​SEARCH RESULT

In the corporate realm, LinkedIn stands out as a vital platform for professionals and organizations seeking unparalleled global opportunities. This powerhouse has redefined international potential, providing a unique space for brand awareness and targeted market access. While LinkedIn success stories abound, achieving a scalable position demands unwavering effort and strategic thinking for corporate entities. If you find your company's LinkedIn profile hitting a plateau, fear not. We've curated the top five reasons corporate profiles encounter slow or no growth on LinkedIn, along with expert strategies to ensure your professional presence is always on the rise. Let's delve into the world of corporate success on LinkedIn. Decode Your Corporate Message Cease blaming the algorithm and start scrutinizing what your corporate content truly conveys about your brand on LinkedIn. The platform offers a tailored space for customization, but if your audience isn't engaging or finding value, it's time for a closer look. Critically assess your corporate persona, leverage A|B testing to explore different content types, and ensure your posts are not only insightful but also resonate with your target corporate audience. Quality Engagement Over Quantity On LinkedIn, quality engagement reigns supreme over follower counts for corporations. Instead of fixating on sheer numbers, focus on engagement rates—the paramount Key Performance Indicator (KPI) on this professional platform. Understand the percentage of your followers actively interacting with your brand. By identifying content styles that drive higher engagement, you can foster more meaningful professional relationships within the corporate community. Beyond Corporate Promotion Corporate relationships extend beyond showcasing achievements; they involve active listening and collaboration. Steer clear of constant self-promotion. Blend your corporate highlights with genuine appreciation for your connections. Express gratitude for endorsements, highlight successful collaborations, and tap into the corporate values that resonate with your audience. Laser-Focused Targeting for Corporations Identify your target corporate audience on LinkedIn and tailor your content accordingly. Recognize that LinkedIn appeals to potential clients, collaborators, and prospective employees in distinct ways. Ensure your content is targeted directly at your corporate connections through platform-specific strategies. LinkedIn's unique features provide a prime opportunity for B2B networking, brand building, and talent acquisition for corporations. Engaging Corporate Content Matters on LinkedIn LinkedIn is a platform where engaging, organized, and thought-provoking corporate content thrives. Ensure your LinkedIn posts leave a lasting impression within the corporate community. Don't just share and disappear—be actively engaged. Respond to messages promptly, spark corporate conversations through comments, and express gratitude for endorsements and recommendations. Consistent, high-quality corporate professionalism should be reflected in your LinkedIn presence. LinkedIn's dynamic landscape demands innovative practices for unparalleled corporate success. While roadblocks may surface, an honest assessment of your content, connection health, and LinkedIn strategies can pave the way for sustained growth. Follow these strategies, and watch your corporate profile thrive on LinkedIn. For personalized insights and solutions tailored to your corporate brand, connect with us at Change Connect. Your journey to LinkedIn success begins with strategic planning and informed decisions in the corporate arena. #growth #salesdevelopment #brandingmatters

Virtual meetings had been essential upon Covid to build sales relationships. As the government establishes stay at home orders and the concern of being infected. Sales people turn to platforms such as Google meets and Zoom to facilitate meetings and relationship building. Which differ massively from face to face interaction. Rapport building is the base of a harmonious and understanding relationship. It is about creating a relationship with others on the basis of understanding and trust beyond the surface level. Rapport can be developed through customer-centric attitude along with collaborative and responsive actions. Resulting with the client feeling that they had been understood, have similarities with the sales people and is appreciated as an individual. In turn, leading to a higher likelihood of a collaboration and possible long term business relationship. This white paper will begin by discussing a phenomenon coined as the “zoom fatigue” related to the consistent attendance of virtual meeting platforms. It focuses on how sales people can prepare before the meeting to build rapport and approaches to rapport building during the discussion. Meeting Fatigue The term “Zoom fatigue” describes the feeling of exhaustion from overusing virtual platforms. This occurs for several reasons. In physical interactions, we take in nonverbal cues such as gestures, tone of voice, proxemics and haptics like handshakes or a hug. All of these can be challenging when watching a small tablet screen or monitor with people’s cameras placed at different angles and their gestures hidden. Worst, communication is not always synchronous. There may be a slight delay between when the speaker completes an action and when the participant sees the action. As well as navigating the interface to raise a hand, type a comment and unmute before speaking while keeping track of the current conversation. Simply put, virtual meetings aren't a familiar way many are used to communicate. To combat zoom fatigue, avoid scheduling too many meetings and allowing them to run for too long. Set meetings with a purpose, trim the agenda down to what is important and invite only those that need the meeting. Do not feel obligated to conduct everything over a zoom meeting, drop the idea or announcement through phone calls and emails when appropriate. Rapport Build Preparation Rapport building emphasizes development of an in-depth interpersonal communication that includes the ability to be empathic, listen and ask questions to the client. The first step in the process is to effectively prepare before the meeting begins. Capture insights and mentally prepare Knowing the client’s background is the critical first step for establishing a relationship with the individual. Review and collect background information of the client’s business, organization and as an individual. Study their interaction styles online and find out their areas of interest and expertise. In addition, mentally prepare by developing a focused and confident mindset before the meeting. Ask oneself for motives. Why is this case interesting and what is the ideal result of the meeting? Reserve time for an introduction Allocate time in the beginning of the meeting for some kind of an “introduction. Make participants