Call Reports & Sales People…the Reality!

Today we have a guest post from Russ Hill, Founder and CEO of Ultimate Lead Systems.

OK, let’s get real about sales people for a minute. Sales people want to make sales calls. They want to make calls on qualified leads and on profitable customers who can generate sales and compensation. They are like gunslingers interested in the “quick kill.” You hire them to sell and that’s where you want them to spend their time.

But they are also given business plans and projections to write and update. They also have prospecting and travel to schedule.  And they are frequently required to spend time on software training…you know the CRM program, Excel, quote building software, the ERP system and the other third-party programs and resources that are pushed out to them, so they can be “more productive.”

The days of sales people making sales calls and writing up “simple” call reports (primarily for their own benefit) are long gone. Besides making calls, today’s sales people need to master and manage a variety of tasks and complex software. The need for the fundamental call report stills exists and management would be wise to keep that in mind. That means that one of the most important things management can do to help their sales people be more productive is to reduce the sales person’s administrative and non-sales related tasks.

Meaningful Call Reports

Sales people need simple programs to keep track of their clients and calls. That is where CRM programs are supposed to help. But not all CRM programs are easy to use. With over 25 years of sales and CRM consulting experience with hundred of companies large and small, a few of things regarding sales people and call reports have proven to be true:

1. Sales people hate paperwork and equivalent computer work (Non sales related work)
2. They need and want simple call reports for tracking their sales calls that include:
   a. Who they called on
   b. When they called
   c. What they discussed
   d. Next steps.

Simple!  Anything else management might obtain is a bonus.

Sure, it is helpful if a sales person can see other communications a customer has been having with other in the company, and the status of orders. But a sales person is primarily concerned with knowing exactly where he stands with a given prospect or customer, what he or she last said or did, and what needs to be done next. And the faster and simpler means a sales person has to capture and track this information the happier he or she will be.

Today’s CRM programs are more complicated than ever before. Of course, they don’t need to be and there are ways to zero in on the truly important functions that can help make a sales persons’ job simpler and more productive. Managing contacts and account information is important. But the B2B sales person’s day typically revolves around call planning based on previous call reports, new sales calls and more call reports. How easy is it for your sales team to capture and track the information most important to them? Can it be improved? Simplified? Perhaps it is time to ask them, “How is our program for managing calls working? Not for us… but for you?”

Russ Hill is the founder and President of Ultimate Lead Systems, Inc., a company specializing in sales lead management, CRM and support services. See the post as it originally appeared.

How Many Calls Does it Take to Make a Sale?

By John Sonnhalter, Rainmaker Journeyman, Sonnhalter

We’re all focused on generating more leads these days, but I find it ironic that most companies don’t do much with them once they get them. Simply fulfilling a request is not the answer, but yet many companies do just that.

According to a recent survey of people who have requested info suggests that 80% of all sales are made on or after the third contact. The survey conducted by Marketing Best Practices, Inc. polled over 700 respondents with only 8% buying after the first call.

David Frey, the senior content editor and author of several marketing books advises, “An educated prospect is your best prospect, and if they haven’t become a customer it’s because you haven’t fully educated them on the value of your product and developed a relationship of trust.”

Why do many businesses have a problem following up with their prospective customers? Mr. Frey explained, “The problem is not that small businesses don’t have the capacity to follow up with prospects, it’s that they don’t have the systems in place to do it well.” In his recent newsletter, “Follow-Up Marketing: How To Win More Sales With Less Effort,” Mr. Frey advised, “A good follow-up marketing system should have three attributes:”
1. It should be systematic.
2. It should generate consistent, predictable results.
3. It should require minimal physical interaction to make it run.

This leads to a more pressing issue and that is, what is the difference between sales lead management and a CRM tool? According to Russ Hill, President of Ultimate Lead Systems:

Sales lead management is a sub-function within an overall CRM strategy. Traditional CRM programs like Salesforce.com, SalesLogix, ACT, Goldmine, Maximizer and others focus on the sales person entering and managing his own data and pushing it “up” to management.

Sales lead management starts with management generating and capturing leads from all sources, fulfilling information requests and delivering them to the sales channel and tracking follow-up and sales results to measure marketing return-on-investment.

Here are some other interesting facts:

INQUIRIES MEAN NEW BUSINESS!
67% of all inquiries are from legitimate prospects with real needs.
34% have current needs that must be satisfied within 6 months!
70% did not know the company made the product before seeing their ad. . . making them NEW PROSPECTS!

A six-year study* of nearly 60,000 inquiries conducted by Penton Media Company also found that:
43% of inquirers receive literature and information too late to be of use.
72% of inquirers are NEVER CONTACTED by a salesman.
25% of sales contacts are made at the inquirer’s request.
40% of inquirers purchase the advertised product, a competitive product or change their suppliers.
* NED Reader Action Reports

The key is to get a lead management system in place that can help your CRM convert those leads into sales.

If you like this post, you may want to read:

B-to-B Marketers: Why it Takes More than 3 Calls to Make a Sale

B-to-B Marketers: What are Your Most Effective Sales Channels?

10 Engagement Tactics That Will Help B-to-B Marketers 

Five Ways for Manufacturers to Improve E-mail Marketing to Tradesmen

In their marketing to tradesmen, manufacturers are always looking for cost-effective ways to reach out to both existing and potential new customers. E-mail marketing is one tool that can do both.

Manufacturers who sell through a distribution channel have the most difficult challenge in that they sell their product to a middle man, who in turns sells it to the ultimate end user. Distributors for the most part are very protective of their customer list, so the challenge for the manufacturers is to get their names.

One way is to use product warranty or registration forms to develop a database. This also helps you segment your list for addressing specific issues, either on the product or industry application.

Other ways of generating e-mail addresses is to sponsor e-newsletters from trade publications, inquiries from your web site and trade advertising, as well as trade show and distributor open houses and counter day promotions. A note: when having someone fill out a form, make sure somewhere on it you have them OK (opt-in) so you can send them stuff via e-mail.

Research from Datran Media shows e-mail is still important:

• Driving incremental sales
• Reinforcing a company’s brand position
• Improving customer relations

I read an article from GlobalSpec that outlines ways you can improve your e-mail marketing. Here are some highlights from the article:

1. Manage your list. You need to segment and grow your opt-in list. We talked a little about ways above on how you can do both. The key here is to make sure we have permission to e-mail to them. The last thing you want is to be black-listed because of spam.
2. Be relevant. Don’t say something for the sake of saying it. We talked above about segmenting your list. One of the reasons is so you can talk specifics about a product or process that is relevant to the reader.
3. Deliver on your promises. If you say you’re going to put out a monthly newsletter, you’d better deliver. There are no right or wrong answers on frequency other than being consistent. Unless your products or services change often, I’d suggest starting  them quarterly.
4. Use e-mail to generate leads and sales. Even if you don’t have new products coming out, you can use white papers or case studies to generate interest.
5. Look beyond your own list. Partner with respected third parties in your industry to expand your reach.

Read the entire article: Five Practical Ways to Improve E-mail Marketing