The Effective Use of Business Lead Databases

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Business lead databases are an incredible resource for any business wanting to generate clients. Leads are the life source of almost every successful business. Without leads you have no customers and without customers you have no sales, no referrals, and definitely no income.

Business lead databases are essentially a huge resource of business leads. They are websites or companies that have a list of businesses categorized into industry sector. Decent business databases will be updated often and they will only contain opt-in leads to businesses that wish to be included.

Fresh Leads

Regularly updated lists mean you will always have up to date information. You won’t be clicking dead links to sites, you won’t be trying to contact people who have left the company or moved department and you won’t be contacting companies who are in a different industry to the type you are interested in.

Opt-In Leads

Opt-in leads mean that the business and contact details you are using are not only relevant but they are also willing recipients of your emails, letters or phone calls. With the increase of Spam and the prosecution of people and companies who partake in spamming individuals and companies it is in your best interest to make sure that you do not Spam.

Targeted Prospects

Specific leads from business databases will be categorized accurately dependant on geographic location, industry and any other specifications you may have. The increasing use of the Internet to run businesses means that geographic location isn’t as important anymore. You can sell your products or services to customers across the world but you may also want to send mail campaigns or paper flyers. You may be selling large heavy equipment or a service that can only be performed in person. In these cases you will only want to contact companies or people who are in a region close to your own.

Reputable business databases will offer all of this and much more. As you can imagine, keeping a database like this maintained and up to date will entail a lot of work. In order to do this effectively, they will more than likely charge a small fee to cover the ongoing work.

Find a Good Business Database and Stick With It

The Internet has a lot of available business databases and you should be careful to select one that has a large number of businesses included and keeps its records up to date and as accurate as possible. You shouldn’t just jump in with the cheapest one you can find or you may find that you wasted your money and you have to pay again for a better database.

Business databases are an invaluable resource for getting large amounts of leads in a very short period of time. They can save you months, even years, of trying to develop your own leads and every web site and small business should consider using one.

Paying for the use of business databases can either be as a one time payment allowing you full lifetime access or on a monthly basis, or even for each category of mailing list you require. There’s even a chance you could get some free leads for your money.

In short, business lead databases can be a great investment. Don’t just jump in and buy the first lead list you find. Shop around, find a reputable company and the extra work and fees involved will likely be very worth the effort.

 

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Sales Prospecting and a Targeted Selection Process

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What’s a Targeted Selection Process?  As related to prospecting, it is a process or system of defining whom you want to call on and performing the due diligence of data procurement to understand who you are calling on and why you have chosen them.
It can be as simple as choosing an industry, picking a company name out of the yellow pages, understanding the appropriate level of contact to call on, and investigating a name that goes with the title.
Or it can be as complex as an expensive CRM (customer relationship management) system for existing customers, defining market share of your product portfolio and routinely touching the existing base to broaden the revenue pond.

But here’s what’s important to understand.  Your Targeted Selection Process is a separate component of your sales strategy.  It stands by itself.
But it is directly allied with your other Sales performance indicators.  The degree of success you’ll have in the business of sales is proportional to raising and maintaining these success indicators to a level more proficient than the industry norm.
And the direction you decide to travel is strategic to the outcome.  I call it the ‘Playing Field’.  Because that’s where it all starts… it’s where the game begins.

Here’s what I mean.  There are basically (2) strategies in picking your ‘Playing Field’; a ‘Bottom-up’ approach or a ‘Top-down’ approach.
The following is an example of a Bottom-up approach.  A Telecommunications rep initiates a telephone call into a company and asks the question “Who handles your telecommunications needs?”  Guess where they are sent?  If you said ‘office manager’ you guessed right.  If you said ‘Head Janitor’ you weren’t far off.

Is there anything ‘wrong’ with that?  Not really; it’s legal and a lot of folks out there do it.
But let’s think through this option as a ‘Business person’ would.  Let’s study it as it relates to our sales process and individual Key Performance Indicators (KPI); Conversation-to-appointment ratio, 1st appointment to Proposal ratio, Closing ratio, sales cycle and average revenue per sale.  Because these success indicators are gateways that directly affect the outcome of a sales process.

Do your KPI’s go up or down with a bottom-up approach?  Historically, a bottom-up approach promotes a:

1.    1st appointment to Proposal ratio to decrease
2.    Closing ratio to decrease
3.    Sales cycle to increase
4.    Average revenue per sale to decrease

Bottom line, you’ll be leaving time and money on the table if you choose this Target strategy.
We’ll revisit the Conversation-to-appointment KPI in a minute.

