your sales team is equipped with the knowledge and tools they need to be successful. That way, they can deliver on their end of the deal by selling as much as possible and bringing in revenue for your company.

We’ve got you covered with sales training systems!

The best sales training systems include:

Categories
Customer Experience Sales Technology

Customer Experience Automation: The Next Frontier Of Customer Service

Customer Experience Automation: The Next Frontier Of Customer Service

You owe yourself and your customers to automate the customer experience to grow your business. 

Customer experience automation (CXA) is the new standard in customer engagement. For businesses, CXA is an essential tool for helping their sales and account management teams fully adopt a customer-focused strategy by automating one-on-one customer conversations and making them replicable. Like CRM or e-mail marketing, CXA can be your competitive advantage, allowing you to grow and scale by boosting your bottom line.

Like all automation, CXA can be used for both efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency features save time by routing your customers to the right place at the right time. Effectiveness features steer customers to the desired outcome, perhaps recommending a product that best fits them.

The Importance of Customer Experience Automation for the Modern Seller

This is the digital age — an age in which consumers can purchase almost anything online. With a few clicks, these consumers can find prices, research items, compare sellers and make decisions without ever having to interact with another human being physically.

The importance of customer engagement can seem limited to B2C companies, where the sales process is more personal and direct. In B2B, it’s often harder to establish a rapport with a prospect before making a sale. 

The buying cycle for B2B customers is longer than for B2C customers. Therefore, a B2B buyer is likely to need to see your product in action before making a purchase decision. 

The buying process for B2B products involves multiple stakeholders, including the end-user, managers, accountants, and other stakeholders who may not be directly involved in the purchasing process but still need to be convinced that your product is right for them. This means that you should have a clear understanding of who your target market is so that you can tailor your product to each group’s unique needs.

A company might not be visible as a brand for months. The product might not be demo-worthy or even viable. Moreover, an individual buyer’s purchasing power can be small compared to someone who makes daily purchases from supermarkets, online retailers, or mobile apps. 

For example, when an organization decides to purchase new equipment for their office, they will consider the needs of the entire office rather than just one individual. They also have many stakeholders who may need to be involved in the decision-making process. For example, the IT department may need to test the equipment, while others may want to see how it fits their existing systems before purchasing it.

As such, B2B buyers often want more information about a product before making a purchase decision. This can include information on how it works or where it came from, as well as any other relevant details that help them make an informed choice about whether or not they should invest in this product.

Advantages of Implementing Customer Experience Automation

Advantages of Implementing Customer Experience Automation

Faster Transactions, Better Services

Automation can help you save time and money by reducing the manual processes required to manage your business operations. It can also improve customer support by freeing up resources so employees can spend more time with customers.

Stronger Customer Relationships

By automating the process of gathering customer information and providing the services they need, you can ensure that your brand delivers the best experience possible for your customers.

This will increase satisfaction and brand loyalty, leading to more repeat purchases and customer referrals.

Additionally, by automating the customer experience process, brands can ensure that every customer interaction is as easy, seamless, and efficient as possible. This level of automation allows you to spend less time worrying about how your customer service team is performing and more time focusing on what matters most: building relationships with your customers.

Categories
pipeline development Sales Management sales performance sales pipeline Sales Play Sales Process sales skills sales strategy sales training

Why Knowing Key Decision Makers in Prospective Accounts Matters

Why Knowing Key Decision Makers in Prospective Accounts Matters

Sometimes, we find ourselves with too many prospects sitting in front of us. The problem is that not all of them are good.

How do you know which ones are worth spending time on? And how do you ensure that the people who are ready to buy your product or service do? 

Here’s a quick guide to help you out:

  • Set up meetings with people who have expressed interest or are willing to commit to your product/service. This can be done through inbound marketing or a cold call.
  • Use qualifying questions during the initial phone call to determine whether they’re a good fit for the position. They should be able to answer these questions without hesitation:
  • What problem does this solve for your company?
  • How much money will this save you over time?
  • What impact will this have on your business operations?
Focusing on the Right People

Focusing on the Right People

It’s no secret that making a sale is more than just finding a lead. You need to be able to convert that lead into a customer, but how? The answer is simple: by using social media.

With the right social selling strategy, you can get in front of the people who will most likely buy your product or service. It’s a great way to increase sales and reach a new audience simultaneously.

