Sales Person Call Reports & Time Studies: Fill & Download for Free

When I was 22, I had 5 interviews lined up at a Fortune 100 company.I was incredibly excited to begin my career at this company and felt that my chances of landing a position were high.Boy, was I wrong.I interviewed with four different managers at a Fortune 100 company and was ranked in the bottom 20% in every interview.I didn’t get a single job offer from any of them.One of them told me that I didn't have what it took to be a good salesperson.I had one interview left. I knew I had to do something drastic.I built a 30 minute presentation and memorized the entire pitch. I stayed up all night working on it. The next day, I did that final interview. The interviewer challenged me to give him a presentation on the product. I did it and it was the best presentation I had done up to that point in my life.Guess what happened?He didn't rank me first. He ranked me second.The good news?The candidate who was ranked first took another job.I got the job.Sometimes in life, a little luck can go a long way. But in order for you to benefit from it, you've got to put in the work.Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to build a career in sales that’s lasted for over 12 years. I’ve worked at established companies like Cisco, Box and VMware and also at startups like Toptal and Optimizely. Depending on the company, my roles have spanned from individual contributor roles to being a part of the executive team.Here are the top 10 tips I can give you to help become the rockstar salesperson you’ve always wanted to be:Be customer centric - It’s not about you and your product. It’s about the customer. It’s about understanding their goals, challenges, pain points and needs. Focus intensely on them. Remember, it’s not about you.Do your research - If it’s a public company, read through their financial reports and earnings calls. Go look up public news articles about recent events. Read industry surveys and reports on what’s going on in their world. Look up their company on LinkedIn (For example, are they growing their employee count or shrinking ?) Personalize your messaging based on this information. This is a huge differentiator. Roughly 90% of the sales emails I get are generic templates! Do the hard work in advance so that you’re prepared for the meeting.Be creative - Speaking of generic email and LinkedIn message templates…you should be asking yourself, “How do I stand out from the crowd?” The answer is to get creative! Create a personalized video message or send the prospect a customized deck on how your solution can help. Think outside of the box if you want to get noticed.Be intensely curious - Sometimes, you won’t be able to find a ton of research or information on the company in advance. And that’s okay! Listen carefully during the meeting and ask open ended questions that are thoughtful so that you make sure you truly understand what’s going on in their world. Let curiosity drive the conversation.Focus on outcomes - If they buy your product, what outcome will they achieve? Too many sales people focus on the features and bullet points of their products. Instead, they should focus on how their product transforms their customer’s business for the better. For example, one of my friends, Mike Kirby, President at Lumina Solar, showed his client how his solar solution would help this auto body shop save $200,000 over 25 years with no upfront cost. Articulating those savings helped him close a $150,000 deal with them. What’s the outcome you’ll drive for customers?Have an amazing 10 second elevator pitch - Here's my tip on how to write an amazing elevator sales pitch where you can deliver it in just 10 seconds. Just plug in the blanks below: (your company name) helps (insert audience type) to solve (insert problem) with our (insert solutions) that has helped other companies generate (insert results). Keep it simple.Follow the 80/20 rule - Typically, 20% of your clients will deliver 80% of your revenue. Focus your energy on where you’ll get the largest ROI of energy and time.Spend time with awesome salespeople - Pick their brains and learn from them. What are they doing to become one of the top sales people in the company? When I first started in sales at Cisco, I would routinely ask the top salespeople on the team to lunch and ask them how they approached the business. I learned a lot of lessons that I still use today in my sales strategies!Bring passion to the table - Do you remember any powerpoint product presentations were delivered in a completely monotone and boring way? I can’t. Passion goes a long way. It builds excitement. It builds momentum. It builds up aspirations.Speed matters - According to a study by HBR:37% of companies surveyed responded to their lead within 1 hour16% responded within 1 to 24 hours24% responded after 24 hours23% of the companies never respondedMost importantly, companies that tried to contact potential customers within an hour of receiving a query were nearly 7X as likely to qualify the lead vs those that tried to contact the customer just one hour later.I hope these tips help you in your sales journey!For more of my writing, subscribe at www.ceolifestyle.io

Disclaimer: I'm the CEO and Co-founder of Base.Anthony from Close. io asked this question and then answered it. I thought that customers should get the complete picture so they can make an educated decision about what product will better meet their needs.Everything written here is factual.Mobile integration and Cross-Platform capabilitiesBase offers the call functionality for both iOS and Android (phone or tablet).All call activities are synced across all devices.Calls can be played back from any device.Close. io is not available on mobile devices at the moment.Call reports and analyticsBase provides the following call reports:Call Volume (by team or by person)Call Duration (by team or by person)Call LogsCall OutcomesCall Volume vs Deal ValueCall Length vs Time of DayCall Outcomes vs Time of DayClose. io provides:Call VolumeCall durationProduct FunctionalityWhile evaluating which tool to use for tracking and managing sales, you might want to look at the broader capabilities of the system.Example of 15 features that are available at Base that are not available for Close. io (at the time of writing this answer):Multi-hierarchy and teams (if you need more than one team to use the product. Typically critical only if you have 5 users or more)Sales GoalsDropbox / Google Drive IntegrationFile HostingDocument RepositoryTask Automation and WorkflowsGeolocationCustomer Portal (inviting your customers to a shared space to exchange messages and files)Native mobile applicationsTask calendarUser based permissionsAdvanced sales insights (special sales reports)Lead capture formReporting section with 25 visual reportsPricingBase is working out pricing with its voice customers and is always competitive, both in the US and outside of the US.Using Twilio as the voice platformWe evaluated various alternatives for Base's underlying voice platform and Twilio won on every single parameter. Twilio's customers (and Base's customers) run call centers with hundreds of reps where the voice integration is mission critical.SummaryBoth products provide a 14-day trial that allows customers to evaluate whether the product satisfies their needs. That's great because it gives customers the option to test them in real life scenarios and also experience some of the intangibles - like the overall user experience. At the end of the day - the proof is in the pudding.

Having read the Yelp reviews of this place[1][1][1][1], it sounds like they're engaging in typical high-pressure sales tactics. None of which are illegal.You'll notice that aggressive businesses like this typically target women. Why? Here's a quote from a review:I told him I was very tired and could not buy anything that day anyway. I wanted to leave but could not get another word in.Walking out of a store does not require words. You need only stand and walk. And if you feel compelled to say something, you don't need to wait to be allowed to speak. You say, “No. Bye.”But women are often taught that this sort of assertiveness is rude. They feel too awkward to turn the sales person down unequivocally and authoritatively. The sales person then takes advantage of the woman's hesitation and charges ahead with the pitch. They use fast talk to get something that sounds like an agreement to buy, and then present the sale as a done deal. Again, the woman shies away from offering a clear rejection. Given the choice between submitting to the sale, and doing something she feels is rude — like saying, “I'm not spending a cent here, so get out of my way before I call the cops and report you to the Better Business Bureau” — she hands over her credit card.I consider this entire strategy unethical and sexist, and proof of a worthless product. However, it's not illegal. Women must protect themselves from these tactics by learning to firmly say no and leave the premises.Footnotes[1] OROGOLD - Union Square - San Francisco, CA[1] OROGOLD - Union Square - San Francisco, CA[1] OROGOLD - Union Square - San Francisco, CA[1] OROGOLD - Union Square - San Francisco, CA