At the other end of the Target spectrum is the ‘Top-down’ strategy for securing a new Targeted business appointment.  Let’s say that same telecommunications rep chose this approach in prospecting for new business.  The first step in this process is ‘Homework’; some due diligence prior to picking up the telephone.

Activities like:

•    Gathering a list of appropriate industries
•    Assigning the highest appropriate level of contact to each account; by company size and industry
•    Researching contact name for each appropriate title and account
•    Researching what each business does to exist and prosper

That sounds like a bit of work.  But what historically happens with a ‘Top-down’ approach in line with sales performance KPI’s?

1.    1st appointment to Proposal ratio increases
2.    Closing ratio increases
3.    Sales cycle decreases
4.    Average revenue per sale increases

OK.  We agree that’s a no-brainer.  So it all comes down to the 1st and foremost sales performance indicator, your Conversation-to-appointment ratio.
That’s simply how many times you conduct a conversation with a target prospect versus how many times you achieve one.  And the national average on that KPI is between 4% and 18%; Top-down or Bottom up approach.  So it takes 10, 12 or 20 conversations to achieve 1 or 2 appointments.  And that’s a lot of work.  In fact, JDH Group studies show sales individuals spend an average of 50% of their time on prospecting activities, or about 22 hours per week.

That leads a sensible person to the conclusion that one needs to focus on efficiencies in Prospecting.  And to secure those ‘Competencies’ one must develop a communication ‘system’ in line with your business solutions, your ‘Top-down’ Prospect perceptions and your competitive influences.
Not from a product/service angle, that’s ‘selling’ over the telephone.  But a communications methodology that lends itself to ‘Business acumen’; insight into what is strategic to your target prospect’s business objectives, what pains they are facing due to recent events or what changes are on the horizon that may effect their current status quo.

Next is figuring out how to communicate to your ‘Top-down’ target the prospective benefits of your product/service in terms relevant to their financial Key Performance Indicators; line items like ROI, IRR and Payback Period.  Those are success indicators that organizations rely on to measure progress toward their organizational goals.  It’s their ‘Scorecard’.

So lesson number one.  When you’re addressing a target level that has Budget authority; a President/Owner of a small company or a CFO/Controller of a medium size one, you’d better be talking terms in line with what they need to accomplish, not in a ‘sales language’ creating a prospect perception that you’re (1) don’t understand their business and (2) are simply trying to make a living.
From a 10,000 foot altitude, understand and communicate what’s on your ‘Top-down’ target prospect’s ‘Front Burner’ business objectives…not clear over in the freezer!

You can choose not to accept the standard ‘sales 101 playing field’.
Identify your individual performance components (KPI’s) that are essential to your success and develop or seek systems to raise your competency ratios and performance efficiencies.
And start your process by picking a ‘Top-down Playing Field’ and educating yourself to their world.

 

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Setting Realistic Goals

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When we make a sale, or take one step closer to meeting our goal, we are overcome with a felling of achievement which motivates us to sell more.

I’m sure that anybody who is reading this article has been in the situation where they may have been given unobtainable goals from one of their bosses, sales manager’s, or some higher up somewhere in the company.

When goals are given that are unrealistic, the mission is doomed from the beginning. It immediately gives a feeling of despair to the sales team, which can be devastating to morale.

 

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The sales team will do their duty and work as hard as they can to obtain the goals, but when they fall short, they will have feelings of failure, and will be reluctant to move on.

Simply stated, unrealistic goals, take the fun out of selling.

A personal story . . .

During my years in the banking industry, I managed a sales team in a small branch inside of a grocery store. This is what is known as In-store banking. It was estimated that seven thousand people came through the grocery store where my branch was located on a weekly basis.

With that statistic, my sales team was given a goal of opening up six checking accounts per day, among other things.

This would be a monthly goal of one hundred and eighty checking accounts per month. To me and my team, this was highly unrealistic.

Then, In-store banking was brand new to the banking industry, and these goals were being handed down by people who never once stepped foot in an in-store branch.

Please understand, I am not bitter about this, I am just stating the facts, and believe this to be an on going problem with companies.

This problem works both ways. Sometimes the goals being handed down are not enough, and a sales team will fall short of what their potential could be.

Needless to say, my sales team never met their daily, weekly, or monthly goals. We did however, fight the good fight and manage to hold our own. But morale was never what it should have been.

