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Selling is hard. Selling amidst a pandemic is even harder. Yet, there are sales reps who continue to perform well and build good relationships with their customers. What are their secrets to success?
To learn more about how selling has changed, Salesforce surveyed 600 sales professionals across the ASEAN region. These findings were captured in the 2020 Salesforce Trends in ASEAN Sales report.
The report reveals that high-performing sales reps recognise the importance of showing empathy — before, during, and after the sale — to build customer trust through challenging times.
High-performing reps are also more insight driven in anticipating customer needs. Finally, they embrace technology that makes selling easier, faster, and more intuitive.
Building long-term customer relationships requires trust — before and after the sale. According to our State of Sales report, 89% of sales reps believe there is an increased need to build trust before a sale. Eighty-five percent agree there is an increased need to build trust after a sale.
To achieve this, high-performing sales reps show empathy for their customers during their most challenging times.
At a recent webinar on how sales reps can retool for the future, Tahsin Alam, Regional Vice President, Philippines at Salesforce, said:
“It’s no longer sell and run. You have to be there before and after the sale to build that trusted relationship. If the reps can be there with customers during their trying times, the relationship will be stronger.”
Philip Macahilig, Group Head Commercial Operations at Del Monte Philippines, shared an example of how his reps built trust during the difficult lockdown period. He explained that his reps spoke up when data showed that some buyers were unnecessarily over-ordering during the height of the pandemic.
“Our buyers appreciated that because after the lockdown we were one of the suppliers that didn’t have a lot of unsold inventory with our customers. Acting with integrity and making sure we do what’s best for our customers is how we build a foundation of trust.”
For reps to understand what’s best for their customers, they need access to deep customer insights.
According to the State of Sales Report, high-performing reps are 2.4 times more likely to monitor customer communication history than poor-performing reps. They are also 1.6 times more likely to monitor competitor activity, and 7.3 times more likely to monitor customer purchase history.
Successful sales teams consider customer insight tools vital. Del Monte, for example, has engaged Tableau to consolidate data from multiple sources into a single repository. Macahilig explained:
“Our drive now is to make sure our reps are armed with data that enables them to generate customer insights and make their action plans hard hitting. We’d like our reps to think like management, and when they look at the data see several dimensions of the business in a single repository.”
For many businesses, digital transformation has accelerated and their sales technology needs have undergone rapid change. The State of Sales Report found that the top five sales tools that have grown more valuable since 2019 are:
According to Tom Abbott, Sales Optimisation Expert and Keynote Speaker at SOCO, high-performing sales reps use tools like Sales Cloud to be more responsive to their customers.
“That’s how they beat the competition. Look at AI tools, for example. Something as simple as a chatbot on your website can capture leads, then prequalify and assign them to a sales rep very quickly.
“Automating your sales process with auto-responders and templates through your CRM means sales reps can focus on high-value tasks like actually picking up the phone and building relationships with customers. Providing a mobile sales app to your reps enables them to access the CRM remotely. That makes selling easier and faster for reps.”
There is no magic formula that transforms a struggling sales rep into a high performer. Rather, sales success in the new normal depends on the rep’s willingness and ability to adjust to new conditions.
As customers continue to find their feet in this new environment, high-performing sales reps will be a pillar of support before and after the sale. Reps will use data-driven insights to anticipate customer needs. They’ll also use a variety of sales tools to become more responsive to their customers.
To learn more about how sales teams in ASEAN are staying on top of their game, read the Salesforce Trends in ASEAN Sales report.
