selling Archives - Darryn Van Hout

How To Take Better Notes As A Sales Rep

Darryn Van Hout — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 20:21:12 +0000

Want to become a better sales representative and drive better results? Take better sales notes!

Taking sales notes is not only an effective selling skill that makes one stand out, but it is also a valuable resource that will help you and your sales team to consolidate the entire selling process and corroborate the final purchase decision.

Usually, sales people engage in a myriad of conversations with their customers and prospects; hence too many details can easily be confused or escape. And yes, taking notes is one way to impress your customers and show them that you’re attentive and focused on them.

Unfortunately, majority of sales people frown at the thought of taking notes. As a matter of fact, most sales reps don’t like it.

And it’s not hard to understand why…

Of course, taking notes sounds so old school, bringing to mind those afternoons when you were forced to scribble down everything your history teacher dictated about how the ancestors of the indigenous Australians migrated from Africa because it would be in the next test.

Thankfully, gone are the days when you had to take notes in preparation for a history test. However, as a good marketer, taking notes is a must.

Yep, I know you’re thinking about those days when you have to bump into folks who believe note-taking is a waste of time. Forget about them for a moment and keep in mind that the value of taking good sales notes is more than just remembering the information.

Great sales notes are a sure way to improve productivity, boost collaboration and increase your sales revenue as it gives you greater chances of closing that deal.

Below are some tips on how to take effective sales notes in addition to actionable ways you can integrate in your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to make note-taking worthwhile.

But first, let’s understand the importance of sales notes.

Why sales notes are important in 2022:

Enables you to retain information

Basically, selling is more about providing a solution by matching your product or service with client’s need. Certainly, it’s not humanly possible to remember every detail of a 60-minute conversation via phone unless you have a superb memory. What’s worse, you are likely to remember less in your next follow-up meeting, and this makes it extremely difficult to customise your product/service pitch to suit the unique needs of the customer.
Makes your customer/prospect feel special

Taking notes is impressive and assures the customer that you are keenly listening to what they are saying.

Have you ever placed your order at a restaurant where the waiter didn’t jot anything down? The thought that pops on your mind would be, “Gosh, I hope they’ll bring the exact thing I ordered”. Taking notes is a way to confirm to the customer or prospect that you are diligent and taking the time to accurately capture the details they are providing.
Enhances the sales process

Accurate and well detailed notes aren’t just for the salesperson; they are also an essential resource for the sales team as well.

When a sales team gets into the habit of comparing notes, collaboration is improved immensely as team players help each other to successfully close deals. This also enables the sales manager to stay abreast and remain on top of deals and comes in when necessary.

In addition, sales notes can be used as a quality control measure as they help sales managers to have greater insight of the entire sales process as well as sales pipeline, and this helps them to determine the right mechanism to use and when to guarantee better results.
Births fresh ideas and queries

Sometimes it can be challenging to talk and evaluate at ago. Taking time to review your sales notes after a call or meeting often opens your eyes to fresh points or connections you might have missed while engaging and speaking with your prospect.
Enables you to create an excellent pitch deck

An impressive pitch deck cannot be build without comprehensive sales notes gathered during a needs analysis exercise. The more detailed your notes are, the better the sales deck you’ll build to speak powerfully in a way that addresses the needs and concerns of your prospective customers.

7 Steps to help you take better sales notes

Excellent sales notes can be a means to developing effective selling cycles, establishing rewarding relationships with prospects, keeping your team abreast and most importantly assisting you close that deal.

(Hint: Bring your CRM along with you).

Develop a game plan

Don’t schedule a call or meeting with a blank sheet of paper. Before interacting with a client, be sure to have clear goals, game plan and questions. This should be engineered as part of your selling cycle.

Carefully review each stage of your selling cycle. Keep in mind that the processes of prospecting, needs analysis, pitching and retaining customers involve distinct strategies and hence different approaches are required.

So, what specific information is required when it comes to client discovery or developing a selling cycle?

The type and number of queries will depend on how efficient and effective your sales team is; but basically it should include:

Contact details (include name and titles)
Goals
Pain points
Main agenda (discussion topics)
Willingness to purchase
Outcome of the meeting

You can make the process simpler and save time by creating this directly into your CRM:

a) Add notes to each contact as you progress, but better still you can customise your CRM with each field and question.

b) Integrating custom fields in your CRM to draw vital details of your leads guarantees consistency that enables your sales reps to ask similar questions while providing a coherent framework to guide your sales team.

2. Personalise your sales notes

When it comes to sales, your focus shouldn’t just be selling. The process also involves building solid relationships hence every conversation should sound and feel as though it is with someone you truly value.