Every six months my team and I would attend the semiannual sales rally, where we would sit and watch as the other branches so proudly accepted their awards for meeting their goals. It pained me to watch my team walk away empty handed knowing that they worked so hard.

My point is, when goals are being set, they need to be realistic and obtainable. The more you or your team reach their goal the more motivated they will be.

Once you are reaching your goal at a steady pace, challenge yourself or your team, and raise the bar. Challenge them to reach higher on a daily basis

Keep in mind, when you raise the bar, keep this new goal realistic as well, you don’t want to become over confident and put your goals out of reach.

One last thing . . .

The goals that are being set, should be put in place by a person or people who know you, your staff, and your demographics. Not by somebody in an ivory tower.

If they are not being put into place by the appropriate people, suggest this idea to someone in your organization that you can trust.

This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

Tips for Successful Negotiating by Phone

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Most of us negotiate something every day. Whether it’s getting our kids to willingly clean their rooms, or hammering out an elephant-sized contract with more details than a politician has “special-interest” donors, our ability to haggle effects our results. Here are some useful negotiating tips.

1. Define Your Negotiables Other than Price. Inexperienced, unconfident, or plain old lazy reps take the easy route and drop price at the first sign of the other person seeking to get a better deal. Instead, first determine what you could offer, if needed, that has high perceived value to them, but little cost to you. For example, moving up the delivery date if they need it quickly, extending the warranty period . . . some distributors and suppliers like to throw in some products the customer isn’t buying. This has high perceived value, and gets the customer to test the new product, which might pay off with future purchases.

2. Analyze Your Strengths, Their Needs. Before calling, list what you know they require and emotionally want, what you have, and what you want. You might know that this buyer always tries to pound you on price, but you also know you’re working from a position of strength because you’re the only one who has the quality of product he needs.

3. Set Your Objectives. Just like every call, define, “What do I want them to do as a result of this call, and what do I want to do?”

4. Aim High, Set Minimums. As part of your objectives, swing for the fence! Think big. Set the most favorable objective possible (one that is within reason). The richest sales reps I know can’t believe anyone would think otherwise. Likewise, set minimums that you’re willing to accept. You’ll know how much you have to play with.

5. Prepare for their Possible Tactics. It’s easier if you know the person. For example, knowing that Joe always starts with an outrageous request helps you prepare your counter-tactic. Otherwise, you need to dry-run through possible demands and tactics along with your responses so you’re not blindsided into giving away something you didn’t intend to.

6. Gather Information. As with all sales calls, the more you know the better.

7. Don’t Give More Information (or Anything Else) than Necessary. I’ve seen sales reps offer price concessions that weren’t asked for (“The price starts here, but I might be able to do a little better.”), and give up information that the customer used to ask for more concessions (“You mentioned another customer had additional training manuals thrown in free. I want those too.”)

8. Don’t Split the Difference. It’s human nature, but it costs you money. Let’s look at the math. Your asking price is $50. They offer you $30. You counter with $40 and they figure splitting the difference is fair. Your tactic: come back with a pained tone of voice, “I might be able to do $46 or $47.” It’s more likely you’ll end up better than $40.

9. Trade Your Concessions. Get something in return. If you get them the better volume price, ask for a commitment for a blanket purchase order. One-sided giving rarely makes for a healthy relationship.

10. “If I, Will You?” A tactic to accomplish the previous point. Before agreeing to what they want, get commitment on what they’ll give in return. “If I’m able to move your request to the front of the line, will you increase the order by 500?”

I believe I read this in an ad in an airline magazine for a negotiation seminar: “You don’t get what you deserve; you get what you can negotiate.”

 

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Be Persuasive When You Sell

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When you are selling your products to clients, you don’t want to be pushy about it, you want to be persuasive.

Have you ever been around a sales person who seems to have everything going for him?

He has no problem talking to people, people like him, he seems to meet all of his sales goals so effortlessly.

This is not because he is lucky, or he was born with a natural gift when it came to selling. It is because he took the time and effort to make sure he went into the field well trained with the appropriate sales skills and product knowledge to make his sales seem as though they come without any effort.

This sales person, through hard work and sales training, has given himself the power of persuasion because he has the ability to find out what it is that his customers need.

When a sales person is being pushy with their product, it is a turn off to the customer. The last thing a customer wants, is somebody they just met up in their face who won’t stop talking. Pushy sales people come off rude, unprofessional and unknowledgeable.

