Pat (Sales Division Manager):
Right, everyone’s here. Let’s start the daily update.
Suzi, how’s your team doing?
Suzi (Sales Representative, Team leader):
To the end of the day yesterday, we’ve achieved 78% of the monthly sales target.
We’ve revised the sales forecast to 102% of the target.
Pat:
Excellent. How’s everyone’s schedule today?
Suzi:
Kenny and I will be out visiting potential customers.
Naomi is going to be closing a deal with one of our customers today.
Jun and Eri are preparing for the open seminar this weekend.
Aki is working on the next edition of the e-mail newsletter, and this afternoon will be making cold calls based on the prospect list.
Pat:
Thanks.
Suzi, Kenny, I know you’re both experts, but please make sure you not only find out but also record as much as possible about these potential customers’ needs.
It’s essential for managing lead validation and the sales pipeline.
Naomi, do you have a little time before you shoot off? I’d like to have a quick meeting with you.
And thank you Jun, Eri, and Aki. Generating new leads is a vital part of our sales process.
Questions anyone?
No? Great! Right, let’s get to it. Let me know if you need my help.
the monthly sales target 月間売上目標
the sales forecast 売上予測
potential customers 見込み客
close a deal 商談をまとめる
an e-mail newsletter メールマガジン、メールニュース
a cold call 営業電話
prospect list 見込み客リスト
(sales) lead 見込み客・見込み客の情報
sales pipeline management 営業プロセスを可視化し、必要な行動や着地予測に反映させる手法
2.コールドコール/コールドメール
Aki (Staff in charge of Customer Relationship Management; CRM):
Excuse me, Pat. May I ask your advice?
Pat (Sales Division Manager):
Sure. Go ahead.
Aki:
Recently, cold calling doesn’t seem to be working as well as before.
Do you think I should concentrate on cold e-mails instead of cold calls?
It might help to improve the efficiency.
Pat:
Well, I suppose it’s partly because of the expanded prospect list.
I’ll put your suggestion on the agenda for the next monthly meeting.
Aki:
Thank you, Pat. I appreciate it.
By the way, what have you found is a good answer to people who say “I don’t have time”?
Pat:
Well, there are three important things to remember, Aki.
First, assure them that you only need 30 seconds of their time.
Then tell them briefly what you’d like to say.
You need to show that you are aware of a need they have and that we can help.
It’s a technique called Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS).
Lastly, ask them for permission to send them an e-mail.
Like this:
“I know you’re super busy, so I won’t take up very much of your time.
I noticed on you careers page that you are hiring market analysts.
Would you be able to give me a few minutes to explain our new marketing analytics tool?
It enables you to track customer behaviour on different media, efficiently and effectively.
If this sounds interesting, I’d be happy to send you more detailed information.
Would you mind confirming your e-mail address?”
Aki:
Thank you very much.
Problem-Agitate-Solve. Sounds good. I’ll give it a go.
Potential customer:
…So, these are the issues we are aware of.
Suzi (Sales Rep):
I really appreciate you [or your] letting us know the difficulties you are facing.
We would be happy to come up with a solution for you.
Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?
Potential customer:
Not at all.
Suzi:
So, may I confirm, the most pressing issue is reliability, right?
Naomi (Sales Rep):
It seems like our Triple X (XXX) Business License is a good fit for your company.
It allows all the staff of your marketing department, up to 20 people, to use basic functions of Triple X.
If I may suggest, adding the Premier Support option will give you access to our help desk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This is our proposal. What do you think?
Customer:
Hmm, that makes sense.
Naomi:
When would you like to get started with the implementation?
Customer:
By the end of the year, if possible.
But we’d like to give it a try before making the final decision.
Naomi:
That would be fine.
We can activate any number of accounts for your one month free trial.
Let’s see what happens.
I’d be happy to help you during the trial with training and promoting usage.
Is there anything else I can help you with at this point?
Customer:
Could you give me two versions of the proposal?
Estimates for Triple X Business with Premier Support and without Premier Support?