Words of Wisdom:

“Never Miss An Opportunity To Get More Business From Existing Clients”

Let’s Learn From Amazon

This morning I received the groceries ordered on Amazon Prime Now.

I have always been a big fan of their packaging and they amazed me yet again.

This time the package had some black diamonds and rectangles printed on it, I got curious…..

What could it be?

And then I read what was written above and below it.

Turns out, the printed shapes can be cut and made into a bow tie for your pet.

The note on the package requested customers to share a picture of their pet in the bow-tie with #AmazonPetsSG.

Motivation: Your “Fur-Kid” might get featured on @amazon.sg 

(Check the usage of the word “fur-kid” instead of a pet, as pet owners consider pets as a family)

So, I went to Instagram and checked for #AmazonPetsSG.

And found really cute pictures of pets with #AmazonPetsSG.

(Although, most of them are not wearing that DIY bow-tie but carried #AmazonPetsSG)

Here are a few for your reference!

Cute, Ain’t She?

This one is another super cute picture from Instagram with #AmazonPetsSG.

(Don’t miss the paw prints on the package)

Here is the full picture of the amazon prime now package btw:

Not just this, the package shared a discount coupon code to enjoy $10 off on pet supplies.

How Amazon Is Getting More Business From Existing Clients? | Cross-Sell

Needless to say, Amazon has complete e-commerce infrastructure sorted out from every possible angle.

Customers love Amazon! ( I am a big fan 🙂 )

Adding more items to be sold on their portal makes complete sense if there is a demand for those items.

Now let’s take a look at how wonderfully is Amazon managing to get more business from existing clients by adding more items.

Looking at the package I guessed that probably Amazon has ventured into pet supplies.

To understand this marketing campaign I began to look for a press release by Amazon Singapore for pet supplies.

Bingo, found one by media outreach published on September 3rd, 2020.

As clear from the press release, that the campaign is to give a boost to the sales of pet supplies.

Also, the $10 off coupon code is a due-diligence to the existing clients.

Why Pet Supplies? | Cross-Sell

Looking at the growing pet population in Singapore, it’s in fact a great business move to get into pet supplies. Amazon Rocks!!

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

Let’s Sum It Up

Always remember there are opportunities to get more business from the existing clients.

You just need to figure out how.

We just shared an amazing way to do so!

If you liked this sales tip, there are many more for you over here.

If you found this post useful, You shall love our “Sales Playbook” concept.

It might not be a bad idea to subscribe to our newsletter. What say?

We promise to deliver value to your inbox only once in 15 days.

You can always unsubscribe if we fail to keep our promise!

Meanwhile, Explore the plethora of resources to help you out your business! If your organisation wants its content marketing strategy designed by Concurate, let’s connect over a short call. Block our calendar today!

This one is a short yet powerful story with a great learning for sales reps.

#Sidebar: Every sales rep faces a situation where the client is choosing between him and someone else (from some other company).

The story is about:

“How a freelance writer bagged the article into his plate from another writer?”

One of our clients works in a niche domain of intellectual property.

We had two articles in the pipeline to be written around patents for them.

And the two writers to choose from:

Let’s take a look at the merits and demerits of the two writers:

Writer 1: (Experienced without subject knowledge)

1. Experienced writer.
2. Not much domain knowledge.
3. Great at researching.
4. But embeds fluff to increase the length of the article.

Writer 2: (Novice with Subject knowledge)

1. Knowledgeable in the IP domain.
2. New to content writing.

Writer 1 has written a few articles for us in the past.

The articles needed the writer to have more subject knowledge to be more valuable.

Hence, we looked for a writer who has some subject knowledge.

Then we found writer 2.

After writer 2 wrote two articles for us, we realized that she needs more direction towards writing powerful articles that provides great value to the readers.

While we were working with writer 2, writer 1 pinged us a couple of times.

He wanted to ask if we have more articles in the pipeline that he could write.

We said, not for now.

He connected with us on Linkedin.

He started liking our posts.

When he did this.

“He became more and more visible to us.”

Now, let’s see the magic of this visibility.

Remember we told you we had two articles to be written.

While writer 2 was working on one of those, we realized she shall need more time to conduct the research.

This meant, she won’t have enough time to work on the second article to meet the dead-line.

That’s when we thought, we can give the second article to writer 1.

Regarding the fluff part, we always review and work it out.

As, we respect the time of the readers and believe in providing value.

Visibility is the Key.

Here, lies the great learning for sales guys.

By staying visible to clients you stay on top-of-their-minds.

And the moment they need a service like yours.

You shall be the first to come to their mind.

As a human, it might be difficult to remember who all do you need to touch base with or stay visible to.

HubSpot CRM tool allows you to filter the inactive contacts and be more visible to them.

Who knows, your mail reached them just when they were in need of your service.

Want to know more how we used HubSpot to close more deals?

Take a look here.

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

It might not be a bad idea to subscribe to our newsletter.

We promise to deliver value to your inbox only once in 15 days.

You can always unsubscribe if we fail to keep our promise!

Meanwhile, Explore the plethora of resources to help you out your business! If your organisation wants its content marketing strategy designed by Concurate, let’s connect over a short call. Block our calendar today!

“Am I risking my money to hire you guys for this work?”

No CEO wants this thought to come in the client’s mind.

Meet Tony!

He runs a services company.

Super passionate about his company and people.

The best part is his people share the same passion to work.

But the indirect questions from clients to test the capability of his team bothers him.

He knows his team is capable.

He is aware of their intellect, passion, and out-of-box thinking.