feel comfortable by greeting them and half small talks. The introduction is also a good time to let attendees know of how they will participate in the meeting, such as being called on periodically to share experiences or perform activities. As well, establish a rapport through conversations that if possible, be integrated into the speaking points. Share the agenda before the meeting Sharing agenda can help participants feel more relaxed knowing what the meeting will hold, preparing them for a self introduction prior to the meeting. Moreover, alert the participants of what technology will be used. This way, participants can test beforehand of their camera, microphone sound quality and how they will call in. When speaking with someone abroad, make the access easy by doing the math and schedule according to the participant’s time zoom. If the video will be on, included in the agenda if necessary the instructions for how they can turn their camera on. Keeping cameras on makes a meeting feel more personal. The participants feel a greater sense of trust seeing a real person, leading to more engagement. Start early Start and end meetings according to schedule. Log into a meeting a few minutes early to solve any connection issues or problems with the meeting link, meeting IDs and passwords. When participants join, set up fun polls or starter questions on the screen for engagement, getting the conversation to follow from the start. Set an example introduction A discussion on appropriate social and professional topics is a nice way to begin a meeting, especially when waiting for more to join. Go first and set the tone of the introduction. Go beyond simply sharing names and rolls and encourage others to follow suit. Ask participants to share their weekends plans or what had occurred in the passing holiday as they introduce themselves. Remember though to consider the number of attendees. Sometimes there isn’t enough time for everyone to introduce themselves. Be mindful not to lose participant’s attention and interest to other tasks like email and web browsing. The tempo for most virtual meetings tends to be faster than that of a face to face one. Rapport Building Rapport building is the first step in developing a new relationship. A prerequisite for trust, customer loyalty and engagement, which ultimately leads to a long-term business relationship. Be Authentic Mirroring is a term that describes the situation where people in rapport start to act the same way. They will nod at the same time, delivering similar energy level and non verbal cues. All indicators that they trust each other, which is the foundation of a quality relationship that land in sales. However, rapport cannot be faked. Deliberately mirroring and matching a person can backfire with the client feeling deceived, making it unlikely to close a deal. It is also important to appear original and genuine to avoid being associated with a standardized “stereotypical” salesperson, characterized by being pushy or aggressive. To be more approachable, sometimes an informal, relaxed approach works better. Listen and Observe The best way to get rapport is to really listen and observe, familiarize oneself with the prospect. Engage in small, non-business conversations on shared interest, such as the stock market, that can get the conversation started for later. Hear what the prospect has to say and how they are saying it. Sensing the prospect’s communication style and adapt accordingly. Some behaviour to look for includes the speed, their willingness to control, knowledge base, extroversation, use of humor, emotional status, and decision making style. Show understanding Show understanding and general interest of the prospect both personally and professionally. Give verbal indications such as “this is a nice idea”, “this must have been challenging” to show empathy with their feelings and interest in what they have to say. Have the verbal implications be aligned with no verbal cues through eye contact, nodding, smiling and authentic facial expressions. It is good practice to summarize and paraphrase back to verify your understanding. After all, ensuring what you heard is correct is important when crafting a solution. Follow up with questions Follow up and ask questions for a deeper understanding of the situation based on what the prospect had discussed. Speak their language. Use the same terminology as the prospect and talk informally if that is how the prospect approaches the meeting. For instance, if the prospect mentions that “I can see a time when the staff have good time management”, the response could be something like “ Tell me more about how things will look when tasks are completed on time?”. And if they indicate that he or she is genuinely interested to move forward, the response could be to ask more about how they feel. While sales people generally know the importance of being customer oriented and following suit with the client’s style and interest. However. Some salespeople fall back into their routine, preplanned agendas and scripts. Thus missing the opportunity to build rapport. Facilitate positive feelings Many challenges arise in new client acquisition. As mentioned previously, it is important for salespeople to develop a confident and inspiring mindset prior to the meeting. Unfortunately, this may not be the case of the client. They may not be willing to come to the meeting in the first place, and had only come because it was asked by their manager or felt that it is part of their responsibilities to do so. Unmotivated, they do not focus on the meeting but rather are occupied with other tasks at hand. Such situations require the sales people to react immediately and intervene to the client's absence and disconnection. Potential solutions include asking for a short increment of their time to explain or proceed with in-depth questions to draw their attention. If occurred in the beginning, humorous ice breakers and polls can also be considered. Additionally, the circumstances may not be favorable. The client is questionable about the likelihood of a solution, leading to a very negative atmosphere. The negative issues need to be addressed but at the same time skillfully turn the tide. Mention the positive signs and remove the negative feelings to a positive outcome. Establish the purpose of the meeting and optimism, Rapport building is the base of a trustful relationship with the client. Many actions lead to rapport building. Other than preparatory actions, such as sharing agenda items, doing background research, can be done by the salesperson prior to the meeting. Others are accomplished together with the client, thus requiring the sales people to quickly adopt and communicate effectively. These include finding similarities, asking follow up questions and small talk engagement. Be proactive and stay relevant. Successful rapport fosters long term relationships and allows for minor communication mistakes later on.

