Como construir um Funil de Vendas SaaS

funil de venda de saas

1. O que é um Funil de Vendas?

Um funil de venda é uma sequência de acções, eventos ou fases que um utilizador atravessa antes de comprar um produto ou serviço. Os funis de venda são concebidos para permitir aos marqueteiros acompanhar, registar e optimizar o processo de venda para melhorar os resultados.

Pode saber mais sobre a nossa formação em vendas SaaS aqui.

2. Como construir um Funil de Vendas SaaS

O seu funil de vendas SaaS é uma parte essencial do sucesso das suas aplicações. Se estiver a oferecer aplicações SaaS então a criação de um funil de venda repetível, escalável e rastreável é um dos passos importantes que precisa de dar.

Parece fácil? Então pense de novo. O funil de vendas é onde muitas start-ups transitam para a luta pela geração de receitas, e em muitos casos falham.

Antes de começar a construir o seu funil, vale a pena considerar primeiro onde se encontra na sua viagem de aplicação.

3. As três fases principais do desenvolvimento do SaaS

Infelizmente, nas vendas nunca há uma solução de tamanho único, e o ponto de partida para a construção de um funil de vendas SaaS depende de onde se está, em termos das três fases principais de um negócio SaaS?

Está em:
Fase 1: o início da viagem em que o Fundador e a equipa principal ainda estão a tentar estabelecer a adequação do produto/mercado.

Fase 2: onde o fundador e os membros da equipa principal provaram a sua adequação ao produto/mercado e estão a provar que podem implementar sistemas e processos que outros podem utilizar para vender.

Fase 3, o último obstáculo onde tem um mercado de produtos comprovadamente adequado, identificou e comprovou os sistemas e processos certos para escalar e está agora pronto para escalar as suas vendas, concentrar-se na aquisição de clientes e construir o seu MRR.

As estratégias que utiliza para construir um funil de vendas SaaS variarão dependendo exactamente do que aprendeu no Passo 1 acima.

Por isso, para efeitos deste exercício, assumirei que se encontra na etapa 1. Se ainda estiver a lutar para construir um funil de vendas nos passos 2 e 3, então ou lhe escapou algo no passo 1 ou algo mudou que fez com que tudo o que aprendeu no passo 1 parasse de funcionar.

4. Construa um funil de marketing antes do seu funil de vendas

Com qualquer negócio é importante que forneça as condições ideais para que a sua equipa de vendas seja bem sucedida. No mundo SaaS não basta ter um grande sítio web, é preciso um sítio web que:

a) pode ser encontrado pelos seus produtos e serviços nos principais motores de busca – Google, Bing, Yahoo & YouTube
b) pode ser encontrado pelos problemas que resolve nos principais motores de busca – Google, Bing, Yahoo & YouTube
c) pode converter o tráfego web em leads qualificados de marketing

Muitas empresas ignoram isto e apressam-se a construir uma equipa de vendas de saída. O facto é que todas as potenciais perspectivas que a sua equipa de saída fique interessada irão então para o seu website para fazer mais pesquisas.

A menos que a experiência com a web seja igual ou superior à experiência com a sua equipa de saída, esta irá desligar-se imediatamente.

Para construir um funil de marketing é necessário criar “conteúdo convincente primeiro do utilizador”. Este é um conteúdo que o utilizador procura activamente e não o conteúdo que a sua equipa de vendas e marketing quer impulsionar.

O seu funil de marketing SaaS é uma parte essencial da sua estratégia de vendas Inbound. Para o fazer com sucesso, terá de criar conteúdos de alta qualidade em cada fase da viagem do comprador, como se mostra abaixo.

O conteúdo deve contar subtilmente a história da sua marca e o sucesso que trouxe a outros utilizadores. Transforme os seus primeiros adoptantes em Heróis, não em si.

TOFU – Cimo do funil
A primeira parte do seu funil de venda, também conhecido como TOFU, é a fase de sensibilização do funil. A perspectiva está consciente dos problemas que tem e está a investigar soluções.

O seu sítio web deve ter conteúdos que falem destes problemas e posicionar a sua empresa como os Peritos em Assuntos Temáticos. O conteúdo mais popular aqui seria:

Como orientar
Vídeos explicativos
Publicações no blogue
Ímanes de chumbo

Nesta fase, a perspectiva está em modo de pesquisa, não em modo de compra e está simplesmente a recolher informação.

A sua perspectiva pode nem sequer estar interessada em soluções nesta fase, uma vez que ainda estão a tentar auto-diagnosticar com precisão os seus próprios problemas. É pouco provável que o seu potencial cliente queira falar com as vendas nesta fase.

Recomendamos que utilize a automatização do marketing para localizar quais os artigos/páginas em que os seus potenciais clientes entram no site, pois este é o problema que está no topo da sua mente. Saber isto pode facilitar as vendas a ter uma conversa relevante com eles.

Poderá também ter algum sucesso envolvendo a perspectiva com chatbots no seu site, por muito que muitos queiram permanecer anónimos nesta fase.

Meio do Funil
O meio do seu funil de vendas é quando os potenciais clientes começam a avaliar soluções específicas com base no que aprenderam na fase 1. O meio do conteúdo do funil incluiria:

Apresentações
Manifestações
Estudos de casos

Em termos práticos, terão criado alguma forma de lista restrita de potenciais fornecedores, e depois irão aprofundar os detalhes de cada solução potencial.

Nesta fase, a perspectiva pode ainda não se envolver consigo, uma vez que muitas vezes estão simplesmente a pesquisar em nome de outras pessoas dentro da sua própria organização e a sua prioridade continua a ser a recolha de informação.

Fundo do Funil
Quando o seu potencial cliente já chegou ao fundo do seu funil de marketing, em muitos casos já “compraram” um determinado fornecedor ou solução.

Tomaram a sua decisão em grande parte sobre a sua experiência da marca na Internet, as suas mensagens de vendas e a sua capacidade de se posicionar não só como um líder de pensamento mas também como um líder de pensamento que compreende os seus problemas.

O conteúdo do fundo do Funil incluiria coisas como

Fixação de preços
Tabelas de comparação
Testemunhos
Comentários

Para soluções mais simples e de preço mais baixo, descobrirá que estão agora prontas a experimentar se oferecer um forte Call to Action (CTA), enquanto que para as soluções mais caras e complexas, elas irão agora envolver-se em vendas.

A imagem abaixo mostra onde um simples funil de marketing transita para um carrinho de compras e as mais complexas transições de venda B2B para um chumbo de vendas.

O sucesso não reside na escolha do modelo certo, mas na construção do seu próprio modelo com base em dados e tentativa e erro.

Funil Simple SaaS Marketing
Funil de vendas SaaS

A maior parte do software de marketing rastreia agora o comportamento do utilizador no seu website e pode utilizar a pontuação de chumbo para alertar os vendedores quando for a melhor altura para chegar proactivamente aos potenciais clientes.

A partir da nossa própria experiência, o timing é quase sempre precoce e um programa de nutrição de chumbo bem definido é igualmente eficaz.

Para o fazer, deve incluir no seu marketing pelo menos três ímanes de chumbo diferentes que o ajudarão a transformar os seus visitantes da web num assinante para que possa manter-se em contacto.

5. Publicidade para encher o seu Funil de Vendas

Muitas empresas enchem com sucesso o seu funil de vendas através de publicidade. A publicidade digital amadureceu a um nível que permite um rastreio e um relatório significativos, permitindo-lhe compreender, em poucas semanas, qual será a sua Taxa de Conversão e CAC.

Em primeira instância, defendemos “Campanhas de redireccionamento”. Este é simplesmente o processo de colocar adições em frente de pessoas que já visitaram o seu website.

Estudos mostram que a reorientação é sete vezes mais eficaz do que novas campanhas e é por isso que defendemos isto como ponto de partida.

Esta estratégia funciona extremamente bem com uma forte campanha de marketing de conteúdo. O canal de adição mais popular para B2B seria o LinkedIn, no entanto, muitas empresas também se têm saído bem com o Facebook e Instagram.

Escusado será dizer que isto seria definido pelo seu público. A publicidade pode ser utilizada em funis simples para conduzir as vendas e em funis mais complexos para conduzir novas consultas para os representantes de vendas.

As vendas mais complexas podem necessitar de uma sequência definida em que os utilizadores clicam e anunciam para receber um íman de chumbo com cada chumbo a custar $3.

Se posteriormente conseguir converter 5% destas novas pistas poderá então atribuir 60 dólares por venda de publicidade ao seu CAC.

Pode construir uma sequência ou modelo rastreável a partir de qualquer actividade e não apenas de publicidade. Por exemplo, eventos, webinars e televendas permitindo-lhe compreender quais são as actividades mais rentáveis não só para encher o seu funil, mas também para se converter em encomendas.

6. Como construir um Funil de Vendas SaaS

O seu funil de vendas irá variar dependendo da sua estratégia de vendas. Está a vender a sua aplicação directamente ou está a vender através de parceiros? Em que canais decidiu concentrar-se inicialmente?