But, the clients do not.

If his people share this goodness with the world,

On a day-to-day basis in the form of their approach to work.

Believe me!

The clients would come chasing Tony and not otherwise 😉

Do you want your clients to come chasing you?

Follow us for more @Concurate!

Consider this.

A company of 150 people with only 10 people in the sales team.

Maximum, how many people can they reach?

How much business, can they bring?

On top of that, many times the sales team find it difficult to convince people to buy-in.

When you see that the sales numbers are not increasing, you try things like:

1. Hiring more people for sales.
2. Hiring more experienced (this expensive) sales veteran.
3. Giving sales training to your team from a third party.

But it feels frustrating when the numbers don’t budge.

Further, when your top talent leaves the company, you wonder.

What could have you done better to retain them?

You can’t expect strangers to believe in you when your own people do not.

VS this.

A company of 150 people.

Where each of these 150 believes in what the company does, the kind of services it offers.

They are not associated with the company just to take home the salary at the end of each month.

They go out of their way to wow their customers.

Because they feel the pain of customers.

They feel a sense of ownership in the company.

They know that their success is the company’s success.

Imagine, when they share their passion, intellect, and out-of-the-box thinking regularly in their professional networks,

The world would already be aware of their capabilities.

And the question: “Am I risking My Money to Hire You guys?” would never occur in the buyer’s mind.

The reach of 150 people VS the reach of 10 people is 15 times higher in magnitude.

Besides the reach the kind of trust and credibility that employees bring to the table is outstanding.

However, the bigger question is:

“What shall motivate employees to share about their day-to-day work in their professional network?”

Let’s reverse engineer our answer from the world’s most successful medium,

Where people share tons and tons of stuff about themselves – “Facebook”.

What makes people share about themselves on Facebook?

Today I tried this new recipe. -> Showcasing Cooking Skills.

Today I ran 10 km. -> Showcasing the effort to stay fit.

Today I created this artwork. -> Projecting oneself as an artist.

Sharing such stuff helps people create their personal brand.

Appreciation received over these posts in the forms of likes and comments motivates them to do better.

But, there is another level to it.

When people get influenced by you because of the kind of things you share.

Example:

Say, you are a group of people, who provide child counseling services.

You and your team blog about parenting regularly on Facebook.

You speak about how you have helped a lot of parents with behavioral issues with kids.

You share the strategy you used to handle a particular case and how the child got benefitted.

Parents testify that you are incredible at what you do.

A lot of parents follow you through social media and connect with your thoughts.

They even learn from you and benefit.

So, when any parent feels the need to contact a child counselor.

You/anybody from your team will be the first person to strike his mind.

And that’s what every company wants:

To be on top of the buyer’s mind while in need of your services.

Similarly, employees have the power to influence a lot of people.

All they need to do is share your day-to-day approach to work.

Following are a few examples of things they can share:

1. Powerful insights they came across while working on a project.
2. The joy of contributing to a very big project that the company worked on.
3. His thought process/ideas that helped in success for a client.
4. The recognition he/she received at work for bringing in innovation to improve the business process.
5. The prize he/she won for a hack-a-thon/make-a-thon at work.
6. His experience while they were being sent on-site, how company cared for them in a foreign place.
7. How he felt touched when a letter of appreciation about him reached his parents.
8. The happiness he/she felt to have a surprise visit of his/her spouse and kids at work.
9. How she loved the gesture by the company on a woman’s day.
10. The joy she felt to receive a gift from the company for her child.

The list is endless.

Social sharing by employees not only helps in attracting clients, but top talent too.

Hope you get an idea of what happy employees can do for the company.

#WordOfCaution:

We are not advising employees to share company’s content!

We just want them to create their personal brands.

This shall automatically bring indirect credits to the company.

Just like the credits for a child’s behavior are given to his parents/teachers for right upbringing.

But they would share all this if they really feel connected to the work they do.

Wish creating this connection was like following the recipe.

Get the ingredients. Follow the method and Bam!!

Deliciousness Ready!

But it’s not.

It’s like a routine that needs to be repeated every day!

It’s a strong culture that you need to build.

You nurture your kids without any expectation that they will take care of you when you grow old.

You know that following 5 things can make your child feel loved:

1. Hugs and Kisses.
2. Spending Quality Time.
3. Giving Gifts.
4. Serving them good food, tucking them in bed, or walking them to school.
5. Appreciating them.

But, Will it be enough to do all these for just one day?

And your children will keep feeling loved forever……

No.

You need to keep doing it every day.

It’s like a (emotional) tank, which has an open outlet, it gets empty if you do not keep refilling.

Similarly, For Employees, You got to keep their tanks filled.

You got to genuinely invest in their growth.

If you keep doing the following 5 simple things on a regular basis.

Rest Assured.

Employees shall develop a better connection with the company and work.

1. Transparent Decision Making.
2. Rewards and Recognition.
3. Sharing Insights and Learnings.
4. Question from One? Answer it to everyone.
5. Crowdsourcing the solutions to Problems.

Transparent Decision-Making:

Even the smallest decisions you take at the company when shared with its people.

People build trust in the company.

They feel important and cared for.

Example:

You made a decision to procure new laptops.

Choosing the right configuration mapped to employee needs is the best thing you did.

But, it’s even more important to share the thought process behind buying decisions with them.

This shall make them feel that their needs are important to the company.

OR

You decided to reduce the office space and give more work-from-home opportunities for your people.

It’s an amazing decision.

It also shows that you trust your employees.

The feeling of being trusted motivates people to do even better.