Many Business to business (B2B) businesses struggle to generate a consistent volume of quality growth upon facing increasing expectations for a better customer experience due to the ease and convenience of online tools. Furthermore, not all leads are equal. Quality leads offer long-term business relationships, lower acquisition costs, and are of higher value. The difference between B2B demand generation vs lead generation is that the prior aims at creating awareness and want for the product or service offered, whereas the latter aims to convert the prospect from the demand generation into qualified leads. The two are deeply connected. Demand generation is correlated with lead generation, but it doesn’t always equate to quality leads. This white paper focuses on key contributors of a healthy demand generation system - the interconnection between sales and marketing, content marketing, personalization of the content and multi-channel marketing in the shift towards digital engagement. The collaboration of Sales and Marketing In any organization, sales and marketing are the primary departments that aim at creating satisfied customers. If the two departments do not effectively communicate, it leads to misunderstandings, frustration and worst contradiction against one another. Resulting in a loss of revenue, confused leads and a hostile work environment. The practice of viewing marketing and sales as isolated functions is the root cause of ineffective demand generation. Marketers play a critical role during the awareness and consideration stages in helping qualify prospects through education. Thus preventing valuable time from being wasted by sales following up with low-quality leads. No longer is a marketer’s job only to understand customer needs and to create content while sales focuses on closing deals and meeting monthly targets. Sales personnel need to collaborate with marketing to develop strategic initiatives that drive long-term relationships with clients. At the same time, marketers may have to interact with customers and to understand what is happening on the front line, such as customer needs information and product improvement suggestions. In order for the two departments to collaborate, they must work towards the same objectives and share a common vision. The absence of a company vision can cost each department to set their own priorities, plans and actions as opposed to aligning these activities with each other and the overall goal. Open and regular communication between sales and marketing teams is the first step to create a healthy environment that allows course-corrective actions to occur when necessary. It is vital for the two departments to come together and establish a regular cadence to discuss ongoing efforts and results. Determining the budget of marketing and sales functions, the channels to engage in, as well as the characteristics of an ideal marketing-quality lead, campaign messaging and content. With both sides utilizing the same information system to store data. Content Marketing Content marketing has become an important part of B2B marketing, as marketers shift away from the product or service-centric towards customer-centric content. According to a 2019 study conducted by the US Content Marketing Institute on B2B companies around the world, 46% of B2B marketers expect their content marketing budget to increase in 2020. The survey also found that the main goal of B2B companies engaged in content marketing to achieve top-of-funnel goals. In other words, for the purpose of generating awareness and interest rather than deepening relationships. From the perspective of the buyer, the internet has brought forth a massive amount of content that varies in degrees of accuracy and usefulness. The challenge is no longer finding the information for a particular subject. Rather, it is about identifying and filtering out trustworthy, relevant and useful content. Opposed to being sold, today’s B2B buyers want to be educated and learn how they can do their job better, smarter and in less time. This is where the marketer steps in by providing intriguing content backed with statistics that educate and add value to the buyer’s knowledge. Moreover, content that resonates with the client leads to trust, better brand awareness and the benefit of being identified as an expert in the field. In the present era of ultra-connected and fragmented reading, prospecting can be very demanding. Consistently producing compelling content is one of the biggest challenges faced by B2B marketers. To formulate a plan, think about what the content will contain to show the connection between the business and the solution that will help the client solve their problems. Furthermore, why will the clients be interested in the content delivered. In order for the content to be found and be trusted, the content needs to provide value, identify pain points and offer helpful statistics or perspectives. Moreover, how will the content be presented? Other than print sources such as white paper and blogs, the rise of the internet brought various forms of expression to arouse a client’s interest. These include video, podcasts, webinars and presentations. Different subject matters to different client segments and choosing the right delivery platform will go a long way in reaching the right audience. Think about this - good content, bad channel is a no go. Bad content, good channel is a no go either. Personalized content at the right time Although varying in end result, most studies found that the majority of the email is never opened. A study done by Campaign Monitor found that the average open rate is 18% in 2020. It is not that people are no longer periodically checking their emails before or after work, they are just ignoring the emails sent. Or worse, mark it as spam. One key reason that