From a customers point of view, a pushy sales person comes off as someone who just arrived from a one day sales training course on one particular product. Who is then sent out into the world to sell that product to anyone that will listen.

Most consumers can see right through this.

Persuasion takes subtlety. In fact, it is much easier to persuade someone to buy your product than to actually sell it.

Persuasion involves getting your customer to “buy in” to your product, or to see things from your point of view.

You must first get to know your customer. Take some time to ask a few personal questions. Such as where they live, what their occupation is, do they have any pets, etc.

People love to talk about themselves, so ask questions.

Once you get to know your customer, find out what their needs are. You can than match up your products to their needs.

Explain the benefits of your product, and give them a visual in their mind of themselves using your product. If you are selling baseball bats, give them the visual of using the bat to hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth too win the ball game.

Don’t do all the talking, listen to your customer. Listening is perhaps one of the most important sales skills you can posses. You can find out so much about your customer just by listening.

To persuade your customer to buy your product is to find a common ground with your customer. Smile, be courteous, answer their questions, learn what their needs are, listen to their concerns and try to alleviate them.

Once you have established what their needs are, tell them about the products you have that could satisfy their needs. Remember, don’t sell the product, tell them about the product, and what it can do for them.

Don’t think of it as selling, think of it as a normal conversation that you would have with one of your friends. Your sales will become more enjoyable, and they will also increase. Good luck.

This article may be reproduced by anyone at any time, as long as the authors name and reference links are kept in tact and active.

Jay Conners has more than fifteen years of experience in the banking and Mortgage Industry, He is the owner of http://www.jconners.com, a mortgage resource site, he is also the owner of http://www.callprospect.com, a mortgage lead company.

 

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A Favorable Juncture Of Circumstances

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Whenever decision-makers are willing to meet with you, you have reached a favorable juncture of circumstances. If you are then prepared to take advantage of this opportunity by building a level of trust with these individuals, there is a good chance that they will tell you enough about themselves so that you can easily recommend the appropriate package of your products and/or services that will meet their express needs.

Many top sales representatives feel that the sale is as good as closed if they can just obtain an appointment or meeting with a decision-maker. Their feeling is that their prospective customer must need their products or services or they would  not be willing to set an appointment in the first place. The following checklist has been developed to help you make the most of a favorable juncture of circumstances and build the trust levels that are vital to your overall sales success:

Smile! No matter what kind of day you are having, if you will smile it will give those people you contact a feeling of acceptance. It will also help you feel better about your day. Tape a smiley-face or the word “smile” on your desk or telephone to remind you of the importance of a smile on your face and in your voice. Top sales professionals use the technique of thinking of a funny story or the latest joke they have heard just before meeting a prospective customer. Thinking about the story or joke almost assures them of having a smile on their face as they meet a decision-maker for the first time. Make sure you are smiling as you call for appointments or are conducting a sales presentation.

Shake your client’s or prospect’s hand. A warm, firm, friendly handshake goes a long way in building a trusting relationship. It tells your clients or prospects that you are a friendly person and that you are glad to see them. If your handshake is limp it can leave a negative impression. It can be equally as bad to grip someone’s hand too hard. Remember you only have one chance to make a great first impression.

Ask an open-ended personal question. (Open-ended questions require an explanation and can rarely be answered with a “yes” or “no”). Psychologists tell us that when a person reveals something personal about themselves, it builds trust.

It’s vital for you to practice using open-ended questions to create a short period of small talk (the prospect doing 80% of the talking), at the outset of your presentation. Remember, people buy from people that they trust. When people start to talk about themselves, they start to build a trusting relationship with you so that later, as you discuss  your products and/or services, the things you say will be believed.

Research shows that people decide whether to follow the advice and buy from a sales professional in the first two minutes of the conversation. By following the track outlined above, you can make the most of your initial contact and truly turn each meeting of transaction into a favorable juncture of circumstances (a sales opportunity).

 

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3 Easy Ways To Crank Up The Sales Volume

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1.  Supersize It!
Okay, okay… the real marketing term here us upsell it, but the word association takes me to McDonalds.  You’ve been there… you pull up to the window, place your order and they always say…  “Would you like to supersize that?”

What bugs me is that I instinctively say, “Yes!”  After all, for a few cents more I’m getting nearly twice the amount of fries and beverage.  We won’t discuss the fact that a person with normal size kidneys couldn’t possible drink the supersized drink before it goes flat… and that if I were to eat all of the supersized fries I’d be perfect advertisment for an acne medicine company… but hey, I got a good deal!

