GogitalBlog

Category: Sales Strategy

  • Multi Channel Outreach – The Digital Selling Model to Generate Leads for your customers

    Multi Channel Outreach – The Digital Selling Model to Generate Leads for your customers

    Allbound – Multichannel Outreach refers to a marketing and sales strategy that involves using multiple channels to reach and engage with potential customers. This approach recognizes that people consume information and interact with brands differently, so it’s important to have a diverse range of channels to reach them.

    A methodology integrates Inbound Sales, Outbound Sales and in some cases Account Based Marketing strategies with the purpose of reaching your customers through multi channels that may include email marketing, social media, paid advertising, direct mail, SMS, Chat, Runions Presencial, Events and much more. By using a combination of channels, companies can increase their chances of getting their message out to potential customers and providing a more personalized experience.

    Multichannel reach in Business Development allows sales teams to engage with potential customers, increasing the likelihood of getting your message across and building relationships. An approach involves using multiple communication channels to reach potential customers and guide them through the sales process. This means that the company is not limited to using just one channel, such as telephone or email, but uses a channel combination, such as social networks, online chat, email marketing, text messages, among others.

    The goal of the multichannel cadence is to reach the customer more effectively, taking advantage of the customer’s preference for different channels and preventing them from feeling overwhelmed or ignored. For example, a potential customer may prefer to communicate via text message rather than email, or they may prefer to receive information about a product through social media rather than over the phone.customizing the approach according to customer preferences.

    Currently, with the various regulations on access to sensitive data and permissions, a potential customer may be more likely to respond to an Inmail on Linkedin than a phone call or prefer to engage with your company through social media. Using a variety of channels increases the likelihood of obtaining communication consent, and sales teams can cater to each prospect’s preferences, increasing the likelihood of engagement and ultimately conversion rates.

    However, it is extremely important to remember that the multichannel cadence must be well planned and executed carefully to avoid overwhelming customers with too many different messages and channels, as well as respect the laws current data protection (LGPD in Brazil and GDPR in Europe) which can be detrimental to the customer experience and company reputation.

    Overall, multichannel outreach is a powerful tool for sales teams in today’s competitive market. By using a diverse range of channels, sales teams can increase engagement with prospects, build stronger relationships, and ultimately generate more sales.

  • A CFO’s perspective on Sales Outsourcing

    A CFO’s perspective on Sales Outsourcing

    Many organizations are new to outsourcing and are understandably hesitant to relinquish control over vital operations. Sometimes the CFO is called upon to review contracts, calculate the numbers and, in general, give an opinion on whether outsourcing would be a solid business decision, in the short and long term. For this reason, I write this article to clarify some points that go beyond the financial perspective.

    PRICE

    Cost reduction is one of the main benefits of outsourcing, and the first area must be evaluated. In addition to salary and benefits, it’s important to add in all the HR costs associated with hiring, recruiting, and training a new employee. These costs can be nebulous for many organizations, spread across multiple expense categories. When added together, the cost of a single sales rep is typically double their base salary.

    Depending on the partner, outsourcing can represent a significant price reduction (although I would caution you against choosing a partner based solely on the lowest price). The goal is to reduce overall costs while maintaining quality, as well as simplifying the accounts payable process with a single invoice instead of dozens across multiple departments.

    REVENUE PREDICTABILITY

    When outsourcing a function like sales, you need to consider the significant impact of revenue forecasting. When do you need salespeople to become productive to meet revenue goals? If that deadline is sooner rather than later, outsourcing is likely the more attractive route because the ramp time can be 66% shorter. You can also expect scaling to be faster and easier when working with an Outsource partner, as they can add resources to your account in a matter of days or weeks, compared to recruiting cycles that last months.

    When making predictions, it is preferable to deal with facts rather than assumptions. While Outsource sometimes promises higher quality than your in-house team, you need to use your existing sales reps and their productivity as a benchmark. If my vendors are bringing in 10 leads per month each, and we assume the Outsourcing reps can meet those numbers within a month or two of Onboarding. If it surpasses these numbers, it will be a welcome surprise.

    CONTRACT

    Contract terms are extremely important when deciding between different outsourcing providers. One of the first things you should look at is the success rate or performance. How does it compare to our internal variable compensation and how does it affect the third-party provider’s overall cost? Is the outsourcing company looking for a success rate for every meeting scheduled or for every deal closed? The next items to be evaluated are the contract end date and renewal terms. Is it something you need to plan for 3 months, 6 months or a year? When can you give notice? Do any of the terms change upon renewal?

    Sales Outsource agencies can vary significantly when it comes to contract terms, and there are likely details that you didn’t have a chance to discuss during the sales process. Make sure you’re comfortable with the final product before jumping in, even if it pushes your start date back a week or two.