It makes them feel more responsible to deliver more than what’s expected of them.

Rewards & Recognition:

When a child wins a race.

He feels motivated to take part in the next race.

That’s the power of reward.

So, when an employee is rewarded with an “Individual Excellence Award”.

He feels like contributing even more towards his work.

This holds true, not just for an individual, but for teams too.

When a team is recognized for their win with the whole company.

Other teams feel motivated to win that recognition too.

Sharing Insights and Learnings:

When people share their learnings with each other, means they want their peers to succeed too.

And, not otherwise.

This is a clear indication of a great team spirit.

To facilitate such sharing practice.

Email chain with “One learning” as a part of the subject line is the simplest and most effective way.

Learning can come from anywhere.

While dealing with the client or while reading a book or listening to a podcast.

Or while interviewing people.

Let’s say you were interviewing a candidate and one of his answers not just surprised you but impressed too.

Sharing his answer with the team and who knows, it might have the power to touch their heart.

Question from One? Answer it to everyone:

Let’s say you receive an email from one of the employees about a concern at work.

Address that concern and communicate it to everyone at the company.

There is a good possibility, that someone else had the same concern too, but could not raise it.

Indirectly the care gets shown for more people.

The effect of response gets multiplied.

The concern could be small or big.

Example:

Request for certain books, courses, certifications etc.

Hygiene, Work-Life Balance, Women Safety.

Just anything.

Crowdsourcing the solutions to Problems:

Whenever there is a problem faced by the whole company at work.

Share it with everyone at the company.

Invite them for help to solve that problem.

Let them use their problem-solving skills.

Discuss and work out the best solution brought to the table.

When people see that their ideas are given importance and implemented at work.

It gives them a great sense of pride.

Hope, with these insights, you shall be able to positively engage your people at work.

Build a strong culture.

And as a result, each of your employees will automatically be part of the sales team.

You would grow your sales team even without hiring more people 🙂

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

You are reading this article is a sign that you really care for your people.

You might like to gain insights on Strong Company Culture too.

Something successful CEOs don’t really share!

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Meanwhile, Explore the plethora of resources to help you out your business! If your organisation wants its content marketing strategy designed by Concurate, let’s connect over a short call. Block our calendar today!

Tring Tring …… Tring Tring….

rang my phone….

I answered…

The voice on the other side said:

“Hi, I am Meena, calling from XYZ company, Our company is offering……”

Beep Beep Beep…..

I disconnected the phone.

Meena lost a sale!

On the other hand, if Meena had opened the conversation a little differently….

Something like…..

“Hi Aditi, Meena this side, we have never met before, but I’m hoping you could help me for a moment(lower voice tone).”

My response would have been….

“Tell me Meena, How can I help you?”

…..See

Meena got me talking 🙂

Such an effective opening! This opening works for three reasons:

1. First, it doesn’t trigger a sales alarm that Meena is trying to sell me something I am not interested in.

2. Acknowledging that Meena has never met me before is gracious on her part and shows respect.

3. Most people are helpful and respond positively when asked for help.

Learned this while reading the book called “Unlock the Sales Game” by @Ari Galper

Happiness for me is to share every interesting thing I learn!

So, here we go :).

If you liked this sales tip, there are many more for you over here.

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

If you found this post useful, You shall love our “Sales Playbook” concept.

It might not be a bad idea to subscribe to our newsletter.

We promise to deliver value to your inbox only once in 15 days.

You can always unsubscribe if we fail to keep our promise!

Meanwhile, Explore the plethora of resources to help you out your business! If your organisation wants its content marketing strategy designed by Concurate, let’s connect over a short call. Block our calendar today!

Were you looking for an email template?

Try personalizing instead of templatizing!

Why?

Well,

When in need of any kind of services,

A buyer compares many service providers,

Before choosing one.

For making a decision, he goes on a call with all of them.

You want to make sure that you are on the buyer’s mind when he makes the buying decision.

Here is exactly what you need to do.

Send a strategic “Thank You” email.

Soon after the WebEx, in which you discovered the buyer’s pain points.

You need to find a way to reflect all of this in the email.

What were the buyer’s pain points?

How did you position your solutions to meet his needs?

What parts of the conversation could the buyer relate to the most?

Below is an example that shall make it easier for you to follow what is being said above.

Background:

Let’s say the name of the buyer is John.

He is the CEO of a company that has come up with a contactless menu and pay system for restaurants.

John started his career as a restaurant manager.

Now, his company provides various tech solutions needed in a restaurant.

John needed our help with marketing for his new contactless solution.

Thank You Email:

Dear John– Great call today! I pray you and your close ones continue to stay safe and well. 

Personally, I was truly inspired to hear your story – from working as a restaurant manager to a successful CEO – it’s Amazing! Thank you for sharing it with us. Also, on the business side, it was good to know about your areas of interest, especially the work that you do with various restaurants. Your vision of tech-driven restaurants is powerful and much needed after COVID.

John, we understand your past experience of working with other agencies hasn’t been very pleasant. At the end of the day, if you are not able to convert the visitors to your site into customers, it’s painful. [This was the problem John shared with us] It is the growth marketer’s job to device & execute a great content strategy to attract potential customers! 

In a marketing project, we (as Concurate) will focus on buyer persona and buyer’s journey. This helps in attracting potential prospects and converting them into customers. Besides that we will have regular connects with you to keep you apprised of the marketing progress. [This is how Concurate can help him] I’m attaching a case study about how we executed the content strategy for one of our clients. I hope this work ethic is something you desire. And, given a chance, we will love to showcase our capabilities and high-quality marketing skills to you over a live project.