clients don’t open the email is that it is not relevant. The same can be applied to engagement in other channels such as telemarketing. Engaging the right people at the right time with the right message will more effectively meet the client’s needs, making the communication faster and easier, thereby increasing trust levels and customer satisfaction. Personalization is about tailoring the content so it appeals directly to the client’s interest. This can be achieved through the collection and analysis of data to understand their preferences and attract their attention through that “one-to-one” communication. On the other hand, no matter how personalized the content is, there is no value if the content doesn’t reach its precise segment. Segmentation means finding common traits and properties among prospects and addressing their needs and shared pain points. To name a few, marketers can segment their master list by the client’s business industry, how they interact with the website (i.e, what they viewed), their stage in the marketing funnel and their engagement level previously with emails and calls. Additionally, find out who makes the decision over what to purchase, when and from whom can be a challenge for B2B sales. Some examples of key decision-makers are representatives of finance, the IT procurement and the sales manager. B2B sales and marketers need to first know who they are speaking to in order to tailor their content accordingly. This may require research into the client’s buying process and finding out their information over platforms such as Linkedin. Lastly, consider marketing automation when looking to scale for greater growth. Done well, it can be an extremely powerful tool helping to save up time from repetitive tasks such as email marketing and social media posting while providing a more personalized experience for clients. Indicators of the right time to consider investing in marketing automation is when good data is available, a steady flow of quality leads and content generation, as well as a proven demand nurturing strategy that is really to be scaled. Multi-channel marketing Research by Gartner showed that marketing campaigns using four or more digital channels outperformed single- and dual-channel campaigns by 300%. The purpose of course is to attract high-value prospects across channels without sacrificing the quality of content. When choosing channels, look for signs that there are qualified prospects in place. Strong multi-channel marketing can result in increased brand awareness, expanded content reach and better knowledge of the client when collecting data. The key to any multi-channel marketing strategy is to meet the client where they are. People do move around with new channels appearing and old ones fade away. It is important to access the pros and cons of each channel, such as cost and authority before building a multi-channel strategy, Sometimes smaller niche groups may be a better choice over large shared channels like Facebook because users have a common interest that aligns with what the business offers. In the end, no matter what channel is chosen, there will need to be consistent performance evaluation. If underperforming, determine the cause of the performance to revise or discontinue. Today, businesses must actively participate in the digital marketplace. It is where 97% of the world consumes information. Such level of engagement and traffic has naturally become a must-fight battlefield given the digital shift fuelled by the pandemic. This white paper focuses on key contributors of a healthy demand generation system - the interconnection between sales and marketing, content marketing, personalization of the content and multi-channel marketing in the shift towards digital engagement.

Increasingly, sales coaching has become one of the most important skills of effective sales leaders. Statics by BrainShark found that dynamic coaching programs help 10% more salespeople achieve their quote and can increase win rates by 27.9%. It benefits both the firm and the individual, with findings indicating positively correlations with motivation, job satisfaction and job performance of the salesperson. Fostering an environment that encourages two way communication, respect and active listening. Thus enhances buyer-seller interactions. Finally, sales is a stressful and competitive environment. Through showing that they “care”, sales leaders can help their inexperienced sales people cope with anxiety and avoid pitfalls with coaching. Building a Sales Culture Coaching sales culture accelerates changes and is a powerful way to nurture sales representatives. Unfortunately, it is often viewed as one of the most unpleasant tasks or one of a lower priority. According to a study by Brainshark, 47% of sales managers spend less than 30 minutes a week coaching their rep. Some reasons for the negative connotation include the fear to reveal one’s weaknesses, and being directly responsible for their salesperson’s poor performance after coaching. Thus, the critical first step to motivate coaching is for everyone to understand why coaching is encouraged from the top down. Management or board must first see a link between coaching and the business strategy. Have the ability to allocate budget and resources and focus on long-term performance rather than short term results. Additionally, remove any negative connotation associated with coaching. It is very powerful when sales leaders share their experiences of being coached, what they have learned and the feedback they receive. Being coached doesn’t equate to bad performance, even CEOs from large international firms receive coaching to keep up with the constant changing external environment. Coaching is encouraged because the organization wants everyone to succeed. Successful coaching helps sales representatives