6 Tools That You Need to Be a Good Salesman.

Closing sales means bringing in business and, hopefully, lasting customers. However, moving from initial contact to money in the bank isn’t nearly as easy as it looks. Aside from having the drive to close a deal, a good salesman must also have the right tools.

With so many tasks and responsibilities circling you from day to day, it’s easy to feel too overwhelmed to do a good job. To make your sales jobs more manageable, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of sales tools at your disposal.

You’ll need tools that help you become more organized, stay on task, communicate better with clients, and leave work at work when you head home. If that sounds attractive to you, here are some essential sales tools that you should be using.

1. Personality Traits and Skills

First and foremost, being a good salesman goes beyond the technical. You must also have certain personality traits and skills to handle this difficult occupation. As you work to close quicker deals and to increase your success in this field, here are some personality traits on which to work.

Patience: Let customers make decisions at their own speed. Some sales will take longer than others.

Commitment: It may take 99 phone calls dropped or doors slammed in your face to get your first sale, but if you’re committed to the job, you’ll get it done.

Integrity: Shady sales people always have a more difficult time connecting with consumers and maintaining lasting customers than those who approach the process with honesty and transparency.

Flexibility: You have to be available for customers, even when it’s not convenient. You may also need to adjust your initial goals to work with difficult customers and extenuating circumstances.

Enthusiasm: The more excited and confident you are in a product, the more you’ll be able to convince consumers of its worth.

Motivation: Most of the time, you’ll set your own goals, hours, and quotas, so it’s essential to stay motivated if you want to achieve success.

2. Mobile Apps

It’s hard to be a good salesman today without a smartphone loaded with useful apps. Some apps will help you to communicate better with your customers, while others will improve lead storage. You likely already have a few apps in your mobile library, but here are a few that you can add.

CamCard: Save a sales lead instantly with this accurate note-taking and storage app.

Square: Retain the ability to accept payment at the door.

GoToMeeting: Tune-in to conferences with your sales team, even when you’re traveling.

Dragon: Take notes on your phone by using tech that translates voice into text.

SpotHero: Stop looking for affordable, nearby parking when you travel to meetings. This app instantly shows all of the parking places in the vicinity around your meeting.

Pocket: When you find a timely and educational article or video on the web, bookmark it for later.

3. Cloud Collaboration

Everything is moving to the cloud these days, and you should too. It’s the easiest and most efficient way to store your sales files accurately and securely. You no longer need worry about accidentally deleting files or losing everything when your desktop crashes. If it’s in the cloud, you can almost always retrieve it.

In addition, the cloud makes it easy to collaborate, both with team members and your clients. When using cloud-based productivity platforms and file sharing, you can communicate relevant information with anyone, no matter where you are. As a salesperson, you’re likely required to travel often, and tools like Google Drive, iQuoteXpress, and other productivity sales platforms will keep you constantly connected.

4. Email Tracking

Understanding the effectiveness of your emails will show you where to improve and which habits to continue. Features in a good email tracking software will include email templates, monitoring of outgoing emails for the entire team, integration with other software, the ability to see when messages are opened, consistent online support, email analytics, comprehensive email reports, and other key email marketing tools.

With the ability to track emails across your entire sales team constantly, communication becomes increasingly more attainable for both teams and clients. Your sales will improve, and your quotas will be easier to reach.

5. Quota Tracking

Every sales person has a quota they must reach on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. The best sales people stick to their quotas religiously and hold themselves to a higher standard each time they achieve their goals.

Reaching these quotas is difficult, but it gets easier when you use software to improve the process. Cloud-based productivity software, for example, can help entire sales teams collaborate in order to work toward both individual and team goals. When team members see their own progress and the progress of others, it can motivate them to achieve even higher goals and to improve their sales in the process.

6. Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) Software

Many salespeople will tell you that managing proposals is one of the most difficult aspects of staying organized and productive as a salesman, particularly those with complex sales processes. Businesses with a variety of products and services to offer have a much more difficult time giving an accurate quote than small businesses, a process that can drag down the proposal process and reduce the professional quality.

When you have CPQ software, you’ll begin to change your tune. This tool allows you to manage proposal by proposal accurately and quickly, rather than getting caught up in mounds of files to approach.

Essentially, CPQ software is a tool that enables more efficient sales processes through increasing deal size, scalable accuracy, and cloud convenience. iQuoteXpress, for example, is a resource specifically designed for teams looking for more professional, accurate, and timely proposals. It can be customized to your unique objectives and offers a variety of features.

When you’re faced with complex sales quotes, this software can integrate your catalog to minimize and eliminate errors; deliver accurate quotes; and create striking, branded, and complete proposals.

