The sales process is a vital and integral part of any company. There are many aspects to it and how you handle each step can make the difference between success and failure. This blog post will provide you with some proven strategies on how to improve your sales process for an even better outcome!
Sales Development is a sales process that involves the discovery and qualification of sales prospects.
It's what sales teams do to ensure they're not wasting time on unqualified leads, while also staying in touch with potential customers who may be interested in their products or services. If you want to see your sales grow, it's essential for you to invest in this strategy.
This blog post will teach you everything about Sales Development so that you can start incorporating this into your business today!
Sales Development refers to the process of identifying and contacting sales prospects. It's what sales teams do after they've created a list of potential customers who are interested in their products or services, but before qualifying them as ready-to-buy leads.
By doing this, your business can ensure that it stays on top of sales opportunities and doesn't waste time on unqualified leads.
What would it mean if your sales qualification went smoother?
If you're able to improve the way that your sales team qualifies sales prospects, then this will result in a shorter sales cycle which means more money for your business!
The entire point of Development is to ensure that businesses are staying in touch with sales prospects who are most likely to be ready-to-buy, which will make sales qualification go more smoothly.
How can you build an effective and efficient process?
There are five essential components of a development process that every business should focus on if it wants its sales team to succeed: building personalized prospect lists, sales outreach and communication strategies, sales email templates , sales call scripts and sales follow-up processes.
. Every company's process will be different depending on the size of its team or its budget but they all have one thing in common - they are designed to get you more results with less work!
Over the years, sales has evolved into an indispensable element common to most high-growth sales organizations. It has evolved into the sales qualification process, where sales professionals are trying to identify leads who will be ready-to-buy in the shortest possible time. Development is not only about generating more sales opportunities;
It's also about making sure that your sales team avoids wasting its precious time on prospects who won't buy from you right now or ever! If sales qualification goes smoother, then your sales team is bound to experience higher sales productivity.
If you want to know more about Development or how it can impact your business's sales results, contact us today!
What are the five essential components of a development process?
Over the years, development has evolved into an indispensable element common to most high-growth sales organizations. It has evolved into the sales qualification process, where sales professionals are trying to identify leads who will be ready-to-buy in the shortest possible time.
It is not only about generating more sales opportunities; it's also about making sure that your sales team avoids wasting its precious time on prospects who won't buy from you right now or ever!
If sales qualification goes smoother, then your sales team is bound to experience higher sales productivity.
What would happen if sales qualification went smoother?
If you're able to improve the way that your sales team qualifies sales prospects, then this will result in a shorter sales cycle which means more money for your business!
The entire point of development is to ensure that businesses are staying in touch with sales prospects who are most likely to be ready-to-buy, which will make sales qualification go more smoothly.
Why should you invest time and effort?
If sales qualification goes smoother, then your sales team is bound to experience higher sales productivity. By having a development strategy in place, sales teams can focus on sales opportunities that are most likely to turn into closed-won deals.
What Does a Development Practitioner Do?
Sales development reps (SDRs) perform only a subset of the functions commonly attributed to stereotypical sales professionals. SDRs do not sell products or services; they focus on sales prospecting.
They try to find new sales opportunities and qualify them, rather than working with existing accounts. SDRs are also responsible for lead nurturing activities such as email campaigns, call scripts , sales emails templates .
What is the difference between a Development Rep vs Account Executive?
While development reps (SDRs) and account executives both work in sales, they have different roles. Development Reps are responsible for sales prospecting activities while Account Executives focus on existing accounts.
Both play an important role within the sales department but their functional responsibilities are very distinct from one another. SDRs should manage outbound sales prospecting while Account Executives should lead through inbound sales opportunities.
SDRs leverage all available channels to get the job done. They use the company’s CRM pretty much like a limb but they also probe the deep corners of social media to discover new prospects. SDRs are sales hunters who thrive on finding new sales opportunities. This is where their success lies.
On the other hand, Account Executives don’t have to look far for sales prospects because they mostly receive inbound leads from existing customers and referral sources.
They work through these sales opportunities until a deal closes either by converting them to sales or passing them to sales engineers.
How can you get more development reps?
Whether your company is just getting started with it or looking for ways to improve, our guide on how to hire a rep will help you find the perfect candidate!