Most B2B companies are using social media these days to find potential customers. They’re using it to connect with them in real-time and build relationships that lead to sales.

This is because social media has become an essential part of business culture. The average consumer spends about five hours daily on social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter! That’s a lot of time for companies to connect with potential buyers—and win new clients.

Having More Than One Key Contact Per Account

Having More Than One Key Contact Per Account

If you work with just one person in each account and they leave, or something happens to them, you will be left without access to that client. So it’s much better to build a team of people who know you and your product well.

To be sure, establishing multiple relationships with key decision-makers is crucial. But what happens when you’ve identified your entire target list and have built relationships with everyone on it? You still need to keep working and growing those relationships because they are not static—they change and evolve like your company.

When you have one relationship in an account, you have a greater chance that the other people in that account won’t know you or your value proposition. If they don’t know you or your value proposition, they won’t be able to help you make deals. This can lead to wasted efforts because nobody knows who you are or why you’re there.

On the other hand, if you build multiple relationships within an account and with different stakeholders (for example, executives and mid-level managers), then these people will be able to introduce you to others within their organization who might also benefit from knowing about your product or service offerings. In addition, this strategy allows for more opportunities for introductions and referrals without relying solely on one person who may not always be available due to their busy schedule or priorities within the company.

The fact is that your customers are going to change too. That means that if you don’t stay involved in your customers’ lives and how they use your product or service, you risk becoming irrelevant—and potentially losing them altogether.

Categories
Outbound Sales pipeline development Sales Advice Sales and Marketing Sales Management

Surefire Outbound Sales Strategies That Will Drive Your Growth

Surefire Outbound Sales Strategies That Will Drive Your Growth

Outbound sales, in a nutshell, is any form of traditional selling initiated by salespeople to the target customer – meaning they start and drive the interaction. Given the nature of selling and buying these days, it’s more appropriate to call it outbound communication. However, some proven strategies help an outbound effort be more effective while reducing attrition rates regardless of what you name it. 

Here are some tips that can serve as a guide for sales professionals who want to improve the execution of their outbound sales strategy:

Craft Your Ideal Customer Profile

Craft Your Ideal Customer Profile

Creating an ideal customer persona is a three-step process:

  1. First, identify the traits of your ideal customer.
  2. Understand their problems and how they’re currently solving them.
  3. Determine what makes your product or service superior to the alternatives for this customer and their particular problem(s).

Additionally, you can create a customer persona by asking yourself a few key questions:

  • Who are the people using my product or service? 
  • How old are they? 
  • Where do they live? 
  • What kind of job do they have? 
  • What is their annual income? 
  • Do they have kids? 
  • Do they own a car? 
  • Do they own a home? 
  • Are they married or single? 
  • What do they like to do for fun? 
  • How much time do they spend online per week? 
  • What search terms do they use when looking for products or services like mine?

Once you have all this information, it will be easy to develop marketing strategies targeting them directly.

Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Social media provides an excellent opportunity for businesses to reach consumers with relevant content that is easily accessible on their devices and in real time, making it highly effective at getting customers interested in what you’re selling.

The advantages of using social media are:

  • It’s a great way to build a community around your brand, which can help with customer retention, loyalty, and growth.
  • It can be used as a lead generation tool, where you can offer incentives to those who sign up to your email list or follow you on social media.
  • Social media is free! It could be a good option for you if you have time and resources available.

Here are some strategies to help you make the most of social media marketing:

  • Post regularly. Posting on your company’s LinkedIn page or Twitter account daily is essential for maintaining visibility and keeping customers engaged.
  • Use visuals. Visuals help attract attention with their bright colors and graphics, so include photos and videos in your posts whenever possible.
  • Focus on engagement. Engagement is critical in social media marketing because it helps you better understand what people want from you—and how they want to interact with your brand.

By sharing relevant, engaging, and helpful content, you will be able to attract new clients looking for a particular type of service.

It is also possible to use social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter to drive traffic to your website or blog so that potential customers can learn more about the products or services you offer.

Invest in Outbound Sales Tools and Tech

Invest in Outbound Sales Tools and Tech

Inbound and outbound sales strategies are not mutually exclusive—in fact, they work together to create a holistic customer experience that makes you stand out from your competition. But what is the difference between these two approaches?

