Man is a social being. On the subconscious level, we are able to capture the emotions of another human and identify with them. Empathy is an important skill. Perfecting it turns into emotional intelligence which makes the clients feel trust in us and can also evoke positive emotions. How to start developing in this direction?

You can start by asking your colleague to be with you when calling a client. Let the colleague catch things that he or she liked and those that caused negative emotions. A good idea is also to roleplay a sales situation. Try to sell something to this person and make conclusions based on feedback. Systematically work on these things. Use a similar method for emails. You’ll be surprised how many times a person writing emails in a rude way turns out to be very friendly at a meeting or call and did not even realize that his or her messages could be misunderstood.

How you can constantly develop and become flexible

Books in electronic form are the basic way of which the sales team can build its competences. Why not a traditional paper form? Ebooks have the advantage that they can be used by many people at the same time. Additionally, they can not be destroyed or lost. The company library will grow with each new book or article purchase.

Books that are worth attention:

  • The challenger sale – Dixon Matthew, Adamson Brent
  • Predictable Revenue – Aaron Ross and Tyler Marylou
  • Influencing people. Theory and practice – Robert B. Cialdini
  • The Machine – Justin Roff-Marsh
  • The One Thing –  Gary Keller

I often hear the argument from the client: “Michał, I don’t have time to read books.” I truly believe that there is no such a thing as “lack of time”. There are only wrong priorities. If you think something is important you will always find time for it and, analogously, if something is meaningless to you then you will find an excuse. Let’s assume, however, that you actually have no opportunity to read. In that case, podcasts and audiobooks are your best friends.

You can turn your podcast playlist in a Spotify and listen to it while driving, traveling by train, running, gym, or even home cleaning.

What to listen to? I recommend downloading the free Podcast Republic application and searching for something there. 

If you find something interesting: an event, article, a movie, podcast, etc. then don’t leave it for yourself. Set up a new company practice of writing educational e-mails with [EDU] prefix. It is a free treasury of knowledge created spontaneously by employees for employees. This information can also be stored in a separate folder accessible by all under the name “Knowledge base”.

Learn from the best

In the CRM system, you can check which sales has the best conversion in the various stages of the sales pipe. On this basis determine who you want to talk to and get the most out of this person about what and how he does at that stage. It is also a great idea to enter a call of that person, take notes, and then compare it with yourself.

Meetings 1on1 – have you heard about them? If the answer is “no”, then it is time to change it. These are hourly manager meetings with individual employees to determine the path of their development. Let the salesperson open up, talk about topics that are a reason of both concern and pride. Based on it you can plan particular actions to work on weaknesses and improve the strengths. After a month repeat the meeting and verify the results. The results of such honesty and approach to employees are surprising.

Record your conversations. This will allow you to spot errors in non-verbal communication such as inadequate gestures or facial expressions. You will not inspire confidence when a  verbal message you are passing through is in conflict with the nonverbal one. Write down the things you would like to eliminate and gradually do it. Verify your progress with each subsequent recording, and if you don’t see any new development opportunities – ask someone else for feedback.

Use tools that will do repetitive tasks for you

Respect your time – use it in such a way as to make important things more efficiently. If you can use the tool to do repetitive tasks for you – do it. I often hear the argument – “It costs, I don’t have the budget right now.” Now, what about your working time and your remuneration? Suppose you earn $ 40/h. Analyzing sales campaigns takes you 3 hours. So you see that the cost of this activity is $ 120. In many cases, the monthly subscription for tools or programs that can replace you with this is less.

What can you do to better cooperate with marketers and other sales?

Begin by specifying what is the problem. Once you do it name these things in a common language. For example, determine what a valuable lead is. Then start measuring the processes that you are carrying out. This will provide data which can become the base for planning activities. Stay in touch with each other. I don’t mean meetings that take time and no one likes. It’s about a communicator inside the company with a dedicated channel. Writing something does not take much time, it does not get you away from work. Similar to reading such a message.

If you have the option, connect your desks in such a way that you can sit close together. It seems to be a trifle but it has a significant impact on improving communication between people and as a result build relationships.

Expect honest and constructive feedback. If the marketing effects are not right for you – say it. The worst things you can do in this situation are:

  • to sit quietly because of fear of criticism,
  • accuse someone of bad work instead of giving comments in a constructive way.

Here comes the model of a sandwich. In short, the point is to provide information starting from positive aspects. Then go to the bottom – what we do not like. At the end, pass on some positive things again.

What can you do to better? Example:

“Aga, thanks for the lead from yesterday. I’ve just entered it into CRM and it seems a good customer. I only lack his contact details. Is there a chance that the next ones will come with this information? I wonder how you do it, that you provide so many contacts? “.

Take advantage of your CRM’s capabilities

CRM is a tool for organizing sales activities. What can it offer? The first thing is the clarity of where the lead is located. It also allows you to track tasks within particular leads which additionally complements the reminders. By setting the steps in such a way that illustrate the sales pipe you are able to determine at which stage the conversion is the largest and the lowest. Thanks to this information you’re working on facts, not opinions. You know what you can improve and which factors affect it.

Remember that sales optimization requires time and work. What’s more, this process never ends. There is no other way than to work on yourself – that’s a fact.

However, you can make it more enjoyable.