Once you’re through with your conversation via call, quickly jot down the most important sales information as well as any personal details.

Did the prospect mention a hobby, favourite restaurant or an upcoming anniversary? Those little things matter and can make a really huge difference.

Here’s how it looks for me:

I visit my doctor for a general check-up twice a year. My doctors some what of a champion in my eyes. He always remembers my family and my work. It may not sound such an important detail, but I appreciate the fact that he takes time to make me feel special and looked after.

3. Don’t capture everything word for word

It’s worthwhile to know that sales notes are not direct transcriptions; hence you don’t have to write everything word for word as this may make you too busy to engage and give maximum attention to what the customer or prospect is saying.

It’s better if you can think and focus on more insightful, important and actionable information. This will help you think of the ultimate goal. While at the information-gathering phase carrying out your needs analysis, consider only the information you need to keep handy during pitching.

What important details are you expecting to gather during the conversation? Breaking down your thought process to the essentials can help you stay focused during a call.

Pro-TIP

It would be more prudent of you if you recorded a call on Zoom or Google Meet as this would help you pay more attention to the conversation and take your notes later. Nevertheless, don’t skip this crucial step since taking good notes is still an important skill.

Sometimes sales persons adopt acronyms that make note-taking easier. For example, the acronym “BANT” is common in sales frameworks as it refers to budget, authority, need and timeline.

No doubt, acronyms and shorthand forms of writing are a great timesaver and you can always use them whenever you want.

4. Keep your sales notes consistent

Both CRM and sales notes are important resources for personal use as well as use by your sales team and the company at large.

Therefore as you take notes, don’t just write them for yourself, have others in mind and write in such a way that they will find it easier to read and use them to build up a database that can help the team identify common themes and problems over time.

PRO-TIP:

Ensure your notes are clear and concise, and save time and energy. Integrate CRM fields, sales acronyms and call frameworks that are standardised to enable everyone else to read and understand them with ease.

5. Note every actionable detail

Always note down any idea or issue that requires immediate action, follow-up or has a timeline. This should include tasks, customer follow-ups and internal to-dos.

You should also add actionable items to your Calendar and set reminders for tasks that need follow-up.

6. Conclude your sales notes

More often than not, this is a gap in the sales process. Have you ever tried to read through your notes only to realise you can’t read your own handwriting? Or a keyword you thought you jotted down but can’t be traced? Well, this can be avoided when you spare some minutes after a sales conversation to complete your sales notes. Finish your thoughts, fill any blanks and ensure your notes can be understood and used by the next team member in the next phase of your sales funnel or customer journey.

7. Quickly update of your CRM

Sometimes you may not take your sales notes directly in CRM. As such, ensure you update your CRM as quickly as possible. When your notes have important updates for your team or entire company, be sure to tag them using the @ within the CRM so they get to know the state of the deal or opportunity.

This is particularly where the deal is whopping and the sales process will take longer—weeks or even months, involving multiple calls and demos, and you’ll need all the information handy and synchronized in one place.

Sales notes give you all the relevant information whenever you need it

Regardless of the sales phase you are in, having your sales notes well updated in the CRM enables you to find any information needed to push a deal to the next phase and eventually close it.

While note-taking can sometimes be cumbersome, it’s a sure helpful means to build relationships and improve your chances of closing that deal.

Take time to learn the art of note taking and once you master it, you’ll find it easier to remember the small things about your customers as you impress them with your level of attention to detail. We find it a sturdy foundation for lasting relationships.

The post How To Take Better Notes As A Sales Rep appeared first on Darryn Van Hout.

Psychology Says You Can Actually Sell Anything, So Long as You Use These 5 Hidden Switches

Darryn Van Hout — Sat, 29 Aug 2020 06:05:50 +0000

It’s always the number one thing on every sales rep’s mind—to pitch better, sell faster and win more customers. I can tell you for free that it is possible and can be found in the power of persuasion.

Mastering and practising the art of persuasion is a must for anyone looking to set up a successful business. If that’s you, below are a few timeless switches to help you tap into the possibilities of human psyche and eventually turn potential customers into real buyers.

But first, did you know that the most seasoned and notable marketers worldwide don’t consider marketing as an “art form” but as an exact science? I thought you should know.

This is simply because marketing, just like any other science, has been researched so extensively, tested since time immemorial and proven to the point of predicting exactly what will work or what won’t.

I’ve been deeply interested in understanding the art of persuasion and marketing, and this has compelled me to study and learn from the very best—Seth Godin, Robert Cialdini, Gary Vaynerchuk among others.