1. Identificar o seu Perfil de Prospecto Perfeito. Esta é a versão de representantes de vendas de uma pessoa de marketing. Inclui tudo o que uma pessoa de marketing incluiria, mais alguma informação adicional que ajuda as vendas a compreender e a comunicar a um nível mais profundo com o potencial cliente.

Modelo de Perfil de Prospecto de Vendas
Modelo de Perfil de Prospecto de Vendas

2. Construa as suas mensagens de vendas. Parte da adequação do produto/mercado é compreender que problema comercial e ou pessoal o seu produto resolve.

Na nossa experiência, os serviços SaaS de maior sucesso são soluções empresariais que resolvem problemas empresariais.

Quando compreender como isto se relaciona com o seu próprio produto/serviço a um nível profundo, poderá começar a construir as suas mensagens de vendas.

Estas são as palavras e a linguagem matizada com que provou que as perspectivas se relacionam. Não basta conhecer os seus próprios negócios e soluções, deve conhecer os seus clientes.

Deve saber exactamente como a sua solução ajuda o seu cliente a poupar dinheiro, a ganhar dinheiro e a facilitar-lhes a vida.

3. Lead Generation Campaign (Campanha de Geração de Líderes).

Uma vez identificados os seus potenciais alvos e construídas as suas mensagens de vendas, terá de começar a trabalhar numa campanha de Geração de Líderes.

Existem duas abordagens principais à Geração de Chumbo, como se segue:

a) Geração de chumbo de entrada. As campanhas de geração de leads entrantes são onde o potencial cliente em perspectiva o contacta primeiro. Pode preencher um formulário na sua página web, telefonar-lhe ou enviar-lhe um e-mail. A fim de gerar leads de vendas de entrada, terá de fazer alguma forma de criação de conteúdos, campanhas publicitárias, webinars, programas de referência ou SEO.

b) Geração de chumbo de saída. As campanhas de geração de leads de saída são onde se chega aos potenciais clientes através do telefone, correio electrónico, correio directo, eventos ou marketing baseado em contas. Campanhas de saída significa invariavelmente que terá de construir uma equipa de saída que pode ser cara.

A maioria das empresas SaaS utiliza uma combinação de entradas e saídas, no entanto, quase sempre têm ênfase em mais uma do que na outra.

Como um guia muito aproximado, os serviços SaaS que são de menor custo e dirigidos às PMEs são liderados pelo marketing e têm um enfoque predominantemente Inbound.

Os serviços SaaS que são mais dispendiosos e visam organizações de Mid Market to Enterprise terão uma abordagem mais orientada para as vendas através do Marketing Baseado em Contas.

7. Quais são as etapas de um Funil de Vendas SaaS?

funil de venda de saas
Como construir um Funil de Vendas SaaS

As fases do seu funil de vendas são simplesmente uma série de passos pelos quais os seus potenciais clientes se movem para fazer uma encomenda.

Estas fases podem variar muito e não há nenhum funil que se possa aplicar a cada aplicação. Mesmo que as etapas sejam as mesmas, o método pelo qual se movem as perspectivas através do funil pode variar.

O seu funil de vendas é um óptimo local para começar a recolher dados, a fim de medir o desempenho e fazer melhorias ao longo do tempo.

Em geral, os potenciais clientes devem passar pelo funil de vendas o mais rapidamente possível – a isto chama-se o ciclo de vendas ou a velocidade do tubo.

Medir a velocidade que as perspectivas se movem através do ciclo permite-lhe identificar bloqueios no seu funil e áreas onde as perspectivas abrandam.

Estes pontos de “colagem” são onde se deve procurar fazer melhorias.

8. Quando é que faço a demonstração do meu produto SaaS aos clientes?

O timing das demonstrações de aplicação SaaS no âmbito do processo de vendas tem sido objecto de discussão para muitas empresas.

Infelizmente, a resposta à pergunta é “depende”. No entanto, muitas empresas fazem uma demonstração bem sucedida da sua aplicação no início do processo de vendas, mas há igualmente muitas que fazem uma demonstração no início e depois as suas perspectivas desaparecem no buraco negro do correio de voz e dos e-mails não respondidos.

Em suma, quanto mais barata e simples for a solução, mais cedo no processo se pode fazer uma demonstração e quanto mais cara e complexa for a solução, a demonstração deve ser empurrada o mais atrás possível no processo de venda.

saas app demos
Como construir um Funil de Vendas SaaS


A realidade é que há uma tendência para os Empresários e vendedores se apressarem a demonstrar a sua aplicação, esperando que a demonstração convença o potencial cliente a inscrever-se.

Mesmo que o potencial cliente em perspectiva seja qualificado e tenha um bom ajuste, uma demonstração sem qualquer forma de diagnóstico da dor do potencial cliente em perspectiva corre o risco de perder o potencial cliente em perspectiva.

A sua perspectiva precisa de saber que você sabe e que compreende o mundo deles. Isto só pode ser conseguido através de interrogatórios inteligentes e direccionados. Se quiserem acelerar a venda, abrandem a venda.

A demonstração é normalmente o maior ponto de alavancagem dos vendedores e, se a entregarmos em breve, perderemos a vantagem e, com toda a probabilidade, o potencial cliente.

Como regra geral – empurre a demonstração da aplicação o mais longe possível no seu processo de vendas.

As demonstrações custam tempo e dinheiro, especialmente para vendas complexas onde, na maioria das vezes, é necessária uma demonstração por medida.

Qualquer demonstração por medida deve ser entregue apenas aos decisores seniores da equipa de potenciais compradores. Se for apropriado, pode mesmo ter duas demonstrações dentro do processo de venda – não há regras a não ser se funcionar, faça-o.

A maioria dos representantes de vendas comete o erro de utilizar esta parte do processo de venda para explicar os benefícios do produto com mais detalhe.

Quando se está a dizer que não se está a vender. Use perguntas inteligentes de sondagem para que o potencial cliente lhe diga como a solução resolverá a sua dor comercial.

Deve-se evitar falar de características que se considere relevantes para eles. Se não descobriu isto na fase de descoberta do processo de vendas, é inerentemente arriscado introduzir algo de novo mais abaixo no processo.

Para soluções mais simples e de preço mais baixo, descobrirá que estão agora prontos para fazer um teste, enquanto que para as soluções mais caras e complexas, irão agora envolver-se com um representante de vendas.

A fim de demonstrarem que empreenderam a devida diligência, falarão sempre com dois ou três potenciais fornecedores.

Isto não é necessariamente para bater um fornecedor no preço, mas por vezes precisam de validar ao grupo de compras mais vasto dentro da sua organização porque é que têm uma preferência.

Os ensaios de aplicação são também uma boa forma de conseguir que os utilizadores se inscrevam, no entanto, a taxa de conversão dos ensaios para fechar é geralmente fraca na maioria dos casos SaaS.

Dependendo do preço, poderá oferecer um teste gerido, para que eles possam avaliar o seu software enquanto você os gere mais abaixo no processo de vendas.

Durante um ensaio, o potencial cliente pode ver como o produto irá funcionar para eles na prática. É importante cronometrar sabiamente o julgamento e assegurar-se de que concordou antecipadamente com o que acontece se o julgamento for bem sucedido.

Criámos o gráfico acima para tentar explicar visualmente como isto poderia funcionar para a sua organização.

Vale a pena notar no exemplo, a maioria do seu CAC será marketing, enquanto que no funil mais complexo, os seus custos incluirão marketing, vendas + embarque de clientes.

9. Exemplos do Funil de Vendas SaaS

Os funis de venda abaixo são exemplos. NÃO os deve replicar a menos que se enquadrem no seu processo de vendas.

São concebidos para serem um ponto de partida para quem procura desenvolver um funil de vendas.

Como se pode ver no gráfico, existem muitas alternativas às fases que compõem o seu funil de venda, dependendo do tipo de funil que está a criar.

Para funis puramente digitais, poderia ter:

Lead Magnet Landing page – onde os prospectos chegam depois de clicar no seu anúncio
Página de confirmação – confirmando a sua oferta gratuita, teste ou compra
Página Upsell – onde os potenciais clientes têm a oportunidade de acrescentar serviços adicionais ou actualizar
Página de checkout – onde os potenciais clientes pagam pelo serviço
Página de parabéns ou de agradecimento – onde pode assinar os prospectos de correio com os próximos passos apropriados.

Funil de venda com tubagem
Como construir um Funil de Vendas SaaS

10. Métricas de funil de venda SaaS

Quando se trata de métricas, acreditamos que estas são as métricas comuns das operações de vendas e KPIs com as quais a maioria das pessoas está familiarizada. Escusado será dizer que estas métricas são importantes e que deve registar e relatar sobre elas.

LTT – Conduzir à conversão experimental
Este é o número de pistas que se converteram a um julgamento.

DCR – Taxa de conversão de demonstração
O número de demonstrações que se convertem com sucesso para a fase seguinte do processo de vendas.

TTS – Conversão de ensaio para venda
Este é o número de clientes potenciais no teste gratuito que se converteram em clientes pagantes.

