According to sales-master Brian Tracy, the answer is yes.

Speaking in an interview to promote his latest book, “Unlimited Sales Success”, Brian revealed that he’d advise every salesperson to identify a speciality.

“People prefer to deal with people who are the best in their field.” Says Tracy. “Becoming an expert in something requires a clear marketing decision. How will you position yourself on the market, and which industries will you focus on?”

He cites the example of an insurance salesman who “did what everyone was told to do” in the early days – specifically, target any high-income prospects. Professionals quickly realised that he had no knowledge of their particular fields, though, and turned him away. One even told him that it was like taking advice from a child. When he decided to focus on medical sales, however, and spent time learning about the industry, he established a powerful reputation. “He became the go-to person in financial planning for medical professionals, and in five years, there was £1 million a year in business flowing to him.”

Do you think being a specialist is essential to succeeding at sales?

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On the surface, it makes no sense. Prospects for B2B sales are usually intelligent, with many being college or university educated, with qualifications and plenty of experience.

The more complex the sale, the more intelligent the buyer. Despite this, the smartest thing you can do is to simplify your sales process. That doesn’t mean to gloss over problems, or to condescend your customer, but to keep everything streamlined and simple. That could mean talking in terms of how many documents you can store in a specific Cloud, for example, rather than reciting space data, or talking about the benefits of a faster processor, rather than reading out technical specifications.

Here’s why:

1. Too much information feeds buyers’ risk aversion. It adds complexity, and increases risk. It’s a deal killer.
2. Change feeds fear. A buying decision hinges on a prospects willingness to change the status quo. The more complex your sales process is, the more changes you are asking your prospect to make.
3. Analysis becomes paralysis. Super-smart prospects can become preoccupied in analysing every detail. Every small detail requires evaluation, analysis, comparison, time and energy. It delays the process, and gives the prospect more time to postpone.

So how do you avoid these?

Simplify your process. Find out who has a say in the buying decision, what information they absolutely need, and what are the milestones. Work out if the decision needs to be unanimous, and who keeps the process on track. Go one step at a time, and focus on manageable steps. Avoid introducing too much information at once, and use staging so that your buyer only needs to consider what’s relevant for each step.

Don’t give in to temptation to use jargon, either. Speak in terms of what your product does, not what it is. Let the product do the talking. More people will understand “900,000,000 documents” than “16GB”.

Is your sales process simple enough?

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According to the Harvard Business Review, while 65% of technology salespeople were confident about selling the cloud, less than 20% were as confident about selling virtualisation. It’s definitely an area that customers are interested in, too.

So what is virtualisation?

Virtualisation refers to the creation of a virtual form of something, rather than a physical one. Typically, that’s a virtual hardware platform, operating system, storage device or network resource.

What are the benefits?

Migrating physical servers to virtual machines and consolidating them onto fewer physical servers lowers monthly power and cooling costs in the data center, as well as reducing the amount of space physically required. Server virtualisation also delivers the flexibility to quickly provision additional resources – you can have another server up and running within minutes when necessary.

What’s changed?

Recent advances in virtualisation have included storage migration, which allows you to move a running VM or storage between different physical machines without disconnecting the client or application, fault tolerance, high availability and disaster recovery.

What’s the difference between virtualisation and the cloud?

While both virtualisation and the cloud aim to optimise IT infrastructure, they are not the same. Virtualisation is part of the physical infrastructure. It’s the allocation of resources: OS, memory, storage, networks, etc; to virtual machines.

In contrast, cloud is a technique that delivers the resources as a service to end users using the Internet.

Will you be selling virtualisation during 2014? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Cloud computing took companies by storm this year, with almost 60% of small to medium companies using cloud services, and 72% of them virtualising significant portions of their servers. 2014 promises even bigger growth, as cloud technologies expand on every front. Here are the biggest predicted trends for 2014:

Hybrid Clouds
This might the end the debate about public vs private clouds. Hybrid clouds – architectures that combine the security of private clouds with the power, scalability and cost-effectiveness of public clouds – will encourage more companies to adopt a cloud-based strategy. Hybrid clouds will open up a range of personalisable solutions for all areas of the business.

