5 Tips for Building Sales Confidence in Your Reps

Written by michelle on Nov 10, 2020

While every employee plays an indispensable role in your operations, it’s hard to argue that your business could succeed without your sales team. Your sales reps are often on the frontlines and are responsible for making that initial contact with prospective customers. Your sales reps have a direct impact on whether a lead will convert — and whether you’ll even get leads at all.

That’s why it’s essential to build sales confidence in your team. It’s not just about being able to discuss a product or service. As your fractional chief marketing officer (or fractional CMO) will tell you, it’s essential that your sales team has an innate understanding of your brand and is able to communicate that in a way that resonates with a prospective customer. Armed with this information — and the tips below — your sales team will have the confidence they need to successfully close the sale.

5 Sales Confidence Tips Your Fractional CMO Would Recommend

1. Start With a Strong Sales Foundation: It may sound obvious, but your team can’t be expected to be effective if they don’t have a thorough understanding of sales fundamentals and the fundamentals of your brand. Start by owning your brand positioning and messaging with your team. Dive deep into what makes you and your company stand out — what’s that secret sauce? That is how you’ll continue to make connections and build your brand. Your brand positioning and personality should be deeply rooted in not only your foundation but give meaning to your sales team and consistency across all sales and marketing channels. It’s important that you provide your sales team with the training that’s relevant to your processes. It’s helpful to work with an outsourced marketing manager here because you’ll want your sales and marketing efforts to be aligned. Your outsourced CMO can ensure your sales team attends weekly meetings, stays up-to-date on your marketing strategy, and receives the guidance they need before they ever get a client on the phone.
2. Gain a Deeper Understanding of Your Clients: An effective sales rep doesn’t treat every lead or client in the same way. It’s important to personalize the process — and that starts with truly understanding the customer. Your fractional CMO will suggest that you develop buyer personas, gather customer feedback, and share the buyer’s journey with your sales team so that they see the bigger picture.
3. Encourage Story-Telling and Personal Connections: Many successful sales representatives possess the gift of gab, but it’s actually more important to have excellent story-telling ability. Of course, this doesn’t mean that your sales reps should be dishonest with their leads — especially because 91% of consumers would rather buy from an authentic brand. But your reps do need to know how to spin a good yarn that fosters a personal or emotional connection. If a prospect can see themselves working with you and using what you have to offer, there’s a better chance they’ll convert to a customer. Encourage your reps to make genuine connections with their leads and to put themselves in the customer’s shoes. By doing so, they’ll spark something more substantial than a slick sales pitch could ever accomplish.
4. Give Reps a Cheat Sheet (Not a Script): It’s likely that any fractional CMO would discourage you from forcing your sales team to stick to a script. Not only does it feel impersonal, but it may hold your reps back from achieving all they’re capable of. That said, you can send your reps in with a good cheat sheet or some “sales battle cards.” These aids can act as quick references to help your sales team remember your strategy or answer client questions in a pinch. If they can reference these resources without relying on superiors or giving unhelpful responses, they’ll feel more confident in their abilities and learn the finer points of sales over time.
5. Create a Community Rather Than a One-Time Customer: Inexperienced sales reps might close a deal and cross that client off their list. But the most successful sales teams understand that they’re in the business of building relationships. Focusing on creating a community, rather than selling a product or service one time, will be more emotionally rewarding and more profitable. Remind them it’s okay to be themselves on sales calls and to approach leads like valued, long-time customers.

With these tips in mind and some guidance from your fractional CMO, you’ll be well on your way to building a stronger brand and sales process. For more on the outsourced marketing services I offer, please contact me today.