After tapping into the experience of these marketing gurus, putting into practice and trying out a few marketing methods for about a decade, I can confidently confirm that there’s no brand in the world that can’t sell if you and I can just hit the five switches hidden in the human psyche.

1. Solution Switch:

Prove that your product provides a solution to their problems

People don’t just buy products; they buy solutions to their problems. If you can convince your potential buyers that your product offers a solution to whatever problems they might be facing, you will capture their interest and ignite the most important switch needed to make a successful sale.

For instance, if you are making a sales video to promote online businesses, as an innovative online entrepreneur, first ask yourself what would lure you into purchasing a sales video from another seller for your internet business. Is it the humour or creativity in the sales video or the additional effort and attention involved in making it? It’s definitely none of the above given that true excitement has nothing to do with features of a video but more about the leads and prospective customers generated by the sales video. So the next time you have a product, don’t market it, instead sell the source of your potential buyer’s excitement.

2. Trust Switch:

Become the authority figure

Trust is a fundamental element of making a successful sale and regardless of whether consciously or sub-consciously, every customer wants to confidently purchase from a legit source. One of the effective ways to gain a customer’s trust is to convince them that you’re actually an authority figure—a trusted expert in your field.

To demonstrate how crucial the trust switch is, try and recall the last time you went to see your doctor and why most people trust their doctors. It’s because doctors are considered as authority figures when it comes to matters health and medicine. That’s why when doctors tell us to do this and that to fix our health issue; we obey because we trust them even though we have no idea about the medical reasoning behind the solution they recommend. This very reality underscores the reason why trust is a great persuader. When you consider someone as an authority figure, you will buy anything he or she sells to you.

3. Likeability Switch:

Befriend your target customers

People resonate well with those who share their beliefs and values, and find it difficult relating with those who don’t. In the same way, customers will prefer buying from marketers they like. This is the main reason why some sagas like overbooking by United Airlines and BP oil spill became a PR nightmare for the respective companies and resulted in significant declines in business. It’s no wonder that companies will go out of their way to publicise their philanthropy acts.

This switch works best on a higher level particularly of a company’s image, but is even more powerful when applied at the customer level.

Customers always want to feel that you are truly dedicated to their well-being and that you’re listening and understand their needs and wants. This means you should know your customers’ needs and tailor your product or service in a way that solves their distinct problems.

When you befriend your customers and build robust relationships with them, you curve for yourself a niche that is above your competition since customers will not view you as a selfish corporate brand, but rather as a friend.

4. Evidence Switch:

Give proof, not promises

In most cases people are sceptical as to whether or not the product or service will provide the ultimate solution they hope to get from the purchase. This uncertainty leaves them teetering on the edge, given that sometimes it can be challenging to determine the quality and usefulness of the product or service you’re selling before buying and using it. In essence, customers are wondering, will signing and paying up for this marketing course truly turn me into a smarter salesman and multiply my earnings? Will purchasing this brand new outfit make heads turn? Will paying a little more to get a professional resume writing service really increase the number of interview invitations I will get?

This is where you need to come in. Give your prospects some sensible reasoning, customer testimonials and quantitative data that validate the truth and solutions they are looking for.

Feed them with hard evidence that supports the fact that they should expect to reap all the benefits they expect when they choose to purchase your product or service, and be sure to win them over as enthusiastic consumers.

5. Emotional Switch:

People buy on emotion, then they justify with logic

This may seem like nonsense however the statement makes perfect sense to me. I learned this basic sales fact at the start of my career yet can confidently say that I relied on my teachers experience when practising in my first sales role.

Hey, I didn’t have a psychology degree but it worked!

Through an extensive career in sales and business I have experienced first hand the pro’s and con’s of not only applying this to sales. What’s more important is understanding the psychology behind it.

The choice to buy a product or service is a subconscious choice, and it’s these subconscious decisions that are developed deeply through an empirical mental processing system followed by it’s own logic or justification.

In short, turn your product or service into a customer-centric story, allowing your prospective buyer to feel a part of your idea. Do this by identifying your customers needs and emotional triggers.

How you say? well this depends on your marketing strategy. For example, in direct sales you can develop a series of questions that escalates the triggering of the emotional switch so that you can efficiently close.

In conclusion, it is the understanding of human psychology that will aid your efforts to increase sales within your role or your business. If you are making sales without applying this then imagine what you can do to your bottom line when you adopt these 5 hidden switches.

The post Psychology Says You Can Actually Sell Anything, So Long as You Use These 5 Hidden Switches appeared first on Darryn Van Hout.