Telemarketing Software Featured Article

The old line goes, if you're not growing, you're dying. Exact attribution for that line ranges anywhere from Anthony Robbins to Lou Holtz, but one thing is clear: those who aren't actively working to improve operations and grow a business are on the slow track to said businesses' own demise. Achieving growth, meanwhile, can be difficult, but there are points that can be tried to improve growth. One of these is to improve the sales conversation, and there are several means by which such a thing can be achieved. Entrepreneur, via RingDNA CEO and founder Howard Brown, recently took a look at three such means to put into practice to improve that sales conversation and derive more sales from it.

First, Brown recommends keeping focus off the pitch, but rather on the customer. This is a comparatively well-known tactic; after all, the customer is the one who's placing the order, so tailoring the pitch to what the customer wants makes sense. But sometimes it's easier to stick to the status quo, and go in with a pitch ready to go rather than focusing on how the product or service being offered can do something worth money to that customer. Don't oversell, but keeping that customer focus will let the sales rep know just when to stop selling.

Second, set up regular calls with the earliest customers. This actually serves several purposes at once; not only does it show a clear commitment to customers, which said customers can use as a point to relate when dealing in word-of-mouth discussion, but it also allows the business to find out more about the product in question before it starts going wider in release. The first customers are taking the product as it is. The later customers are getting the product as it should be. If those early customers are having problems with the interface, or finding it tough to reach someone for help, then improvements can be made in those areas. The only way to find out these points is to regularly talk to those early customers, and get the necessary information to solve the problems those customers have.

Third, listen to the recordings of sales calls. Call recording systems are a huge help on this front, though there are some legal issues at stake around this one so be sure to look fully into those before engaging in this practice. But like football players watch game footage, so too should sales reps listen to sales calls. With this practice done on a regular basis, any sales rep can work to spot weak points in the presentation and how to shore up same before going on to the next call. It doesn't always work, of course—a point that's a weak spot in one presentation might have worked well with another target, and whatever's done to shore up the weak point may end up making a new weak point with another customer—but sales has always been a game of numbers, so expect a little failure.

The point in the end, as Brown relates it, is that it's easy to be focused on the results of a sales call—did I succeed? Did I fail?--but it's just as easy to be so focused on the results that the method gets missed. With more attention paid to the methods, the results will often fall into line, and provide a big improvement in overall sales.