Making SALES: How to reach a million-dollar revenue using free tools and platforms!

A few months back, I visited a conference being hosted and sponsored by one of the major IT giants of the planet earth. In the recess when we all went for a fireside chat, a gentleman approached me, we quickly introduced ourselves, exchanged business cards followed by explaining our company offerings and services.

With every sip of coffee, our dialogue got focused, he fumbled and asked me “hesitant tone”, Ankit, have you used their paid version of CRM for sales? I replied with clear “NO” and I enquire further, why? What happened?

He broadly mentioned that he did not find it relevant and it was overwhelmed for his start-up which has about 14 people. He also mentioned that primarily he and his partner cum cofounder was dominantly responsible for company sales, but this CRM did not help them either increase or scale their revenue. Though he was feeling cheated, he equally realized that it was not CRM fault but perhaps, its not relevant to his company at this point. As he was using a premium version which also made a dent in his pocket as well. However, he intended to save me to use the CRM knowing I run a similar company where survival is primary importance – “Daily Kuan Khod Ke Paani Peena” type.

Anyways, we promised to have dinner together post-conference, where he was interested to know more about our sales and lead generation process. So, let me not indulge more into the dinner related details, however, we were amazed when we discussed and found that it was mostly free available platforms and tools which we were using to drive our sales!

Here are our findings.

To identify & find the prospects, use – https://www.dhirubhai.net/

To make & expand the international network, use - https://beamstart.com/

To find the prospect email address, use - https://hunter.io/

To find the prospect phone number, use – LinkedIn contact info or https://www.redscraper.com/phone-prospector/#ninja-popup-9781 – 7 days trial period but no limit on searches, use trail to find & as many numbers as possible. And you can always use multiple emails to extend the period – in no sense, I am encouraging exploitation, but putting your company survival first.

To setup companies email address - https://www.zoho.com/

To set Video Conference for client meetings - https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software

To know about hot startups & its funding for soft pitch - https://www.crunchbase.com/

To save, read, analyze data, or pitch your product, use – Use Microsoft products

Yes, at the end of the dinner, we were amazed too, we both have touched close to 1 million dollar revenue and all these were done using above platforms & tools, we were somehow convinced that for startups and companies like us, it’s not about technology but making use of the tech is what mattered the most.

Now, if you believe in SALESMANSHIP! We can do three things from here.

1)     Ignoring the opportunity and blaming the situation for zero revenue.

2)     Taking important notes and going back to revisit your sales strategy with a growth mindset.

3)     Reaching out to me 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 like W. Clement Stone's quote, “Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman – not the attitude of the prospect.”

#thedrivesale