    Outsourcing, when worked with the right partner, can provide incredible value to organizations across a wide range of industries. For organizations considering outsourcing for the first time or deciding between vendors, schedule a consultation with our team to learn more about our approach and our client success stories.

  • The 7 attributes of the most effective sales leaders

    The 7 attributes of the most effective sales leaders

    I read this article on two occasions, during the Executive Master in Leadership & Development at Universidade Católica Portugues and during the Strategic Sales Management program at Harvard. And every time I read it I have new insights. For this reason, I share some notes I made about the article.

    In the article “The 7 Attributes of the Most Effective Sales Leaders” by Steve W. Martin, the author highlights the characteristics of the most successful sales leaders. These leaders are able to lead their teams to achieve goals and results, and have a deep understanding of the sales process and customer needs.

    The first attribute is customer focus. Effective sales leaders are highly customer-focused and understand their needs, wants and challenges. They strive to build lasting relationships with their customers and are able to meet their needs effectively.

    The second attribute is results orientation. Effective sales leaders are always focused on achieving results and achieving goals. They set challenging goals for their teams and motivate their salespeople to achieve them.

    The third attribute is leadership ability. Effective sales leaders have exceptional leadership skills and are able to inspire and motivate their teams. They create a collaborative work culture and encourage innovation and creativity.

    The fourth attribute is coaching ability. They have exceptional coaching skills and are able to help their salespeople improve their sales skills. They offer constructive feedback and create action plans to help their sellers improve.

    The fifth attribute is sales knowledge. They have in-depth knowledge of the sales process and are able to apply this knowledge across their sales and teams. They stay up to date with market trends and use this knowledge to make informed decisions.

    The sixth attribute is adaptability. They are able to quickly adapt to changes in the market and sales industry. They are flexible and willing to change their sales approach to suit market needs.

    The seventh attribute is integrity. They are trustworthy and ethical in all of their sales interactions and negotiations. They value honesty and transparency and are committed to building long-term relationships with their customers.

    In summary, the most effective sales leaders are customer-focused, results-oriented, have exceptional leadership and coaching skills, in-depth sales knowledge, are adaptable, and have integrity. These characteristics make them capable of leading their teams to achieve significant results and build lasting relationships with their clients.

    And you Leader, how are you developing in these attributes? Read the full article in this link.

    Source: https://hbr.org/2015/09/the-7-attributes-of-the-most-effective-sales-leaders

  • Business vs Personal Values For you

    Business vs Personal Values For you

    Many B2B purchasing decisions are complex. On the one hand, your product or service must solve real problems for an organization. On the other hand, it must meet the personal needs of the people involved in the purchase process. It gets even more complex when you realize that there are several people involved in the purchase decision and their personal needs are often different.

    As individuals, we are exposed to many technology products and services in our personal lives. Consumer companies are much better at providing a great customer experience and creating products we love to use. Indeed, the consumer market drives our expectations when it comes to business purchases. We cannot easily turn off our high expectations in a work-related environment. Nor should we. Our personal expectations and preferences affect how we evaluate products and services for our companies.

    How can we build solutions that meet organizational needs as well as fulfill individual values? This is what sets iconic B2B companies apart from everyone else.

    What I’ve noticed is that B2B companies often communicate surprisingly similar values ​​to potential customers: ease of use, time savings, cost reduction, revenue growth, risk reduction, and so on. Some variations of these values ​​are reported by almost all B2B companies. What’s difficult is seeing a company proactively address the needs of individuals within an organization.

    The most useful work on the intersection of corporate and individual values ​​in B2B markets comes from research conducted by Bain & Company. In an HBR article, Eric Almquist, Jamie Cleghorn, and Lori Sherer summarize and categorize 40 distinct values ​​in B2B offerings, categorized into 5 levels.

    Source: B2B Value Pyramid

    This Value Pyramid helps you understand how B2B offerings can fulfill both objective organizational values ​​and individual and personal values. When designing an ideal customer profile, you want to outline how customers perceive your business and personal values. Listen carefully as they describe the benefits your product or service offers and what they get beyond the features and functionality.

    Business values ​​are easy to measure because they are usually based on metrics, reasoning, and logic that are somewhat objective. Personal values ​​are much harder to identify and communicate. That’s why you need to develop empathy for your customers.

     

  • What are SMART goals, and why are they important?

    What are SMART goals, and why are they important?

    Setting goals and achieving them is essential to the day-to-day operations of an organization. However, prioritization matters most when it comes to achieving success in any business; setting the wrong target could have the worst consequences for your organization’s success. Success in executing these purposes needs to be measured and evaluated to ensure that the achievement´s objectives lead to the right impact at all levels.

