6 Rules that All New Sales Hires Should Follow

B2B sales is a methodical process. Seasoned and experienced sales people typically follow a process, and typically generate more sales than their less experiecned counterparts. So, if you're a new salesperson, you should follow these rules to increase your chances or success.

Prepare for Each Call

Regardless of how long you've been doing it, you should prepare for each call by researching the prospect, thinking about your objective, and tailor your questioning strategy to help meet your goals for each call. If you follow the same cookie-cutter approach with each correspondence, you'll have a hard time generating conducting effective calls. 

Talk... But Also Listen

Sales conversations shouldn't be a one-way street. In other words, they should be conversational; you should talk and listen during correspondences with prospects. Far too many beginners make the critical mistake of doing all of the talking, only for the prospect to back out and choose a different company with whom to do business. If you ask questions and listen to prospects, however, you'll create a stronger connection while keeping the prospect engaged in the conversation.

Nurture Relationships

Kyle Porter of Sales Loft said it best: “relationships do still matter and trust is everything.” Even if you've convinced a prospect to buy your product or service, you should continue to nurture the relationship you have with him or her. Doing so promotes stronger loyalty and higher customer retention rates.

Don't be Pushy

There's no faster way to turn away a prospect that an overly pushy salesperson. As a salesperson, you must balance the fine line between promoting your product or service while still giving the prospect breathing room. If you're too aggressive with your sales efforts, you'll push the prospect away, at which point it's doubtful that you'll ever see or heard from him again.

Multiple Methods of Contact

Be sure to offer prospects multiple ways to contact you. If you only include an email address, for instance, some prospects may avoid doing business with you. But if you offer phone, email, instant message, social media, etc., you'll instill trust and confidence while generating more sales in the process.

Monitor the Sales Funnel

A sales funnel can best be described as the process through which a company acquires a prospect and nurtures that prospect into a paying customer. Acquiring a prospect is the top of the sales funnel, while the bottom of the sales funnel is converting the prospect into a customer. New salespersons should closely monitor their sales funnel to determine where prospects are being lost. Using this information, they can optimize their approach for higher sales.

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