Aside from that, once the proposal is created, you can track your leads, monitor and manage activities, and ultimately close more deals. This incredible sales tool seems too good to be true, but it’s not. In fact, you can contact iQuoteXpress now for more information. We’d be happy to hook you up with a free, no-obligation online demo of our CPQ software today! 

6 Characteristics to Look for in a Good Proposal Writer

Whether you’re selecting an individual from inside your organization or hiring an outside contractor, choosing the best writer for your proposal is a crucial part of the process. And in order to ensure you hone in on the right individual, you need to understand exactly what you need.

What Do You Want From Your Writer?

Start by thinking about what you really want from your writer. You can’t expect to find a writer that fits your proposal needs unless you’ve already clearly defined what these needs are.

Based on your needs, you should be able to determine whether the writer needs to be brought in from the outside or whether the position can be filled internally by using a writer that’s already on your team.

Perhaps the biggest thing to consider is the technical side of your proposal. How much of the proposal is based on information that’s specific to your organization? And how complex and technical is this information? If you bring in an outside writer, it could take days or weeks for that individual to fully understand what your business does, what voice it uses, and where the proposal fits into the picture.

An individual within your organization already has a very good feel for what your business does and the voice it possesses. However, they may not have the same writing skills as someone you’re able to bring in from outside.

When searching for a proposal writer, make sure you know exactly what you want from the writer. There will always be tradeoffs and it’s up to you to determine what’s most important to you.

The 6 Characteristics Your Proposal Writer Needs

While certain elements are optional, there are also a number of attributes a proposal writer must possess in order to be successful.

Ability to Follow Directions

While a good writer is able to work independently and perform well without constant “babysitting” (and we’ll discuss this later), he also must possess the ability to digest instructions without deviating from precise directions.

Proposal writing is very different from standard content writing. It requires careful attention to detail and the final product is heavily influenced by a predetermined structure. In other words, the writer has less room for personalization. The goal is to develop a quality and engaging proposal that meets pre-established stipulations. A proficient proposal writer prioritizes adherence to guidelines.

Clear Communication

Communication is of paramount importance. This is especially true if you’re contracting with a proposal writer who doesn’t actually work in your office. You shouldn’t have to be the one always sending out emails requesting updates. A good proposal writer will initiate communication and provide regular feedback.

Along these same lines, a good proposal writer is easy to get in touch with. While they may not always pick up the phone when you call – nobody likes distractions when in a “writing zone” – they will call you back as soon as possible. Writers may be more effective at writing than verbally communicating, but the best writers understand the importance of the latter and work hard to facilitate regular conversation.

Dependability and Promptness

Reliability is a big thing. There are a lot of talented writers in the industry, but only a small percentage of them are reliable enough to handle something as important as writing a proposal.

When comparing different writers, try to determine their dependability. Can you count on them to consistently meet deadlines, follow the rules, and give you the time necessary to produce a quality proposal that resonates with the target? Sometimes you have to take a gamble on this, but an individual’s references and past work typically provide you with some insight into future work.

Creativity

“In many ways writing in a business setting is less demanding than other kinds of writing,” says Brian Wasko, entrepreneur and content writer. “There is little pressure to be creative or particularly original. You are not creating art, after all; you are using the written word for its most basic purpose: to communicate information.”

While proposal writing and creativity aren’t always connected, you should look for a certain amount of imagination and originality in the proposal writers you work with.

In proposal writing, creativity often shines through in different ways. It may involve taking a different angle or highlighting one piece of data over another. You can’t teach creativity, so don’t underestimate the value of ingenuity when you find it.

Personality

Why does a writer need to be personable, you may ask? Well, assuming you choose a good writer and end up working with them over and over again, it’s likely that you’ll be spending a lot of time communicating with them.

It’s much more enjoyable to communicate with someone who has an attractive personality. Your proposal writer doesn’t have to be your best friend, but you should be able to have easy and comfortable conversations with them. The right personality goes a long way.

Ability to Thrive Independently

Finally, proposal writers must be able to thrive independently. While there will be times where you need to sit down and meet with the writer, there will also be large chunks of time – hours or even days – where the writer is left alone to work. During these periods, time management and discipline are critically important.

Try iQuoteXpress Today

In order to get the most out of your proposal writers, you need to supply them with the right tools and resources – one of which is the iQuoteXpress CPQ software. This proprietary solution delivers tremendous value and immediately enhances sales effectiveness by increasing deal-size and establishing scalable accuracy.

iQuoteXpress is specifically tailored to sales teams who are looking to efficiently craft accurate and comprehensive proposals that resonate with targets and produce positive returns. If you feel like your proposal writing team could use a progressive solution like this, then don’t hesitate to contact us. We’d be happy to set you up with a free no-obligation online demo at your earliest convenience. 

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