The Industrial Internet
The Industrial Internet is set to be huge in 2014. Cloud computing platforms will play a big role in creating the next generation of machines that are completely operated from central and remote locations. They’ll begin to roll out across major industries shortly.

BYOD
BYOD already started to cause waves in 2013, but it’ll be a big trend over the next 12 months. As end users put more of their own data into personal cloud storage for syncing, storage and streaming, IT will find more ways to incorporate these personal clouds into the workplace. Mobile Device Management will be key.

PaaS
Platforms-as-a-Service allows businesses to lower costs and speed up development, which aligns with many business goals this year. According to analyst firm IDC, the PaaS market is expected to grow from $3.8 billion to $14 billion by 2017.

Identity Management
Cloud services do present new security concerns. For all their accessibility and convenience, they do require a security policy overhaul. Identity management solutions will make this much easier in 2014, bringing new paradigms of security to the cloud.

Which of these trends do you think will be the biggest? Leave a comment and let us know!

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All businesses whether small or big are influenced by technology; it forms an integral part of every business plan. Without IT support, it’s impossible to even imagine running an organisation these days. Communication has become imperative in this global marketplace to meet customer and stakeholder expectations. Companies have to deploy new-age and smart technical tools that are capable of driving the business forward.

What advantages does technology offer?

Effective Communication

Communication methods within organisations have evolved immensely. Email was one of the early drivers of cyber technology. Over the past few years, sophisticated methods such as live chat, video-conferencing and online meeting tools have made communication much quicker and more effective. Organisations are able to connect with customers, suppliers and overseas partners in real time, making it easier for businesses to maximise their operational efficiency.

Data Management

Traditional office management systems have also come of age. The old paper filing systems and cabinets have become redundant. Most companies nowadays store digital versions of documents on centralised storage devices. It has become easier to save and store historical data more economically. Data can be saved securely and can be accessed by authorised personnel from any geographical location.

Management Information Systems (MIS)

Stored data is a source of valuable information for businesses. MIS enables companies to track expenses and productivity levels. They use the data to measure profitability over time and maximise their return on investments. MIS allows businesses to effectively use this information to forecast future growth and to analyse current trends.

Telecommuting

Telecommuting is a growing trend that has obliterated concept if distance and time in the business world. With the help of technology, employees can work from a remote location without having the need to travel to the office. With cloud computing, it has become increasingly possible to access data from a centralised database and to interface with colleagues.

The use of technology at work has proved beneficial in number of ways. It has driven operational efficiency, helped save time, reduce costs and maximise productivity.

What is the best advantage technology has bought to your life?

Buyer motivation is a key area that all sales professionals are looking at keenly in order to influence the buying process. A consumer’s need to buy a product or pay for a service is ultimately driven by their personal circumstances, but a salesperson can still stimulate the desire and develop a compelling reason for the customer to buy.

Good salesmanship lies not in selling the product itself but in selling the benefits of the product to the customer. It should be tailored according to the customer’s needs; and they should be made aware of the product’s value proposition. It’s important to win the customer’s confidence in order to complete a sale successfully. An effective value proposition is the one that drives forward the relationship between a brand and the consumer, and influences their buying decisions.

To create a buying need, it’s important to first understand the target market. Companies must get to know their customers and what motivates them to buy. Market research is a great tool to map the market and to gauge consumer experience. It’s essential for a company to identify the gaps in service and assess how they can change that for their customers. If a customer has a problem, give them a solution; however, the product must be superior to what the competitors are offering and a strong emphasis must be laid on the product’s unique benefits. It is easy to discard this step in favour of more elaborate sales techniques, but in the first month of a new year, it’s always worth revisiting the basics.

Rather than selling the product, sell the concept of the product to the customer. The consumer is more likely to be influenced into buying if they are shown the bigger picture.

So how can you motivate a customer to buy your product or service?

• Create the need for the product or service in the customer’s mind

• Show how it will generate value for them

• Differentiate the product from what’s available in the market

• Outline value proposition of the product clearly

• Sell the benefits associated with the product in terms of costs savings, increased customer
satisfaction, etc.

Triggering the motivation to buy is the most important step in the buying process. It is an essential part of the customer’s journey; from being introduced to the product to making the buying decision.

Have you successfully influenced a customer’s buying decision? How?