Inbound sales focuses on attracting new customers through content marketing, SEO optimization, and other digital tactics that drive traffic to your website. 

Outbound sales focuses on attracting potential clients who are already in motion toward making a purchase decision; they require more active engagement with customers via phone calls or email campaigns, which can be automated through a CRM system.

It’s not enough to have a tool like Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, or others. You need to use it as the baseline for everything else you do—and you need to ensure it’s set up correctly from the beginning. Outbound sales teams will be responsible for driving your company forward, and if they don’t have all the tools they need, it will be much harder for them to succeed.

Outbound sales teams will rely on data for their success, so make sure that you’re making it easy for them with an intuitive interface and seamless integration between different systems (CRM and marketing automation). They’ll also want access to information about their leads’ behaviors and preferences to tailor their pitches accordingly. Finally, they’ll need access to customer data to anticipate what each person wants before they even ask them!

Final Words

If you want to increase sales, you need to start selling. Although most companies have moved to an inbound approach, they still struggle with inbound sales because they don’t understand what makes people buy something. Outbound sales techniques are still very effective at generating leads that convert customers because they focus on the right things.

Outbound sales is not about pushing people into buying something from you (although that can be part of it). It’s about building relationships with prospects so they know who you are when they need what you offer. 

By creating a relationship with prospects, you can build trust and credibility and establish yourself as an authority in your industry. Show them how valuable their business is by providing helpful advice, free resources, or even just engaging them with questions about their business.

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Outbound Sales: The Follow-Up

Outbound Sales: The Follow-Up

You’ve just sent an intriguing and persuasive email to a prospect. You get a reply. They’re interested. They want a demo. They’re ready to speak with you. And then…that’s it. All work and no follow-ups make Jack a dull boy. 

When making outbound sales, it’s easy to focus on setting the hook. The initial contact. The opening email. But more likely than not, you fail to continue the conversation and close deals after your first outreach.

In this article, we’re going to explore the often-overlooked follow-up.

What is an Outbound Follow-Up?

You’ve just made a sales pitch. You’re excited and hopeful, but there’s one small thing you need to do before you can put your feet up: follow up.

Following up with a potential customer is a great way to ensure that the customer does not forget about you or your company after the initial contact at the top of the sales cycle.

A sales follow-up can be the key to landing a sale. Follow-ups are a salesperson’s prompt to the prospective customer to take action, whether making an appointment, scheduling a meeting, or placing an order.

Setting your follow-up schedule can be challenging. You don’t want to annoy your prospects, but you also have a limited time frame to get the appointment or sale. The best way to approach this is to send emails or calls, beginning immediately after your initial contact and continuing for about a week after.

Sales follow-up is essential because it helps create a friendly, familiar relationship with your potential customers. It also allows you to answer any questions they might have and ensure they understand exactly what they’re getting into if they decide to purchase from you.

How Many Follow-Ups Should You Make?

How Many Follow-Ups Should You Make?

When you reach out to someone cold, you must realize that they might not be expecting your email. The best way to get through that mindset is by following up with them multiple times. The first time, you should send a terse and concise email explaining who you are and what your company does, along with a link to your website and an offer that will help them.

You can follow up three days later with another email or call-to-action, but if they haven’t responded, it’s probably time to move on to other prospects.

If the prospect responds positively, it’s time for a more extended conversation—maybe over the phone or in person!

If the other person is a colleague or someone in your network, you might have an opportunity to connect with them again. But if it’s a stranger, you should probably move on.

You can usually tell if someone is interested in your offer when they say something like “I’m interested in learning more about [product name]. Do you have any time next week?” or “I know our schedules won’t sync up but let me get back to you when they do! Thanks for thinking of me!” This doesn’t mean they will buy from you—just that they’re willing to learn more about what you’re offering.

Here’s a general outline you can follow. It is possible to tweak this depending on your product and what conversations you’re having.

  • 1st day: Follow-up #1
  • 3rd day: Follow-up #2
  • 7th day: Follow-up #3
  • 14th day: Follow-up #4
  • 28th day: Follow-up #5
  • Two months after: Follow-up #6
  • One follow-up for each month after
What To Do (and Not Do)

What To Do (and Not Do)

DO: Be persistent but not annoying. Inbound leads are easy because they come to you, but outbound sales require a little more work and persistence, so don’t give up too quickly if someone doesn’t respond immediately. If they don’t answer their phone or email, try again later in the day or week. If that doesn’t work, send them another email or call them again later in the week (but not too much later).

