The influence of online search has given prospects the ability to become knowledgeable on your products and services before they ever interact with a salesperson, greatly changing the dynamic of the sales conversation. Today, if all a sales rep can do is talk about features and benefits, a prospect will realize they’re not going to add real value to the conversation and will very quickly move on to someone who can.

The challenge in B2B sales is determining how to help sales reps have conversations their prospects and customers find valuable. The answer lies in the ability to effectively use data.

Ready or Not?

Existing CRM data is a reflection of sales activities, pipeline, forecast and results, but that data paints an incomplete picture. While it identifies where reps have been successful, it doesn’t tell us why. It can’t expose the capabilities of a given rep. What skills, knowledge, and experience do they carry around in their head and, more importantly, are they able to apply it in a way that drives results?

Using Qstream, we can get to the “why” because we also gather data about what the reps themselves are personally capable of bringing to each sales conversation, including the knowledge and skills that matter most to today’s buyers.

Un-Script Your Sales Conversations

Let’s be honest. There are plenty of people who aren’t great at having any kind of conversation, never mind persuasive ones. Relying on rote presentations means reps could be pitching solutions that buyers don’t actually want or need. Turning prospects into customers requires salespeople who can address the dynamic challenges that buyers have today, and propose specific solutions – the unscripted kind.

This sort of high-impact conversation represents what is innately human about sales and what separates good salespeople from great salespeople. Qstream CEO Duncan Lennox was recently a guest on The Sales Evangelist podcast for an insightful discussion with host Donald Kelly on how we as managers can help our sales teams adapt.

The Sales Evangelist Podcast

Want to learn more? Click here to listen in on the discussion and discover how Qstream is helping organizations enabling more value-added conversations at scale, supported by more effective sales coaching.