LTV – Valor Vitalício de Vida do cliente
Este é o valor total médio que um cliente irá gastar antes de deixar o serviço. Ironicamente, isto pode ser mais difícil de medir quanto melhor for o seu produto porque, sem que os clientes o deixem, não saberão quanto tempo ficarão e o seu valor total para o negócio.

Churn – Número de clientes que saem
Os clientes irão embora e isso nem sempre é uma coisa má. Se os clientes que saem se adequam ao seu PIC (Perfil de Cliente Ideal) então tem um problema. Os clientes que saem que não se encaixam no seu PIC podem estar a libertar recursos valiosos que podem ser gastos no seu PIC.

MRR – Receitas mensais recorrentes
As receitas mensais recorrentes dão-lhe uma visão geral do seu sucesso, no entanto, é apenas uma visão geral e precisa de olhar para os detalhes dentro dos dados para obter uma imagem mais precisa.

ARR – Receitas anuais recorrentes
As receitas anuais recorrentes dão uma boa visão geral do negócio, mas tal como o MRR deve estudar todos os dados para obter uma imagem mais precisa da saúde do seu empreendimento.

Ciclo de vendas – O tempo desde o contacto inicial até uma encomenda fechada
Isto é tipicamente curto para soluções mais simples de menor valor e mais longas para vendas complexas de empresas. Por exemplo, uma venda a um banco Tier 1 pode demorar 18 meses desde o contacto inicial até ao fecho.

CAC – Custo de aquisição do cliente
É importante compreender quanto custa a aquisição de um único cliente. Num mundo ideal, descobriria isto nas fases iniciais do negócio quando estiver a provar a proposta de valor. Sem este número é impossível colocar os sistemas e processos à escala do negócio, pois não se saberá quanto se pode gastar no marketing e vendas front-end.

Churn Negativo –
A rotatividade negativa é uma poderosa métrica de crescimento que indica que as receitas provenientes da venda em alta e da venda cruzada dos clientes existentes tiram as receitas perdidas quando os clientes saem.

11. Apresentação de propostas SaaS

Após a demonstração final, nunca se deve oferecer para enviar uma proposta.

As propostas custam tempo e dinheiro e, se o seu potencial cliente estiver interessado, ele irá pedir-lhe uma proposta.

Se o seu potencial cliente não lhe pedir uma proposta, então diz-lhe que não está interessado em trabalhar consigo e que precisa de voltar a subir no processo de vendas para compreender onde errou.

Quando o processo de vendas pára, raramente é devido a algo que se fez mal nesse momento – mais frequentemente, é algo que se perdeu mais cedo no processo de vendas.

Certifique-se de que está confiante de que todos os benefícios do software lhes foram claramente explicados e mapeados contra as suas necessidades declaradas.

Sempre que possível, peça sempre ao seu Cavaleiro Branco que o ajude a co-criar a proposta e sentido verificar uma versão preliminar com eles antes de enviar a cópia oficial.

Antes de enviar a sua proposta deve ter uma compreensão clara de quais são os próximos passos, se ganhar ou perder.

Sem isto é muito provável que passe os próximos três meses a perseguir fantasmas no correio de voz.

12. Fixação do preço dos seus contratos SaaS

Muitas empresas fornecem preços limitados ou nulos no seu website porque não querem que os seus concorrentes vejam os seus preços, ou pensam que isso afugentará potenciais clientes.

Deve estar orgulhoso do seu preço e do valor que traz. Deixe que a concorrência o subcotar e amarre todos os seus recursos em negócios não lucrativos.

As pessoas raramente compram a solução mais barata, por isso permita que os seus prospectos o subcotuem.

Se ainda está ansioso por ter os seus preços no seu website, então pense em como se sente quando está a pesquisar uma solução em que está interessado apenas para encontrar a página de preços está repleta de POA.

Se for como a maioria das pessoas, acha isto realmente irritante e passa rapidamente para o próximo fornecedor potencial.

Finalmente, outra vantagem de exibir orgulhosamente os seus preços é que qualifica qualquer pessoa que não esteja preparada para investir a esse nível.

Isto pode poupar-lhe muito tempo e recursos com perspectivas que simplesmente têm um nível orçamental diferente.

Existem numerosas estratégias de preços à sua disposição, no entanto, pela nossa experiência, a única coisa que é garantida, é que irá alterar os seus preços.

Como regra básica, se os seus preços forem fixados demasiado altos para um contrato a curto prazo ou um ensaio pago, a perspectiva pode não conseguir usufruir de todos os benefícios do software antes do contrato chegar ao fim, e podem decidir não renovar.

Sempre que possível, deverá recompensar os potenciais clientes durante o período experimental por acrescentarem informações e utilizarem o serviço.

Por exemplo, oferecer um ensaio mais curto e incentivar os utilizadores se completarem o seu perfil/contabilização.

Oferecer um período gratuito adicional encoraja-os a utilizar o produto, por exemplo, se carregarem dados para o sistema.

A ideia é “entrar” passo a passo nos seus novos utilizadores e tornar o seu produto tão pegajoso quanto possível.
Se o potencial cliente em potencial quiser avançar, deve utilizar contratos com assinatura digital para acelerar o processo de venda.

Nunca enviar contratos em e-mails ou links para contratos digitais, pois estes podem ser facilmente ignorados.

Providenciar para que o prospecto seja contactado ao telefone e falar através do contrato com eles. Uma vez que tenham concordado com tudo no contrato, basta pedir-lhes que assinem enquanto o cliente os tem ao telefone.

Desta forma, mantém o controlo do processo de venda.

13. Porque é que o funil de venda é tão importante para os fornecedores de SaaS

Muitas empresas falharam após terem lutado para implementar um funil de vendas. A comercialização e venda de produtos SaaS pode ser incrivelmente desafiante, e as probabilidades de os seus clientes alvo já estarem sobrecarregados com ofertas de fornecedores de software concorrentes.

Pense em que parte do orçamento existente dos compradores vai ganhar receitas. A que concorrentes directos ou indirectos retirará o orçamento?

Pode estar a competir com algumas das maiores e mais poderosas marcas do mundo que estão a fornecer soluções genéricas para os mesmos problemas que resolve.

Isto significa que precisa de oferecer algo distinto que os seus clientes realmente exigem.

Um estudo da CB Insights disse que 42% das start-ups SaaS falham porque estão a oferecer produtos de que os seus clientes alvo não precisam.

Convencer potenciais clientes o seu software oferece um valor genuíno é essencial.

Porque é que os saas começam a falhar

14. Gerir as expectativas

A criação de um funil de vendas tem tudo a ver com a construção de uma viagem desde o visitante da web, até ao assinante, passando por demonstrações e trilhos e terminando com a assinatura do contrato.

O seu funil de vendas deve enfatizar cada uma das fases-chave pelas quais os seus potenciais clientes viajarão no seu caminho para um acordo a ser feito.

Esteja aberto, com antecedência e partilhe as fases do processo com as suas perspectivas.
Deve prestar muita atenção a quaisquer pontos de fricção que possam ocorrer à medida que os seus potenciais clientes viajam através do seu pipeline de vendas.

Isto dar-lhe-á a oportunidade de fazer melhorias no seu funil, avançando.
O mais importante é que registe todos os pontos de dados no seu funil de vendas.

Isto irá ajudá-lo a tomar decisões sobre factos e não sobre os seus sentimentos instintivos. Pode levar tempo para que o seu funil de vendas se torne totalmente eficaz, e pode precisar de fazer vários aperfeiçoamentos antes de ter um funil de vendas verdadeiramente optimizado.

Muitos clientes não têm uma compreensão rica do que precisam quando o encontram pela primeira vez. Fornecer soluções e não apenas produtos, ajudando os potenciais clientes a fazer a ligação entre os dois.

O que também é verdade é que os utilizadores compram frequentemente o que querem e não o que precisam.

É por isso que é tão importante fazer perguntas específicas para que possa determinar com precisão quais são as suas necessidades, para que possa posicionar o seu software da forma mais favorável.

Estas perguntas também lhe dirão quão perto ou distante estão de tomar uma decisão.

15. A Ascensão das soluções SaaS

Parece que tudo no mundo é agora alimentado online por Aplicações SaaS. Desde Netflix e Amazon Prime até LinkedIn e Microsoft M365 estamos agora rodeados de soluções SaaS de uma ou outra descrição.

Financeiramente SaaS faz sentido, uma vez que evita despesas de capital pesadas à partida e desrisca a solução.

Afinal de contas, se não funcionar, normalmente só se fica trancado dentro de um máximo de 12 meses. Outras vantagens do SaaS incluem a forma como é normalmente rápido de implantar e não requer manutenção por parte do cliente.

As actualizações são normalmente entregues automaticamente, sendo geralmente oferecidos níveis garantidos de serviço aos clientes.

Os backups e a recuperação de dados são geralmente realizados em nome do cliente, para que se possam concentrar no que fazem melhor, seguros de que tudo está a ser tratado pelos próprios programadores de software.

