Sales process: Innovating it

The relationship between customers and sales people is an important one. If customers do not trust the sales people in your company, it may be time to innovate the sales process. As MyCustomer.com explains, “the role of your sales force is to engender trust and confidence in prospects so that they are willing to purchase products and services.”

The role of sales people in the product development process is an important one, as they need to establish and maintain relationships between customers and the company, and ensure customer satisfaction.

With today’s changing marketplace, businesses need to innovate in order to stay on top of the competition. Businesses like Apple and Google have proven that the key to innovation is to think outside the box and identify what the market wants. In a recent video interview found on BNET, David D. Stefano of Richardson elaborates: “So how do sales people perform in a drastically different and changing marketplace that is changing as a result of sales 2.0 the Internet, as well as the economy that we’re in today? So our approach is really what kind of tools, what kind of support can we provide to sales forces of today.”

From the interview, we learn that sales people need to carefully plan out their calls, predict objections they expect to hear and prepare to handle them. Detailed planning tools which they can use to drill down and structure the sales process are extremely helpful. As Stefano explains, “the way you help salespeople become innovative is to empower them to be innovative. I have found that innovating Richardson’s products and services it’s opening up to people that you wouldn’t ordinarily think to go to for ideas; so everyone in your organization and asking them for ideas. So allowing or empowering that salesperson to actually think outside of the box, take some chances, expand the boundaries, understand the business and propose different ways, is truly how you do it.

Innovating the sales process with OneDesk

OneDesk provides the tools you need to innovate your sales process. It allows you collect ideas from employees, partners and most importantly, customers into one place, no matter where they are in the world. OneDesk comes with a unique customer portal that allows companies to strengthen relationships with their customers by being able to interact with them, acknowledge receipt of their feedback and keep them updated on the implementation of their ideas throughout the development process. What’s especially useful is that each feedback can be linked to requirements and tasks, which makes it easy to trace a task back to its origins. Social collaboration tools and history records also make OneDesk a great tool within the sales process. Try OneDesk today for free.