DO: Take notes about what worked for each person you call so that you know where it went wrong with others and can adjust accordingly the next time someone from that company calls you back.

DO: Be specific about what you want from them. Don’t just say, “Please reply if interested in scheduling a meeting next week at 3 p.m.,” because many people will simply delete that email without replying or taking action. Instead, clarify why they should respond (e.g., “If interested in scheduling a meeting next week at 3 p.m., please reply with confirmation and availability details by Tuesday morning”). 

DO: Send them your email only when you have something relevant to send them. Don’t send random emails just because you haven’t sent one in a while. That will annoy them more than anything else.

DO: Follow-up with them if they reply to your email with a question or comment. You don’t have to write an essay every time, but at least acknowledge that you received their message, so they know you read it and care about their response.

DON’T: When you send an email asking someone for their information or a quote, you mustn’t make them feel guilty about not responding. If they haven’t responded yet, that means they’re busy and haven’t had time to get back to you yet. If you contact a prospect and they don’t respond, it’s not necessarily because they’re ignoring you. It could be that they just haven’t had time to reply. Or maybe they’re waiting for something else (like a response from another sales rep). Or perhaps they’re just not interested in what you’re selling.

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Outbound Sales: Renewal, Upsell, and Cross-Sell Discussions

Outbound Sales: Renewal, Upsell, and Cross-Sell Discussions

You’ve reached your first revenue milestone once a customer makes the initial purchase. But your sales opportunity doesn’t end here — it’s just beginning. While products sold are a great way to measure revenue, there’s so much more potential beyond this initial transaction. 

By putting in place cross-selling, upselling, and renewal processes, you’ll be able to improve customer lifetime value and grow your bottom line even more.

Let’s define each process first.

What is Cross-Selling?

What is Cross-Selling?

Cross-selling is a term that gets thrown around a lot in business, but do you know exactly what it means to cross-sell?

Cross-selling is the concept of encouraging a customer to purchase additional products in conjunction with the primary product. This is critical and very powerful in the subscription business model, where recurring revenue is the goal. 

What is Upselling?

What is Upselling?

Millions of dollars are wasted every year because of the inability of salespeople and other customer-facing staff to upsell effectively. A lack of precise questioning on the value of a product often leads to costly, low-quality purchases that never even get used.

Upselling is a strategy focused on encouraging these purchases through improved and enhanced products, but it can be challenging to pursue. Your first business sale was only part of the way towards financial growth; you must now do everything possible to ensure that customers will return for upgrades and add-ons. Here is where upselling comes into play.

But take note – The idea behind an effective upsell is to build rapport with clients and show your expertise so that they understand you’re suitable for their needs.

What is a Renewal?

What is a Renewal?

A renewal sale, or a repurchase conversation (“repurchase” only if it is the same product/service), occurs when a customer has a question, concern, or issue needing resolution. 

The challenge is that customers will likely not come directly to you with a renewal question unless they have some form of complaint, issue, or problem. A renewal discussion often occurs at the right time. There are five primary categories of renewals — based on the date when the existing contract expires –, and each can be handled differently based on the company policy and sales strategy.

For anything you sell (SaaS, recurring billing, etc.), renewal conversations constitute a significant component of any sales strategy. 

One Thing in Common

Salespeople are constantly using different strategies to find leads. This can be limiting, though, since new sales reps may not have the tools they need to find leads. Enter outbound marketing: one of the best tactics you can use to reach leads and generate new business. Using this method, you’ll be able to get prospects and stay on their radar intelligently.

The best salespeople always reach out to their leads and existing customers to stay connected and make sure they’re both happy with the deal they’ve struck. The more they build that relationship, the easier it’ll be to find that next opportunity together – an upgrade, an expansion of services, or a renewal.

Conclusion

Sales, like any other profession, is a game of numbers. Hopefully, you already have your sales machine in place and are starting to see sales trickle in for your product or service. The next step is to build a stronger team to handle these incoming sales and help you reach even higher numbers. Renewals, upsells, and cross-sells are highly effective at achieving this goal.