Getting Utility Sales Right the First Time
Getting sales agreements right the first time is a huge concern for any sales team. For utility companies, making sure that every “i” is dotted and that every “t” is crossed in accordance with local regulations regarding energy sales is especially important.
For the first time in over a decade, the largest energy providers in the UK are re-entering the market through face to face selling channels. While these providers are taking their first cautious steps back into this world, other more experienced players are also planning to re-enter the field sales domain following the halt caused by the pandemic.
For both types of providers, ensuring that the people representing you in the field are not only complying but delivering an exceptional experience is key to not only avoiding any complaints or challenges but also to win over new customers and capitalise on the very real and lucrative opportunities available.
With this in mind, here are some considerations for your business leaders:
Field sales historically has had a high churn rate, in some markets field sales reps will often migrate to the energy provider offering the cheapest product to the market. As many field sales reps are paid on commission only structures, they go where they are most likely to be successful and in turn, get paid. While price is hugely important, the level of service offered by an organisation is also key, especially considering the number of cheaper, smaller energy providers going bust in recent years due to their mismanagement of customer needs.
Training:
When you are putting a sales rep in front of a customer, they need to not only have detailed knowledge of your products and services but also of the value you offer customers that include and go beyond prices, such as service and overall customer experience. This puts a higher demand on the sales reps to develop their soft skills. Developing these skills and creating the type of customer experience that delivers at every interaction takes time and consideration.
Creating a training plan that not only offers upfront training and onboarding, but also offers continuous learning, just-in-time learning and assessment and can be delivered to the rep on their device just before and after they start selling, makes the information easily digestible, keeps the material fresh in their mind, and allows sales reps to apply their learning immediately with the results tracked.
Quality Assurance:
Inaccurate sales numbers cause headaches for both sales reps and business leaders, especially if there are improvements that can be made to your process to shore up those challenges. If there are challenges with a sale, such as incomplete or inaccurate information, or you are an organisation that does a separate follow-up to every customer post-sale, all of this equals more time and more cost, more time to rework or validate a sale and more cost both direct and opportunity costs.
To mitigate this costly consequence your organisation can implement a digital sales solution with the ability to highlight the gaps in your sales process - and add checks, validations and automated workflows to your sales process. This takes the guesswork out of selling, giving the sales reps a more accurate view of their sales commission and providing you with more accurate data to make decisions and improve your process overall.
To complement this from a quality assurance perspective, your customer can review and sign off on the sale on their device, confirming the legitimacy of the sale. You can automatically follow up with a customer satisfaction survey to ensure the rep has completed their duties as expected.
If you are embarking on a new or emboldened sales effort we’d love to hear what approaches you are taking to getting it right, the first time.
Schedule a sales MOT with the team today
How Digital Sales Solutions Open Doors for your Best People
Every sales team has its own stars. The men and women who seem to have a superhuman ability to close a deal. Who are performing head and shoulders over their peers.
But often the trouble with these A-List types is that they know it. They can be brash, in-your-face, and usually a bit of a lone wolf. And while they might not be popular with their colleagues, they’re winning – and as their manager, the last thing you want to do is stand in their way.
But this creates its own set of headaches, doesn’t it?
While you might not want to irritate your top performers with a quiet chat about ethics and style, you also need to make sure that they don’t overstep the mark. You want sales, not lawsuits. And your CEO is hardly going to thank you if topping your targets is followed by a barrage of customer complaints.
So how do you lay down the letter of the law without becoming the enemy in the eyes of your team?
The simplest answer is this: use your systems to say it for you.
Deploying a digital data collection system as part of your field sales solutions allows you to automate the sales fulfilment process. You can set things up so that certain compliance boxes have to be ticked and no one can go ahead and skip a section or leave out vital information that must be communicated to the customer.
Rather than employees getting frustrated or resentful that you’re grilling them on their sales technique or drumming in things they already know, they just need to follow the structure laid out by your Field Force Automation solution. No arguments, no excuses and, if you do it right, a faster and more efficient process that helps everyone to do their job better.
Why? Because automatic data capture manages the workflow for your team, cutting down paperwork and duplicated effort and speeding up the sales process. Plus, rolling out a mobile solution helps you to allocate leads quickly and fairly, even while sales reps are out in the field making door-to-door sales.
It ensures that everyone has a constant stream of work and the chance to hit their targets, with no delays or hurdles to slow down your best performing staff.
No more wasted time while you argue with your team about doing things the “right” way, and less risk of killing the enthusiasm of top sales agents bursting with initiative. More control – with less micromanaging. Who wouldn’t like the sound of that?
