A new sales rep isn’t going to magically outsell the top performers the first day on the job. Before a new rep can begin to hit and exceed quotas, they need time and a well-defined plan. One of the most popular plans for success in a new environment is the 30-60-90 day plan. In this guide, we’ll show you how to create a useful three-month plan for managers, sales reps, and new territories.
Customer service is a vital part of not only the customer experience but also the success of a business. It doesn’t matter through which channel customers ask for help, it needs to be executed well. Get it wrong and a lot of other pieces of the customer experience and the customer relationship with your brand will fall apart. Ninety-six percent of consumers around the globe believe customer service is an important factor when it comes to brand loyalty, according to a Microsoft study.
It's the season of giving new Zendesk app integrations. Learn all about how these new integrations can ease workloads for your sales and support teams.
Measuring sales success isn’t as simple as it sounds. There are many ways to assess sales numbers and customer growth, so the task can quickly become overwhelming. Before you know it, you have contradicting statements and you’re forced to start all over again. This is where KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are essential. In this piece, we’ll discuss what KPIs are, which KPIs to use in certain situations, and how to implement KPIs in your sales team.
No matter how successful a business is, every company is going to find moments where they need a sales boost. It might be towards the beginning to build a customer base, or somewhere down the line when sales are slow. This is the time for a sales promotion. In this piece, we’re going to discuss what a sales promotion is, the types of sales promotions, the pros and cons of using them, and the best strategies for your company.
Even though most of us hear "sales" and jump to the image of an individual buyer in a store, it turns out that the majority of sales money doesn’t come from customers but from other businesses. In fact, B2B sales are projected to bring in approximately three times the revenue of B2C sales by 2023.
Customer support agents are your business’ eyes and ears. They know what your customers need, what they expect, and what they think about your product. Meanwhile, if your organization is in the tech or software industry, developers are its backbone. That means collaboration between these teams is inevitable. But few businesses have clean, clear workflows for this kind of teamwork. Usually, it depends on an ad-hoc system of emails, hidden documentation, and in-person meetings.
Most businesses think they have a good sense of whether sales are up or down, but how are they gauging accuracy? With shifting budgets and different departments needing more or less from the company every month, having a precise account of every expense and how it relates to future sales is a must. That’s where the percentage of sales method comes in handy.
Sales and customer service should be a natural fit. Both teams work to create successful customer interactions and move the company forward. It stands to reason that they should easily support one another—unfortunately, that’s rarely the case. Because sales and customer service (CS) teams are focused on different metrics, they rarely interact with each other. Sales teams, for instance, key in on sales metrics like win rates, while CS keeps an eye on tickets closed and CSAT.
When you think of measuring your company’s success, what markers come to mind? Perhaps you consider revenue KPIs or customer enrollment. Maybe you dream of your run rate increasing as your cost of sales decreases. No matter what success looks like to you, it’s unlikely you measure it in sales volume. But perhaps it’s time to start. Sales volume is a largely overlooked measuring tool, but its benefits to your company can’t be ignored.
There’s no perfect approach to sales psychology. Sales tactics are ever-changing based on the market, your products, your company, and your customers. That said, most sales tactics fall into either a hard or soft sell category, and understanding the difference between those categories is crucial to your sales success.
In the early 2010s, the Age of the Customer emerged. Consumers were more connected than ever before, and as their access to information and resources grew, so did their expectations. The Age of the Customer continues today—and the data shows it. Gartner research reveals that 74 percent of customers expect more from brands, not only in their products and services but also in how they treat their customers.
Sales operations refers to any tool, plan, or training your company uses to enable its sales staff to deliver their best work. It may seem like a vague term, but having a clear sales operations plan can greatly increase the success of your sales team. Below, we’ll explore the details of sales operations and how this flexible methodology can deliver some serious benefits to your company.
How are travel companies performing today when it comes to support? In a recent experiment covered by NASDAQ, customer service quality was tested and measured across 3,000 of the top global travel and hospitality brands worldwide. Let’s just say there’s lots of room for improvement. To remove stress and surprise and delight customers with effortless experiences, companies are adopting AI-powered travel chatbots to engage with guests at every step of the customer journey.
Every company needs a sales plan. Without a plan, it’s easy to lose track of sales goals, lose momentum, and ultimately, lose money. Sales budgets can help—they make it easier to form concrete sales plans and greatly simplify sales management. In this article, we’ll cover what a sales budget is, why it’s important, and how to best create one for your business. We’ll also explore a few examples of sales budgets for different tracking periods.
Are your sales reps on track to meet sales goals? What led to a bad quarter, and how can you fix it? Do you have enough prospects in your sales funnel? Answering these questions without accurate data is impossible—this is where sales reports come in. They detail all sales activities and offer key insights, helping sales managers plan ahead and build sales strategies. But the way sales leaders create their reports matters.
In a perfect sales world, there would be enough time and resources to give a relaxed, in-person sales presentation to every single prospect. There’d be coffee and bagels, and you’d have the chance to lay out every detail of your company and products. Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case. Because time and resources are scarce—and you may be reaching out to hundreds of prospects in a short amount of time—a solid sell sheet is a must.
When the pandemic first disrupted business as usual, Zendesk was one of the earliest adopters of the new normal. “I think we were one of the very first organizations to make the decision that all of our sales were going to be 100 percent remote indefinitely,” says Monica Telles, VP of Zendesk Sell.
How are customer success and customer experience different? If you don’t know the answer to this question, you’re certainly not alone. The two concepts are often confused because there are some similarities and overlaps. Though they’re both customer-centric roles, customer success and customer experience teams perform distinct functions.