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Even if your holiday sales broke all records, you’d probably still have some targets to meet in the days and weeks after the big day itself. Done right, post-Christmas sales aren’t just for the retail sector. They can help to generate revenue, boost cash flow and continue relationships with customers, whichever industry you work in. To get the most from this period, though, you need to have planned your tactics in advance.

First, decide on your goals. Will you try to sell something specific, or focus on a specific customer? For retail stores, the target is usually to shift any left over Christmas stock, ready for the new year. Ensure your targets are just as clear.

Next, create some unique offers that will attract customers. Unlike retailers, who have to compete on price, you could choose to offer demos, or adjust your payment terms. For big businesses, for example, allowing them to be billed later could be enough to get a sale.

Now it’s time to identify your contact. Who is the best person at the company to make your offer too? Do you already know them? How could you get introduced to them? Identify who has already bought from you, and who has expressed interest. This is a stage that is often forgotten in the post-Christmas haze, so you’ll get ahead if you think about it now.

Finally, be aware of any existing offers you have on. For example, you might already offer 60-days of support for free, or price-match competitors. Make sure that these won’t affect your post-Christmas deals, or end up making your prices cheaper than you wanted them.

Will you be running post-Christmas sales this year?

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Traditional high street shops are preparing to combat online retailers by using new mobile technologies in the run up to Christmas, according to an international commerce specialist.

High street retailers will use mobile apps to monitor customer behaviour and attempt to “steal” shoppers from rival stores. The news comes following industry predictions that online retailers are set to take £10 billion in the lead-up to Christmas for the first time ever, causing the high street to need to find new and exciting ways to protect their market share.

So what do technologies should sales people be telling their customers about?

Geolocation is definitely the most popular, and it’s an offering only a physical retailer can take advantage of. If a customer transmits their location to a retailer, the retailer can respond with nearby stores, deals and stock levels. They can let their customer know that their order is ready to collect, or that there are tables free. They can also entice nearby shoppers in-store by having flash sales, or sending exclusive offers with a certain radius.

Online competitions, mobile payment options and interactive shopping environments are other alternatives that savvy salespeople may be able to interest their customers in, especially just before such a crucial sales period.

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Speculations are rife that traditional salespeople will be a thing of the past as more and more businesses adopt advanced digital platforms to reach out to their customers. It is not the salespeople but in fact the traditional sales techniques that are fast becoming redundant in today’s technically advanced world.

As technology continues to shape the modern environment, it’s becoming obvious to sellers that they cannot attract customers by applying conventional sales methods.

The pressure to provide fast, reliable and competitive service is always on for the vendor. To stay ahead in the competition, sellers are constantly deploying resources and investing capital. Even though there is a good reason for doing this, sellers most often forget ‘it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it’ that makes all the difference.

So how can you use technology to your advantage?

Modernize: Companies that integrate marketing automation into their process-flows have a better competitive edge. These days, customers often make buying decisions based on their research online; this has made one-on-one selling an obsolete concept. But a salesperson that can study their customers’ buying patterns and learn how they are interacting with the brand will be able to offer more targeted solutions, and make more sales.

Personalised interaction: The best customer is the returning customer; this adage applies to all businesses. New business is good but it’s proved that the existing clientele is the main money-driving machine behind successful companies. After-sales interaction is just as important as pre-sale engagement. Sending automated updates via emails, web links, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media channels is vital for the growth of the business. Personalising these emails with the customer’s name and details about their birthday, even if done using automated services such as email HTML, is likely to increase sales.

Digital Marketing: The use of the web based applications to inform customers about upcoming events, exhibitions, and conferences have become standard. It gives the business the required visibility and creates brand recognition. Developing email campaigns and e-newsletters that can be circulated to customers on an ongoing basis helps in winning the client’s business, as well as keeps them interested in the company’s growth.

Effective use of CRM: Utilising a customer relationship management system is the absolute must in business nowadays. The ability to connect with consumers efficiently and in a timely manner is the key to running a successful company. It’s worth knowing a customer’s feedback in order to improve services and to enhance overall customer experience.

Sales as a profession is changing; it’s come of age, hence it’s important for salespeople to evolve with it. Technology has bestowed a very effective tool upon the modern workforce; it’s now up to us to use it effectively to drive successful businesses in this global marketplace.

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