Bloqueio tem turbo SaaS carregado
O trabalho à distância estava em ascensão mesmo antes da pandemia, pelo que o facto de os produtos SaaS permitirem que os indivíduos trabalhem e colaborem a partir de qualquer lugar só serviu para incorporar o SaaS ainda mais profundamente na nossa vida quotidiana.

Há milhares de novos produtos SaaS a serem desenvolvidos em todos os países do mundo, pelo que a concorrência é feroz, no entanto, não há um fim aparente para o apetite dos consumidores e das empresas por soluções SaaS.

Um funil de venda coerente poderia ser a diferença entre o seu produto ser um sucesso viral e ser forçado a regressar à prancheta de desenho.

10 Reasons Why Sales Training is Important

Why sales training is important

Here's the short answer

Why Sales Training is Important. Sales Training is important because sales provides revenue which is the lifeblood of business. A well trained sales team will outsell your competitors and build relationships for future business. We would never hire a Lawyer, Accountant or Trades person if they hadn’t been trained and sales is equally important.

Why Sales Training is Important

Salesmanship training can benefit your business in a myriad of ways. Chances are you have a great deal of competition to gain an edge over, and sales training can help with this.

In many cases products and services can appear similar to customers and often when this happens companies try to compete on price.

Rather than try to compete on price in Business to Business sales people still buy from people so it makes more sense to have a well trained sales force than simply keep discounting your selling price.

Regardless of the advances in technology and social selling B2B sales is still a people to people activity and an experienced sales team can help you develop more leads and convert more prospects into customers.

There’s a new way to deliver sales growth…

Don’t buy Sales Training until you’ve watched this video

1. Return on Investment

Businesses across sectors invest vast sums of money into sales training each year, seeing exceptional returns on their investment.

As an example, when a salesperson learns how to sell without discounting their price, they can use this skill for the rest of their career.

Most companies recover the cost of training between 1 month and 6 months after completion. The time is largely dependent on the profitability and volume which is unique to every business.

2. Changes in your Market.

The internet has and continues to create huge changes in the way people and companies buy which makes the continued upskilling of your salespeople more important than ever.

All markets are dynamic by nature and training is an important part of keeping your salespeople up to date.

Changes in technology, legislation, customer needs, all serve to make you and your business less relevant unless you change with them.

Salespeople form a vital conduit between the customer and the business feeding back these changes to the business.

As a simple example, the use of Social Media in selling has now become a critical sales skill in modern selling.

Why Sales Training is Important

3. Building Brand Loyalty

Most sales professionals will connect with your customers and clients not only on a business level but a personal level too.

They can help you strengthen your credibility and position you in the eyes of your customers as Thought Leaders in your industry.

Sales Training helps your sales team accurately diagnose the root cause of your customers’ business pains and circumstances before offering solutions that match their requirements perfectly.

The better your customer experience is, the more likely it is that those customers will return to you to purchase more products and services, time and time again.

The vast majority of sales decisions are based on how much trust customers have in a brand and salespeople are an extension of your brand.

4. Business Growth

It’s simply impossible to grow any business unless you grow the people in the business. In it’s simplest terms every business has a strategy to grow.

A large part of that strategy will involve sales and unless your salespeople are trained then they may struggle to execute your strategy.

As an example, part of your growth strategy may be to start selling to larger companies. The sales strategy, tactics and skills required for this can be very different from selling to SMEs.

Quality sales training and coaching can give your team the knowledge that they need execute you growth strategy and take your business to the next level.

Technological advancements mean companies now need to do so much more to engage with their customers than before across multiple platforms.

This means queries need to be met with swift responses and pre-sales support needs to be easily available.

5. Optimise the Customer Experience

If a customer has a bad experience with your brand, there’s a big chance they will let others know about it and in the worst case use social media to tell everyone.

Whilst customer experience (CX) was once exclusively the domain of Account Managers companies have expanded their CX to include the very start of the sales process and the very end in the hope of converting existing customers to high value brand ambassadors.

Whilst more common in B2C more and more B2B companies have developed bespoke programmes to optimise the customers experience journey.

With the lifetime value of B2B deals worth considerably more than B2C ones, it’s no surprise that sales training in this area has become more and more relevant.

One customer’s horror story can quickly go viral and impact on your industry reputation. This is why sales training is important to your sales team to help them communicate quickly and effectively whilst resolving issues as soon as they arise.

Customers are also likely to let others know if they have an incredibly positive experience when dealing with your brand.

This can generate much more interest in your website, products and services. Sales training is important for any brand that wishes to improve and deepen its relationships with its customers.

6. Knowledge is Power

Sales training can also give your team a richer understanding of your products, services and the industry they serve.

The more your sales team know about what you do and what you sell, the more effective they will be when informing others and positioning your brand.

Prospective customers are unlikely to be swayed if the sales rep they’re talking to lacks sufficient knowledge about your company, products and services.

The best sales training tells your team how to sell from within the context of your brand, makes them more knowledgeable about your history and the benefits your products offer to your customers.

In B2B, sales training isn’t just about learning how to answer your prospects questions. What’s much more important is learning the right questions to ask.

The modern sales professional is as much a detective hunting down answers than simply answering the prospects questions.

At the most basic level, have you set a budget aside for this project yet, who else is involved in the purchasing decision, what timeline do you need your solution in place by?

These are all important questions that B2B companies need answers to before even qualifying a sales opportunity.

Salesmanship Training

7. Learning from Mistakes is Expensive

Unfortunately like every other profession and skill in B2B sales mistakes can happen. These mistakes can be painful and expensive.

Sales training and coaching is there to reduce the mistakes and help salespeople learn from them.

One mistake repeated once a month over the course of a year is an expensive way to learn, when an experienced sales trainer and coach could help the sales team avoid the mistakes in advance.

Whilst failure can be costly in sales what’s worse is the often debilitating effect it has on salespeople who don’t understand why the mistakes are happening or what they can do about it.

Most training programmes will help the sales team develop guides on best practice that can be shared to make sure the same mistakes are not being repeated across the organisation.

We’ve developed our own best practice guides over the years and made them available in our Sales Playbook which you can download for free here.

8. Versatility and Flexibility

No two businesses are the same, and even when businesses may appear similar, the needs of the business and the buyers can be hugely different.

Sales training helps sales professionals adapt their approach when working with different types of industries, businesses and buyers.

Sales training improves communication skills in a way that helps your team enhance their relationships when working with people both internally and outside of your company such as those with different DiSC profiles.

Training can also help your team turn unhappy customers into satisfied ones, allowing them to overcome obstacles more effectively. Given the Lifetime value of clients in B2B this is hugely important.

9. Increase Leadership Skills

Sales training can also help you boost leadership skills within your company as it helps people become more effective communicators and teaches them to think more strategically.

In addition to increased knowledge and skills an often overlooked and reason why sales training is important is the increase in personal confidence it provides.

Confidence in B2B sales is crucial part of success given the number and variety of differing scenarios salespeople can find themselves.

From simple 121 discussions in the boardroom through to delivering presentations to large groups of people from a stage, confidence is a key ingredient of the success of every sales person.

Training helps your team to understand your colleagues needs which is an important part of teamwork.

The best sales training courses enable delegates to develop high-quality communications skills that are essential for leadership roles.

10. Building Resilience in your Sales Team

Salespeople who have undergone sales training are more likely to become more resilient in the face of adversity.

Whilst rejections can hinder performance, trained sales professionals can overcome rejection and become more effective at winning customers over.

In sales you will always receive more No’s than Yes’s and to survive, let alone thrive in sales, it’s important to have skills and coping strategies to deal with this.

The excitement and highs of winning big deals inevitably come with the downs of losing large deals.

Whilst it’s important to always reflect after a loss, all to many times salespeople become overly self-critical and take the rejection and loss personally.

This kills confidence and in the worst case forces good people who could be succesful out of the industry, as they never had the support they needed to succeed.

Sales training is an important part of building resilience which will repay many fold when the business is confronted by the inevitable recession, lockdown or other crisis that is sure to come at some stage in the future

In Summary

When you evaluate all 10 points we’ve raised you will see Sales Training is important and an integral part of the growth of any business.

It’s also worth noting the importance of sales and marketing working together and breaking down any silos.

Sales and Leadership is all about taking action and that’s why sales training is so important. In addition Sales Management training is equally important has training a sales reprsentative.

There will always be a million reasons not to invest in training, however, sales are unlikely to improve unless you take action.

If you haven’t invested in sales training recently, it may well be time to take action. Klozers have a wide range of the best sales training programs available for delivery both in person and live online.

How to Sell to BIG Companies

How to Sell to Big Companies

Discover how to Find, Kloze and Grow Large Enterprise Accounts

Next FREE session – Tuesday 2nd Feb 2021

Register Here

We’ve got all the templates & tools to make it easy for you

How to sell to big companies
How to sell to big companies

How to Sell to Big Companies. In order to sell to big companies you need to first create a shortlist of targets that meet your perfect prospect profile. Next, focus all your sales and marketing resources to research and create a unique sales approach for multiple contacts within the big company you are selling to.

