The more you know, the more successful you’ll be. This definitely applies for sales people, both when managing existing accounts and when trying to woo prospective clients. Getting to know your target customer as best as you can has the potential to contribute to your sales success.
Homework & Information Tracking
Doing a bit of homework and research about clients and targets can provide some good results. Tracking information about previous conversations can also help you. Little bits of info that comes to you from conversations could serve as puzzle pieces that help you create a picture that positions your company as the ideal resource for whatever it is that you sell. (Tip: Try a simple and free customer relationship management tool like Base to keep track of details, quotes, and information from conversations that could help you continually nurture client relationships.)
Benefit from Understanding Clients Budgets and Budget-Related Issues
If you know your clients’ pain points, you’ll be able to tailor and present your solutions in a way that meets their wants and their needs. And, if you know their budget up front, you’ll also save a whole lot of time and energy.
Courting new prospects who don’t have the budget to spend now isn’t necessarily a waste of time (depending on the circumstances) as it can help you with sales pipeline forecasting and quote tracking. But, it is important to know as much as possible about timing and numbers, especially if you’re trying to hit a sales quota and the deal in question could make or break it for you or if they have available budget to spend now and a need that needs to be urgently fulfilled.
Track Info
Keeping track of the information that customers provide during the quotation phase is important as it’ll help you build a picture of what they need and what they want and it’ll also help you plan your time productively and strategically. If they can’t spend for 60 days, you can spend your energy elsewhere right now. If they want to spend but there’s no way they’ll agree to your pricing and you’re not in a position to reduce it, you’ll save valuable cycles. The better you understand their wants and needs the more you’ll position yourself as a consultative sales person that provides value to them — which will count for a lot.
A New Client Questionnaire
A questionnaire can be a very valuable business tool. If you can get new clients and prospects to fill out a client questionnaire, that will help, too. The questionnaire can help you gather important info about their budget and about what they consider to be big selling points when they review quotes. You can create a survey for existing customers, too, that will help you keep information up to date.
Illustrate Your Value
Some customers are more liberal with information about budgets than others but during your information gathering efforts, make your goals clear. By telling people why you want information (in order to best serve them), you’ll increase the chances of getting the info you want and you can use that information to plan sales activities and to build trust, too.