Part of the sales training that we offer our clients in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto involves the use of technology to improve the likelihood of making sales now and in the future. The latest advances offer many benefits to Salespeople. In this article, we’ll show you four of them and how they can help you in the sales process.
It’s amazing to see all the tech-friendly sales tools that exist today. Knowing what each of them does and how they work is an essential part of being a top-producing Salesperson. Regardless of your experience level, leveraging the benefits of technology allows you stay in touch with new ideas and ways to work with more potential buyers by keeping them engaged and increasing the chances of making a future sale. In many cases, these tools can be used free of charge on a limited basis with a small investment for a more comprehensive program that can be tax-deductible against commissions. Here are four that I use and recommend to our clients and readers. Please know that I’m not an affiliate of these companies.
Tech Tool #1 – Email tracking apps
The benefits of an email tracking app are great. You no longer have to wonder which clients opened your email and attachments. Many of the apps allow you to track open rates, clicks, open frequency and presentation page views. If you want to know what happens after you click send, then an email tracking app is a strong consideration. Many of the apps can be used with Gmail and Outlook and can be extensions used with Chrome and Firefox. There are dozens of email tracking services available to you including Yesware, Boomerang and Sales Handy. Here’s a link detailing the most prominent with their features and benefits, as well as reviews.
An email tracking app allows you to focus on the buyers that are most likely to buy from you. Making a timely phone call to a decision maker who you know has opened and read your email prioritizes your most qualified buyers. While telling them that you’re using an email tracking app is not a smart idea, it’s as easy as you making a client call to do basic follow-up.
Tech Tool #2 – Grammarly
No wants to be that Salesperson who makes spelling and grammatical errors in emails and social media posts. We’ve all done it before when we get too busy and forget to slow down and check our work. If you’re a Salesperson who struggles in this area, then check out the many software tools for correct spelling, punctuation and grammar. Grammarly tends to be the most popular. It also is a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox and has a free version.
Top 20 Grammar Checker Software Solutions
Tech Tool #3 – Flipboard
This is one of my favorite sales driven apps that doesn’t even market itself that way. Flipboard is like a 24-7 online magazine that gives you the ability to search the internet for articles on topics that interest you (or your client). The pre-determined categories include broad areas such as news, technology, travel and economics. It gets super detailed into photography, books, health, entrepreneurship and even categories like Star Wars – go figure!
This is a great way to build stronger relationships with buyers with specific professional and personal interests while also maintaining contact with prospects who aren’t ready to buy…yet. You can even use Flipboard’s search engine for specific keywords when you have a buyer who has a passion for restoring classic cars or a decision maker who feels their company website needs to improve its organic Search Engine Optimization. Every time you open the app, new articles appear. Flipboard has an excellent email forwarding capability where it’s easy to send a great article to a buyer keeping you top of mind with them. Here’s the best part – its free for iOS and android. Check it out.
Tech Tool #4 – Blinkist
Leaders are readers. Smart Salespeople constantly improve their skill set by making a commitment to reading. However, many of us lead extremely busy lives with kids, aging parents, pets, friends and community involvement. If your best intention of reading a great sales book occasionally isn’t fitting into your lifestyle, consider an executive book summary service. After hours of research into the many different platforms, we’ve purchased Blinkist. As an author, I always recommend reading the entire book to absorb its full content, however, after a short preview on the free trial, I could immediately see its benefits.
Each book has a 13-15-minute written summary and professionally voiced audio recording of the same content. Blinkist is available on your laptop or tablet and has a very easy to use mobile app. This turns your commuting and travel time into the opportunity to learn and grow your skills. A yearly subscription for one year is $90 US. The library is well stocked and you get a new blink sent to every week based on your interests. Blinkist gives you the bite-sized highlights of the book similar to what a 3-minute trailer does for a movie. It helps you buy the right books based on your needs.
Use Technology To Make More Sales
The right technology in the hands of a smart Salesperson gives you great leverage. It allows you to save time, reach out to more buyers to develop a relationship and work the right clients that want to engage with you. What other tech-friendly suggestions do you have? Let us know in the comments section below.
Should you be looking to improve your sales skills, check out our book SHUT UP! Stop Talking and Start Making Money available on Amazon. Feel free to also comment or share our previous blog post The Top 10 Things Great Salespeople Don’t Do for a chance to win our online sales training course The Sales Skills Incubator.
Thanks!
Dave Warawa – PROSALESGUY
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