Organize for intelligence. In sales, finding the right contacts (and all of the necessary contacts) within the prospects is difficult and time-consuming. Intelligence and sales are complimentary. Your sales will be intelligence driven, but intelligence will come mostly from your own efforts, not a product served up by your company headquarters. So you must be organized for intelligence, and you must collect it yourself. Twenty-Eight Articles
Use all of the modern tools that are available to you to collect information. Use sales 2.0 information-gathering tactics and tools. Collect the information electronically. Keep everything; you don’t know when you will need to recall something of value that a key contact mentioned during a meeting. Make sure you have electronic access to your information when you are in the field, when you need it most.
Talk to every available contact within your prospects. Listen to what they have to say about their company, their challenges, their issues. Collect and gather this information from anyone willing to talk to you, and have a list of the right intelligence-gathering questions with you at all times. The time you spend gathering intelligence will pay for itself by increasing your speed and increasing your win ratios.
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Great article. I also would add remove the distractions those things that don’t move you closer to you sales goals.
Thanks for the comment, Jim. I agree with you on eliminating the distractions. I believe that fits under a section called “The Golden Hour.” Too many reps leave their email on while they are working, as well as take every telephone call. I call these the Weapons of Mass Distraction.
Good article. I would add to that to find a tool that does it all. If you are scattered with your information and contacts you find yourself spending more time organizing than selling. If it doesn’t move you closer to your goal DON’T do it. Salesforce has a good software and it’s free to try.
Thanks for the comment, Kenny.
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