We Don't Just Do Lunch: the Five Things Effective Salespeople Do Before 5:00 P.M.
Sales can be a little mystifying for anyone who hasn’t gotten a ton of insight into what it’s like to work in the field. And these days, many jobs are a potpourri of multiple disciplines or are so shrouded in corporate jargon and acronyms that it can be nearly impossible to cut through the static.
Have no fear, though! What salespeople do isn’t as inscrutable as it might seem. They can have pretty variable days because they are at the mercy of their clients and prospects, but there are distinct ways that they organize their time. Here are five things that successful salespeople do every day:
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Let’s talk about relationships
Patricia Fripp says, “To build a long-term, successful enterprise, when you don't close a sale, open a relationship.” Good salespeople wake up early to get their day started and the first thing they do—aside from grabbing a cup of coffee and dressing their best—is check in on their customer relationship management (CRM) system. They’ll get a sense of the day ahead by checking on the status of leads and current clients, then can create a task list based on that information. This is also the time when skilled salespeople set smart goals and make sure their schedule is working for them—not the other way around.
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Leads, leads, leads
Once they get to the office, salespeople start calling leads from their pool of prospects as well as current customers. Oftentimes, this can take a while; studies show that it can take an average of eight cold call attempts to reach a prospect. After setting up meetings throughout the day, salespeople do a lot of research and admin before visiting their prospects and delivering sales presentations on their company’s offerings. It’s okay if a lot of time in the day is used on presentation prep; studies show that high performing sales reps are spending much more time lining up internal resources than in front of customers. Depending on how the presentations go, our hypothetical salespeople will update the status of each lead in their CRM system on the go.
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Problem-solve and put out fires
Sometimes our salespeople’s meetings don’t go according to plan. Problems crop up with the product, leads respond poorly to presentations, prospects fall through—anything can happen. That’s why salespeople are adaptable. They often spend time putting out fires, soothing customers’ fears, and helping to fix any issues that come up with their company’s product or service. -
Find new opportunities
Phew! Now that they’ve done some proper customer service, it’s time for our salespeople to dig in and chase down some new business. Throughout the day, whenever they get a chance, they do some networking. One effective method of networking is on social media, such as LinkedIn. According to Forbes, 78.6 percent of salespeople using social media to sell outperformed those who weren’t using social media. That’s why Microsoft Dynamics CRM has social listening and market insights built in to help reps get this research done faster than ever. -
Follow up with purpose
At the end of a long day, there’s no such thing as kicking back for good salespeople. It’s time check back in on how well they’ve done on the tasks they laid out in the morning, and plan for upcoming goals tomorrow and in the future. With more comprehensive analytics and automation than ever, salespeople have complete control over their sales funnel.
Are you ready to achieve sales superstardom? Microsoft Dynamics CRM can support your sales goals and help you meet them every time.
