Salesforce is one of the most popular CRM software platforms in the world, and for a good reason. It's an incredibly powerful tool that allows companies of all sizes to manage their sales processes more effectively. If you're looking to increase your sales prospects, then you need to be using Salesforce - and here are some tips and tricks to help you get started.
Salesforce prospects are the people who you want to talk with about your product or service. They represent a potential source of new leads for your business, and if you can get them interested in what you have to offer, then this is a good thing; it means that they will be more likely to buy from you in future.
It also means that you have a pool of people who are interested in what your business does, and this is important for many reasons. Firstly, it gives your company an advantage over others; if there's something that they want, then you're more likely to be able to provide it because the prospect has already expressed interest in what you do.
Secondly, knowing how much demand there is out there means that when new customers come along, they'll know exactly where to find them - making sure that those first few sales go smoothly can make all the difference between success and failure.
Before you can start prospecting, there are a few things that need to happen first:
1. You must have identified your target market. This will differ from company to company, and it's important that you make sure that the people who are on your list of possible customers match up with as many aspects of the demographic information about them as possible; these include gender, age group and other characteristics like how much they earn or their location (e.g. "in London").
If this sounds daunting, then don't worry - Salesforce has some useful tools for helping you do this in a quick way so you can save time.
2. You must have a list of your potential customers; this is the easiest step, and it's important that you do not skip it in order to get started on prospecting as soon as possible - if you don't have any information about them then they aren't going to be interested in what you offer, so getting a list before doing anything else will make things easier for both of us!
3. You need an initial way with which to contact people: having someone who knows how sales work at all levels (from commission-based representatives through the down-market door-to-door sales to people who are just starting out and need help with their first interactions) is a great advantage, but even if you don't have anyone in your organization that can do this for you once again it's important that you get something set up before prospecting starts.
4. You MUST realize what the steps are: think about all of the things that could happen between when someone hears about your product or service from someone else and when they actually purchase; these include contacting you by phone, emailing you or even visiting your website.
The numbers of people who do this are probably small enough that you can forget about them unless they're potential customers and just start with the ones that fit into one of those three categories; if so, focus on getting things set up in each area to ensure everything is ready as soon as possible.
5. You MUST think carefully about what's going to be important: why would someone buy? What made them interested? And how will they get a copy (e.g. file size)?
For example, it doesn't really matter much whether or not you list a price on your website because if someone is curious enough to click on it in the first place, then they probably know what kind of product or service will be useful for them - but at least think about some things that are important, as this will help when planning out how and where to focus.
For finding the best Sales Prospects, you MUST make a list of things that you'd like to hear: For example, there are many types of salesperson, and each type has its own strengths (and weaknesses).
If someone is looking for an accountant or financial advisor, then it's important that they can see a balance sheet right at the top and understand how much money they have to work with if needed; your potential customer may be interested in knowing how long it would take before he/she could start paying back their loan; this will also help them decide what kind of interest rate works best for him for example.
The person I was talking to had a lot of experience in his profession, and he just couldn't stop telling me, "what you need is this..." but what about the people who are looking for something completely different? The best thing that we can do here is to work out exactly how good each salesperson needs to be at their job, as many will have very specific areas where they excel.
For example, if someone wants an accountant, then it's much better if one knows financial statements well enough so that they can understand them instantly (without having to go through pages of complicated numbers). If, however, your potential customer will be looking for a very specific type of accountant, then it's best that they are really good at this.
It can also help to ask around in the office or among friends, as many people have plenty of extra time on their hands after work (or during lunchtime) and may well know if there is someone who could do what you need - especially since most salespeople usually get referrals from their own customers so if you're doing something different than them, then it helps your chances; they'll probably be more willing to give recommendations than strangers on the internet!
If all else fails, there's always the option to look on LinkedIn or Facebook (unless, of course, you work in a very small office, then it might not be appropriate) and see if anyone who is obviously good at what they do could help.
As with anything else in life, the experience will only take you so far; this means that even though someone may have done retail for many years, if they are completely overloaded with clients and haven't had any time to learn something new recently, then their chances of being able to help maybe slim-to-none. If your potential customer says, "I'd like a bookkeeper", then it's very unlikely that they'll be able to teach you how to do this.
The process of qualifying a Sales Prospect is very similar to that of qualifying a customer. However, as with the previous part, there are some factors that can make this slightly more difficult or even impossible.
It's important to remember that salesforce clients must be top-level users (i.e. they need enough access rights so that you can see their Sales Data on your reports) for them to be able to help - if, in doubt, it is best not just to ask but rather check by actually trying out one of these "top-level" client accounts and comparing how much time you spend performing tasks such as creating new Contacts, Lists, Accounts etc.
It's also important to remember that not all Salesforce accounts are created equal - if you have a client who has only been using Salesforce for six months and they've never had any training or support, and it is unlikely that they will be able to help with anything special - in fact, you may find yourself having more trouble explaining what exactly your needs are as opposed to just being an overworked contact center employee! The bottom line on this one, though, is; that you don't expect the best from somebody who does a lot of sales reps but doesn't know how to manage their accounts.
Also, it is important to remember that if you are in a call center environment or the client has been using Salesforce for a while. Then they may already have some sort of help structure in place - this means that they will be able to provide their existing sales reps with support on how best to use the system and what tasks/tasks can be delegated - these people should not just be left on other workers, never mind customers!
This type of situation also makes standard training modules like PowerSchool less relevant as there's often an "in-house" training infrastructure that most sales reps are already familiar with and will be able to prepare for your training.
So, if you do find yourself in a position where it is necessary to hire somebody as part of an internal procedure, but they don't know Salesforce, then the best thing to start with is going through their contact lists (existing leads) making sure that they have the right access rights - anything more than this can create problems later on when you try and add them into accounts or get them assigned tasks etc. If all else fails, then "do what we always do" and make up an account for them.
I don't know about you, but I find this type of situation an absolute nightmare and am surprised at how many times I've been asked to do things like this - who would ever think that sales reps wouldn't have the right access rights!? As a result, it is incredibly important to be absolutely sure of what they are able to do before adding them into accounts!
