Are you responsible for managing, growing, and providing solutions for a new or existing client base? Are you a road warrior who would rather spend his/her time selling instead of administrative tasks? Are you wondering how you can leverage social media into your repertoire of selling tools?
If you said ‘Yes!’ then consider then you are also probably wondering how you can use your CRM system better, wondering what the tools and techniques that the best sales reps use and how you can become a revenue rainmaker for your company!
Below is an example of a day in the life of a sales rep and the types of activities that they might do with Dynamics CRM. To make it a bit easier, I’ve listed out the activity followed by a link to a YouTube video on the subject. Enjoy!
7.30 am: the day starts by ensuring you are well prepared with plenty of stock, samples and leaflets, as well as a clear plan of what the day ahead entails. Leave plenty of time for travel – turning up late does not make the right impression.
- Review the list of clients you are visiting from your CRM Dashboard
- Plan the route
- Review the notes
- Location Synch your phone and ask for directions
10.00 am: Arrive before for a pre-arranged meeting. You must establish who has the purchasing power for each product you are selling. In many cases, it will be the CFO or Owner themselves. In other instances it will be senior staff or coaches in the account. While waiting in the lobby, grab the contact cards, check the visitor sign in and look up your competitors, make notes, call clients and schedule meetings.
- Review the power structure in CRM and add/amend contacts and positions
- Open the account and enter the competitor, look up the competitor’s strengths and weakness.
- Make a call and leave a note or message with another client
11.00 am: During the meeting, you will communicate constantly with the team, offering advice and guidance on the correct usage and the product’s benefits. In prior meetings, you will have established what exactly your client wants from the product, what they use currently, what they don’t like about it etc. By asking the right questions beforehand, when it comes to demonstrating your product, you can sell its benefits and meet your clients’ needs.
- Open the opportunity
- Walk through the process menu/questions
- Browse through the brochures and call up a product specification from the SharePoint library
- Enter the product into the opportunity
12.00 pm: After the meeting you often have a moment to sit down and obtain feedback. This is a great time to overcome objections, if any. If the feedback is positive, you can make follow up appointments, discuss stock size, leave behind literature, business cards etc.
2.00 pm: As well as gaining new business, you will also need to look after existing accounts. There might be other communication, returns, and problems with delivery or payments that you can straighten out if you’re in the area.
4.00 pm: Relationship building is essential. In many cases you will become a familiar face and will meet a range of staff from other departments. Each will have different needs, concerns and lives, it’s tough to keep track and kept up. Ultimately people buy from people so it’s important to know what’s happening in their lives.
- Add relationship between contacts
- Add personal information to existing contact
- Add picture to contact
- Review social insights LinkedIn and Facebook
5.00 pm: Administration and notes from the day’s visits (excellent record-keeping is essential), place orders, make follow up appointments and plan future meetings.