Developing Great Sales Tools

Your sales force is an asset that you want as productive as possible. To help them achieve their primary goal—close deals—they need specific tools to cultivate leads and bring contracts across the finish line. Here is a description of a few of these tools that are worthy of consideration.

Customer Relations Management (CRM)

CRM software helps your team track every portion of the sales process. CRM software lets you create your own sales flow (for example, initial customer inquiry, demonstration, quote, and contract close). Every contact with the customer slots into that flow so you can see exactly where you are in the sales process at any given time. There's no substitute for knowing how big your sales funnel is and what's needed to close that business.

Sales Collateral

In the digital age, printed sales collateral is giving way to new and innovative ways to leave your message with customers. Your website is one of your strongest digital marketing pieces, giving users a chance to view your offering at their own pace. Some companies hook in QR codes—barcodes that can be read with a smart phone—to take users to specific areas of their website. Automated PowerPoint presentations, videos, and PDFs are all common ways to present sales collateral. Paper brochures and catalogs still have their place. Just don't rely on them solely to reach your market.

Email Database

Email prospecting has certainly replaced direct mail for many companies put off by the high cost of printing and postage. That means you need a targeted email list that is specific to your industry and your intended market. Companies like Hoovers specialize in high-quality lists that can supplement your own internal efforts to harvest and categorize email names.

Customer Outreach

User Group conferences and customer newsletters can be a powerful part of an inside sales campaign designed to cross sell and upsell your existing customer base. User Groups can rally customers to your cause and reinvigorate the reasons why they invested in your product or service. Customer newsletters (electronic or paper) are a great way to let your client base know about your latest developments, including upgrades and new support options—all of which represent new sources of revenue.

Help your salespeople be as successful as they can. Make sure to give them access to the tools they need to attract and close customers.