develop or enhance the ability to draw conclusions, evaluate other opinions, consider other things, and have their own thought process to achieve their goals. Coach Effectively The goals of coaching sessions is to directly or indirectly drive sales performance. This includes teaching sales representatives new selling knowledge, tools, skill or ability. Collaborate with them to solve problems, establish goals and inspire the salesperson to perform. Whether the goal may be, sales leaders tend to have good intentions when coaching. However, good intentions doesn’t always equate to good results. To better understand what occurs when sales leader coaches, it is important to have a set of coaching KPIs or metrics to measure success. If a coaching session is conducted weekly, weekly goals should be clear with sales reps understanding exactly the roadblocks to his/her goal and what s/he needs to do in order to reach these goals. Ensure that frameworks, data and tools are provided to your sales leaders to follow. Tools could include questions to ask saving leaders time and best practices. Sometimes, it is more effective to avoid giving answers right away. Rather, present the advice in the form of a question so they can come up with a solution of their own. As such, helping sales rep develop confidence levels and be more accepting to implement the solution. Coaching is a two way communication. The individual characteristics of the sales representative involved in training also affects the result. To begin with, some sales representatives are more coachable, meaning they are more open than others in seeking, receiving and using external resources and practices than others. Sales leaders are likely to reduce coaching if s/he perceives the salesperson as not coachable, or resistant to coaching. Other than personality traits, it is important to note that sales managers can influence sales rep’s coachability. A salesperson may be more open to coaching knowing that the sales leader truly wishes to help enhance their performance. Apart from coachability, sales representatives have different preferences for communication. Some prefer their leader to tell them how it is while others prefer to be more involved in finding a solution. For better results, Sales leaders can adapt their coaching practices based on the sales representative’s age, career stage and readiness for change. Coaching a top performer is different than motivating an underperforming sales representative to do better. For sales leaders, it is good practice to always explain the cause of coaching, current organizational developments, metrics and focus areas. To back up recommendations, draw on objective data rather than subjective knowledge to prove certain procedures or practices are more likely to win. Finally, understand the sales representative’s motivation. Is it money or career development? An effective coaching session is one that leaves sales reps driven to implement recommendations, improve and become more optimistic about their future performance. Coaching shouldn’t be limited to from top down. It is important to encourage coaching amongst sales rep and monitor how they learn from each other. Surfacing coaching blindspots Sales leaders need to identify blindspots to bridge the gap for their sales representatives. In order to do this, it is critical to monitor performance daily as opposed to only doing so at yearly performance reviews. This way, sales leaders can provide ongoing feedback, both positive and negative. Encouraging positive behaviours while preventing someone from going astray. Given that there may be hundreds of sales reps and remote working environments. Ts vital for leaders to understand the amount of visuality that they have. In other words, having the ability to see the number of calls ghosted by each sales rep and current open deals. One possible deal warning is sales representatives having three and less active connections, with signals the need for a one on one meeting. Measure the impact of coaching One important metric to measuring success is the percentage of teams that hit quota. Measure the percentage of quota for each team before and after training. Be mindful however, to not focus exclusively on superstars and low performers. In many cases, there is a normal statistical distribution with low performers on one end and high performers on the other. This results in leaving the majority of sales representatives at the middle of the bell curve. Sales leaders may gain a higher return on investment of their time on the average player. Considering most rep fall in the average range, bridging the gaps of knowledge, skill, and experience so average players can work towards their full potential will improve performance. One additional benefit from moving to the middle is that the top and bottom performers are also pushed to perform better. In particular top performers that keep their sales number just high enough to stand out at the top but had not delivered their full capacity. Apart from measuring percentage of quota, other metrics to measure performance are size of the deal, conversion rate by stage and the speed of deal time. Since every organization and sales team has different strategic goals, it is important to collect feedback and monitor engagement levels from coaching sessions to find the correct success metrics for the team. The purpose of coaching is equipping sales representatives with tools, knowledge, opportunities so they can become more effective. While most organizations recognize the importance of training, the overall sales coaching may not be effective. This paper discussed the importance of assigning proper coaching framework, metrics and accessing blindspots to create a coaching culture that can benefit both the organization and the individual in performance.

