You’ve just walked out of a fantastic sales meeting. You were prepared for all of their questions (probably because you were immersed in great sales enablement content ahead of time!). You had a presentation that was tuned to the sales situation and wowed the decision makers. And when that technical team leader came in unexpectedly and asked the tough questions, you were ready with the right responses.
Now, on your way to your flight, you’re thinking of how you can follow-up and keep things moving. Here are a few steps you can take to keep that ball moving!
1. Send the Presentation
Your presentation knocked the crowd out because it was tuned to your sales situation. That means it had the right product, industry, and other information to resonate with your audience. It might even have included dynamically generated content pulled from your company’s data sources — information like current interest rates or CRM data. In any event, the presentation was what your buyers needed.
Now, it’s time to follow-up. So send that presentation now. And be sure to send it in a trackable form so you know when it’s getting accessed. That data on whether your presentation is being viewed by your prospects will help you to gauge interest and know when to follow-up next.
2. Include Supporting Material
Buyers often follow patterns through their journey to purchase. So, you’ll want to share related content that your sales colleagues have been successful with in the past in similar situations. Using content recommendations, you can select relevant material that supports the next step in the buying process.
What is effective content to use? That’s going to depend on the sales situation. It could be case studies to prove value. It could be technical information to help address IT’s concerns. Or maybe it’s competitive information to differentiate your product from the rest.
Take that content and bundle it together into a handy package that makes it easy for a buyer to review and engage with. When all the needed content is pulled together by you, your buyers are more likely to use it and share it with their own colleagues. You add value and become a trusted partner.
3. Answer those Technical Questions
The sales call may have gone very well, but there were still some technical questions that were posed that you didn’t have an answer to. Don’t worry. You promised you’d follow-up, and follow-up you shall!
One way to get answers is to ask your sales engineer or favorite technical resource. But a faster, and more comprehensive, path is to use an internal knowledgebase to search for questions like those you just faced. Then you can see how your colleagues have responded to similar queries in the past. Now, you’ve just reinforce the technical value you deliver to your buyers.
You can even record in the knowledgebase how you responded to those tough queries. That gives your expertise to your colleagues and helps your whole organization.
4. Get Coaching In
Continuing the theme of ‘sales is a team sport’ consider looking to your sales knowledgebase for guidance on what to do next. Your team likely has built up a set of best practices and sales process. A helpful knowledgebase will let you self-select where you are in your sales process — and then offer guidance and insights tailored to where you are in the sales process.
This is different than the question / answer forums we looked at above. This is more like product videos, implementation guides, sales process, and training materials. Sales education materials that help to guide your sellers based on where they are in the pursuit. The result: you know what to do next to carry your deal over the line.
Effective follow-up distinguishes the best sellers from the rest. When you have the content, resources, and insights you need, you can keep the ball rolling on your sales engagement.
