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PGi White Paper Accelerating+Sales+Process V05
1. Collaboration Strategies to Accelerate
Your Sales Cycles
How to increase revenue and reduce costs
through innovative communications
ENERGIZE YOUR CONNECTIONS™
3. Collaboration Strategies to Accelerate Your Sales Cycle
It’s safe to say that there has never been a company departments, and with their prospects and
completely satisfied with its sales process. No customers. Closing business and answering
matter how good your people are, no matter prospects’ questions is dependent on clear
how successful your efforts, there are always channels of communications. Building customer
demands for “just a little more.” Sales leaders loyalty through ongoing dialogs keeps customers
face questions from management, investors, informed, enthusiastic and receptive.
board members and associates:
>> Could we find ways to bring more sales leads Virtual Meetings
into the cycle? Hosting audio and web conferences for sales
>> Could we use our sales teams’ time more discussions, from smaller team events (such as
effectively? sales planning calls or product demos) to large
>> Could we reduce costs while bringing in more events (such as product launches and customer
revenue?
training sessions) is an effective way to conve-
>> Could we speed up the time it takes to niently and quickly to communicate. This white
convert a prospect to a customer?
paper will focus on how meeting technologies
>> Could we make it easier for people to do can help accelerate the sales cycle. We will look
business with us?
at four key areas:
>> Could we make our existing customers
happier, so they would act as references,
recommend us to colleagues, and be
receptive to follow-on offers? 1 Improving internal collaboration and shared knowledge
2 Closing business
In a very direct way, efficient and effective com-
munications are key to each of these concerns. 3 Supporting customers and building loyalty
Bringing sales leads into the system starts with
reaching and communicating with your target
audience. Sales teams need to communicate In each stage of the sales process, we will look at
with each other, with management, with other conventional approaches to accomplishing key
tasks and investigate how they can be accelerated
and improved with always on collaboration tools.
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4. Collaboration Strategies to Accelerate Your Sales Cycle
Improve Internal Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing
KEY QUESTIONS:
>> Are team meetings eating into your sales group’s budgets and time in the field?
>> Do salespeople get information easily and clearly communicated from product teams and upper management?
>> Can your field sales members work with other groups in the company to collaborate on customer documents,
even when away from a computer and printer?
>> Do sales teams know when new corporate information or policies are announced?
Companies often overlook the importance of the frequency of sales meetings and training, events such as product training sessions
internal collaboration as a part of the sales but this leads to gaps in up to date knowledge delivered to the entire field sales force at once.
process. Sales teams regularly schedule meetings and a reduced sense of team cohesiveness. The ability to archive meetings for on-demand
with regional and departmental management Salespeople in the field may have a difficult playback makes the information available for
to discuss progress, territories, incentives, and time working with electronic documents on later review and reference, as well as providing
strategies. Salespeople need to get training on ever-shrinking mobile devices that act as their a fallback for team members whose schedules
new and upgraded products. Work on RFI or main communications technology when away do not permit attendance at the live event. Web
RFP submissions for prospects typically require from their office computers. Conferencing helps collaboration allows everyone to see the same
input and collaboration with individuals in to bring people into contact, but requires them visual materials at once, and let a presenter high-
other departments. to coordinate versions of documents locally and light items of interest or draw the audience’s atten-
can make it difficult to reference details that are tion to a specific detail on the screen or the page.
Conventional approach: best expressed visually.
Working on collaborative documents such as
Training and departmental meetings have tradi-
RFI’s and RFP’s is made easier by the ability to
tionally been arranged as in-person gatherings. Advanced thinking:
scan documents and convert them to electronic
Travel costs are just one downside to bringing The PGiCOS platform allows remote teams to meet
images that can be emailed, annotated, and ar-
sales teams together on a frequent basis. Time without traveling, share valuable information,
chived. Salespeople in the field can use any local
away from prospects and customers in their own and transmit documents to and from any
fax machine as their personal computer printer
territories reduces the effectiveness of the sales location. Premiere Global’s Conferencing and
to get a hardcopy of the latest document version.
relationship and impacts the potential for reve- Collaboration solutions can be used for collab-
nue and customer goodwill. Companies may try orative team meetings such as weekly regional
to minimize these negative effects by reducing update sessions, as well as for larger structured
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5. Collaboration Strategies to Accelerate Your Sales Cycle
Close Business More Quickly and Easily
KEY QUESTIONS:
>> Are customer signoffs often delayed while multiple decision makers are brought up to speed?
>> Do your salespeople spend too much time making multiple trips to customer locations?
>> When prospects ask detailed questions, is there a delay in getting answers from your product experts,
slowing down the closing process?
>> Is it difficult for traveling salespeople to stay involved in legal contract negotiations with their customers?