Every business is driven by customers. Customers equal sales. So – what do customer insights translate to then? If you guessed increased sales, then you’re already starting to understand the benefits of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Beyond bringin’ in the dough, customers provide companies with a clearer direction and purpose. They offer feedback and directly promote the growth of your business. For that reason, understanding your customers is the key driver to growing your company’s sales. A properly implemented CRM system stores everything related to managing customer relationships – contact information, data, metrics, notes – all in one place. The tools within a strong CRM system aim to help your company develop effective and personalized strategies for managing customer relationships. Once you determine the right CRM system for your industry, sales reps and customer base, the resulting benefits to come are endless. Here, we highlight the major benefits of introducing a CRM system into your business: 1. Improve customer outreach through automation According to Campaign Monitor, “72% of customers open an email due to the discount it offers and 62% customers open due to the personalised subject line.” CRM systems capture data and insights on an ongoing basis, while analyzing industry and market trends, allowing you to create and automate more relevant and personalized messages to your audience. By placing different customers into groups based on shared interests, different drip campaigns can be created for each group. By leveraging the automated email function, you can set up a series of emails targeting a specific audience that are sent when triggered by a certain action. For example, on an online bookstore, if a customer creates a list of memoirs, instead of sending them emails about books, you can add them to a drip campaign for people who add memoirs to their list. Your customer is more likely to open your email due to this personalization, forming a direct connection with them. 2. Increase sales productivity According to Salesforce, “CRM apps can increase sales by up to 29%, sales productivity by up to 34%, and forecast accuracy by 42%.” CRM platforms provide businesses with invaluable information about their customers, which arms sales reps with the knowledge to better meet their customers’ specific needs. Tools like sales reporting allow salespeople to understand how their customers interact with their business and how the business can meet those needs most effectively. Due to the variety of tools available on an effective CRM platform, such as sales enablement tools, process automation, sales reporting, and access to tons of personal customer data, sales reps have the correct information to engage in meaningful and personalized interactions with prospects. Additionally, CRM’s ability to streamline and automate processes reduces the time sales reps spend on tedious duties like data entry and in turn, frees up time to focus on customer concerns and strategizing sales practices. 3. Growing Customer Retention According to Capterra, “CRM users found that 47% of respondents say that CRM usage has a substantial impact on customer retention.” By implementing an effective CRM system, more accurate and focused marketing strategies can be developed to target certain segments of your audience. Through appealing to customer interests and addressing their concerns or even anticipating their needs, you can keep current customers loyal and attract new customers. CRM Questions? Interested in learning more about how to use your sales data? Thinking about implementing a CRM platform for your business? Feel free to reach out to us and we’d be more than happy to help!

In order to make timely business decisions, companies spend a lot of resources creating viable decision support systems. In today's business world, business decisions are based primarily on facts, information, and statistics. The trend of data-driven decisions is on the rise, but it is important to recognize the issues and problems this trend might create. Like the tools we use every day, in the right hands - with the proper approach, the potential of data-driven decisions can have an incredible payoff. Similarly, without the proper etiquettes of handling data, it can become problematic, which could end up costing you time and money. We've identify these potential dangers to make sure you are better prepared to address them. Organizing Data Data is captured everywhere, polls from social media outlets, spread sheets from excel, customer relationship platforms (CRM) like Salesforce, sales reports and even from local libraries. As your business starts to grow, you will gain various ways of collecting information, however the overwhelming amount becomes a challenge. Without any methods or strategies to organize your data properly, it will greatly affect the performance of your team and the efficiency of your operations. Data becomes harder to compare and analyze, it becomes difficult to draw old data, which eventually becomes useless. In other words, organizing data systematically is critical for small and medium businesses (SMBs) to operate efficiently. With the right tools, you are able to strategize and organize effectively which in return, will then provide your staff with the right data instantaneously to be successful. Storage Unlike big businesses, with immense amount of resources to store data, small businesses generally lack dedicated departments or staff to operate stored data. Many SMBs do not anticipate the various ways and size of information they receive, which result with businesses deleting potentially valuable data just to create space. Information in the form of e-mails, documents, presentation, database, spreadsheets, audio files, programs, and applications are all crucial to maintain and protect your business - all which require a lot of disk space. In addition, many SMBs store data inefficiently which then becomes difficult to analyze the data. SMBs tend to rely on tradition way of collecting data through paper and pen. Large amount of paper can clutter, and searching for old documents can prove to be difficult. Unless it is legal documents, electronic files are more secure and efficient since it easier to organize and access information. It short, it is important to properly store your data and investing in a proper storage solution is valuable for your business. Consult with your trusted IT advisor and develop a plan that will best meet your business’s future needs. Quality Data It is important to have quality over quantity whenever concerning the data you are collecting. In order to gather quality data, you must understand your campaign to collect the right data. Second, the data you acquired must be clean and up-to-date. Third, the data you gather must be consistent once entered into your database. This means all letters and numbers are standardized and consistent with the information you have in your database (i.e. VP or V.P. should all be listed as Vice President). Without filtering your data, it can clog up your database and end up contaminating your analyzed results. Dealing with large quantity of misleading data can cause you to create a strategy that would hurt your business’ productivity and even sales. Bottom line: As SMBs begin focus more on collecting data and utilizing it, unique problems will follow. There are various tools and solutions capable of tackling these problems and to assist you in leveraging data without the headache.

