I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Ciara, the leading digital conversation assistant that allows sales teams to communicate with prospects and customers more effectively while on the phone. In 2019, they closed a seven-digit seed funding round and its momentum has not stopped. Keep reading as Ciara goes into detail about its new content library aimed to help all sales professionals CLOSE MORE DEALS…

Tips to Boost Your SaaS Selling

LA Startups: What is the current landscape of the sales industry?

Ciara: Inside sales in today’s day and age is not what it used to be. Gone are the days of pure cold calling, pitching your solution over the phone, and closing the deal in a couple of days. Now, prospects are more knowledgeable than ever and expect high-quality, personalized sales interactions. Because of this, inside sales reps’ strategies must be much more creative and succinct in order to capture the attention of their intended audience.

LA Startups: Tell us about your new Content Library and the why behind it?

Ciara: We developed a resource for inside salespeople to stay on top of their game at all times while on the phone. The Ciara Content Library has a plethora of sales trainers and coaches from around the world that have come together to share their own personal playbooks for Ciara users to implement during their sales calls.

LA Startups: Can you share with us the top sales tips you garnered from your contributors?

Ciara: Of course! We have taken the top nugget of advice from each of our contributors to improving your sales calls…

“Define qualification questions to ensure you are working with prospects that fit your target group.” – Susan A. Enns

Before you even get on the phone, this is a very important step. You must determine what questions you need to have answered during the call to uncover whether or not they’re a fit. You don’t want to waste time chasing the wrong people, and you definitely don’t want to take time away from their day!

“Kindness and respect for all receive attention and the results we desire.” – Elinor Stutz

This is just a great life tip in general. Being respectful and kind at all times to your prospects, customers, colleagues, etc. will always bring you success. Especially in sales, it’s imperative that you don’t burn any bridges, and always try to remain positive.

“Don’t mistake pretext for legitimate objections.” – Raul Porojan

7 Sales Tips to Boost your SaaS Selling Prowess in 2020

People like to make excuses. This happens every day in the sales world. However, a salesperson should know the difference between these excuses and an actual objection. An objection is based on facts, whereas excuses are based on feelings. Learning this difference can take time, but will pay off in the end!

“Find out who is on the buying jury.” – Dan McKinnon

This is an imperative – yet often forgotten – step of discovery calls. If you don’t find out who the actual buyer is, meaning the one who will literally give you the payment method, then you’ve missed the boat. You want to quickly find out from your initial prospect who needs to be in the room in order for the company to make a decision!

“Don’t waste time in the beginning of the call – get right to the point. Everyone is busy and people appreciate you respecting their time!” – Adrian Kreitmar

Meaning keep the small talk to a minimum. You want to find an appropriate balance between having a friendly conversation and making sure the prospect understands the value and purpose of your call. Find this balance and you’re golden!

“Use bridging statements to connect the dots for your customers, recap the conversation, and stay focused.” – Dionne Mischler

Some examples of bridging statements are:

Gotcha, I heard you say….is that accurate?
What’s most important to you?
If you had a magic wand…

These statements help keep both you and your prospect on the same page throughout the conversation. It also helps bring you to the next subject in your conversation, for example, going from talking about their background to uncovering their pain points.

“Make a pre-call checklist with items like:
1) Visit the company website,
2) Research contact person (LinkedIn, team page on a company website, Google),
3) Check company’s social media profiles,
4) Technology Check-up (is the meeting link/audio/screen-sharing, etc. working)” – Jan Jank & Tim Brömme

Each salesperson should have their own pre-call checklist. These are action items that you need to complete before you dial any numbers to ensure that you are well-informed about the company and the person you are talking to. And testing your technology is always recommended – there’s nothing worse than starting a sales call with a ping-pong style “can you hear me?” dialogue!

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Sales can be tough. But with the amount of learning resources out, there is limitless. Learn how to stand out and be confident, and use these tips to make sure your next 10, 100, or 1,000 calls result in a closed deal!

If you want more insights like these, check out Ciara’s new Content Library. There are insights into inside sales galore!

LA STARTUPS

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