The Cost of Missing out when Checking in.

In sales, most people understand that customer conversations are the most effective sales tool available to sales reps. Engaging with prospects in real-time over the phone or in virtual meetings generates far more value than just back and forth email, on that, we can all agree. However, according to a survey by Sales Insights Lab, while 41% of sales professionals said that talking to customers on the phone is the most effective sales method at their disposal*, 85% of potential customers are not satisfied with their experience talking to a sales rep over the phone.**

There is a disconnect between what it means to pick up the phone and call clients vs. really connecting with a customer in a value-driven way to close a deal. It seems that even with the knowledge that customer conversations are a high-value sales activity, many sales reps are missing out big time when “checking in”. How can sales reps ensure they are using customer calls to their full potential and facilitate real-time deal progress? 

Checking in, wasting time, and missing out. 

Some of the biggest mistakes salespeople make when checking in with a client link to being underprepared for customer interactions, this results in missed opportunities and lost deals. Often sales reps go into a customer call lacking clear goals. They fail to understand that every time you pick up a phone to call a client to “check-in” you should know exactly what you want to achieve by the end of the call, whether that’s to qualify a lead, book a demo, or move a prospect along a pipeline. Lacking clear goals is usually a result of having no clear view of existing gaps in your sales process to get the deal done.

Going into a sales call blind leaves many sales reps without the right knowledge to handle objections and utilize decision-making power to facilitate the next steps and move deals forwards. The truth is too many sales reps are not leading effective customer conversations with the potential for real-time progress and meaningful exchange. Instead, ineffective sales calls or “check-ins” lead to prolonged sales cycles that frustrate both sales professionals and buyers.  The cost of missed opportunities and lost deals as a result of directionless “check-in” calls is potentially worth billions of lost dollars. 

Prioritizing goal-orientated conversations that provide value.

To improve conversations reps must establish and understand goals for each sales conversation, but most importantly they must also understand their wider deal strategy in order to bring value to their sales activities. Not only will this provide reps with direction, but it will also help them facilitate decision-making power to move a deal forward. Sales reps must put themselves in the driver’s seat in order to add value, consult with customers, and simultaneously tailor the deal in a way that allows them to be in control of the sales process. Forget empty “check-in” calls and prioritize goal orientated sales conversations. 

This can be achieved by understanding the next steps before, during, and after every phone or video conversation. But deals often involve more than one sales rep, so securing seamless and efficient handovers between SDRs, AEs, and Customer Success is also important in your quest to secure a seamless buyer’s journey and improve your customer conversation to shorten your sales cycle. 

Implementing sales tech for value-driven “check-ins”.

Bringing value to your customer conversation involves implementing deal and decision-making knowledge. Sales technology like sales acceleration or in-call assistants provides the potential for deal mapping and real-time deal insights that allow reps to move deals forward with valuable insights generated during sales calls. Deal mapping allows sales reps and team leaders to get a full overview of the deal progress, and allows sales teams to stop measuring success on trivial and low-value stats like “calls made”. After all, what value is there in counting “check-in” calls if they fail to facilitate deal progress?

But be careful, if you want to bring new sales tools to your sales process, it is essential to invest in software that provides a real-time decision-making function and overall deal maps that can actually work in parallel with a sales rep to bring value during their phone or video interaction. Analytics means very little if you cannot implement insights live during your call and use your sales tech to bring goal-orientated conversation to prospects. 

Key takeaways for goal-orientated sales conversations.

If sales teams are serious about reclaiming the cost of “check-in” calls and bringing value back to customer conversations it is important that they invest in sales tech that works in tandem with your sales reps, while sales leaders must work to prioritize goal-oriented sales activities, deal strategies, and value-driven KPIs to move deals forward and generate real value for both prospect and sales professional, starting with effective customer calls. 

Learn more about implementing value-driven and goal-orientated sales conversations on the Ciara website or check out the Ciara sales blog for more resources. 

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*  “18 New Sales Statistics for 2020”, Marc Wayshak: Sales Insight Labs, March, 2020

** “Sales Statistics that Will Change the Way You Sell”, Eric Czerwonka: Business 2 Community, June, 2018