When your customers have their wallet out and are reaching for their money, they are ripe for shelling out just a few more bucks to sweeten the deal.  In fact, about 50 percent will say yes without a second thought.  It’s the perfect time to offer an upgrade or an extra warranty.

2.  After The Sale Offers.
Have you noticed that novel sequels seem to go like hotcakes?  Once the author has caught the audiences attention with the first book, they can’t wait to get their hands on the follow up.

The same idea carries over with your customers.  A customer who is happy with the product and service you provided the first time, is much more open for a second experience.

The backend product you offer doesn’t even have to be your own.  Affiliate marketers are rolling in proceeds on ebooks that cover material associated with their products.  It’s an easy and painless process to market this way… the affiliate handles all the sales, while you collect the commission.

3.  Reward Referrals
Customer surveys that ask 3 basic questions:  What did you like best about the product?, How can we improve the value of the product?, and Who do you know that would benefit from the product?

In a nutshell, you are letting the customer know that his needs and opinions are important to you, and that you want to help someone else fulfill their needs too.  You’ll gain valuable insight into customer satsifaction, provide material for valuable testimonials, and get tips on potential customers.

Upselling, backend selling and referral selling work together to increase the number of sales you net, without increasing advertizing budgets.  Try it… you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to increase your marketing effectiveness within your current customer audience.

Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 3

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Today, automated sales tools, which help to increase success and improve the sales process. Tools for small business a person may be different from the forces of the emergence of a hundred people. Before taking control of sales and customer service, you must understand exactly what is covered.

Having started several businesses, I found one or two person company, simple tool, the better. For a company, I started with Outlook contact information and business. As we became more sophisticated and had to share knowledge, we used a free online CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool. This allowed more people to follow the customer information and tracking input from our telemarketing team rented. I know that other start-ups have been using Wiki, or shared spreadsheet. The more customers you have and the more your business the most advanced tools to improve the effectiveness of your sales effort.

automated tools are wonderful as successful marketing and / or promotions. Maybe you start with a newsletter (using tools such as rapid and constant contact page). This is followed by a special offer on your blog. Then you can send an updated offer announced on Twitter. Monitoring the success of this campaign may be linked to your automated sales tool and to help you to renew the program for better focus and achieve spectacular results. To start using a CRM tool, start with the simplest tools and easy at first. Next, find what you like and dislike.

Extract the sales process, you reveal what the minimum requirements, and you can remove some of the tools are too simplistic for your needs. It is each department and / or the person who touches the customer to contribute, as he uses the instrument. Use a small portion of their sales staff if you can segment them, one solution is to test the short period of time. Then you can add a couple of other units being tested. Finally found a tool everybody can use and accept. The usefulness of the tools are only as good as the information is stored, and everyone must participate.

With the right tools, you can listen very carefully to what the client says and touch them when necessary. Can provide the right information when they want and create a desire for your product. Automated tools can help track sales and keep your company name at the top of the minds of customers. The result is more sales, and sales efforts more effective.

Article Source: Shane2010 Blog

Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 2

Previous article: Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 1

The focus of your selling cycle is to match the buying cycle of your customer. The first step the customer goes through is identifying that they have a need to solve a problem. Your sales force must identify the customer’s problems before they can start their selling. Listening is an important attribute at this stage. By listening to what the customer says, types in an email, posts on a blog or a tweet, or places in printed material, you can learn plenty about your customers.

Once the customer has found that they have a problem, they gather information. During this stage of the buying cycle, specific information must be fed to the prospect. Too much irrelevant information forces the prospect to look elsewhere for a solution. The whole company can be involved in providing the right information such as product benefits and features, demonstrations, trials, customer support, referrals, etc. During this gathering stage, the desire for a solution builds within your prospects, as they want a solution. Experienced sales people will build upon that desire and direct it towards their solutions. Tracking the interaction with an automated tool will increase the efficiency of your sales process.

Knowing the buying cycle is paramount for success and you need to map this cycle to your unique customer. Some significant points to know about your ideal customers are:

• Industry
• Geographic coverage
• Size (revenue & employees)
• Company history
• Lifestyle
• Psychographic (Values)
• How do they buy?
• What problems do you solve for them?
• Who are their ideal customers?
• What are their key products?
• Who else sells to them?
• Why would they buy you over your competitors?