What’s Inside

SESSION 1

The WHO

Introduction to Enterprise Selling

Selecting the right targets

Segmenting your accounts

Mastering the complex sale

Prep for Session 2

Get this session FREE

SESSION 2

The WHAT

The Door Opener

Right content, right contact, right time

How to write persuasive copy

The cadence of big account selling

The profitable, easy to deliver and replicate offer

SESSION 3

The HOW

What to say to Big Companies

How to control the sales conversation

The Contact Plan

Listen & Learn LIVE over the coaches shoulder

Your personal Action Plan

Course Author

How to sell your app to big companies

Iain Swanston

Founder, Klozers

After 35 years in B2B sales Iain just loves solving sales problems.
If you’ve ever attended one of his live events you’ll know, even during the breaks and after the event he always likes talking about sales. Iain is an Author, Speaker & our Lead Sales Coach.
Iain is on a mission to make sales easier for B2B companies and their salespeople.

“In the short time I’ve been working with Klozers I’ve used his guidance to develop positive new sales activities, techniques and a mindset that has significantly helped my sales confidence. As a results I’ve already seen excellent performance benefits that are directly attributable to working to the coaching.”

Alan Wood

Scotland Director

Salesforce Marketing Cloud

“This was my first ever sales training and genuinely still the most pertinent in my sales career. Iain taught us how to take leads through the sales journey from lead to opportunity to closure, I still use these skills today and encourage my colleagues to do the same. My earnings have more than doubled since Iain gave that pertinent training and his latest blogs have been shared internally between our sales and marketing teams as the advice rings true to what we are currently working on as a department”

Lynne Hall

Strategic Accounts Manager

E-On Energy

My coach was really flexible and was happy to talk in between my scheduled coaching slots, especially when I had burning questions and needed support fast. The debriefing calls we had after my sales meetings not only helped me understand where I could improve, they also gave me the right words to say, in the right sequence and at the right time.

Elliott Boll

Enterprise Learning Consultant

Docebo

Get started now and get
your first session FREE

How to sell to big companies
How to sell an app to big companies

Get all the templates
you need to sell more now

Register here


.

Get the coaching you want, when you want it, at your desktop

How to sell to a big company
Remote Sales Coaching – Sales Playbook

“The first session was full of useful and practical sales information. I took so many notes and have come away with exercises I will carry out to help further clarify our approach to sales. I would highly recommend”

Rebecca Pick

Founder

Pick Protection

“Great training session with so much information packed into an hour. Looking forward to completing sessions 2 and 3. “

Max Anderson

Director

SuperBot Experts

Very insightful content from Klozers this afternoon. Thank you Iain Swanston for the invite to attend. This shall be hugely beneficial for our business moving forward and I am looking forward to putting my learning into practice

Laurie Wilson

Regional Sales Manager

CMP Products

Learn How to Sell to Big Companies

If you are new to sales at some stage you will want to learn how to sell to big companies.   It’s common for most ambitious sales people and businesses, yet this can be a challenging or even, a near impossible experience. 

For example, finding the right people to talk with (yes there will also be more than one decision maker) can be like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, and then trying to coordinate all these decision makers can be like herding cats. 

The longer sales cycles that inevitably arise from having multiple decision makers in a complex sale, then frustrate most sales people as time drags on. 

The large revenues that Enterprise sales can deliver, more often than not, prove so elusive that the salespeople give up and focus on smaller opportunities, they know they can convert. 

However, in some circumstances it can take the same amount of sales resources to convert a small opportunity as it does when selling the same product or service to a big company, so don’t give up just yet.

Learn More, Sell More, Earn More

How to sell your app to a big company
How to sell your app to a big company

How to Sell an Idea to a Big Company

Maybe you don’t have a product or service but instead you have an idea that you want to sell. It’s the sames process and the fact is, it is possible to sell to big companies and large enterprise organisations, although it does need a slightly different approach.

The first FREE 60 minute session in this course walks you through the preparation and planning required before you approach big companies.

When you sell to big companies you may also need some additional sales resources that are not as commonly used when selling to smaller organisations, such as a Business Case, a Cost Benefit Analysis – don’t worry we’ve got templates you can use for all of these.

If this sounds like lots of work, then Yes it is, and because of this many companies will not rely on any one individual, instead they will work as a team to win large accounts. Part of that team should include Marketing in order that you can target the right people in the buying organisation, with the right messaging, at the right time.

Run the sales campaign as a mini project with scope, roles and responsibilities, costings, objectives and milestones. Needless to say that it usually makes sense to be targeting more than one big company if you are going to do this professionally, but don’t make the mistake of having too many, as the campaign can then turn into a marketing initiative which by their very nature are more generic.

The key to success is that all the messaging must be bespoke and relevant to every target which takes time, which is time that you won’t have if you have too many targets. Again this course covers everything you need.

Before you start selling to big companies there are however two important considerations you should address as follows:

1) Does your company have the capability to successfully deliver a project on the scale that a big company will require?
In most cases you will only get one chance to sell to a big company and delivering success for your first big company will also give you a reference point that will help you sell to other big companies.

2) Does your company have the financial resources required to sell to a big company?

If you buy materials in January to create stock for February and have agreed 90 day payment terms this means you have to run 150 days without being paid. Some small businesses are not sufficiently funded to do this, so be careful what you wish for.

Selling to big companies can transform your business, but like most things in life that are worthwhile it’s usually not easy and doesn’t happen overnight, but it certainly can be worth it.

Get started now and get
your first session FREE

How to sell to big companies

Get all the templates you
need to sell more now

Register here


.

The Definitive Guide to Sales Training

sales training course

Introduction

We’ve written this guide based on the most common questions we are asked by companies considering purchasing Sales Training, those who have bought sales training from us, and those who are considering implementing their own sales training programmes.

Our goal is to give you as much information as possible to make an educated decision on Training for you and your business.

If there are any questions we have missed then please leave a comment below and we will add them in for future visitors.

Sometimes the answers to these questions may lead to other questions which are unique to your situation and if that’s the case you can reach us via the contact page.

Best Online Sales Training Courses
Best Online Training Courses

Related Content on Sales Training


1. Sales Training Prices

How much does Sales Training Cost?

The biggest influence on training costs are the way that the training course or content is delivered. Free sales training is available by reading books and some online courses. Paid training in most cases involves facilitator-led sessions and costs between £450 per person for a one day course, up to circa £10,000 per person for 12 month programmes.

We have an open and transparent pricing policy and you can view the prices of all our sales training programmes.

Larger organisations can make savings by volume purchasing and Facilitator costs are between £3,500 and £15,000 per day, however, in most cases they will restrict class sizes to circa 15 to maintain a good learning environment.

As most companies move away from Impact Training (one-day events with no follow up) more and more companies are adopting a longer-term approach to developing their salespeople and using regular weekly and monthly sales training and coaching sessions.

Is Sales Training Effective?

The level of effectiveness of training is directly linked to the time spent designing the training programme, measuring the outputs of the sales training, and lastly following through on the training to ensure it is embedded in the organisation moving forward.

As a minimum, the follow-through would include sales coaching but may include further training and personal development.

If you consider the Sales Reps are in effect learning new skills for life as long as the training is relevant, well delivered and receives follow through training easily delivers a strong ROI.

Sales Training - Choose Growing
Choose Growing

Back to Table of Contents


2. Designing Sales Training Programmes

What is Sales Training?

Sales Training refers to the process of teaching and developing salespeople on how to sell more effectively. Training may include both the theoretical and practical skills required to be effective in sales.

Sales Effectiveness can be measured in many different ways, however, the main KPI’s may include Total Sales, Cost of Sales, Sales Margins, Sales Conversion ratios, Length of Sales Cycle and Lifetime Customer Value.

Training may include Skills Training which can also be referred to as Sales Competencies or Learning Competencies. These refer to the practical activities that salespeople undertake on a regular basis. This could include skills such as Prospecting, Rapport Building, Active Listening, Questioning & Planning.

What is a Sales Training programme?

A Training programme is typically a long term learning and development programme lasting for between 6 months and a year, whereas a Training course would normally be held over 1 or two days.

Training programmes often include a number of sales training courses that form part of the wider training programme.

What is a Sales Training process?

A Training process is a step by step programme that would take a Salesperson through the different areas of sales that they need to develop and improve.

An example of this would be when a new person joins a company they will go through a Sales Training Process that may include training on the company’s history, products and services, target markets, case studies, skills training and sales management training.

The sales training process often needs to be flexible to allow learners to join at different points in the process and allow them to progress at different speeds which is called self-paced learning.

What Sales Training ideas do you have?

All Training should be needs-based, meaning that the topics or ideas should be driven by the needs of the salespeople and the business. These training needs are often found by studying the sales data, analytics, industry trends or the future needs of the business if there is a change in sales strategy.

Training ideas are the start of the learning process as they need to be developed into structured programmes with learning objectives and learning outcomes that can be assessed and measured.

If the Training is not needs-based then there is a real danger that the training will have no relevance to the Salespeople. When this happens learners switch off and even important components within the training are missed.

