You might think you have it down, but you can always improve your sales process.
You and your team of sales reps need to constantly tweak the sales to continue moving customers down the sales funnel between large purchases. Effectively evolving the sales cycle with changing customer needs will help expand your consumer base, keep existing clients happy, and maximize your sales potential.
To make your sales process more effective and to convert more leads into actual sales, you need to create marketing materials that back you up at every stage of the sales cycle. A persuasive case study, blog post, or white paper can push a skeptical buyer over the edge to go ahead with the sale if this content is used at the appropriate time. Coupled with effective use of CRM technology, the right marketing strategy can be the key to earning new sales.
Follow these tips to ensure your sales process is streamlined and optimized to make every sale count:
1. Nurture Sales Leads
When making a big sale, medical reps need to prepare for the long haul. A first meeting with a buyer is a time for reps to demonstrate their breadth of knowledge in the industry at large. It is also a critical moment for reps to provide potential buyers with access to the right materials that will assuage their purchasing anxieties.
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Make sure your team has a wide variety of blog posts, infographics, tip sheets, and other informational material that will give medical device buyers a broader understanding of their industry and the problems doctors, nurses and hospital administrators face. Because reps will be talking to many different stakeholders, it's crucial that you prepare them to provide information tailored to each specific stakeholder's questions and concerns. You should coach your reps before they're out in the field on how to best address different stakeholders and their needs throughout the sales cycle.
To speak effectively to each decision maker, you and your sales team need to research the business problems clients are facing and the negative impacts they have on their business right now. This will help position your team to be a solution to their issues. If you can't persuade stakeholders of your expertise, there's little hope of moving clients further along the sales cycle.
2. Emphasize Your Value
As buyers move from the early stages of the sales cycle into the intermediate stages, your strategy needs to evolve with them. Now that your team has established itself as a knowledgeable source of information in a particular field, it's time to start selling stakeholders on the product.
Consumers need evidence that the product your team is selling will be effective, so it's important to present marketing materials that back up the credibility of your product. Reps should present clients with case studies from previous clients who have had success with a product and return-on-investment reports that demonstrate how your product has made a positive impact on a buyer's field.
This is also a time to remind customers how difficult their current solution is without the new tool. Whether it's doing something by hand, tediously resetting a machine after every use, or using a machine that's complicated to learn, your reps need to remind potential buyers about why they're considering a purchase in the first place. By reminding buyers of their current difficulties, it becomes less likely that decision-makers will continue using their old machines to save money on buying something else.
Once a customer acknowledges their problem, sees your product as a viable solution, and understands its value, buyers will be ready to make a purchase.
3. Find Out What Customers Want Next
Mobile technology is becoming an instrument tool in the medical device sales industry. You and your sales reps can log valuable customer data after each client visit, and your reps can be refer back to the information when making a return visit. Utilizing this software can also significantly streamline the sales process and maximize a rep's time and sales potential when used effectively. By analyzing data captured using CRM technology, you and your reps can determine which leads are promising and which ones might be hard to sell.
Reps can also track how long each client typically takes to move from one stage of the sales cycle to the next. This will give them a more accurate forecast of when a customer might be ready to purchase again. By leveraging a customer's purchase history, sales reps will be more capable of crafting a sales pitch tailored to a buyer's particular needs and maximize their overall sales potential.
Medical device teams that follow these pointers will rise above their competitors and create long-lasting partnerships with clients for years to come.