Sales play are repeatable steps, actions, and best practices proven to push deals forward. What sales play to focus on highly depends on the market position, industry of the company, industries that the company sells to, typical sales cycle, and most importantly, the company’s goals. The purpose is to equip sales rep with contents, tools, best practices, and strategies to help push deals forward. Follow up play, closing play, and demo play are some examples of plays that a Sales playbook can focus on. Companies look into creating a sales playbook for multiple scenarios and situations. The method of only having seniors to coach and train new sales staff can easily result in training inconsistency with gaps. Moreover, the sales playbook not only helps to ramp up new staff faster but is also a reference tool for existing staff. Helping to ease preparation and a great way to learn and share new sales tactics amongst the team, saving valuable time. Sales Playbook by Play by Play Follow up play For playbooks that focus on follow-up, the purpose is to provide guidance for when to follow up with leads at different stages and when to let go. If platforms are important in the success rate, include them in the playbook. Different types of clients may prefer different methods of communication. For instance, some clients that value personal touch may prefer imitating discussion over the phone rather than email. Closing Play How to lead clients in the late stages of their buying process naturally and professionally into the closing phase can be tough. This sales playbook could include possible indications that signal moving towards closing, email templates, common questions and how to answer them, and any useful materials that the sales team currently utilizes. Lead qualification play A sales playbook that focuses on lead qualification assists a rep to evaluate whether a prospect has a need, the authority, and money to buy the company’s products and services. Moreover, when a qualified prospect is found, when to reach out and present. A well-written sales Playbook is a powerful tool that will benefit the sales rep and the overall team performance. When one member achieves success with a special sales tactic, putting it in the sales playbook allows the tactic to be shared amongst the entire team. The creation of a sales playbook is not a one-time process. Bear in mind that sales tactics and sales process improvement and change occur on a regular basis. Many factors, such as the expansion or reduction of product lines, and changing customer demographics, will require the sales playbook to be updated accordingly.

A sales playbook details the who, what, and how of the sales process for a rep and includes contents such as customer image, email templates, project information, and sales tactics. Although a detailed and comprehensive sales playbook requires an extensive amount of time. It is a helpful tool for sales leaders to build a scalable, and successful sales team. Companies look into creating a sales playbook for multiple purposes. The method of only having seniors to coach and train new sales staff can easily result in training inconsistency with gaps. Moreover, the sales playbook not only helps to ramp up new staff faster but is also a reference tool for existing staff. Helping to ease preparation and a great way to learn and share new sales tactics amongst the team, saving valuable time. Steps to Creating a Sales Playbook Review Current Sales Process and existing documents The first step is to review and update if necessary the current sales process. Gather any standardized email templates, telemarketing documents, meeting notes, PowerPoint and other presentation materials, questions, that are currently in use, Don’t let these materials go to waste, arrange and sort according to phrases of the sales process as people tend to prefer using familiar materials. Outline Sales Playbook goals and sale plays As a reference source for the sales team, the sales playbook should reflect the current goals and major problems that the sales team faces. Before writing, have a clear direction and consider who will be using the standardized instruction of the sales playbook. When will it be used and what effect does the sales team want to achieve. Specific focused and relevant goals are easier to adopt and use by sale reps. If one major problem is identifying quality clients, then the playbook should include Lead qualification play as one of its sales play. Form a Workgroup Once the goals of the sales playbook are determined, the next step is to determine who will participate in the sales playbook creation process. Sales reps are essential, in ideal situations, including sales VP, directors, and managers. Do not limit the sales playbook creation process to members of the sales team only. Marketing teams that are more familiar with buyer personas, product offers, and market trends are important contributors. In addition, bring in subject matter experts with extensive knowledge of the sales play to provide feedback on standardization and whether the sales play is achievable. Furthermore, it might be helpful to set up a project manager for the team, who is responsible for controlling the creation progress and approving content. Implement and share the playbook Once completed, ensure that the playbook is easily accessible by everyone in the sales team, along with managers, directors, and VP for reference. The sales playbook needs updates from time to time to better align with the goals and strategy of the sales team. When major updates occur, it is important that everyone is notified of the new changes. Evaluate the success of the playbook Based on the goals outlined in step 2, it is important to gather feedback from all levels of the sales team to analyze its success. Other than surveys, the work team can interview key representatives of a group and listen for their opinions. For instance, have an in-depth conversation with a new sales staff, listen for their challenges, how they are using the sales playbook and what kinds of additional guidance and materials they hope the sales playbook will include. A well-written sales Playbook is a powerful tool that will benefit the sales rep and the overall team performance. When one member achieves success with a special sales tactic, putting it in the sales playbook allows the tactic to be shared amongst the entire team. The creation of a sales playbook is not a one-time process. Bear in mind that sales tactics and sales process improvement and change occur on a regular basis. Many factors, such as the expansion or reduction of product lines, and changing customer demographics, will require the sales playbook to be updated accordingly.

