Do you have a sales process? Is it time to optimize your existing UCaaS sales process?
Even though companies with a clearly-defined sales process generate 18% more revenue, about 90% of sales reps don’t follow a formal sales process.
UCaaS sales are unique. You rarely – if ever – meet the buyer in person. Typically, your process involves prospecting, nurturing leads, and closing sales remotely.
A thoughtfully-designed step-by-step process for your entire team can increase your sales.
A sales process doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s not a to-do list. It’s simply a defined course of action followed by the people who work in your business.
An optimized UCaaS sales process equips your business to generate sales consistently. This happens because the sales process empowers your staff which leads to greater customer satisfaction.
A standardized sales process also gives you the ability to accurately measure and forecast performance. By evaluating the effectiveness of each stage in your process, you can continuously improve on the performance of your team and increase sales.
Keep your sales process simple. It should be easy for your salespeople to follow. The more complex it is, the harder it is to stick to, resulting in inconsistencies.
A typical UCaaS sales process looks something like this:
Who is your ideal customer? If you don’t understand exactly who has a need for what you offer, it’s difficult to sell to anybody.
Define your target market by figuring out what solutions and benefits your business provides. What problems do you solve? Then create an ideal customer profile including their budget.
Without this first step, everything else in the process will be less effective.
Find out where your ideal customer spends their time. Where are the people who need and want what you sell?
Then learn how best to connect with them. This involves marketing. Develop a solid content marketing strategy.
Don’t leave lead generation to chance. Make a plan.
You don’t want to waste valuable time on a lead that’s not going anywhere. Your sales process should help you determine if a lead is actually a potential buyer.
This part of the process might include a series of questions to get answers to. You might ask your leads about their goals, challenges, needs, budget and timeline.
Lead conversion involves presenting your product and service, handling objections, and finally, closing the sale.
Educate your sales team on how to effectively present the benefits of your product. Teach them how to handle common objections. A solid understanding of this part of the process will equip your salespeople to close more sales.
With UCaaS sales, the initial sale is only the beginning. Your goal is to keep your customer long term.
Be sure your onboarding process is simple and smooth for the customer. Then find ways to nurture your relationship with them for increased customer satisfaction. This can lead to referrals, too.
It’s easy to complicate your sales process. Here are a few tips to help you keep it simple.
The key to an optimized sales process is analysis and measurement. By evaluating what worked and what didn’t, you can make effective changes to improve your performance.
Without a sales process, it’s difficult to pinpoint where the weak points of your process lie.
Find ways to measure the effectiveness of each stage in your process. Here are some ideas:
Additionally, you might want to track the cost of making a sale. Each stage has a cost. Find out where it’s best to invest.
The length of making a sale matters, too. Again, time is money. What stage takes the longest? How can you shorten it?
Measuring your sales process requires tools that allow you to track each stage in some way. But don’t forget about the most powerful tool: Ask your customers.
You can ask your customers questions at each stage of your process to learn where you can make improvements. This will tell you directly what worked and what didn’t. Let your customers educate you.
At UnitedCloud, supporting our partners’ sales team is a key part of what we do. We provide our cloud phone resellers with a full suite of integrated tools – including a comprehensive library of custom-branded print marketing assets – to help you through the entire UCaaS sales process.
Find out more about our Partner Program to boost your business.
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