The global customer relationship management (CRM) software market is forecast to grow to 57 billion U.S. dollars in size in 2025. This is a projected increase of almost four billion U.S. dollars from 2021, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.1 percent.
This data highlights not only the importance that Taiwan places on enhancing customer relationship management, but it also represents the increasing emphasis of the global market on strengthening this aspect. Additionally, it underscores the focus on augmenting businesses’ own capabilities, such as how to improve customer interaction rates in order to drive sales growth.
The 7 Essential Skills for Sales
1. Understanding Matters from the Customer’s Perspective
From a sales perspective, one of sales skills is possessing empathy allows you to see things from the customer’s point of view. When you can understand the customer’s potential thoughts or their underlying feelings, you are able to guide the conversation in an effective manner. This indirectly helps you discover the customer’s buying motives and pain points. These insights enable you to better judge when to push forward actively and when to hold back slightly, making the entire transaction process smoother.
2.Utilize the Questioning Method to Help Clients Articulate Their Core Needs More Specifically
It’s common for sales personnel to get carried away with talking while selling, but this often leads to the pitfall of incessantly persuading others to buy your product, without stopping to understand or discover the customer’s needs first.
Conversely, you should initially focus on listening to your potential customers. In most cases, they will tell you what their pain points are and what they are looking for. Listen to what they have to say, then determine the best next step for them.
Guiding the conversation with questions is a commonly used method to obtain the information you need, while ensuring that they feel satisfied with the interaction!
Effective listening to everything the customer says makes it easier for you to ask probing questions, allowing you to delve deeper into understanding their needs and interests, and helping you to provide the right solutions.
3.Knowing What the Customers are Thinking Without Them Having to Say It
Observational skills enable you to discern the unspoken needs of your customers. This involves not only the listening aspect mentioned earlier, but also your emotional intelligence (EQ). A good EQ helps maintain a positive interaction in any situation, thereby increasing the customer’s willingness to purchase. It also indirectly enhances your observational skills.
When interacting with customers, it’s important to pay attention to their facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language in a timely manner. This helps understand their current emotional state, allowing you to better adjust your sales strategies and communication methods. This not only aids in building trust and relationships, but also enables you to respond more accurately to their questions and concerns.
Especially when dealing with customer dissatisfaction or doubts, maintaining composure and professionalism can guide the conversation more effectively. You can then use a positive atmosphere to steer their purchasing intentions. For example, when you notice signs of curiosity about a product, you can more actively introduce the product or service, guiding them towards a purchasing decision, thereby achieving your sales goals.
4.Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time, Maintaining Your Optimal State
As a salesperson, your day can be divided into many segments. With an increasing number of clients and proposals, your goal should be to work more efficiently, rather than simply increasing the length of your work hours. Effective time management involves several methods, among which two key factors are crucial:
Energy Management:
Time management is not just about efficiency in work; it also involves managing your energy, finding a balance between work and life to always maintain your best state at work. It’s about working smarter, not just harder.
Prioritizing Tasks:
Each week’s work rhythm varies. Managing your energy, along with effectively arranging priorities and distributing workloads, can significantly enhance work performance. Allocate your time sensibly to maximize sales potential. Compared to working 12 to 15 hours a day with minimal gains, a more efficient salesperson with shorter working hours is more likely to achieve their sales targets.
5.The Often Overlooked ‘Integrity’
This point can directly determine the fundamental factor in a salesperson’s success or failure — integrity. Whether dealing with potential, existing, or loyal customers, sales personnel should not sell products or services that are unsuitable for an individual, purely for personal gain. Nor should they mislead about what a product or service can do for someone. Overpromising and underdelivering can ultimately lead to significant difficulties.
6.Growth Mindset
When people possess a growth mindset, they can achieve incredible feats. What does this mean? It’s more like a belief, the belief that you can improve your abilities over time and learn new, important skills. It also means recognizing the importance of hard work and continuous improvement, rather than sticking to one’s own ways.
7.The ‘Always Have a Next Step’ Communication Skill
Salespeople spend most of their day communicating, so being an effective communicator is crucial! Whether it’s sending emails, holding meetings, making phone calls, or developing business, sales personnel need to communicate in various ways almost every day. So, what constitutes effective communication? Simply put, effective communication helps you articulate clearly and achieve your goals. Always be mindful of your audience and adjust your approach as needed.
How do we implement these sales skills?
Listening and communication skills can be practiced through the following points:
Focus on enhancing listening abilities by learning how to identify needs and potential issues from what customers say. This can be practiced through everyday conversations with others, listening and responding, and even understanding non-verbal gestures and customer behavior signals.
Then, work on the basics of communication, including clear expression, effective listening, and non-verbal communication. Practice communication in various scenarios such as client meetings, telephone conversations, and email communication.
Frequently engage with relevant departments for product presentation practice: to deepen teamwork and personal product knowledge.
Learn how to add value within a team, and participate in team-building activities in everyday life. Practice interdepartmental communication in the workplace. Besides teamwork, it’s essential to deeply understand the products or services you are selling, regularly check for updates, and stay abreast of market trends and technological advancements.
Ready to break through in performance? Use CRM system to double your efficiency!
A CRM system, short for ‘Customer Relationship Management System,’ is a set of tools and technologies specifically designed for managing, recording, and analyzing interactions between a business and its customers. Its primary purpose is to help enterprises establish and maintain good relationships with customers, thereby increasing customer satisfaction, loyalty, and sales performance.
Centralized Customer Data: All customer information, transaction records, and communication details in the CRM are stored on a securely protected platform. Sales personnel can quickly access needed information without gathering data from dispersed channels, thus enhancing work efficiency.
Automated Workflows: The CRM system can automate repetitive tasks such as reminders and sending regular customer communications. For example, after a customer completes a purchase, the system can automatically send a thank-you note and follow-up survey, reducing the need for manual intervention by sales staff.
Comprehensive Records: The CRM system tracks every customer interaction, including calls, emails, and meetings. This centralization of information enables sales personnel to better understand customer communication and respond quickly to their needs.
Overall Customer Management and Personalized Communication: By analyzing customer data, the CRM can identify different customer groups and behavior patterns. This allows sales personnel to design personalized marketing strategies and communication plans for specific groups, enhancing the relevance and effectiveness of their communication.
These features collectively enhance the efficiency of the sales team, enabling them to focus more on building relationships and increasing sales, rather than spending time on tedious administrative tasks, thereby indirectly improving effective time management.
KSCC is a management consulting company in Taiwan. Their services include corporate in-house training, consulting, and leadership management. For more information about their corporate services, visit: https://kscthinktank.com.tw/custom-training/