Using the Internet and other automation tools to boost sales productivity

by Dave Kahle

The Internet can be a powerful tool in the hands of a capable salesperson. Salespeople who take the initiative to become automation-enabled will find themselves growing in importance to their customers and in value to their companies.  

Computer technology, particularly the online segment, is moving so rapidly that some of this article may be obsolete by the time it is printed. Keeping that perspective in mind, here are some ways that an Internet-enabled, computer-savvy outside salesperson can use this technology to excel.

How salespeople can use the Internet
1) To qualify new prospects. Just because you have the name of a new prospect doesn't mean it's worth your time to call on that prospect. Why not use the Internet to qualify prospects before you spend time trying to see them?

Let's say you've developed a list of 25 new prospects in your territory, one of which is XYZ tool and die shop. Do a search for that XYZ tool and die through the search engines and see what develops. 

You may discover a Web site with a wealth of information about the prospect. It's not unusual to find the names and titles of key people, product lines or customers they serve, the mission or vision statement of the company, etc.

You may also find the company mentioned in a number of other ways. For example, you may find them mentioned in a press release by an association to which they belong. They may be a new member, or have been mentioned in an article in a trade journal, or listed as a customer by another vendor. 

The possibilities are endless. Every piece of information may be useful in determining whether or not to call on them and, if so, how to approach them. And all that information may be available over the Internet.

2) To send e-mail. This is clearly one of the greatest advantages of the Internet. Think how many hours per week you spend on the phone with people in your own company. Now add the hours spent on the phone with customers, or more accurately, trying to reach customers. 

Suppose you could dramatically reduce that time by using e-mail to communicate with your support people and your manager.  Now, suppose you could virtually eliminate voice mail frustrations by communicating via e-mail to your customers. You could transform dozens of hours each week spent on frustrating and tedious tasks into productive sales time.

You could even go beyond using e-mail for personal communications. It can also be a sales tool. Collect the e-mail addresses of those customers who agree to this, and then use mass e-mail as a sales tool. 

Here's an example. Say you have 100 customers, and it takes two months to see all of them. You have a hot new product to tell them about. Why not mass e-mail the information overnight, and then visit first those who first expressed interest in it? You could dramatically reduce the time it takes to turn that new product into sales dollars.

3) For contact management. Contact management software has been around so long and the benefits so clearly established, I hesitate to even mention it. However, it's my personal experience that even today at least 50 percent of the sales forces I have contact with are not automated. There is no longer any excuse for this. 

You need to be using a laptop computer with a contact manager program to collect and record information about customers, to record contacts and conversations, to create schedules and to-do lists, to file quotes and record sales information. One characteristic of the turn-of-the-century marketplace is the rapid increase in the amount of information a salesperson must handle.  Using a computer to assist in organizing and processing information is no longer optional. 

If you're not using a laptop daily in this manner, shame on you. You are behind. The initial cost is no longer an obstacle, as several Internet-based programs allow you to use contact-management software via the Internet on a monthly rental basis.

4) For presentations. The computer-enabled salesperson uses a laptop with presentation or video programs to present a new product or service to the customer. Using these tools means you can prepare a colorful, animated, talking presentation, and view it together with your customer. That allows you to make sure you get all the important details into the presentation and present the product as positively as possible. 

Taking time to create a presentation in the stress-free environment of your home or office ensures a far higher quality presentation than if you attempt to ad lib in front of the customer.

Store your supplemental paper-based literature on the computer and print sell sheets with a portable printer on an as-needed basis. Watch all the clutter in the back seat of your car disappear.

You can take this concept to a deeper level. Your company's marketing department, for example, can create product presentations and make them available for all the salespeople via CD-ROMs, downloads over the Web or internal networks.

Manufacturers can do the same for their distributors. Instead of relying completely on salespeople visiting and training your distributor salesforce on new products and promotions, why not create those product presentations and make them available to automation-enabled distributor salespeople over the Internet?

5) Become the customer's search engine. There's no doubt the amount of information available on the Web is growing exponentially. It takes time to search through it all to find answers to the questions you have. Yet all of your customers are
suffering today with more to do and less time to do it than ever before. Time is the most precious commodity of the Information Age. The person who can find information on the Internet for someone else, and thereby save him or her time, is of great value. 

I routinely pay people to search the Web for information I want. I don't have time to do it myself, and it's a service that is of value to me. You can serve that function for your customers, becoming the trusted source of applied information.

Learn to use the Internet to research product applications, competitive products, the competition, technical details and whatever other questions tempt you or intrigue your customer. 

One way to prevent your customers from using the Internet to replace you is to pre-empt the process. Build your Internet skills to the point where your customers come to rely on you as a trusted source of important information, and you'll become irreplaceable to them.

Share your success. 
We've only just scratched the surface of how an automation-enabled outside salesperson can use computerization to become more effective. There are probably thousands of things you can do more effectively via computerization. You may have powerful and unique applications yourself.

Here's an invitation to share your techniques with other salespeople. If you have a technique you'd like to share, visit Kahle's Korner, a bulletin board for salespeople, and submit your idea. Use your browser to open this page: www.davekahle.com, and click on the button for "Salespersons Members Board." When prompted for a user name, type "slspeople," then use "sales" as a password. Post your idea, or review the ideas of others.

You can no longer afford to be computer or Internet ignorant if you expect to prosper as a salesperson in the 21st Century. The time to make proactive moves to become automation-enabled is now.

Dave Kahle is a consultant and trainer who helps his clients increase their sales and improve their sales productivity.  He can be reached at The DaCo Corporation, 15 Ionia SW, Suite 220, Grand Rapids, MI 49503, by phone at , or via e-mail at .

This article appeared in the September/October 2000 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2000.

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