You might have the best product or service in the world, but, if you cannot communicate how your product or service will be of value to your potential customers, you will not sell. It does not matter if your product will change your customer’s life forever, you have to be able to explain in a way that appeals to them in order to outline the value that you will be bringing to the table for them. This is where your value proposition comes into play. It should be carefully crafted to appeal to each customer and their unique circumstances. What is a Good Value Proposition Let's start by defining a value proposition. A value proposition is a promise of value to be delivered. In simple terms, it's basically a description of the value that you plan on providing to your customer. A good value proposition is one that can quickly open doors for you by expressing value in a way that is appealing and applicable to the potential customer you are giving the value proposition to. A good value proposition makes your product or service enticing by focusing on the tangible benefits associated with using your product or service and also differentiates your firm from others. By focusing on the tangible benefits and highlighting what makes your firm different, your value is often easily understood. By clearly outlining your value, you will get more meetings with decision makers and will close more deals. How to Tailor Your Value Proposition As previously mentioned, your value prop should be tailored depending on who your audience is. This is the case because, in order to make your value proposition as effective as possible, it should be positioned in a way that highlights the value for the person and unique situation that they are in. Thus, in order to tailor your proposition, you are going to need to know a few things: Who you’re meeting with - different people from different companies care about very different things. Understand what your audience cares about and use your value prop to illustrate that you can solve that problem The organization You’re Pursuing - unique industries, industry trends, financial events can influence what is important / what the organization you are pursuing is looking for What you’re selling - different products or services that you’re selling have different value to customers. Understand exactly what you’re selling and stay focused on highlighting that product’s value. Tailoring your value proposition will lead to people responding to your pitch with much more engagement. They will be more interested in what you have to say because it is directly relevant to their problems. This positive feedback will enable you to have a strong pitch and belief in your product moving forward. Understand Your Own Value Proposition Once you have worked with tailoring, editing and iterating your value prop, you will understand the value of your product or service so much more thoroughly. This understanding will allow you to be very confident in your product and the role that it plays in the marketplace. You will no longer question if there is a market for your product or service and you will try harder to get into more accounts. This understanding and belief in your own product will help reduce your fear of rejection, further improving your ability to sell your products to others. So go ahead and think about your current value proposition. Think of ways that you can improve it and how you want to present different variations of it to different potential clients. Use this value prop development to increase your belief in your product. Combine these things and watch how your new and improved value prop will drive your sales.

Does this scenario ring a bell? You have been working closely with a prospect for longer than normal. They are engaged, interested, and yet always have a reason as to why they cannot proceed. You hold on because of their initial enthusiasm, but as time elapses, you find your emails and calls are answered less and less. Then flatline… Of course, this can happen despite even the top salesperson’s best efforts, but it happens much less to those who are skilled at urgency creation. Here are some tips for you to try yourself: 1. Problem and need payoff Applying undue pressure to your prospect is likely to reduce your credibility and the customer experience. But by asking certain questions, we can guide urgency rather than force it. Try to develop some questions which uncover your prospect’s organizational problems while also provoking them to provide you lots of information that you can leverage in future questions or propositions. Once you have the problem, you can target this with questions about how those problems can be alleviated. How can your product or service help? 2. Value If you have made it to the later stages with a prospect, it shows they see value in your product. But at this stage, does the customer feel they are getting more value than they are paying for? If you feel them slipping away, perhaps not… How can you inject more value into your offering without sacrificing on cost? What information do you have that can reinforce the gravity of their problem and the impact your solution can deliver? Are there any additional features you can incorporate in your proposal? 3. Get to the root of the delay, bridge the gap “I love it, but I have to talk to X first.” “It’s _____ season, so we have been too busy to get together and discuss.” “I am about to board a flight, lets talk in three weeks.” So often in sales, we are waiting for that internal discussion, the committee meeting, the boss getting time to review. By the time this happens, we could have lost their attention, or your champion might have lost everyone else’s. That is why it is so important to do your research and discover who the key decision makers are, be sure to engage with as many as possible to build value, gain more insight into why a delay might be happening and to ensure the discussion about your product is prioritized in that meeting. If you are finding it hard to schedule a conversation or if your efforts are going unanswered, do not be afraid to put something in their calendar or try sending an email to the group. 4. Pricing Strategies If your product is such that you have the autonomy to tailor pricing, an effective technique could be to set a time-sensitive pricing deadline. “Our standard pricing is X, but if you were able to come back to me by the end of the week/ month, I would be able to offer Y.” If the customer really is engaged, those discounts might just tip the scales. 5. Close the sale A no brainer, right? But over 40% of salespeople find this part the most challenging. There is no shame in asking for the sale. Be persistent, not pushy. Respect their time but respect your own too, set out the expectation of the next meeting, if your intention is to close the sale, then make that clear. What objections do you typically receive on these calls? Prepare some answers in advance. Hit that target. Summing it up Our advice, take a couple of hours out of your week to apply some thought to the strategies and questions that you could deploy to best drive success in these five areas, use your understanding of your product and ideal customer. Think about the best way to order your questions so as to guide a customer through the narrative of the problem and highlight the value of your solution, and be sure to do so with as many individuals as you can.