The more you know about your customers, the more you can please them during the buying cycle and after they have purchased your product. Knowing the correct information, you can follow up with them with the right information at the right time. Your touches to your customers will determine the relationship with them.

As you touch your customers, you need to understand who else touches them (departments and other employees in your company). In addition, it is important to know how and where the touches take place, and how these touches correspond to the buying cycle (need, information gathering and desire). Tracking this process is helpful for success, and today’s automated tools can do just that.

You know your customer, you know their buying cycle, and you know what your company strategy is. The interaction between you and your customers is a series of touching and listening. Listening to your customers and prospects is getting more complex every day, as you must track what they are saying verbally as well as electronically (websites, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Do you have a process in place to listen to your customers? The more listening you do, the better you can touch the prospect and provide what they need and want. The goal is to create a great flow of the appropriate information to capture a larger share of your customers’ wallets.

You need a proper tool to help you track your interaction with customer. History of message flow between you and your customers should be logged which will help you achieve your goal. A simple sales tracking tool like Sales Tracking Portal will help you greatly. Check out and register for free at its official website.

Article Source: Shane2010 Blog

Sales Success Requires a Tracking Process Part 1

The most challenging task in business is selling. Everyone in your company should be selling, as they are an ambassador for the company, no matter where they are. This is very evident in today’s social media world, where employees need to heed what they post on a public web site.

When we talk with CEO of a company, we tell them that they must be selling all the time, or they are just overhead. The head of a company must constantly sell to customers, partners, suppliers, bankers, investors and employees.

Today’s companies need a tool to track their successes, failures and interactions within organization. Creating a process with a sales tool will increase your success, plus improve the efficiency of your sales force. This article describes a series of steps to take as you evaluate different sales tools.

Selling is perceived to be difficult. Selling is just a process that you establish, follow and track. Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth, has shown that everyday people create wildly successful companies with processes. One of the most important processes in sales is the follow up. Follow up should occur any time you and your customer interact. An interaction happens when you are either listening to them, or reaching out to touch them. Success comes from making sure that the right information flows to your customer at the right time.

Your customers go through a buying cycle. This buying process may vary, but the primary steps are need, information gathering and desire. Throughout the whole buying decision process, emotions direct the customer. People buy with their heart and then justify the decision using the gray matter between their ears. Therefore, all information that flows to your prospects and customers must guide their emotions at that particular point in time. Follow up is critical at each step. Good Sales tracing system will be valuable for your sales force in helping you achieve this critical process.

As you provide information to potential buyers, you must focus on them. You need to please their requirements and wants. The sales cycle will focus on your customer and their buying cycle. You must identify their process, and find the steps your customer goes through. Then get the right information and right people involved to please your customer. It is not easy to keep track and get the right correspondent to your customers at all time. Different customers possess different buying process. You need to have an efficient tracking system to aid your sales operation to keep up performance.

Most of us provide more than one product to a customer, as we can usually sell ancillary products and on-going services. Every customer should be looked upon as a future referral. The result is that we must focus on all customers for the long haul.

From the owner’s or boss’ point of view, critical indicators to track include sales increases, number of customers, sales efficiency, and sales per customer (or better yet, profit per customer). Sales managers want metrics to measure their sales force efficiency – calls per day, close ratio, new calls, etc. Your customer only has so much money to spend, and you want as large a share of his wallet as possible. An effective sales reporting system should be put into place to track these vital indicators, plus others that you deem important.

Increased efficiencies for sales people usually mean more sales per day or week. The more that you can automate the tasks of the sales force, the more time they spent pleasing the customer, and more time in front of them. All sales tools must be easy to update from any wireless devices. Sales people want efficiency in their lives and they will spend as little time as possible entering data.

Part of the tracking process is capturing information about the customer. Customer information includes customer dynamics, demographics, history of interactions between your companies, customer needs, buying habits and how often the customer is touched. Touching a customer or prospect includes face-to-face discussions, phone calls, emails, ordinary mail, your website, blog postings, tweets, and other information your customer can find out about you. Do you know what your customer is posting on their blogs, websites or in tweets?

In conclusion of this part 1, you need to know buying cycle of your prospects and organize your tasks properly to response with right action in the right time. You need to know how to gather customer information properly in order to help they solve problem. A good sales tracking system will be like your magic wand in helping you do these jobs. I will discuss more about how to take into next step in order to seal the deal in Part 2 of this article.

Article Source: Shane2010 Blog