If there’s one thing every sales department wants to do, it’s saving time in the selling process so that they can close more deals and grow revenue. But for sales executives that are already busy beyond belief, defining how to do that is an unclear process that they don’t have time to figure out and implement.
While some tips suit some organizations better than others, giving these sales shortcuts a try should help out and show you which time-saving tactics work best.
Target the Right Person
Before you even type up an email or pick up the phone, make sure that the person you’re targeting really is the right person to talk to. Get on LinkedIn and find out what exactly their job entails, their level of authority, and if they’re likely to have knowledge of their company’s challenges in the area that your solution addresses. This will give you much more insight than simply knowing that they have the title you usually sell to.
As simple as this sounds, making extra sure of who to talk to from the start will save you time wasted on being passed around the organization.
Call Multiple People in the Company
Many people will weigh in on a final decision, so it doesn’t hurt to build rapport with them in addition to your main contact. Figure out what each person needs to make their decision and give it to them in a timely manner, whether they’re a high level executive, a junior person that will interact with the solution daily, or anyone in between.
If you can save them work, you’ll reduce time they would’ve spent looking for needed information, and in turn, reduce the time for a decision.
Look for Reasons to Disqualify
Another significant time-waster in the world of sales is working with prospects that are never going to close. The best way to avoid this time trap is to know the characteristics and behavior of other prospects that didn’t close and look for them throughout your interactions.
It might be hard to adopt this stance instead of constantly looking for ways to qualify the prospect and getting overly optimistic. But it will be better for you in the long run to recognize one of these accounts when you see them and start working on another prospect instead.
Plan Meaningful Next Steps
At the end of every call or meeting, many reps will ask about the next steps in the process, which is often another call or meeting. But there needs to be specific purposes and goals behind each and every interaction with a prospect that work toward bringing them to close. Plan out the objectives each time you talk and ensure that you’re providing value every time.
Also make sure that you’re being specific in the timing of the next steps by scheduling the next call or meeting instead of just agreeing on a general time like, “the end of next week.” This will allow both you and the prospect to avoid weeks of phone tag that needlessly prolongs the selling process.
Create Content for the Selling Process
While it’s important that your content drive traffic and online conversions, it’s also important that it’s created with sales enablement in mind. A few ways to do this include:
- Writing blogs or producing videos where your sales reps deal with common objections, concerns, and questions from prospects for every stage of the sales cycle.
- Creating content to send to prospects before a sales meeting so that they can be knowledgeable on what you’ll be discussing and start building trust with your company.
- Sending content that addresses executives who don’t have time to meet in order to get buy-in.
These are just a few examples of how content can speed things up.
With careful targeting, planning, and content, your reps can inspire their prospects to take action at a faster pace. By saving a little time during each step, it’ll add up to a noticeably shorter sales process and free your reps up for more selling throughout the year.