FAQ: What can I do with the information collected during the sales process?

As discussed in the previous post, your staff will have been briefed during telephone sales training and personal sales training to collect a large amount of information on each client’s needs and wants, including:

The sales process: which information get collected?

• The problem that we’re trying to solve
• What led the client to realise they had a problem
• The solution the client is seeking
• Events that may occur in the future and increase the urgency of the problem
• The client’s priorities
• The client’s criteria
• The client’s history with other solution providers
• The decision makers involved
• The deadline for the solution
• The client’s timing for their next step (usually the appointment).

In essence, each call and consultation becomes an opportunity to conduct customer research. This valuable information would take a lot of time and a large chunk of budget if collated by a market research company.

As well as gathering important information during the sales process about your customer base, asking these questions will also help to distinguish differences between prospects that convert and those that do not. Therefore the sales process becomes to an essential part of your structural management. This can aid you in deciding on which prospects to concentrate on in order to have the best chance of a successful sale.

The sales process: what can I do with the gathered information?

For marketers, the information collected during the sales process is also very useful for communication and product design. It is very important to know your customers well in order to create products and services that suit their needs, lifestyle, budget etc. The more calls you receive and the more information you gather from each client, you will begin to build a picture of your customer base and what is important to them. That’s the reason why both collecting and processing the information, mentioned above, is so essential.

As you continue to collect and collate data, you may begin to see seasonal variations, common linking factors and other patterns that will help you to understand your clients better as well as developing a more appropriate product. You will also be able to anticipate times when your product or service is likely to be in high demand and times when business is likely to be slow, which will enable you to plan accordingly.