    For this, companies use various KPIs. KPIs are defined, combined, and compared with some statistical data, i.e. metrics. In short, the achievement of the goals must be reflected in some important statistical data, namely metrics, to be later compared with other important metrics to see the impact of your actions on specific KPIs that indicate the measure of your success.

    Types of metrics

    There are several types of metrics, and only a few are important for your business. Therefore, your objectives must be linked to the appropriate metrics to measure success and levels of achievement against your purpose. Others don’t serve their purpose in measuring your success. For example, vanity metrics, as the name suggests, can give you a false sense of achievement while not helping to measure your organization’s success. Instead, you need to choose SMART metrics to measure your goals.

    What are SMART metrics?

    Successful organizations use goal-setting frameworks to select targets and their associated metrics to measure them. Different goal-setting frameworks are available and finding a suitable one aligned with SMART metrics will help organizations achieve their goals. 

    SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

    SpecificTheobjective must be precisely quantifiable as a number. For example, the sales team’s specific goal would be to achieve a 10% increase in the number of units sold over the previous quarter. It’s a specific, unambiguous goal, and the SMART metric for that goal would be a ‘sales goal’.

    Measurable: Goal achievement must be measurable so that managers can measure how much of the goal the team has achieved. SMART target achievement can be accurately measured using the ‘sales target’ metric by comparing current sales figures with those from the previous review period.

    Achievable: While pushing boundaries and going further and further is indispensable for successful goal setting and achievement, targets must be achievable at the same time. The key is finding the right balance between being ambitious and realistic. For example, the best practice in the Objectives and Key Results (OKR) system is to set stretch targets, where results and achievements are measured by SMART metrics. For example, the objective linked to the ‘sales target’ metric should be defined based on the past performance of individuals and the team, increasing it according to the business purpose. If it increases too much from what the team could previously achieve, employees will find it difficult to achieve them on time, leading to a loss of motivation. If it is set to low, it can be easily achieved and business goals will not be met.

    Relevant: The objective linked to the SMART metric must be aligned with the organization’s objectives. For example, if your organization’s goal is to achieve a 10% annual increase in sales growth, which is another important metric, the ‘sales target’ should be relevant to your organization’s goal and should be raised to similar levels. Otherwise, the purpose of the sales will not be relevant.

    Time-bound: The objective must be completed within a predefined time, and achievements must only be measured within that period. For example, the ‘sales growth’ year over year should be 10%, and the ‘sales target’ should be measured at 10% for the year. Achieving 10% beyond a year translates to failure.

     

    Importance of SMART

    Metrics 1. SMART metrics give teams clarity

    When SMART objectives are defined, they give teams clarity on what they need to achieve, what the objective is, and how to measure their success. Key metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) are used to measure performance against specific objectives. This allows the team to focus on what matters and work towards achieving their goals.

    2. SMART metrics make evaluation fair and objective

    When the achievement of objectives is measured using SMART metrics, there is no other way to misinterpret the results. The evaluation has to go through pure numbers, which makes it fair and objective.

    3. SMART metrics allow you to track progress

    SMART metrics allow individuals and teams to track their progress against their targets because they are specific and measurable. This allows employees to look at the numbers and constantly stay on track to achieve their goals on time.

    4. SMART metrics provide team motivation

    When goals and measurement mechanisms are based on past performance and future needs, they motivate employees as goals are realistic and yet ambitious. They give employees the confidence to push the boundaries as much as possible.

    5. SMART metrics allow you to verify the alignment of the purpose with the organization

    Objectives SMART objectives are aligned with the organizational objectives. Therefore, any progress against these targets must continue to create results for the success of the organization. Otherwise, SMART metrics will reveal a lack of alignment, which allows leadership to make quick course corrections.

    6. SMART metrics help you verify the effectiveness of actions and activities

    SMART metrics help you verify that your actions are producing the desired results. This helps identify needed changes to your operations and allows teams to optimize their action plan and performance.

    SMART: Frequently Asked Questions

    1. What are examples of good KPIs?

    Good KPIs avoid ambiguity. They are measurable and based on SMART goals.

    2. What’s the difference between a KPI and a goal?

    Goals are the results of your actions; are aligned with the vision and objectives of the organization. KPIs are the means to measure how well you are working towards goals.

    3. What are the KPI uses?

    KPIs are measurable values ​​that monitor a company’s progress against defined goals. What is the KPI? Primarily used for tracking goals and making more informed decisions.

    Final Thoughts

    Using smart metrics to measure and evaluate your business at periodic intervals helps you redefine strategy and correct course without wasting time. As Peter Drucker pointed out, “what gets measured gets managed”. Businesses will benefit significantly from making SMART metrics part of their daily operations.