Please do keep us on your radar for a suitable opportunity.

Take care. Stay safe and be well.

Kind regards,

Aditi

P.S. John, I will be your go-to person here at Concurate. If you need any info. Or if there is anything we can assist you with – just drop me a message and I will take care of everything. Hope to stay in touch!

If you found this post useful, You shall love our “Sales Playbook” concept.

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

It might not be a bad idea to subscribe to our newsletter.

We promise to deliver value to your inbox only once in 15 days.

You can always unsubscribe if we fail to keep our promise!

Meanwhile, Explore the plethora of resources to help you out your business! If your organisation wants its content marketing strategy designed by Concurate, let’s connect over a short call. Block our calendar today!

Need to hire a Sales Rep?

What’s your hiring strategy?

Before that.

Has it ever happened to you that…..

A person who did very well in the interview could not perform as expected in the job.

This happens when a candidate comes prepared for popular sales interview questions.

And as expected, the interviewer asks him the so called “popular sales interview questions”.

The candidate aces the interview.

However, when the time comes to increase sales for the company, the candidate fails.

Thus, it’s important to present the candidate with “The Unexpected”.

Hence the tactics shared in this post are to go above and beyond the regular interviewing style. The trick is to have a conversation where you indirectly judge the candidate for the following 5 traits:

1. Empathy

2. Articulation

3. Understanding of what triggers a purchase.

4. Creativity

5. Ability to perform under pressure.

/* The post shares why each of these traits is important and how can you test the candidate for each one of these. Hiring Made Easy */

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

How I boiled down to these 5 most important traits?

By getting to learn from great sales leaders.

Why is Empathy important?

Empathy differentiates best sales reps from the average ones!

1. Empathy (in sales) is the ability to feel how would it be if you were in your prospect’s shoes. Let’s pick an example to understand this better. Let’s say you are a sales representative for a SAAS company that provides Cloud Computing Services. An empathetic sales rep would be able to gauge what is possibly going on in prospect’s mind.

2. When a salesperson reflects this empathy through his words, he gains the trust and belief of the prospect.
3. Empathy helps to establish a connect with the prospect on an emotional level.
4. Once this connect develops, it’s easier for sales reps to gain deeper understanding of what problems the prospect is facing.
5. And with a deeper understanding of the pain-points, sales rep will be able to address it better with a solution from your product offering.
6. Empathy also helps develop better human connections with in the team. Thus making the team stronger.

How to test for empathy?

Let’s see a few examples.

1. Ask an open ended question. Neither does It might not have a definite answer. Nor are you looking for one. However, you are interested in the candidate’s approach towards asking the question.

Interviewer: How will you explain colours to the blind?

Candidate A: It’s not possible to explain colours to a blind person.

Candidate B: I understand the pain of being not able to see. How a blind person is devoid of seeing the beautiful nature, his face, his family. How so many times he might be getting hurt to bump into something accidentally. However, by the grace of God, he is blessed with other sense abilities i.e. touch, taste, smell, hear too. May be, I can try to explain blue with the coolness of water or red with the heat of fire.

Clearly, Candidate B’s approach looks more empathetic.

2. You can also do a pretend play to understand the empathy quotient of the candidate. You be the prospect, let the candidate be the sales representative. The sales rep’s company sells a sales automation tool. And the sales rep is on a discovery call with you. Get into this imaginary conversation with the sales rep and observe three important things:

1. Is the candidate listening well?
2. Is the candidate interrupting when you talk?
3. Is the candidate pausing to process the information you provided as a prospect and then responding productively?
4. Is the candidate asking questions to get a deeper understanding of pain points of the prospect?
5. Is the candidate asking relevant questions to the product offering.

3. Ask the candidate a question to reflect empathy as a leader.

Interviewer: “How would you deal with an underperformer in your team?”.

Candidate A: I will tell him to put in more efforts to reach the target. I will try to push him out of his comfort zone. May be, I will give him some incentive.

Candidate B: I feel performance is not a direct indication of a person’s capability. So, my first goal would be to find out why is the performance level low. May be, my team member is facing some problem. OR, he needs to be trained for a particular skill. May be, he is having some personal problem that is distracting him. Once I know what’s bothering him, I will help him improve.

Clearly, Candidate B is more empathetic in his approach.

Why is articulation important?

Articulation is the ability to clearly express your message.

So that it can be easily understood and interpreted by the listener/reader.

Articulation is something a sales representative needs to do all time in his job.

What does a salesperson do on the job after all, besides being a great listener ?

A salesperson :

1. Answers client queries.
2. Explains the product offerings.
3. Writes emails.
4. Makes calls.
5. Makes presentations .
6. Makes proposals.
7. Closes deals.

All these tasks are different ways of communication.

The more clearly they communicate all this.

It’s easier for clients to understand.

Thus making it easy to take action on and get more business.

How to test for articulation?

1. Ask open ended questions.
2. Ask questions which cannot be answered in a yes or a no.
3. Because, You are not looking for a right or a wrong answer.
4. However, You are looking at how clearly and confidently is the candidate able to express his thoughts.

Let’s see a few examples:

Example 1: Ask the candidate to describe some everyday object but with a twist. You may ask something like:

Interviewer: Help me visualize a water bottle. Assume, I have never seen that before .

Candidate A: A water bottle is something you can use to carry water along. It may be made of plastic or metal. You can add ice to keep water cold.