How do I create a Training curriculum?

A Training curriculum will vary dependent on the course design and learning objectives.

We recommend:
1. Identifying the Sales Competencies required for success in the Sales role from a business perspective 
2. Identify the sales competencies that make your Top sales performers stand out
3. Prioritise the competencies based on your KPI’s for success
4. Understand what Best Practice is for each Competency in your organisation and document it
5. Create appropriate learning content with learning objectives and measurable outcomes
6. Train Salespeople on the Sales Competencies and measure the outcomes
7. Use Sales Managers and Top Performers for follow-through coaching that reinforces the training.
8. Link financial rewards to learning goals as much as revenue goals

What Training Competencies should I consider?

Historically training was delivered via 1 and 2-day courses however as training itself has developed more and more organisations break down their training needs into Competencies. We group these competencies into the four main areas of sales performance which are:
1. Finding new customers
Why Prospects Buy, How to target prospect, Making Cold Calls to Prospect, How to Uncover Business Pain, Uncovering Where Prospects See Value, Using Social Media to Sell, Building a Personal Brand, Qualifying Sales Tenders, Listening Skills

2. Closing new customers
Building Trust, Consultative Selling Skills, Handling Stalls & Objection, Maintaining Sales Pipelines, Differentiating your Products and Services, How to Beat your Competition, Selling Value Not Price

3. Growing existing customer revenues and

Selling through Customer Service, Key Account skills, Maximising Meetings with Prospects, Preparing for Sales Negotiation

4. Development or Learning Goals

Managing Personal Time, Improving Self Performance,  Understanding Human Behaviour, Leading Others, Coaching and mentoring, Mindset

The relevance of each Sales Competency can be different from one business to another and one industry to another however the main competencies we work with are

Will you help us design our own Bespoke Sales Training programme?

Yes. We can work with you to co-create your own learning programmes and content. Depending where you are in the design process this takes anything from 2 weeks to 2 months.

Who needs Sales Training?

Many different groups of people need sales training, however, the most common groups include Graduates, People transitioning to Sales from another position, Salespeople looking to develop their careers, Entrepreneurs, Consultants and Engineers.

In reality, anyone who has contact with customers, whether that be via chat, phone or face to face can benefit from Training. More and more companies are asking for formal training as part of the interview process, as they only want to hire new salespeople who can hit the ground running so to speak.

Changes in Buyer behaviour means that where previously customers were served by humans either face to face or telephone are now purchasing the same products and services by shopping carts online. If anyone in Sales wants to future proof their career they should invest continuously in themselves.

Do you provide Learning Management Systems?

Yes. Learning Management systems (LMS) are online software applications that provide the end to end management of the learning and development of your sales team.

There are many LMS applications to choose from that have different features and if you have specific requirements you will need to undertake some research. For most companies over 80% of their LMS requirements can be met with Microsoft applications that they are already paying for.

We use MS Teams as the base platform which we customise to include Needs Analysis, Sales Playbooks, Training Courses, Learning Assessments, Coaching Programmes and Content Management Systems.

What Different Sales Training methods are available?

There are 4 main training methods that companies are using as follows:
1. Self Study. As a training method self-study is difficult to measure in terms of effectiveness. Without any design or structure or support there will be a limit to how effective this method is however all training and learning is good training so this should not be discounted.

2. Role Play. This is not always popular, however, when Roleplay sessions are designed and conducted well they are not only very powerful, they are also enjoyable for the participants. Roleplay continues to be the most effective way to build the muscle memory required to make real changes in sales behaviour.

3. Observation. Many companies monitor and record telephone calls to ensure Salespeople are following their sales process and complying with any regulatory requirements. For Field Sales Teams “ride-alongs” whereby a Sales Manager or Sales Mentor accompanies a Sales Rep to observe and provide feedback.

4. Workshops. Sales Workshops are a great way to facilitate peer learning amongst your Sales Team however their success lies in the design and facilitation of each session. Workshops are usually focussed around a single topic and would last between 1 hour and 1 day.
Training Courses. Despite the move away from Impact Training, Sales Training courses are still a powerful sales training method. In most cases training courses are now highly interactive, activity-based sessions that engage and inspire learners.

5. Self-Directed Sales Training. When people have ownership of anything they tend to have a higher rate of engagement so allowing Sales Teams to Self Direct and in effect choose their own training can be very powerful. In order to be effective Self Directed training needs to have a framework that guides and challenges learners.
Sales Playbooks. Sales Playbooks are digital repositories that contain everything on how and organisation sells. The “Books” are divided into chapters that contain different information such as products and services, sales plays, the companys sales process, product and service information, technical data, case studies and testimonials. Playbooks are great tools that every organisation should have.

Consultative Sales Process
Consultative Sales Process

Back to Table of Contents


3. Types of Sales Training Available

What types of Training programmes do you offer?

There are many different types of Training Programmes however most training programmes are categorised by course delivery type:

1. Online via our Learning Portal
2. Open Courses, where anyone can attend from any company
3. In-house Courses where we deliver courses exclusively for one organisation
4. Bespoke Sales Training programmes where we co-create learning content with you

Once you have chosen your course delivery type sales training programmes are further categorised by their content:
Product Training & Sales Skills Training.

In terms of Sales Skills Training the most popular skills bases sales training programmes are:
1. Telephone Sales Skills
2. Key Account Management Training
3. Consultative Selling Skills Training
4. Sales Management Training

Many Training programmes now include an element of Sales Coaching to ensure follow-through which makes every training programme more effective.

Do you provide Online Sales Training?

Online training has become more and more popular and now nearly every organisation delivers part of their training online.

The most common area for this is the adoption of online training as part of a Sales Enablement system which are one-stop repositories for everything connected to sales inside an organisation.

Online Training is also widely used for onboarding new salespeople, both graduates and experienced salespeople as it allows them to quickly learn the fundamentals of selling within that organisation without tying up more senior salespeople to deliver this.

We provide Online Training both as a stand alone service and to compliment and support our face to face delivery. Our training programmes are delivered via Microsoft Teams and prices start at £97 + VAT

Do you provide Training courses for beginners?

There are numerous options for training courses for beginners with most companies having their own in house onboarding programmes. In addition, there are many sales training courses for beginners available online, however, online learning for sales does have it’s limitations.

You can’t teach someone how to make a pot without at some stage, them getting their hands dirty and practising on a pottery wheel. Selling is a hands-on activity that needs to be learned on the job.

Do you provide Sales Training Videos?

Yes all our online training courses include raining videos which are a great learning tool to complement and support a training programme.

They are especially helpful for Remote training and coaching and really lend themselves to product, process and technical training. Whilst it is possible to use video for Skills training it can be difficult to include every context and therefore needs to be used as part of a wider blended learning programme.

Do you provide Sales Webinars?

Yes. We run monthly Training webinars for our customers as a way to reinforce our Training access our Sales Trainers from anywhere in the world.

Our webinars include the facility to ask the presenters questions and in most cases these webinars can be recorded and accessed offline.

These can form the basis of a lunch and learn where you need to stimulate a conversation around a particular sales topic.

Do you provide PPT (PowerPoint) presentations on your Training?

No. We do use PPT, however, our sales trainers only use them as a way to support our blended learning process.

Blended learning is an approach to training that includes a mix of different content such as Training PPT’s and quizzes, worksheets, templates, guides and most importantly, activities and interactions with the sales trainer and their peer group.

Furthermore, studies have shown that people learn and retain knowledge and skills more by doing than training. This is more relevant in Sales than most other topics.

Do you provide post course support for Training?

Yes. We use our online learning portal to engage with your salespeople before the training to ensure we include and specific content they need. After training our participants have access to the portal for a further 12 months to ensure they get the support they need.

Do you provide Sales Coaching?

Yes. We have a range of sales coaching programmes available for Salespeople and Sales Leaders.

Sales Change
Sales Change

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5 Easy Ways for Using MS Teams for Sales

Using MS Teams for Sales - desk

There’s a new way to deliver sales growth…

Don’t buy Sales Training until you’ve watched this video

In this article we will cover...

Using MS Teams for Sales

We’ve previously written about how we use Microsoft OneNote for Sales Management for everything from recording meeting notes through to online sales coaching and training and sales playbooks. We are big fans of OneNote, but what really turbocharges OneNote for us, is the ability to create, store, access and use inside MS Teams.

With so many people now using MS Teams from home Teams has gone from a Business product to a household brand that everyone can use. Unlike its competitors that lack the Enterprise level of security, MS Teams has multilayered security allowing users to configure Teams to bring sales prospects, customers and employees all together. In some cases that might not be appropriate, however, in many cases we help our clients configure Teams so they have:

  1. Using the Public Access feature to deliver Live Events & Sales Webinars for Lead Generation
  1. Using Group Access to position your business as an Industry thought leader
  1. External Company access for Sales Prospects to take them through a Complex Sales Process
  1. In house access where Teams for Managing Sales Opportunities, for example, collaborating on Tenders
  1. In House access where Teams is used as the “host platform” for a Learning Management System based on OneNote, MS Forms, Planner, Yammer, Stream, To Do, Calendar and My Analytics or even third party apps like Moodle.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these scenarios and see why using MS Teams for sales makes so much sense.

