3 ways to optimize sales interactions to give leads the best service

This is a guest post written by Natalia Tobajas, Content Manager at Plecto.

There are certain things that can be overheard in every sales department. And one of them is that the more leads, the better.

However, is this always true? No doubt that a sales department should be oriented towards converting leads into actual customers. Yet, how many times have we heard that motto that goes: “it’s not the quantity, but the quality”.

It’s time to scale up your sales interactions to deliver the best service to your leads, regardless of the amount! And for that, we’ve gathered the three tips that will make a difference in your sales contacts from day one.

1. From human to human

It might sound weird, but it can be easy to forget who you are talking to when you’re doing countless calls every day. So it’s important to keep in mind that there’s a human, just like you, on the other side of the phone.

This means that, for instance, the priority of a call is not closing the deal straight away, but to humanize the contact as much as possible.

It’s always a good initiative to start the conversation breaking the ice with questions like “how’s your day going?” or “what does the weather look like over there?” This gives you a feeling of the tone to use with each client, which is also part of humanizing a selling conversation.

2. Be aware of the gatekeepers

Especially in the first call, it’s usually a gatekeeper who answers the phone. This is a middleman between the sales calls and the decision-makers, to make sure that the higher levels don’t spend their time answering every sales proposition the organization gets.

But knowing this can take you one step ahead before even making the call. Because you already know that you are most likely not going to close a sale, it’s time to make use of all your salesperson’s skills to earn the gatekeeper’s sympathy.

Working on building a relationship with the gatekeeper can take you further than you might expect, so don’t try to skip this part. If this person ends up liking your product, you already have an ally inside the organization.

Use this relationship to learn valuable information like the company’s processes and needs, the decision-makers’ positions and names, and even other options that the business might be considering apart from yours. This information can just help you close a sale faster once you get in touch with the right person in the organization.

3. Scale up your CRM system

Every sales and support department counts on a CRM system. But are you getting the most out of it? When used to its full potential, a CRM system can really help you make a difference in your sales contacts and build relationships with clients.

The first step is to get your team to fully explore your CRM software, and learn the tips and tricks to use it successfully. We can’t expect all of them to turn into experts, but with practice, you can at least guarantee a certain level of expertise when gathering the clients’ relevant information for your business.

Moreover, you can also promote more data-driven conversations by showing your CRM data more easily. For instance, Zoho CRM integrates with Plecto, a data visualization dashboard that allows you to import and automatically display your Zoho CRM data in real-time. This way, you can share the progress with your whole team and scale up your CRM system.

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