Sales interactions offer a grand chance to service providers to directly influence the buyers. But due to certain reasons, they are often ineffective. Business leaders who modify their approach so that these interactions can be optimized and follow a customer-specific ideology are bound to gain competitive advantage. Here we look at some steps that service providers need to take in order to boost sales.

The sales function is a frequent and personal contact point when engaging a prospective customer, driving a significant impact on customer experience. Interactions during sales pitches are one of the most important source of information from providers during the buying process.

Steps to follow

You need to keep the following things in mind to boost your sales.

1. Sales Model

The first area where changes need to be made is the sales model itself. Gone are the days when customers’ paths to purchase were linear, where one thing led to another. The buying process has become more dynamic and is controlled by the buyers themselves. Although, marketing teams have done their best to improve customer engagement and experience through digital marketing initiatives, organizations are still in the dark ages when it comes to their sales model.

Providers need to find a balance between the way in which they manage the sales process with the needs of the customer, using tactics that will take them forward. This in no way means that the present structure should be abandoned completely, but change should take place slowly, with proper milestones and measurements to ensure it.

1. Sales Teams

The composition of a sales teams depends on many factors such as the size of the organization, industry focus, complexity of deal and target buyer. There are many people with different abilities and different kinds of personalities for different tasks related to sales. There are sales associates, presales engineers, vertical subject matter experts, inside support sales rep, etc. They might not carry a shared quota or a compensation structure, they are still responsible for winning new business and providing ongoing service to customers.

As the power shifts away from provider-controlled sales process to the customer, the already standing structure might not be very effective. Sales leaders should now consider newer sales and resource allocation models that will enable providers to be more responsive when a customer reaches out. This might require changes in compensation model and cost profile of the sales organization.

1. Buyer-Focused Sales

Improved segmentation is the first step to get closer to a customer. You should have a detailed understanding of who you want to sell your products to and why. Segmentation of products is helpful in understanding a particular segment and profiling ideal target customers.

 A key element for all sales interactions should be procurement of more information about the buyer. Apart from having the primary goal of guiding the buyer forward in the buying process, a secondary goal of acquiring additional information about the buyer project should be considered.

1. Value addition

Technology sales organizations consider themselves to be trusted advisors to their customers, helping them find new insights in using their products to solve complex business challenges. They might also develop the belief that they are indispensable for their customers. This might have been true in the recent past; it is no longer true according to most of today’s customers. Sales organizations now need to step up and add value during each interaction they have with a customer or risk being left to commodity or price based sales opportunities.

By using and exploiting these new practices, your IT services business can take a turn towards a higher altitude and you will be able to increase your revenues. The world of services has changed quite a lot and you need to keep up with it to thrive.

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