1. Public Access for Live Events using MS Teams for Sales

Every business needs new customers and the Live Events feature inside Teams allows you to create and run events open to the public as part of your Lead Generation Programme. Over the years we have found that many Salespeople struggle to pick up the telephone and make sales calls.

Some even struggle to send emails and LinkedIn connection requests because they are introverts and don’t want to face the possible rejection that comes in sales. We’ve found that create FREE high-value Events are a great way to overcome this because most Salespeople are much happier calling or emailing a FREE invitation. The reality is Events are a great way to position your business, raise awareness and start conversations with prospects.

If you’re struggling with ideas on what High-Value event you could deliver think about what’s relevant and what’s current. Are there changes in Legislation surrounding your industry? Are their new trends in your industry?

If you’re still unsure look up your Industry News site and run a Live Event on the topic they are headlining with. If you don’t know anything about the topic find the expert source that the News article referenced and interview them for the Live event using questions from the attendees.

ENABLING THE LIVE EVENTS FUNCTIONS INSIDE MS TEAMS

If you are planning on using MS Teams for Sales, the Public Access feature may not be available or switched on in your companies current MS Teams platform. If Public Access is not available then you will require a user with Admin Rights to switch this feature on from inside the Teams Admin Centre. Once Inside the Admin Centre you should look for the Meetings section and from there the Live Events policies. Please check the video for easy to follow directions.

Using MS Teams for Sales - Live Event Schedule
Using MS Teams for Sales – Live Event Schedule

The notes not only help us remember what was said and what next steps need to be taken they are great for referring back to when we send a “Thank you for meeting me email” with a summary of the notes and if we need to create a proposal or presentation later in the sales process.

If you are in the Admin Centre it’s worthwhile using the additional features in Teams to customise your Meeting Invitations:
Your Company Logo
Your Legal T’s and C’s
Your Support Contact for the Event
Your Company strapline in the Footer
These are then displayed whenever a recipient opens their Meeting Invite.

We should point out we’re not a Tech Channel so here are the links to Microsofts’ own guide to making these changes.

Getting started with Microsoft Teams Live Events

Setting up Live Events in MS Teams

Once you have Live Events configured you can create your own Event from inside teams by clicking on Calendar and then use the drop-down menu to access the live events option.

Using MS Teams for Sales - Live Event
Using MS Teams for Sales – Live Event

From here you can then add the Meeting Title and all the details. Next, simply copy the link and insert it into your emails or lead generation campaigns.

2. Group Access for Sales using MS Teams

Whereas Public Access in MS Teams is a great platform for Live events, we recently configured Teams for a client who wanted a Channel to communicate with a specific industry that was going through huge changes with the Pandemic and needed a platform to talk to them.

They invited over 350 customers and 450 prospects into Teams and are delivering weekly updates to an entire industry. They are now seen as thought leaders in the industry and it’s a great way to start conversations that lead to relationships that lead to sales.

You can use the same strategy and use MS Teams to create a platform so that you can talk to your industry.

You could deliver updates on new laws and regulations, industry trends and insights, interview industry thought leaders and invite your customers to talk about their businesses and experiences.

We would, however, warn against overtly selling in these types of communications as the minute the audience believes they are being sold to, they will start to drop out and the Channel will wither.

3. Company Access for Sales Prospects inside MS Teams

In B2B Sales it’s increasingly difficult to reach all the decision-makers in the Sales Process. In many cases they send a “Scout” to find information not available on your website and do all they can to keep Salespeople at a distance throughout the buying process.

What these buyers want is information and in most cases a quote or proposal and when they have it they immediately cease all contact. This can be a huge waste of time and money for the selling organisation as tenders become more and more complicated, needing multiple people in the way of bid teams to respond. If you’re not sure if this is happening to you simply check back through your CRM and you’ll see that many deals stall immediately after the prospect receives the pricing and information they need.  

There is no easy way around this however what’s working for our clients is offering limited information up-front and then holding back until the other Decision Makers engage. They do this by re-framing the sales opportunity as a project and using Teams as the “Project Management Portal” to gather the needs of all the “stakeholders”.

This brings the buyers out and allows a controlled release of the information in exchange for engagement. This doesn’t work on every deal however it very quickly “smokes” out the genuine buyers from those just using the Salespeople for pricing.

An additional benefit of this approach is the Sales Team can invite Pre-Sales, operations, delivery teams and aftercare teams to the Teams Channel in the solution forming phase of the sale which can provide a richer sales experience for the customer. This is a great point of differentiation and whilst no sales strategy works every time it’s low cost and easy to try.

Lastly this strategy shouldn’t be applied across the board unless every sales opportunity is large and comes with a bespoke solution. We only implement this for deals above £10k, but you can choose where to set the bar.

4. Inhouse Access for Using Teams on Bids & Tenders

The most common use for MS Teams is the call and video conferencing functions, however, there is much more functionality that can help Sales Teams sell more. MS Teams makes Sales Teams more productive, more focussed and delivers a better user experience which in turn increases productivity.

There are numerous advantages with Teams such as the chat function, which allows us to stay connected without cluttering up our Outlook Inbox. Whether it’s Yammer, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or any of the other O365 products, they can all be accessed and worked on from inside the Teams environment.

If you have bid teams responding to tenders the Bid documents can be created, stored and developed within the Teams environment and Tender Teams can collaborate and even edit the same document simultaneously.

In many cases the Bid creation process can run down to the deadline and when multiple authors are involved which can create time delays as each contributes and updates potentially separate copies of the one document. The Multi author allows uses inside Teams to make edits and additions live and see the document develop as their work colleagues contribute in real time.

Whether it’s Word, Excel, PowerPoint or any of the other O365 products, they can all be accessed and worked on from inside Microsoft Teams.

5. Teams as a Learning Management System

Many companies now acknowledge the tangible benefits of training, coaching and developing their people. Sales Training and Coaching itself has changed and improved over the years, whereas in the past training was in most cases was one-off event, they are now almost always part of a bespoke sales training programme. In order to deliver these programmes software companies have developed SaaS models where companies can create bespoke learning programmes.

There are numerous Learning Management Systems on the market each with some great functionality, however, Microsoft Teams has for most companies all the functionality they will ever need from an (LMS). Furthermore, the beauty of using MS Teams as an LMS is both compelling and simple:

  1. You are already paying for it with your 0365 Licence
  2. Your people are already working inside the O365 suite every hour of every day so that’s a great place for learning.

Although there is no one standard in terms of the functionality of an LMS, for most companies an LMS has the capability to, create, document, record, measure, store and deliver training programmes. In practical terms this means:

Using OneNote for Sales Management - Coaching Notes
Using MS Teams for Sales – OneNote as an LMS

Create. Document, Record. You can create learning content in OneNote, MS Wiki, MS Paint, MS Word, MS PowerPoint, Stream, MS Whiteboard, Excel, Publisher.

Measure. You can test and measure learning using all of the above and MS Planner and MS Forms.

Store. You can store all your content in either One Drive or SharePoint.

Deliver. You can deliver all your training and coaching using MS Teams and acknowledge achievements via MS Praise.

In addition to the suite of O365 tools there are many additional third-party applications available from inside MS Teams to both enhance and compliment your existing applications. For example, you can connect to

CRM systems – MS Dynamics CRM, Salesforce CRM, NImble, Zoho or iGlobe CRM.
Productivity – Asana, Trello, Jira & Stormflow.
Communications – Survey Monkey, Mail Chimp, Mail Clerk & Text Bot.

There are hundreds of other applications available and the number of these apps including Moodle which is a stand alone LMS that can be connected into your Teams Channel.

We’ve also written on the benefits of using OneNote for Sales Management and Coaching which are an important part of any LMS. We rally like the combined functionality of MS Teams and OneNote as a Coaching platform to help develop Salespeople.

You can break down your Training into competencies and deliver bespoke sessions on specifics like sales prospecting, pipeline management sales closing techniques all from inside your own Sales Playbooks in OneNote. We use our Sales Playbooks with every client and the combination of creating and using OneNote for the Playbook, and delivering them through Teams is really powerful.

6. Recommended Reading

If you would like to discover some of the free templates that we use inside teams then check out our B2B Sales Tools.

Why Non “Salesy” Sales Training for Consultants Works

Sales Training for Consultants

In this article we will cover...

There’s a new way to deliver sales growth…

Don’t buy Sales Training until you’ve watched this video

1. Why Being Salesy Doesn’t Work for Consultants

Being Salesy is forcing your beliefs and opinions on why someone should buy a product or service from you. This rarely works because the approach is very off-putting for the person receiving on the receiving end and in most cases damages the Consultants personal brand in addition to the brand of the business.

Being Salesy clashes with our personal values which are the unwritten rules that guide the way we live and behave. When we are living and acting in congruence with our personal values people are the most productive and the most successful which is why being “salesy” doesn’t work for consultants or anyone else for that matter.

