The DriveSales™ | 10 Outside sales strategies for high-performing field sales teams!
There has always been an active debate about inside sales and outside sales. Both these sales methodologies are effective and result-yielding ones. The seed of doubt that grows into our minds while choosing amongst them is due to the lack of our business knowledge.
A lot of students prefer to study through tuition while others prefer self-study. Furthermore, a few also mix and match according to their subject strengths and weaknesses. Does this make any of these methods bad? We can definitely say that both of them are equally effective.
Similarly, inside sales and outside sales have their own set of merits. It is you who has to analyze the kind of business you are in and what will suit your company best. If you have a lot of foreign clients, you might want to invest more in the inside sales methodology.
However, if your business requires a lot of network and relationship building and product demos, outside sales might be a better choice for you. If done correctly, this sales strategy can get you three times more clients than inside sales, provided it suits your business.
Let us now look at a few outside sales strategies for high-performing field sales teams.
Sales strategies for outside sales for high-performing field sales:
1) Hire the best — It is absolutely imperative to understand that you are going to invest a lot of resources and time in your outside sales team. Also, you are going to rely a lot on this to bag you clients for your business. Thus, hire experienced professionals.
You don’t want to spend your resources on training inexperienced candidates in the initial stage. You can do that when you have a steady stand in the market regarding the network and relationship building.
2) Impart product knowledge — It is obvious that the biggest challenge that your sales reps will face while trying to convince clients to associate with you is presenting the features of the product in a strategic manner.
Hence, ensure that your team has the full knowledge about the product and they are able to handle all the tricky questions as well.
3) Technology is the best tool — Clearly, when your sales reps will have a field task, they won’t be able to handle all the administrative work that comes with the job. They won’t be able to fill out the ledgers and reports effective in the traditional way. So, help them overcome this problem by providing them with digitized tools that can track their clients and leads for them.
4) Track the progress — It is important to realize that every new strategy needs to be monitored to check if it is actually working. Therefore, you also need to keep a regular check on the sales progress and clients. This will help you realize the mistakes and work on them.
5) Training is essential — If at any point, you feel that your sales team is not able to produce the desired and estimated result, the fault could be in the selling strategy Thus, try to organize a few seminars and workshops for them to understand the whole mechanism of your product and it’s uses and demand better.
6) Cost-effectiveness is essential — When you’ll be just starting out with the outside sales, you will have to invest more initially. You’ll be able to see the results after some time. Hence, know where to spend and how much to spend. You don’t want your business to face losses before it has even begun making profits.
7) Ensure transparency — transparency is absolutely crucial in outside sales. You need to tell your team bout the sales and clients to boost their morale. Appreciate the star sales rep and empathize with others. This will boost your team’s morale and will create a surge of motivation in them.
8) Provide incentives — It is really important to appreciate the sales reps who are trying to give their all to get business and clients for your company. Try to reward the team with incentives or bonuses when there is a huge success. This will keep their interest and will motivate them to give their hundred percent.
9) New trends and patterns — The sales market keeps on changing and thus if you want your business to progress, you need to improvise your sales strategies as well. Analyze the trends and patterns of the current market and train your team regarding the same through campaigns and workshops.
10) Add a personalized element — You need to work on differentiating yourself from your competitors. A great strategy to do that is to add a personalized element to your sales pitch. Try to build an emotional relationship with your client. This will make you credible and reliable and your client will be able to relate more with you.
Now, as an effective SALESPERSON! We can do three things from here.
1. Not ignoring the opportunity and blaming the situation for revenue loss.
2. Taking important notes and going back to revisit your sales strategy with the growth mindset.
3. Reaching out to The DriveSales™ if you need any specialized help for sales.
To conclude, what you choose to think also provides some idea of your development as a consultative salesperson. It is something like Brian Tracy quotes “Approach each customer with the idea of helping him or her solve a problem or achieve a goal, not of selling a product or service.”
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