Even though dashboards provide marketing and sales managers with quite a bit of insight regarding what their IT sales representatives are doing and how effective their tactics are, they may still fall short. In many cases, a better option is to make recording sales calls mandatory. Recording sales calls will provide management with insight into the efforts being used, without violating their potential customer’s trust.
Getting Started with the Recordings
The first step in implementing the recording of sales calls is to ask permission from the prospect. Let them know that this will only be used for training purposes. This will be impressive to the prospect because it will let them know that you highly value what they are going to say during the meeting and that you want to ensure you can reference it if needed.
There is another benefit of recording a sales call. It will allow you to free up your mind to focus on what the prospect is saying and making your presentation, rather than being distracted by taking notes. When you record your sales calls, it will allow you to clarify how interested a prospect is down the road and what benefits and features capture their interest most.
Once you have set up the sales call recording, it may be beneficial to know some of the biggest benefits this offers.
Benefits of Recording Sales Calls
There are several benefits offered by recording sales calls. Some of these benefits include the following:
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Improve the sales training process
When you can listen to a random selection of calls from each sales representative, the sales managers will be able to receive granular insight into their performance. For example, they can evaluate if the rep is able to overcome objections if they are covering the key talking points and it will help identify the person’s weaknesses and strengths. Managers will be able to do a better job of providing personal training when this is possible, as well. With the proper training, an IT sales rep will be able to maximize their potential in closing the sale.
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Improves the entire sales strategy
When sales calls are recorded, sales managers will also be able to continually optimize the sales strategies based on various real-life scenarios. The recordings will also allow the managers to determine some questions to ask and consider:
- What type of objections is being raised continuously?
- What types of questions are prospects asking?
- How the sales reps are able to overcome the obstacles?
These questions will work to help hone a representative’s sales strategies and ensure he is doing everything he can to close the deal.
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Improve the overall marketing message
In many situations, marketers can create content based on the messages that they believe will resonate with the leads, without ever needing to hear the actual sales call. However, when they actually listen to the call recordings, the marketers will be able to identify specific sales objections and pain points. Marketing will then be able to help sales representatives overcome the most common objections.
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Providing insight into lead quality
If the marketing department is presenting sales reps with “qualified leads” that are not sales ready, it is not an ideal solution for those trying to make the sale. However, when the marketers can review the recordings of actual calls, marketers will gain insight into the overall lead quality. This results in sales representatives who are given leads that are ready to convert.
Conclusion
When you take the time to think about it, you can see the clear benefits offered by recording sales calls. Not only will it provide the sales representative and manager with insight to where they need to improve a pitch, it can also help the marketing department and other parts of the business. Call recordings are invaluable tools that all sales teams should utilize. The insight provided is unmatched and it ultimately will lead to additional sales and more new customers. This is a win-win situation for the sales representative who is receiving a commission, as well as the company that has earned a new customer. IT sales representatives need help and assistance and a powerful way to provide this is by recording the calls they make.
About the Author
Michael Fitzgerald is the CEO of Spacelink, providing IT infrastructure cloud hosting services and San Diego IT support since 2001. Michael has over 9 years of experience in IT infrastructure and has a passion to simplify the complexities of information technology and cloud services. Spacelink exists to help companies propel their businesses with a well-reasoned IT strategy and forward-thinking technology that’s cost effective and reliable. Spacelink was recognized as a top Managed IT service provider in North America by MSP Mentor in 2016.