Candidate B: A water bottle is a container in which you can carry drinking water along with you anywhere. So that you can instantly quench your thirst and you shall not need to look for a river or a well. /* Assuming water bottle is a pretty new invention, fridge didn’t even exist */

Whose answer appeal more to you ? Candidate A’s or B’s?

Example 2: Ask the candidate about any of his possessions and why did he buy it.

/* Interviewer’s interest is not in finding which phone does the candidate use. But to find out how clearly can he express the intent of purchase. */

Interviewer: Which phone do you use?
Candidate: iPhone XS.

/* Had the answer to first question being Samsung Note 10 or any other phone. Just the subject of question would change. And thus the reasoning in the answer. */

Interviewer: Why do you use iPhone XS?
Candidate: Because it has a great design, great user interface, high quality camera. The app store has a bigger collection of apps etc.

/* The next question is asked to create a conflict. Why? In order to see if the candidate can resolve the conflict using articulation as well as clarity of mind. */

Interviewer: But android phone counterparts are equally good in camera quality, user interface and play store, Still why iPhone? That too on a premium price.
Candidate: Actually Sir! To be honest. The feeling of possessing something so valuable is awesome. It was more of an emotion driven purchase for pleasure.

So, instead of beating about the bush and trying to justify your purchase, a candid answer is the indication of great articulation.

Why is the understanding of “what triggers a purchase” important?

People buy stuff only for one of the two reasons:

1. To seek pleasure.
2. To distance from pain.

The better the seller understands this the more he will be able to sell.

Let’s understand this with a story. A story that deals with distancing from pain aspect of sales psychology.

The other day I was at a fair. There were 6 different stalls selling cold sugarcane juice. The perfect drink to beat the heat on a hot and humid evening. One of these 6 stalls outperformed the rest 5. Want to know how?

Here is how.

1. A big cooler right in front of the stall. ( Great Idea! Helping people further to beat the heat.)
2. Lego play station. (To engage the kids while parents were waiting for the juice and chatting with each other.)
3. Fun squiggly dinosaur straws. (To motivate kids to drink juice instead of soda.)
4. Ample Space to sit with some foldable stools. (To give some rest to buyer’s feet.)
5. Mobile Phone charging station. ( Self-Explanatory )
6. This juice shop was located somewhere mid-way in the fair.

How did the seller come up with such innovative ideas?

The answer is simple. Because he did what best sales reps do. Best sales reps focus on buyer’s journey. And that’s exactly what this seller did. He kept himself in buyer’s shoes and understood his pain points. He then thought of ways to bring buyer far from pain. Look at the picture below to get the clarity on what I just said.

Learn more on buyer’s journey over here.

How to test for understanding of “what triggers a purchase”?

What triggers a purchase?

You face a problem.

You look for ways to solve it.

A product/service comes to your mind.

You evaluate it on your budget.

You buy it if you like it.

You like something that your friend owns

You feel like having it too

example: air fryer

You buy it.

You are at a super mart for grocery shopping.

And you are hungry.

you will be inclined to buy more snacks.

You are at a cake shop,

just to buy a cake,

but you end up buying a dry flower bouquet along with the cake,

just to make your loved one feel more special.

There can be numerous triggers to purchases a person makes.

Being able to suggest the right product/service at right time is what a best sales rep does.

Ask the candidate to tell you last 5 purchases he made and what triggered those purchases.

If you find him coming up with powerful triggers, he scored well in this test.

Besides, if the candidate is able to sell himself to you when you are in a need of a good salesperson to increase sales. Consider he has passed this test.

Why is Creativity important?

Creativity is the ability to come up with a unique and probably an out-of-the-box solution to a problem. Creativity makes use of divergent thinking, which is solving problems with many possible solutions.

Below are 3 wonderful examples that come to mind where companies leveraged creativity and made all the difference.

1. Instacart crowdsourced logistics. How? It hired personal shoppers to pick up fresh groceries from nearest supermarket and deliver it to the customer with in 2 hours of placing the order. A very similar concept like Uber.
2. LUX* chain of resorts got super creative to enhance customer experience and rose from the verge of bankruptcy to one of the top 5 hotels. To know more about this listen to our podcast.
3. Farmgirl flowers instead of buying burlap for their bouquets, they get it free from coffee shops. It’s also interesting to know that the farm girl behind the farmgirl flowers used the cash back of $700000 to keep them going during slump. Hear their complete story.

At Forbes, they say creativity is a secret weapon in sales. Creative sellers try to avoid one-size-fits-all approach. They try to outwit the competition by leveraging the creativity. They avoid routinizing their approach to sales. So instead of just writing a cold email, they would write the email by focussing on how will it grab receiver’s attention. Out of hundreds of emails you receive every day, observe the mails you opened and ponder on “Why” you opened those only. And you will understand what I am trying to say.

How to test for Creativity?

“The person who is capable of producing a large number of ideas per unit of time …. has a greater chance of having significant ideas.” – J.P. Guilford

Guilford’s test of Divergent Thinking – Alternative Uses Task

Interviewer : Tell me 10 different uses of chair other than sitting.

/* Interviewer can pick up any object. The idea is to see how divergently can a person think. */

Candidate A:
1. We can use is as a stool to draw something out of a top shelf.
2. We can use it to play musical chair game.
Sorry Sir can’t think of any more.

