We've all invested in the latest and greatest marketing automation tools. But have we really reaped all the promised rewards? Is there a better way to use these tools and reap even greater rewards?
Here’s a few ideas based on what I am seeing from our own customer conversations and something I’ve noticed about how behavioral changes can make all the difference:
1. Zero Cost Innovation
Asking more from your sales team is a fact of life each quarter, but this economy means we need to pull out the stops and get creative. It’s clearly not about working harder, most of us have already pulled that lever…it’s an obvious one. Budgets are going down so it’s about “working smarter” and that other old chestnut…”doing more with less”. Tired phrases I would think to many grizzled professionals but both are just code-words for “innovate”. Here’s four suggestions, one is admittedly self-serving, the other three are for free. All are great ways to get more for less out of your sales and marketing organization in a down economy.
Upgrade sales skills to meet the new responsibility of becoming mini marketing units
Many of us have invested in sales and marketing automation tools that deliver up nimbleness and flexibility and which have the impact of drawing sales and marketing functions closer together to be more efficient. But those efficiencies have already been extracted and if we are to get more out of our organizations there have to be other things we can do to improve sales results even if we are swimming against a strong current. I’ve noticed the key to extracting many of the benefits in sales and marketing tools is in a change of behavior that is usually overlooked but isn’t difficult to execute once it’s identified. Putting sales and marketing tools (and therefore more autonomy) on sales desktops might still make a few marketers and CEOs shudder, but the benefits of a decentralized motivated sales force no longer dependently waiting for marketing to feed the beast are clear. There’s far too much opportunity for us as sales and marketing professionals to ignore here. There are risks when we put communication back into the hands of sales people but that’s what management has to figure out if we are to beat this downturn. The way to reduce the risk and gain the benefit is to upgrade your sales team skills and if necessary bring people in to the organization that are good enough to drive this particular bus.
2. Leverage Hidden Assets Like Old Sales Leads
Trading old business contacts for new sales opportunities is the principal benefit behind NetProspex. When a sales person has worked through a list of prospects and found the buyers, the remaining list is of little value. NetProspex works by letting sales and marketing professionals trade in old prospect information in return for brand new targeted leads. It’s a simple one for one swap. The sales person gets new opportunities and NetProspex refurbishes and validates the old leads to makes sure they’re accurate. Recycling old prospect lists is clearly a good example of efficiently using internal resources to your benefit.
3. Mine the Sales Team for "Golden Nuggets"
Golden nuggets fall from the tongues of sales every day – we just need to mine the seam
Start really listening to your sales people’s conversations with customers. Managers get out of your offices and go listen. Find a chair and sit down for half an hour each day and be quiet. Look for the little bits of excellence that hang in the air for a few seconds on sales calls and make sure they get multiplied across the whole sales team. I’m pointing to the phrases that sales people create in their conversations with customers that elegantly or simply sum up your product or service offering. The way sales people pitch products or services with customers is continually changing as they experiment with different ideas on how they weave in news, new features information and response from customers. Good sales people are experimenting all the time with their pitch and once those gems crystallize in the minds and mouths of your sales team, magnify them across the sales team quickly. You’ll also hear bad practices too, and its easier to drive that out and replace it with what you want said. Managing this process and transmitting this information across the sales team more quickly will make the sales team extremely nimble and effective in the conversations with customers.
4. Get the Sales Team to Coach Each Other
Set a rule, once a week each sales person should sit in on another sales persons call and critique what they hear. The whole team need to be open to coach and being coached - by their colleagues. How we pitch our products, the innovation we use to just describe ourselves is more effective sales training than any external consultant teaching the more generic techniques that outsiders have to offer. It’s best done internally, it costs little and it binds the sales team into a coherent and optimized unit that are on message.