We'll cover best practices and tips around creating job listings, screening candidates, and interviewing representatives.
Building a sales pipeline is one of the most important aspects of sales prospecting . By having a development strategy in place, you'll be able to stay connected with qualified leads that have already expressed interest in your company's product or service.
This ultimately means more deals won and higher revenue for your business!
The strategy should focus on delivering high performance on relevant metrics that ultimately translate to higher topline figures.
There are several components of a sales pipeline management process, each with its own unique challenges and benefits:
Sales lead generation- development reps need to generate sales leads.
Sales lead qualification- teams qualify sales leads and prioritize them according to their level of interest in the company's product, service offering or solution.
Sales opportunity management- sales opportunities are passed on from SDRs through Account Executives for further nurturing/conversion activities.
Sales lead nurturing- sales leads are nurtured through sales emails and social media outreach. This can include content such as industry-related news, webinars, whitepaper downloads etc.
Sales development reporting - sales reports need to be defined by taking into consideration relevant KPIs that measure performance of the sales pipeline management process. Sales reps also require weekly status updates on sales opportunities.
Sales prospecting campaigns- reps launch sales prospecting campaigns to identify new sales opportunities.
Steps in the development process
1) Identify what a sales qualified lead is, based on —
A sales qualified lead is someone who has already expressed interest in your company's product or service offering, and you have more information about their business to help determine whether they are a good fit for the sales team.
Sales Development Reps should manage outbound sales prospecting while Account Executives should lead through inbound sales opportunities.
SDRs leverage all available channels to get the job done. They use the company’s CRM pretty much like a limb but they also probe the deep corners of social media to discover new prospects.
SDRs are sales hunters who thrive on finding new sales opportunities. This is where their success lies.
2) Align sales and marketing efforts based on SQL definition -
Teams should work closely with sales and marketing departments to identify sales qualified leads.
3) Establish process and assign roles for —
Sales prospecting campaigns development reporting sales reports sales qualification sales lead generation sales opportunity management nurturing sales leads
4) Engage- lead via email, phone call, and other channels reporting sales reports sales qualification sales lead generation sales opportunity management nurturing sales leads
5) Qualify lead’s likelihood to convert reps should manage outbound sales prospecting while Account Executives should lead through inbound sales opportunities.
6) Determine whether lead is worth pursuing
Skills and traits of the best SDRs
Product knowledge- development reps should have complete product knowledge to answer sales qualified leads’ questions.
Attitude- Reps should have the right attitude for sales prospecting and be able to approach new people with ease.
Communication skills- SDRs need strong communication skills to convince sales prospects that your company's product or service offering is relevant to their business needs.
Time management- Reps need to be organized and efficient in order to complete sales prospecting campaigns on time.
Team player- development reps should work well with their teammates as an integrated team of sales hunters.
Problem solver - sales representatives must have the right problem solving skills for when things go wrong during a sales campaign.
Active listening- Reps should be good listeners who can pay attention to sales prospects’ needs.
Industry knowledge - sales qualified leads will likely need more information on your company's product or service offering, so sales representatives must know the industry well enough to answer sales prospecting questions. If they don’t have all of the answers at hand, development reps should be able to find them quickly.
Prospecting skills - sales qualified leads won’t come knocking at your door, so sales representatives need strong prospecting and cold calling skills for initiating a conversation with new people from their target accounts list. These could include C-suite executives or key decision makers within the sales prospects’ organization.
Customer-centricity- sales representatives should be focused on sales prospects’ needs to help them make the right buying decision.
Sales prospecting campaigns - development reps should manage outbound sales prospecting while Account Executives should lead through inbound sales opportunities.
Qualify a sales qualified lead- SDRs need to qualify whether a sales prospect is worth pursuing and check if sales prospects are ready for a sales engagement.
Pass off sales opportunities to Account Executives- SDRs should determine whether leads or sales qualified leads are worth pursuing before passing them off to the right sales representative (Account Executive). If there is no fit, they shouldn't waste any more time on these sales leads.
These reps have all of these skills and traits! They are the best sales representatives for initiating conversations with new people from their target accounts list. If you want to be like them, then check out this guide on how to become a sales representative !
Tools and technologies
Top tools that SDRs use -