Candidate B:
1. We can use a chair to create a play tent for kids.
2. We can use a chair as an obstacle to jump over in a hurdle race.
3. We can use a chair as a prop while dancing.
4. We can use a chair to transport an injured person.
5. We can convert a chair into a coffee table by removing the back rest.
6. We can burn a chair, if wooden, to get some heat on a cold winter night.
7. We can use a chair upside-down as an umbrella, if light-weight and made of plastic.
8. We can take a chair, decorate it like a throne for the king in a play.
9. We can convert the chair into a puppet theatre.
10. We can use chair as a subject for live sketching.

Clearly, Candidate B scores better on the creativity test.

Why is “Ability to Perform under Pressure” important?

The pressure on a salesperson is same as that on a cricket team while chasing the target.

Each sales rep always has a target to reach.

Being able to perform under pressure is a very crucial skill for a sales rep.

How to test for “Ability to Perform under Pressure”?

The best way to test this is to create a stressful situation during the interview itself.
Also, make sure that the candidate does not realize your intent of doing the same. There are different ways to create stress during an interview. Some are as follows:

1. Contradict what candidate is saying.
2. Try to shake candidate’s confidence.
3. Dig Deeper for an answer that you find is a bit superficial.

The idea is to see whether candidate gets stressed or turns it into an interesting conversation.

Sales is essential to survival of any business.

Good salespersons can help with the survival.

But YOU are not in business to survive,

YOU are here to THRIVE.

A talented sales team can help you thrive,

if you make the right hiring decisions.

Hire for attitude,

Coach for skill.

Hiring is first half of the game,

Coaching the sales team the right way

makes the second half.

Sales Leaders have the ability to change the game

Either be One, or find one for your business…

Besides coaching your sales team,

providing your sales team the right tools,

is like cherry on the cake.

Wonders are not far from happening!

Happy Hiring 🙂

In order to thrive, You might also like to read this insightful article about “100s of leads but only a fraction getting converted.“

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Meanwhile, Explore the plethora of resources to help you out your business! If your organisation wants its content marketing strategy designed by Concurate, let’s connect over a short call. Block our calendar today!

Upsell: To sell a more expensive version of a product the customer is considering to purchase.

Cross-Sell: To sell more products which can be used in conjunction with the product customer is currently buying.

Upselling and Cross-Selling: Products: Examples

Primary Product	Upsell	Cross-Sell
Bicycle	Lock, basket, training wheels, child seat, bell, water bottle stand	Helmet, safety gears, water bottle
Printer	Ink Cartridge	Scanner
Cake	Candles	Cookies, Balloons, Bouquet
Sofa	Sofa Cover, Cushions	Coffee table
Camera	Batteries	Lens, Tripod, Cover
Pizza	Extra toppings, Supersize, extra cheese	Combo with garlic bread and drink

Upselling and Cross-Selling: Services: Examples

Primary Service	UpSell	Cross-Sell
Fuel Station	High-quality lead-free fuel	Car wash
Haircut	Hair-wash	Hair Spa, Hair Coloring, Keratin treatment
Hotel Stay	Suite instead of just a room	Massage/Spa at the hotel, Baby-Sitting for kids
Mobile Recharge	Offer a higher value recharge	Mobile Accessory
Air Conditioner Servicing	Offer Annual Maintenance contract from one-time service	Offer servicing for other Electrical appliances

Consider this Scenario:

 You went to a shoe shop to buy shoes for your child. The price point in your mind was $50. You checked a variety of shoes and were further considering to buy a pair. At this point, the salesperson showed you one more pair better than all the other shoes you just saw. Your child loved it. And you got convinced to buy that pair of shoes for $70. The salesperson succeeded in upselling you the shoes.

#FoodForThought: Seller pitched in costlier shoes when buyer had decided to buy shoes but had not made a purchase yet.

Consider this Scenario:

You designed a logo for some company 2 months ago. Then you ping your client to touch base. And he mentions that he is not able to get enough traffic to his website. It’s the right time to pitch in your content marketing services to the client.

#FoodForThought: It’s important to know, to whom, when and how to upsell.

Who to upsell?

Your existing clients. Why? Because they trust you, they are already using one of your products or services. If you suggest a product or a service which solves a problem for your customer. There is a great likelihood, they would say a yes. However, the timing is really important.

OR

When to upsell?

Let’s say you touch base with one of your existing clients. And in the conversations the client expresses a pain point. Bingo! It’s your moment. Grab this opportunity to upsell and suggest a product or service that solves the pain point your customer just expressed.

#FoodForThought: Still if you receive a “NO” for an answer when trying to upsell. Dig deeper to find the reason why.

There is one more scenario when you can upsell. When buyer has almost made up his mind for a certain product. But he has not made the purchase yet. At this moment try to pitch in a higher version of the product, which provides more value, for a little bit higher price.

#Tip: Do not bombard the customer by pitching all the products you have!

Acknowledge the upsell!

If the customer has accepted your upsell offer; Express Gratitude! How?

1. Send a thank-you note with a little surprise gift.
2. Send them discount coupons for next purchase.  (I felt happy to receive a $10 coupon from Puma on my last purchase :))
3. Use your creativity to think of more ways to do so.

Cross-Selling: Something that amazon does all the time under its section “Frequently Bought Together”

 Take a look at the following screenshot. When you search amazon for a baby video monitor. In the “Frequently Bought together” section, it shows a combo of video monitor, baby carrier and a playful door jumper. The suggestion is based on amazon’s shopping data. However, the suggestion looks quite logical too assuming the buyer is a parent of an infant. There are good chances, that buyer would give it a look.