Turning a prospect into a customer is the core from upper management and legal teams at Because sales teams do not have to travel to
function of the salesperson and the lifeblood both companies. Documents are typically faxed customer sites repeated times, they can contact
of your revenue stream. Complex customer back and forth between legal departments, more influencers and more prospects during
approval processes and signoffs from multiple leaving the salesperson out of the loop and each work day. They no longer have to group
departments lengthen the sales process and unable to keep the sale moving forward. If a customer visits according to travel convenience,
make it more difficult to gain consensus from salesperson is on the road without a printer, but can work with them based on their stage
the proper decision makers. Once the customer important documentation may have to wait of the buying cycle. Expert resources at your
has made a decision to purchase, there may be until it can be produced in hardcopy format. company who are in demand by multiple sales
multiple rounds of negotiation on pricing, terms, teams can more easily get involved in the close
and contract details that involve management and Advanced thinking: process, since they don’t need to travel and
legal professionals from your company and theirs. PGiCOS makes it easier to communicate with they can hear the customer’s questions directly,
all parties involved in the closing process. Sales rather than getting a condensed and restated
Conventional approach: teams can set up web conferences that bring version from the salesperson.under revision,
Sales teams need to meet several times with together the decision makers at the prospect’s and reduce organizational costs and lost time.
different stakeholders. Each meeting requires company no matter where they may be physically
travel and repetition of key sales points and located. Product experts and upper management
benefits. Specialized questions about product from your company can also attend, ensuring
details, integration and installation, or usage that all questions are answered immediately
terms may force the salesperson to communicate and removing barriers to a fast decision.
with an expert at your company and get back to
the prospect at a later time. Multiple revisions
of legal documents require edits and approvals
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6. Collaboration Strategies to Accelerate Your Sales Cycle
Enhance Customer Support and Build Customers for Life
KEY QUESTIONS:
>> How often do you communicate with your customers about new products and services?
>> Are your sales representatives always aware of problems in their customer accounts?
>> How can existing customers help you grow revenues through additional sales?
>> Is it easy for your customers to get informtion from you and provide input and feedback to you?
Closing a sale with a new customer is a wonderful company. An annual user meeting that requires When customers feel that they are a respected
feeling, but it needs to be the start of an ongoing paid registration, travel costs, and time away and informed part of your business operations,
relationship. Satisfied, informed customers act from the office for your customers is not the same they become key allies in finding new channels
as positive sales references for other accounts as keeping an open ongoing dialog with them. to increase your revenue.
and present opportunities for potential up-selling
and cross-selling in the future. Obviously you Advanced thinking: Case Study:
don’t want to risk losing your existing custom- PGi’s suite of applied communication technolo- OneCoast is a national wholesaler that markets
ers to your competitors, but more than that, gies lets your company be proactive in your and sells more than 300 product lines to a wide
you want to become a strategic vendor for your ongoing communications with your customers. variety of retailers in the home décor, gift and
customers going forward. Product development teams can work with bookstore industries. With a team of nearly 400
marketing to send out data sheets, product geographically-dispersed sales executives,
Conventional approach: brochures, and other materials through PGi’s OneCoast uses Premiere Global’s Conferencing
Customer support is all too often left as a eMarketing solution. Customers can always be and Collaboration solutions for employee training,
reactive function, dealing with complaints up to date on the latest offerings and advances in management business reviews, in customer
and product questions as they come in from in your product set. presentations, and to keep its sales force energized.
each customer. Salespeople may go for long
You can use PGi’s Conferencing and Collabora- This highly successful company has integrated
periods without contacting a customer until
tion solutions to bring together large communi- web conferencing so completely into their
they need reference help for a new sale. At this
ties of customers without regard to physical corporate culture that, on an average day,
time they may find that they have a dissatisfied
location. You may wish to schedule chats with OneCoast may have as many as 20 web meetings
account, frustrated with slow response from
product managers, to make customers feel scheduled. “It’s definitely a part of the culture at
a technical support department that doesn’t
actively involved in the development and direc- OneCoast,” says CEO Ted Teele, “At one point, I
see them as a priority.
tion of product enhancements. You might offer told my management team not to have a meeting
Up-selling and cross-selling is easier when your advanced training to your customers so they can unless they were using web conferencing.”
customers are informed, engaged, and enthusiastic make more extensive use of your products and
about developments in your products and your apply them to new applications.
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7. Learn More PGi
Visit us today at www.pgi.com. View customer The Terminus Building
videos, product demonstrations, and get the 3280 Peachtree Road NW
details on all of our global meetings and Suite 1000
communications solutions. Atlanta, GA 30305
pgi.com
About Us
The world collaborates with PGi.
Our advanced meeting, conferencing and
collaboration solutions energize people and
organizations to connect more meaningfully
and work together more productively. PGi is
headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with
operations in 24 countries worldwide.
ENERGIZE YOUR CONNECTIONS™
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