Sales Best Practice: Maintain good records about customers
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Sales Best Practice: Maintain good records about customers by using an 'account
profile' and 'personal profiles' for every account
by: Dave Kahle
It is the Information Age. And that means that wise and effective sales people
collect, store and use good information about their customers and prospects.
That information provides the salesperson with a competitive advantage, is
invaluable for planning for the best use of his sales time, and allows him to be
much more effective in his sales calls.
In this day of CRM systems and hand–held devices that make information
management so easy, it's a wonder that I even have to mention this. But the sad
truth is that there are still sales forces that don't use any kind of automation
tool for salespeople. And, even in those who do have some kind of electronic
system for information management, a considerable portion of the sales force
doesn't comply with the company's directions for collecting information.
These salespeople realize that information – particularly information about the
specific opportunities within an account and the quantifiable potential of every
account – brings with it some accountability. If account X has this much
potential, for example, what are you doing to acquire it?
And it is that accountability that frightens the information–leery salesperson.
But not the sales masters. They understand that specific, useful information
about every account – the kind that you would collect and put into an account
profile – is valuable, not only for the salesperson, but also for his/her
company. They welcome the accountability that rises out of information, as they
understand that it helps keep them sharp and focused.
And even in companies that do not have a system–wide electronic approach to
information management, the best salespeople create their own tools, and
discipline themselves to rigorously use them.
That's why this is a practice of the best.
Dave Kahle is the country's premier sales training educator. Since 1988, Dave
has worked with over 400 companies, helping them to increase their sales and
develop their sales people. He's been published over 1,000 times, has authored
seven books, and writes a weekly Ezine which you can subscribe to for free at
http://www.davekahle.com/mailinglist.htm. He has a gift for creating
powerful training events that get audiences thinking differently about sales.
Dave’s website is available at
http://www.davekahle.com, and you can follow his sales blog at
http://www.davekahle.com/salesblog.
Contributor:
Dave Kahle
Published here on: 09-Aug-09
Classification: Sales
Website: http://www.davekahle.com
MSWord:
Sales Best Practice - maintain good records.doc
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