Here is another wonderful example of from Expedia for cross selling. When you are booking flight to travel to a tourist destination. You shall stay in some hotel. You might as well need to hire a car. Take a look at the snapshot from Expedia’s website. Observe their cross-selling combos:

1. Flight + Hotel
2. Flight + Hotel + Car
3. Flight + Car

And look at their CTA (Call To Action) : “Bundle and Save” – Pretty Enticing!

Has it ever happened to you? that you went to order a cake to wish your friend: the website suggested to order bouquet/chocolates/teddy bear etc. along with the cake. That’s another great example of cross-selling.

#FoodForThought: Let’s take a look at the flower + gifts combo from Professor Clayton Christensen’s JTBD –“Job To Be Done” theory. The buyer has planned to hire bouquet to make her friend feel special. So, if a website is suggesting to accompany the bouquet with a gift, it’s further adding value to the job buyer was trying to get done. Buyer was trying to make her friend special with a bouquet. A gift along with it will make her feel even more special.

If you find it challenging to upsell or cross-sell. Do share your product range with us. We can help you upsell and cross-sell and thus increase sales.

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

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We visit your inbox just once in two weeks!

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Don’t think of this as a just another article on sales tips.

We promise that the following 15 sales tips are going to go a long way with you. Happy Reading!

Sales Tip #1:

Time is the witness how insurance ads have banked upon human emotions of fear, worry, love for family, sense of responsibility etc. It’s the breadwinner’s worry that who will take care of his family when he will not be around or something unfortunate happens to him. Life insurance takes away this worry by giving him the perfect policy.

Buyers are more interested in solutions you offer to their problems than in you or your company. The earlier you understand and start selling what the buyers want the more money you make.

Thanks to hardcore closer for this tip.

Sales Tip #2:

Let’s try to recollect the times when you didn’t mind giving away your email address to a website. Probably When:

1. The site offered a discount coupon.
2. It offered a free E-Book with a solution to one of your problems.
3. You genuinely loved the content the site offered and you wanted to keep it coming.

Thanks to salesforce for this tip.

Sales Tip #3:

Has it ever happened to you that while reading story or watching a movie you start imagining yourself as a part of it.

Or let me put it this way…..

Do you find it easier to tell what happened in the movie versus explaining what was taught in your last training?

Expressing what happened in the movie is easier because our brain responds better to the stories. Stories can help engage a prospect’s attention and build an emotional connection that makes it easier to reply. So sell them stories – and witness how the transfer of emotions can be the most valuable element in the sales process.

Thanks to Yesaware for this tip.

Sales Tip #4:

One of the greatest pleasures we find is in when people take our advice and act upon it. We feel respected and heard. Amazing feeling, Isn’t it?

Well, just like everyone else on this planet, your prospects also want to be respected and heard. When your prospects  feel that their words and opinions are being regarded and hold significant value, they automatically become more interested in talking to you.

So by asking your prospect for help, you’re in a way fulfilling their desire to be heard and respected –  that would later help you in closing the sale.

Thanks to HubSpot for this tip.

Sales Tip #5:

If a product malfunctions during a demo don’t try to cover it. Rather address it confidently and tell the listener something like, “ Oh! so when something like this happens, you can always connect to our 24×7 customer support, let me show you how.”

Thanks to Close for this tip.

Sales Tip #6:

Never interrupt your prospect while he is talking. Start talking only after 3 seconds of listening to him. Why should you do this?

Because if you interrupt prospect’s thoughts will get disturbed and you might miss out on important point he was about to share. Besides, attentive listening to him shall help you gain better understanding of his problems. The better you understand his problem, the better you will be able to provide a solution.

Sales Tip #7:

Simon Sinek says most of the companies in the world know what they are selling and how they are selling but only the great companies know WHY they are selling. The answer to “WHY” is their secret to success. Consider the following two sample pitches by a website that sells handicrafts from across the country (Talking about India here):

Pitch 1: Our Store brings some of the most acclaimed Indian design, art & crafts brands online for the first time ever. Welcome to the Party!

(Look at this revised pitch with “WHY” do they run a handicrafts store online)

Pitch 2: India has an extremely rich cultural heritage. Be it hand woven fabrics coloured using natural dyes. Be it hand crafted jewellery. Be it hand embroidered clothes.  But this heritage is slowly vanishing with the reducing number of artisans. But why is their number reducing? Because they are not able to reach the right customers. They are not empowered to sell globally. They are not able to make enough money. We are on a mission to preserve this heritage by supporting the artisans and their families. But we cannot do it without your support!

In Pitch 2 they are sharing their “WHY” and the people who believe in this vision are far more likely to buy from them.

Sales Tip #8:

An empathetic salesman would not just blindly follow the sales conversation track. In fact, he would be sensitive to real interaction happening between him and the client. He would make creative modifications in his pitch based on how the client is feeling.

Sales Tip #9:

When your solution is not right for a prospect, TELL THEM.

Thanks to Close for this tip.

Sales Tip #10:

Don’t pretend to be a Know-it-all. Your prospects realize it earlier than you do when you’re just making things up. As a matter of fact, by asking questions you  empower the prospect to give you the information. You need to close them.

Thanks to Close for this tip.

Sales Tip #11:

An honest salesman would always be regarded more than a salesman who’s always right.

Thanks to Close for this tip.

Sales Tip #12:

Imagine this scenario. A lady visits a restaurant on her birthday with her husband. When the restaurant guys got to know that it’s her birthday, they surprised her with a tiny heart shaped muffin, beautifully presented in a plate. And all the restaurant staff sang birthday song for her. This little surprise delighted her. Now look at the networking effect of this little gesture. She shared her lovely experience with her friends. The chances are high that some of her friends would like to visit that restaurant on their birthdays as well. Every customer who felt delighted would share their experience in their network. Thus increasing the chances of more people visiting that restaurant.

