No marketing strategy, especially in a business-to-business setting, can succeed without an airtight approach to sales – including sales training, how to write proposals and more. At Tenato, our sales development services cover seven main areas:
Sales Team Planning and Strategy
This is one of the most critical functions of marketing, especially business to business marketing. If you do not have capable people to build relationships with clients, those relationships may never be formed. At Tenato, we can assist you in determining the size and nature of your sales team, and whether it needs to be comprised of in-house direct hires or outsourced solutions such as manufacturers agents, contracted representatives or independent dealers/distributors. Solutions can also be blended for different locations and global reach.
A Customized Sales Training Process
Once we have a clear understanding of the type of sales team that would best fit your needs, we work with you to define a clear, customized sales process with goals and sales funnel expectations. This process is integrated with our sales training program, ensuring your sales team has the understanding and marketing support tools they need to succeed at each step of the process.
Sales Training Delivery
At Tenato, we provide customized sales training remotely or in person – that involves the following aspects:
- How to research your targets to uncover likely needs using the latest online research tools
- How to prepare your “cold call” and strategically sequence questions
- How to prepare and conduct sales meetings
- How to prepare and present proposals
- How to negotiate and close a sale
- How to stay in touch and build relationships
Sales Team Management
Are you concerned about managing your sales staff so they stay focused and motivated? We don’t blame you— sales people are expensive, and it can take a long time before you know whether or not they are performing well. At Tenato, we provide monitoring, support, and encouragement to your sales team by helping them to address objections, refine proposals, and handle difficult client issues as they arise. We know early on whether they are going to work well, and are heading for success. We also like to occasionally attend meetings with your representatives to get a feel for how well they are able to address clients’ needs and create persuasive pitches.
Resources and Collateral for Sales Training
At Tenato, we take all of the strategic elements of your plan, and translate them into sales terms– an introductory pitch, agendas for sales meetings, visuals, presentations, voicemail messages, email introductions– essentially smooth phrases and a “tool chest” that can be employed by your sales team.
How to Write Proposals, Bids or RFP Reponses
One area of special interest at Tenato is proposal development. We determine how to write proposals for your specific target buyers, and then creating templates for effective proposals, and supporting you in responding to RFPs (requests for proposal). This process involves a combination of project management, strategic thinking, pricing, value presentation, and graphic design skills, i.e., not just how to write the proposals, but how to present your pricing so it makes sense to the buyer.
At Tenato, we bring these varied skill sets together to help boost your chances of having a winning proposal. Just be sure to contact us early on – well before your proposal deadline, as timelines can be tricky, and they are rarely flexible.
Recruiting a Salesperson
Let us clarify that we are not in the recruitment business as a general rule. However, when success of your overall marketing strategy rides on your acquiring and deploying a great salesperson, we are keen to assist in evaluating a sales candidate’s fit for the job. We get intimately involved in developing your job descriptions for sales personnel, compensation methods, recruitment advertisements and help you to select the media. From there, we assist you in screening and interviewing candidates, checking references, refining your job offer, and even creating a training schedule.
