Category Archives: Sales

Sales

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5 Ways to Increase Your Billing Rates

How to Increase Your Rates in a Competitive Market

Every industry is competitive.  If you happen to be in a new industry with little competition, get ready.  The competition will come soon enough!  As an early entrant in the market you may well have the benefit of recognition, but you will have to work hard to keep that reputation.

Get Paid What You Deserve

The professional services industry is particularly competitive these days.  The barrier to entry is so minimal that anyone can call themselves a consultant and start working.  Large firms compete with smaller firms with low or no overhead.  Small firms compete with larger firms who have larger marketing budgets and greater market influence.

When a lot of competition exists, products and services become a commodity and commodities are sold on price.  This is very challenging for professional service firms who are providing valuable services to clients and yet are forced to compete on price.  As a result, many firms lower their standard rates or quickly offer discounts in order to secure the client project.

How can we maintain or even increase our rates in a competitive market? 

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10 Critical Sales Functions to Automate Now

An Integrated CRM System Will Help Grow Your Business

The leaders of successful companies today know that managing the customer relationship process is a key factor to the growth of their business.   Reducing the cost of marketing and sales while improving its effectiveness drives sales growth and firm profitability.

Business Processes Automation

To accomplish this, automating the sales process is critical.  It not only reduces costs by making sales teams more productive, it increases revenue by ensuring that all potential sales opportunities are fully managed to completion.

Why Should I Automate My Sales Process?

In our previous article we discussed some of the benefits of sales automation which include:

  • It provides sales managers with a complete view of the sales opportunities in the organization allowing them to better plan and manage the sales operation
  • The sales team has all prospect and customer related data in one place providing higher productivity and better close percentages
  • Qualified sales leads stay in the sales cycle until they are properly dispatched as either won, lost, or nurture which reduces lead fallout and improves sales revenue

10 Critical Sales Functions to Automate

So what functions of the sales process should you automate?  Here we discuss the 10 most critical areas to focus on:

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Top Reasons to Automate Your Sales Process

Sales Force Automation

Today’s leaders know that the relationships they have with their customers will drive the growth of their business.   This relationship begins at the very first point of contact with the customer when they are a prospect who is just introduced to the firm.  Sales force automation maximizes your customer relationships right from the start.

Sales Process Automation

This relationship is made stronger by establishing an efficient and definitive sales process that provides the ability to pay attention to the customer’s needs.   Your goal in the sales cycle is to move the prospect from a lead to a customer while the customer’s goal is to determine if doing business with you is right for them.   Aligning these goals will result in a win for both you and the customer.

Why Should I Automate My Sales Process?

Sales force automation allows you to respond quicker to your customer, provide them with the information they need to make a buying decision, and then service them better after they become a customer.   While there are many reasons to automate your sales process, here are three primary ones that everyone should consider.

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How to Master the Sales-to-Service Handoff

3 Steps You Can Take Now to Improve Your Customer Service

Exceptional customer service is what all our customers expect.  It’s also what every company promises!  Just take a look at any service business website.  What do you see?  They include statements like these, “We put our customers first”, “Our goal is to provide service beyond our customers’ expectations”, “We are a premier service provider.”

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Courtesy of Pixabay.com

With all these promises how come so many customers are unhappy?  How come more companies aren’t getting the repeat business they want?  It’s because they don’t deliver on their promises.

Sales-to-Service Handoff

One of the most common areas that businesses trip up is with the sales-to-service handoff.  That’s the point in the process where sales has closed the deal and gives the customer over to the service department for them to deliver the services promised.