Sales processes include the following: customer development,   prospecting, discovery calls, closing deals, cross-selling, upselling, post-sales implementation, customer experience, obtaining referrals, and testimonials.

What is the hardest part of the sales process?

I surveyed my LinkedIn audience to find out.

Survey Results

Of those surveyed, 53 % said closing deals was the hardest part of the Sales Process, followed by understanding market fit at 22%, Calling on buyers, and knowing their needs at 19% with the lowest being cross-selling, referrals, testimonials, or other reasons at 6%.

Based on these findings, I have included nine ways to enable sales teams to close more deals.

9 Strategies to Empower and Enable Sales Teams to Make more Sales

1.Have Sales and Marketing Management discuss Sales Cycle mapping out Sales, Marketing, and the Customer Journey.

2. Have Marketing go with Sales on calls to observe customer interactions regularly.

3. Take notes from Sales calls to develop answers to customer objections.

4. Role play with the Sales to get better at objection handling.

5. Develop an on-demand LMS for Sales including Decks, Videos, Sales Training materials, Product training materials, Scripts, and FAQs.

6. Use feedback from Sales calls and objections to improve Sales and Marketing Collateral.

7. Assign readings on sales strategy and techniques.

8. Conduct market research to show how is your products and services are better than the competitor. Present market research creating a chart that Sales can refer to when dealing with customers.

9. Develop buyer personas to understand customer buying motives. Share the buyer personas with Sales.

What is the hardest part of the sales process?

How did you fix your sales process?

Share your thoughts.

Salesforce demos Agentforce’s Power at Agentforce Tour in New York

I covered Salesforce AgentForce in New York this past month. This event was organized to showcase Salesforce’s Agentforce. Agentforce is DIY AI in action. Agentforce is a customer service agent that can be built by Salesforce customers and integrated into all industries across the customer journey.

In the keynote, Patrick Stokes, EVP of Product & Industries Marketing at Salesforce, asked, “What if organizations can create an unlimited labor force?” Salesforce shared how organizations use DIY AI in Agentforce to multiply their workforce.

I saw demos for use cases across industry verticals and the customer journey in Sales, Service, and Marketing functions.

Alice Steinglass, EVP & GM Platform at ‪Salesforce‬ demos how Prudential uses Agentforce.

Sanjna Parulekar, SVP of Product Marketing at ‎⁨‪Salesforce‬ demos how Prudential uses Agentforce.

Jon Moore, Director of Product Marketing ‪at Salesforce,‬ demos Agentforce, empowering Financial Advisors.

There was a panel discussion; leaders discussed using Agentforce and Agentic AI. Panelists also shared how they would like Agentforce and DIY AI to evolve to improve productivity and outcomes.

Lydia Dishman hosts a ‎⁨‪Salesforce‬ media panel at Agentforce Tour on Agentforce and Agentic AI.

Agentforce Tour was a great event. I learned much about AI Agents, DIY AI, and how it can transform the customer experience.

People connect and network in the Salesforce Ecosystem while learning about Salesforce Agentforce’s new features and rollout.

Salesforce, thank you for having me at the Agentforce Tour.

If you want to be on the cutting edge of DIY AI, attend Agentforce in your city.

Have you used Agentforce?

Share your experience in the comments.

Additional pictures can be found on Instagram.

What You Don’t Think about when you Start in Outside Sales-Sales Logistics

Before you start selling, you need to do sales planning. This includes market research, understanding territory geography, and product knowledge and objection handling through sales training.

Here is what you don’t think of. 

How long will your sales process take? 

How long will each sales call last? 

How long does it take to go from one appointment to another? Mapping can help, but you won’t know until you do it regularly. Knowing how often to call on prospects and customers to be top of mind, without irritating them, because everyone is different. 

How cold calls on prospects will go. 

Cold calls are a great way to hone your objection-handling skills and gain new business.

The emotional roller coaster of the highs of making the sale, mixed with the depths of being rejected. 

The uncertainty of how much you will earn for your efforts. 

If you are truly cut out for a career in Sales. 

That you are not alone, even though you are in the field by yourself. 

Where to find a bathroom you can use in relation to your location. 

Dealing with the weather.

Sales can teach you a lot about business and enable you to earn a great living, but it is not for everyone. Everyone should try sales at least once in their career. 

What surprised you when you started in Outside Sales?

Share your thoughts in the comments.