5 functionalities of #SalesAcceleration platforms to defend your sales results in times of crisis

Dariusz Nawojczyk

2020-09-23

Table of contents 

From this article you’ll find out how: 

1. guarantee an above-average customer experience, 
2. quickly create a calculation, offer or estimated TCO, 
3. make a remote presentation and sign a contract remotely, 
4. automate handling of sales meetings,
5. gain analytical knowledge about the quality of business meetings. 

For many companies, crisis-related time will be a real test. Some companies will be in trouble – when nothing is easy, it is difficult to demand from the organization to achieve the expected results using proven methods. One of the strategies that may prove salutary in such a scenario is to use new tools. 

In this article I’ll show you why Sales Acceleration platforms can be a great cure for sales departments digested by the fear of lowering sales results. The Salesbook will serve as an example. 

1. Guarantee an above-average customer experience 

Salesforce in the study “State of the Connected Customer 2018” shows that as much as 80% of customers emphasize the role of user experience during the sales process. Moreover, it is just as important as the product or service itself. 

Let’s go on, as much as 67% of customers will pay more for the goods if the quality of their service is at the highest level. A similar percentage of those surveyed in North America say that their expectations of sales advisors are higher than ever. 

So, you can see that by providing the customer with a better experience, we’re increasing the chance of closing sales, faster and at a higher price. It is important that your sales advisors are perfectly prepared with the necessary sales tools – presentations, multimedia, demos, comparison tools, configurators and more. 

This is what Sales Acceleration tools give you. In one application, which you always have at hand, the salesman has all these materials at his disposal and can use them depending on the context. What’s more, they are visually attractive and speak to the customer in the language of icons, visuals and infographics. We write more about this in the article “How to involve customer in a sales process?” 

The clip below illustrates how the user’s experience may look like when selling BMW motorcycles. 

2. Quickly create a calculation, offer or estimated TCO 

One of the most important advantages of Sales Acceleration applications is their ability to interactively collect data from the customer, quickly input it into the application and on this basis calculate the benefits, value, TCO or any other parameter that is important in your business. This is done using survey modules, configurators, offer comparators or functions to calculate the product price. 

Showing the customer the value of your product or service in numerical form increases the chance of closing the sale. Always try to present the advantage to the customer as the calculated profit. 

Thanks to these modules you can, for example: 

– calculate the total cost of maintaining your service in the cloud,
– present the insurance premium,
– configure the offer for photovoltaic installation,
– configure the vehicle or any other device with variable parameters, 
– calculate the credit parameters. 

Of course, the possibilities are unlimited. Here you can test such a tool in practice: https://gap.salesbook-app.com/en/.

3. Present the offer and sign the contract remotely 

Because Sales Acceleration tools are always focused on talking to the customer using graphics, you no longer have a problem with what to display to the customer during a Zoom call. Now you can simply set up a conference call, share the app screen and start going through the entire sales process with the customer – just as if you were meeting directly in the office or coffee shop. 

By working in a remote model, you have the chance to save about 64% of your time. This way, you’ll be able to handle far more leads. 

More about the configuration of such a connection is written in the article “Remote sales. How to make a budget when you can’t meet a customer?”. 

But that’s not all, Sales Acceleration allows you not only to remotely present, but also to sign a contract remotely! The Salesbook uses the Autenti module for this purpose. The contract in the form of a PDF goes to the customer, who signs it online with additional authorization via SMS. 

But that’s not all, Sales Acceleration allows you not only to remotely present, but also to sign a contract remotely! The Salesbook uses the Autenti module for this purpose. The contract in the form of a PDF goes to the customer, who signs it online with additional authorization via SMS.

4. Automate handling of sales meetings, save time for new customers 

Market research estimates the average time a salesman has for a customer today at about 36% of all time spent at work. The remaining hours are sales logistics, preparing for meetings and reporting to CRM. Here Sales Acceleration tools also come in handy. 

For example, in Salesbook, the application automatically sends a summary (presentation, calculated offer, contract, notes, voice recording, etc.) to the customer and the CRM system after the meeting. This means that the advisor – at the end of the meeting – can start the next one without worrying about reporting. 

All the necessary information about the meeting goes immediately to the customer and the sales manager. 

5. Gain analytical knowledge about the quality of business meetings 

This is where the second very important function of Sales Acceleration platforms comes into play. They are not only applications supporting the work of the salespeople themselves, but also CRM platforms enriched with powerful, advanced analytical tools. 

The sales manager sees in such a system when and where the meeting took place, how long it lasted, what was presented during it and what documents were generated. What is more, it has a chance to manage customers and the sales funnel, just like in any CRM system. 

Such functionality will be useful in times of mass remote work, when the manager needs additional mechanisms to verify the work of sales departments. But not only! 

Making managerial decisions without hard sales data can be difficult and in the classic model we actually rarely have access to them. Sales Acceleration tools give a chance to make decisions based on a real evaluation of a sales meeting, as in a way they are present at such a meeting. 

The manager can also optimize the sales process in this way, because he or she will quickly see which behaviors in the network generate the conversion. The best practices can then be transferred to all salespeople.

Start now 

If you want to try out a Sales Acceleration tool in your company, use this form: Test salesbook for Free. Salesbook is the first application of this type on the Polish market – it already effectively helps salesmen in companies such as OVB, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Energa or Polaris.