Consultants are not Sales People, they are experts in their chosen field and any sales training should be bespoke and reflect and leverage that expertise.

2. Selling Tips for Consultants Who are Introverts

Roughly one third of the population are introverts which means they are more likely to be uncomfortable around other people whether they are selling or not.

Introverts can make great salespeople as they are usually good listeners, good at building relationships and have high level of self awareness.

There are some practical steps that Consultants who believe themselves to be introverts can take to to help themselves enjoy the experience of selling more.

Sales Training for Consultants

People who are introverts have a “self-as-story”. This self story reinforces negative beliefs such as they are introverted, not good with people and cannot sell.

It’s important to develop a new and believable “self-as-story” with more positive beliefs such as “I am not an introvert I am an Ambivert”.

Ambiverts are the third of the population who sit in the middle between introverts and extroverts.  “I am good with people and I enjoying spending time helping others.”  

Most human beings are by nature kind and well-meaning so this is again a believable statement.  

“My job is not to sell but instead to be of service, help people and create the right conditions for someone to buy; if they want to.” 

3. Sales Training for Consultants

We often are asked to train what we call Non-Selling Professionals in new selling techniques and these are people in a business where the sales function is not their primary role, they could be Consultants, but equally, they could be Lawyers, Engineers, Analysts, Accountants, Developers & Architects etc.

In most cases when we first meet them they proclaim that they could never be a salesperson – the reality is that humility is one of the traits that means that they absolutely could be a great salesperson.

Unfortunately, what’s holding these people back is that the publics’ perception of a salesperson is largely negative and the type of adjectives the public use, when asked to describe a salesperson, are words like “liar”, “selfish”, “talks too much”, “money-grabber” and “annoying”.

The reality is that most salespeople are nothing like this, however, sometimes we pay the price for those that go before us and unfortunately there are, albeit a small number of salespeople, who are like that. If you think about it though, those traits are hardly a recipe for success.

4. How to get sales leads without picking up the phone

After spending years trying to train and coach consultants, engineers and technical people from every different industry, we came to the realisation that nothing we could ever do would motivate them to pick up the phone and make a cold call consistently.

If we showed them how to make a cold call that won them a $1 million dollar order they would still prefer to come in the next day and work at their desktops. These same people, however, would be more than happy to take inbound calls and talk to strangers who had called them.

The answer to the challenge was easy then – get their phones to ring and get their email to ping. If you talk to anyone in B2B marketing they will probably say quite rightly that generating a consistent flow of inbound leads is not easy.

We worked with our own team to develop a new strategy around this and worked to implement this strategy into our own business to prove it works and to gather some good data.

What is this strategy and can it work for me? In simple terms the strategy involves leveraging the knowledge and expertise of the consultants, and position them and their company as SME’ s (Subject Matter Experts). We then help them develop thought leadership content that buyers were interested in.

We then help them take that knowledge and place it on their website in a way that can be easily found and ranked on Page 1 of Google – just the same way you found this article. This then creates a steady stream of self qualified sales leads who have already bought into the expertise of your consultants and keen to engage further.

What’s more unlike pay per click ads these articles create a steady flow of new leads that fuel future growth at no cost. Once the content is published that’s it.

No cold calls, no outbound phone calls of any sort. In fact, in some cases our clients are now closing deals via email.

If this approach interests you and you would like to learn more please contact us for further details.

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5. Training Sessions for Sales Consultants

In most cases sales training for Consultants is delivered over 1 & 2-day courses. This can work however in our experience, Consultants can immediately feel defensive if they are told they need training as they are nearly always mature adults and often have had a negative experience from previous Sales Training programmes they have attended.

The best way around this is to choose sales training for Consultants that is specifically designed for Consultants and content that highlights the skills and experience of the Consultants. The trainer should have experience of training a wide variety of non-selling professionals and be able to address the specific learning styles and needs of this type of audience.

What can be equally productive is running workshops where the Consultants get to choose what they feel would benefit them most. This way they feel more empowered as they have chosen the content and by definition, the content should be more targeted and relevant.

The only drawback to this is that this requires an experienced facilitator/trainer who knows the answers to the Consultants Sales Challenges from memory and can articulate them without a PowerPoint. If the trainer has to stop the session to look up the answers in a textbook or slide deck they will lose all credibility.

These workshops should have defined outcomes with action plans to make sure they are more than just a talking shop and deliver real impact for the Consultants and the company.

Sales Training for Consultants

6. Sales Training Tips for Sales Consultants

Most people have a common misconception that selling is all about closing and forcing people to make decisions that they might not want to make. In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth as the most successful salespeople simply don’t do this because they know it doesn’t work and in many cases destroys any trust or relationship that they have with the prospect.

In most cases, traditional Sales Training for Consultants won’t work because the techniques they use go against the Values & Beliefs of the Consultants. No matter how good the trainer is unless the content is based on actions that are congruent with the beliefs and values of the Consultant it will simply be a waste of everyone’s time and money.

What will work however is if the training is designed to position the Consultants as Trusted Advisors to their prospects and the sales activities are aligned with positioning them as Thought Leaders in their Industry.

The following sales tips help Consultants & Non-Selling Professionals understand that Professional Selling is more about building trust and relationships than it is about “Closing” prospects.

To sell more consultants should focus on building TRUST

T = Time
R = Reliability
U = Unselfishness
S = Soundness
T = Truthfulness

Time

Set Goals and manage your own time – be effective, not busy. Be respectful of your clients’ time, turn up on time to meetings, prepare before meetings to get the most from them. Spend time with clients to help them. Focus your time on your best prospects.

Reliability

Get a plan and stick to it, sales plans, communications plans and account plans. Many sales are lost when you are back in your own office. Respond to every email within 24 hours, manage expectations and take ownership of problems and follow up.

Unselfishness

Listen, empathise and give, yes give, as in Emersons Law of Compensation. Stop trying to sell and start trying to help, have conversations, not sales pitches. Recognise when there is no fit and walk away – never force the sale. Pass on referrals and give recommendations.

Soundness

Become an expert in your field. Be the “go-to” person in your industry that people refer others to. Create your own personal development plan and learn as much as you can about yourself, your customers and your customers’ customers. Mentor, coach and help others.

Truthfulness

Be true to yourself. Have those difficult conversations with family, friends, colleagues and customers. Losing some sales, losing some battles will help you win the war. Nurture and grow your integrity, self-respect and self-belief. Be authentic and true to yourself.

These Sales Techniques are not glamorous, and they might not produce an overnight transformation however they do work. Together you will see these five areas form the basis of TRUST. Selling without trust may be possible, but it is extremely hard work and will, without doubt, limit your success. In business, the antithesis of trust is a risk, and every Buyer, every CEO, every organisation will pay more for a solution that is perceived to mitigate risk. Building and sustaining TRUST is the foundation of Mastery in sales, although many of our clients have asked us to help embed these “selling techniques” throughout their organisation, not just sales.

7. Sales Training for Professional Services

Selling Professional Services can be very different from selling as a Consultant because in many cases when you are selling Professional Services the salesperson is the product.


In B2B more so than B2C, buyers rarely purchase anything from a salesperson they don’t like or trust. There are exceptions to this when the Brand Power of the product or service is very strong, for example it doesn’t take the salesperson of the year to sell Microsoft Technical Services because the power of the Microsoft brand has pre-sold most people before they go into the sales meeting and the product is Microsoft, not the Consultant.


For Consultants who do not represent a big brand like Microsoft, Deloitte, or Bain & Co, in most cases they are the brand, they are the product, and they have to work even harder to win the sale.

In many cases what is more productive for Consultants is to stop trying to sell and focus all their energies on trying to help the prospect.

We recommend a Consultative Sales Approach which focuses the sales conversation around 5 critical questions.

  1. What are the symptoms of the business problem?

Prospects find it easier to identify symptoms however it’s the role of the expert to ask questions and dig deeper.

  1. What is the Root Cause of the Problem?

The Consultant should use Root Cause Analysis techniques to identify the underlying causes of the problems.

  1. How is this problem impacting the business?  

These questions should focus on what way the problem limits growth, profits or damage the brand in any way.

  1. Financial Impact

The consultant and the prospect need to do a basic cost-benefit analysis to ensure the client will see a return on any investment they make.  

  1. Personal Impact

Lastly, the Consultant needs to uncover any personal motives or drivers that are important to the client.

Often by simply asking these questions, the Consultant will get the opportunity to position themselves as the expert at the same time building rapport and trust with the prospect. 

consultative selling skills
Sales Training for Consultants

8. Sales Training Courses for Consultants

We have training and coaching courses available to help your consultants overcome their sales challenges.

We deliver our sales training and coaching via our Online Sales gym so we can provide support throughout and after the training period.

This helps you embed the new skills and sales behaviours in your organisation to maximise the impact of our training.

You can learn more about our Sales Training for Consultants via the following articles:

Consultative Sales process here

Consultative Selling Skills Course

Bespoke Sales Training

How to Sell Without Being Pushy
Sales Training for Consultants