Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - (Page 29)

technology need you to get your sales results in as soon as possible.’” Scenario number two: “You probably take some good notes during your meetings with customers,” he says, “but as good as they may be, I get into a car and I’m talking through my notes as I look through them. And that allows me to capture so much more detail.” Webinars revisited When discussing mobility solutions for a sales team, don’t make the mistake of discounting existing tools that might strike you as old-hat—Webinars, for instance. As Tim Ross, CEO of the Boston-based consulting firm Trainingwell can attest, this is one old dog that’s quite receptive to new tricks. Having worked with a number of sales teams with the intent of boosting their efficiency, Ross has drawn some conclusions regarding what differentiates so-so reps from great ones. “These successful reps—the ones in the group that were really doing well—weren’t waiting for leads to come their way,” Ross says. “They were always developing them on their own. So we were asking, how are you doing this time after time? “We began to explore that, and what we’ve been able to share with other clients [is that] these success- ful reps were leveraging the tools that they all had at their fingertips.” As noted, chief among these is the use of Webinars. “People have been doing that for some time,” he says. “They usually try to give it more of a sales focus, like an introductory type of thing. “But the successful sales reps weren’t doing that. They were doing more of a ‘Tim’s informational session’: ‘Hey, I’m getting everyone together … I’m not going to be able to travel and touch all my clients in a month, so Friday at 2:00, I’d just like to share with you a customer example.’” As Ross attests, the distinction is a big one. “We would have a Web seminar and do a customer showcase, and it would draw the other clients in their pool to listen and join in,” he says. “They didn’t actually want to hear from the sales rep—they wanted to hear from the other company. “It worked out great for the rep,” he continues. “For the next month he would send out some e-mail campaigns: ‘By the way, if you couldn’t join us last week, we had a lot of great responses on this Web seminar. Click here for the link and you can go ahead and listen to it for free.’” s&mm www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com istock photo JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 SALES &MARKETING MANAGEMENT 29 http://www.harrahstahoe.com http://www.harveystahoe.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008

Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Brian Tracy University Sales Marketing Management Cover Story: Lessons From the Master Maximum Mobility Training Technology Incentives/Motivation Travel/Meetings Book Excerpt - Value Merchants The Way I See It - End the Discounting Habit

Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008

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