Hence, Little Surprises can really go a long way.

Sales Tip #13:

Most salespeople think that if they can impress a prospect in 1 hour, they can win their account. So they start feeding them with the plethora of knowledge they’re carrying. The prospect never converts.

When you give too much information, it becomes difficult for anybody to process it.  You can never solve a problem in just one hour. So instead of showing off your capabilities, try establishing expectations.

Discuss the pain points of a prospect and talk about how you’ll be doing business with them.

Sales Tip #14:

When a prospect within an organisation tells you that they’re not interested in your services, it might just mean that ONLY  that particular individual feels that way. It might be best to reach out to a few more people within that organisation before you give up.

Sales Tip #15:

Prospecting is important, but building relationships with existing clients can be far more valuable. If we manage to keep clients on a longer life cycle, it most certainly builds a stronger revenue foundation than single-deal customers.

Just doing a good job on a project shouldn’t be the end goal. Client satisfaction means nothing if  6 months down the line they forget that you did such a fine job. This is why it is important to stay connected with the existing client – not to sell them anything, but validating them of their value and importance.

If you connect properly, they’ll stay. And they will buy, again.

Hope you enjoyed reading these sales tips! Do you have any sales tips to share with us? We would be happy to hear.

Happy Selling!

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

If you found this post interesting. We suggest that you read following post on “Why should you change your cold email approach” too.

Or listen to our podcasts for more sales tips in form of short stories.

If you wish to keep receiving great business insights, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!

We visit your inbox just once in two weeks!

Meanwhile, Explore the plethora of resources to help you out your business! If your organisation wants its content marketing strategy designed by Concurate, let’s connect over a short call. Block our calendar today!

What’s your sales strategy ? Is it to bombard the user with the plethora of information about your product/service offerings?

If yes, this sales strategy is under the danger of crocodile sales.

Imagine a crocodile (Or look at the picture below), I am sure you can see it’s big mouth but can you see it’s ears? Barely visible, right? Big mouth implies too much talking and small ears implies too less listening. But, Who is a Crocodile Salesman after all?

Crocodile Salesmen are people who are always talking. They’re pitching to you. They don’t take the time to realize what your true motivations are because they’re too busy telling you what they THINK you want to hear. Trust me – your chances of selling are much lower if you’re talking rather than actively listening.—Mark Suster, The Danger of Crocodile Sales

So here is what your salesperson should actually be doing:

1. Be all ears to the customers’ pain-points.
2. Be empathetic in his approach while engaging with the client.
3. Tell how your product/service is going to resolve customer pain-points.

For example :

Imagine a salesperson promoting a detergent at a superstore.

Crocodile Mode:

“Hello Ma’am! This is our premium quality detergent. It is great at taking out stains. This detergent leaves the clothes with a fresh fragrance. It uses nano technology to pull out dirt and bacteria from clothes. And the best part is: it costs less than most of its competitors. Shall I add it to your cart Ma’am?”

Non-Crocodile Mode:

This salesperson would want to talk about the various challenges faced while washing clothes. This sales person would curate his questions differently for different personas. For Example, below are the different ways to open conversations with different people at the super mart:

While addressing a lady with a baby.

“Hello Ma’am! Does your baby’s dress show up the banana she ate even after wash?

While addressing a guy with great physique:

“Hello Sir! Has it ever happened to you that your work out clothes did not feel fresh even after wash?

While addressing a mom with kids (With colours and paints in her cart):

“Hello Ma’am! Has it ever happened to you that the stains of paints remained on your kids’ clothes even after wash?

After opening the conversations and listening to people about their washing problems. Also discussing which washing machines or detergents do they use. The salesperson can propose the detergent at the same time highlighting the relevant feature. And if the conversation is convincing enough the sales person has won the customer and customer would himself/herself ask for the detergent to be added to the cart.

So what type of a sales person are you? Crocodile? Or you are not sure what type? Drop us a line.

Or Explore more from us!

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

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While working on some cold reach-outs, I decided to read a bit about common mistakes that can be made while drafting cold emails and below one cold email approach just made me think – Is this the reason I am not getting the desired results?

I found this nice simple article that points out three common mistakes – 3 Cold Email Mistakes That Ruin Sales Conversations.

The one learning that I got from this article was – Avoid Long and Boring Feature List.

People typically try and articulate some areas where they can create an impact.

It’s like shooting at a target without aiming and hoping, against all odds, that one arrow hits the bull’s eye and makes a lead go “Yes! That’s a thing I need.”

What’s recommended – Instead of overwhelming the reader with a list of clients and a list of the millions of things you can do, for example, just talk about one success story. Keep it short – No more than two or three sentences.

Also Read: Why you should be Consistent in Your Follow-Ups?

So, how you should modify your cold email approach?

Instead of sending just 1 email to your Prospect, send a series of emails. In that series, every single follow up email you send should contain a unique benefit or piece of information that educates your prospect why he should choose your service or product. The emails in that series should focus on different specific benefits, ideas, or pain points of your product or services.

Pro tip: If you need 30 standout SaaS growth hacks to attain double the growth for your SaaS business, fill out the form below!

Happy Selling!

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We promise to deliver value to your inbox.

You can always unsubscribe, if we fail to keep our promise!

Meanwhile, Explore the plethora of resources to help you out your business! If your organisation wants its content marketing strategy designed by Concurate, let’s connect over a short call. Block our calendar today!