Category Archives: Sales Skills

Quote-to-Cash (QTC) Basic Process

Think about your approach to your customers: Nothing you do operates in a vacuum. For example, the order fulfilling process isn’t just the salesperson’s responsibility. It starts with marketing, when a customer receives communication that leads them to set expectations about what their experience with your company will be like. It extends to the salesperson, of course, when they outline the policies and procedures. And it goes beyond to the person who actually fulfills the order to the customer service team that responds, post-order, and helps out with any questions or concerns.

That’s a holistic approach to an order, and the same holistic approach should be part of the quote process, too. When it is, that’s called the quote-to-cash process. It views the customer and their interactions and the pricing they receive as interdependent and tied together. Ready to learn more about this? This graphic helps to explain it.

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The Basics of the Quote-to-Cash Process

Via Salesforce

Should a gift to my client have our company logo?

This article below was written by our friends at PointFast. PointFast helps Sales professionals seize their emails by tracking emails, links and file attachments.

Gift giving serves a vital purpose in the business world. So whether it’s Christmas, a big launch celebration, a promotion, or even a client’s birthday, there’s a reason to give. There’s a lot to consider in this gift-giving exercise. Who should we give to? What do we give? How should we give it?

For this post, I want to explore a more subtle, but important topic: should our client gift contain our company’s logo?

Why We Give
Let’s take a step back and remind ourselves of the ultimate goal: to drive revenue. Revenue comes from customers and customers buy (to a good extent) from trusted relationships.

So gift-giving to the client is the opportune chance to build the relationship, to show that we care. After all, without the relationship, there’s really not much left over.

Let’s be clear: if we think that we’re giving purely out of the goodness of our heart—then we should really be investing our time and money to a charity. Giving a thoughtful gift to a client is not charity work.

Give with Logo or Not?
Talk to anyone in marketing and they would instinctively say that any corporate gift should contain the company’s logo. This is really inferior thinking. Moreover, it’s really selfish.

Why? Because if our goal is to build on the personal relationship–not our corporate relationship–then we should not tie the gift with our company logo. We want to give with the perception that we want nothing else in return.

Giving a gift with our logo makes the gift only a half-present. We want the client to take the gift so that we can outlandishly remind them that we exist.

We don’t have to stoop so low. We in sales should take the high-road.

Imagine for a minute we gave the client a nice, titanium fidget spinner to help them destress. I’d prefer the client’s friend or colleague to ask, “Hey, that’s a cool stress reliever. Where did you get it?” than for that client to outright see my company logo. Why? Because then it allows the client—the person whom I want to build a relationship—to acknowledge me and my company for the gift. Acknowledgment is the first sign of appreciation.

Give for the Sake of the Relationship
It’s easy to just sit back and forget about giving. But I’d encourage you to give a simple gift with the goal of fostering the relationship. Just make sure not to stamp the company logo on it!

How to Handle an Imperfect Customer

To really put a great company head and shoulders above the rest of the competition, customer service must be of a high standard. Your customers must have a shopping experience that will keep them coming back for more and even better, bringing new customers to your door via word of mouth.

The “Know it all hero” will always be first in a line of the less than pleasant customers. Just one example that proves not everyone makes a great customer.

Your competitors may send a “Nosey Ninja” to keep you on your toes, but an actual mystery shopper should be a welcome sight.

When the “Penny Pincher” walks in they will do their best to bargain you down to the ground. You don’t want them to leave empty-handed, but you also don’t want to undersell your service or product.

That bellowing sound you hear when “Langry” bursts through the doors can really put you on your back foot. They are simply annoyed at life!

Not everyone makes a perfect customer, so read on this infographic by The Website Group to discover more about the 4 most common awkward personalities and the solutions to help you deal with them as best you can.

Courtesy of: The Website Group

Data-driven Guide to Customer Service

Businesses who value their customers are the most successful.

A great product or stellar marketing will only get you so far, you need to also support your customers and ensure they are satisfied – this means delivering great customer service.

But saying you have good customer service and actually providing good customer service are two different things. So how do provide top-notch service to your customers?

GetCRM has put together an infographic that offers data-backed tips for delivering excellent customer service. These tips include:

  • Providing options for customers to resolve issues on their own.
  • Actively listening and responding to complaints on social media.
  • Offering mobile-friendly customer service portals for mobile customers.
  • Leveraging customer feedback.
  • And more!

These tips are backed by research and studies that involve real-world data.

If your business is struggling with customer service you’re also going to struggle to keep customers.

Read the infographic below to learn how your business can deliver superior customer service.

Data driven Guide to Customer Service

How To Track And Validate Website Sales Leads By Marketing Channel

Trust is essential in business, and that includes trusting your lead generation website to tell you everything it can about your customers. Unfortunately, a large number of Internet marketers don’t get the full story from their websites because they ignore the critical step of validating and tracking their sales leads.

We here at Straight North have discovered that nearly half of all website conversions are not sales leads, so it’s crucial that marketers drill deeper into their data. Unless you validate and track your lead generation website’s conversions, you won’t be able to trust what it tells you. This guide explains how you can regain trust in your website.