Sales and marketing professionals thrive on selling – but if you’re not putting your energy into the most productive places, you can end up hurting your own career.  Here are four ways to unlock your sales potential in order to close more deals in less time and give your career the boost it needs:

Keep an eye on your data.

It’s tough to know whether you’re meeting client, revenue and other targets if you’re basing your estimates on “guesswork” or “hunches.”  Instead, keep an eye on your numbers.  Run reports each week so you can see how you’re doing.  If your department doesn’t have a consistent, centralized method of keeping track of these numbers, push for one – or better still, volunteer to lead the team that creates one.

Schedule a time to address the pipeline.

Don’t let leads or accounts languish – this is a great way to lose promising sales opportunities.  Instead, schedule time each week to address the queue.  Connect with new leads, follow up with others, and keep the “pipeline” tidy in order to improve your sales.

Be realistic.

It’s easy to promise customers the moon when you’re trying to close the deal.  But just one inaccurate sales order or delay can cost you a customer and generate a lot of ill will that can turn other potential customers off to you as well.  Be upbeat, but realistic and honest about what you can deliver and when.

Plan ahead.

Nothing puts you more at risk of ruining a deal, making an impossible promise or simply sounding foolish than scrambling to gather the information you need during a call or just before a meeting begins.  Instead, schedule time before calls and meetings to ensure you have time to review a customer’s information, including past interactions with your department. By doing this, you remind yourself about the relationship to date and you can anticipate and answer common questions from clients.

At SMR Group Ltd, our recruiters specialize in connecting sales and marketing professionals with the best companies and job openings available in the biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries.  Contact us today to learn more.