After all, young, ambitious workers want nothing more than having the space and freedom to perform at their best, supported by time-saving tech – especially when this can be access on their own phones and devices - without having to squander time and resources on tasks and processes with no clear purpose, when they could be out there making money.
If you want your sales stars to be mega-productive and efficient, you need to give them tools to succeed and then get out of their way. Field Sales Solutions give you the perfect way to do that – without the risks to your business.
The added bonus is you can start to track what they are doing differently, that’s working. This insight can lead to changes in how you train and support the rest of your team, so everyone can be lifted up on the wave of success.
Want to find out more about how Field Sales Solutions can help your team surpass sales targets in a shorter time, while improving their level of service? Contact our team of specialists today.
Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better: What to Look for When Choosing a Salesforce Automation Software Provider
Not a new saying by any stretch of the imagination – ‘nobody ever got fired for buying IBM’ – IBM, or any large market leader such as Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, SalesForce, etc. became the safe choice when purchasing pricey software. After all, by going with one of the established brands the thought was (and for many still is) that they were too big to fail, which of course, isn’t always true. With a lifespan lasting nearly 50 years, this overused mantra is finally dying out – and with good reason.
While not true of all big brand software solutions, some of them share the following disadvantages – slow to implement new technology, require long deployment periods, don’t always deliver what is needed, use ambiguous pricing schemes, and many times embed the software so deep that switching vendors is difficult at best. Companies are now realising that legacy software products aren’t risk-free and are actively looking for alternatives.
Why Smaller Salesforce Automation Software Vendors Can Make a Big Difference
Regulated markets such as energy and telco are fiercely competitive and to leapfrog the competition you need to differentiate yourself. Technology is changing faster than ever, and as mentioned above some of the big brands may be slow to implement innovative technologies that can give you a competitive edge. In addition, their sheer size may make it difficult to get the service you need when you need it, not to mention potential execution time delays and prohibitive costs. When you stick with the supposed software solution leaders, you become a ‘me too’ energy or telco provider that has limited ability to use technology as a differentiator.
On the flipside are smaller, more nimble vendors that not only know you and your needs, but embrace today’s technology to deliver the software solutions that can have a significant impact on what you offer, how you run and control your field sales operations, and give you a competitive advantage. As you think over making the switch to a smaller salesforce automation software vendor, some questions that typically come to mind include:
- Does the software provider have technical expertise?
- Do they understand regulatory standards?
- Can they provide data security?
- Are they able to scale to meet our growing requirements?
- Will they still be in business 5 or 10 years from now?
- And, of course – if something goes wrong, will my reputation be at stake?
While they are valid concerns, the one thing to keep in mind is that smaller doesn’t necessarily mean new to the industry. In fact, going with a smaller salesforce automation software vendor can deliver benefits that their larger counterparts aren’t able to provide, such as:
- Best-in-class technology that leverages today’s innovation.
- Ability to mitigate risks by exceeding regulatory requirements to ensure compliance.
- Agility and adaptability to quickly respond to your changing needs.
- Delivering solutions on time and on budget.
- Supplying a devoted team to build one-to-one relationships.
- Providing a high level of service for successful project outcomes.
- Having intimate knowledge about your business.
- Being committed to your long-term success.
Energy and telco field sales can be a lucrative business when done right, which is why you need a software vendor that not only puts your interests first but is a specialist with extensive industry expertise – regardless of their size.
Give Your Energy or Telco Field Sales Reps a Competitive Advantage
Energy or telco field sales can be a minefield of obstacles, which is why the right salesforce automation software provider is essential to your success. Because of the numerous field sales challenges, it’s important to find a software vendor that understands your world. One that has deep knowledge of this highly regulated industry and can help you navigate inherent complexities.
With 15 years of industry experience, PSI has been helping energy and telco providers overcome obstacles to succeed in this highly regulated and competitive environment. Our dedicated team of experts will work side-by-side with you to identify gaps in your processes and provide the solutions you need to take advantage of innovative and profitable opportunities.
As industry experts, we’ve invested millions into creating solutions to streamline field sales initiatives through superior processes and flawless workflows. Our customers, including global leading brands such as SSE Airtricity, Vodafone, Electric Ireland, Fibrous Broadband, Spectrum Broadband, and many others are reaping the benefits of working with a smaller, yet highly focused and nimble salesforce automation software provider. In fact, SSE Airtricity describes us as “...the real deal...enabling them to become best in class”
Thriving in this highly regulated and competitive market takes an established salesforce automation software solution partner that has a proven reputation for success. Contact us today to learn how this small, yet innovative software company can help you exceed your goals.