578 cards
The primary purpose of sales is to help customers solve problems and achieve their desired outcomes by matching their needs with the right offering. In practice, this means understanding a buyer's situation well enough to recommend a fitting solution rather than simply pushing a product. Sales activity falls into two b...
Prospecting is the process of identifying and reaching out to new potential customers, and it is the engine that feeds the top of the funnel. Common channels include cold email, cold calling, LinkedIn outreach, networking, and events. Effective cold outreach depends on a strong subject line built from personalization,...
Discovery and qualification are the twin engines of efficient selling. Qualifying a prospect means assessing whether they have the need, budget, authority, and timeline to buy, and disqualifying bad fits saves time and improves win rate. BANT captures the essentials: Budget (financial resources available), Authority (d...
Once a deal is qualified, the focus shifts to running it with discipline. A discovery call, demo, proof of concept (POC), proof of value (POV), pilot, and paid pilot each play a distinct role. A demo is a live or recorded walkthrough of the product, ideally framed as a success story that ties capabilities to a real cus...
Objections are normal and often a sign that the prospect is engaged. A common structure for handling them is to listen, acknowledge, clarify, respond with value, and confirm resolution. Soft objections, such as "I'm not sure about the timing," express uncertainty and leave room for movement; hard objections, like "We a...
Closing the deal is the beginning, not the end, of customer value. Post-sale follow-up supports adoption, satisfaction, upsell opportunities, referrals, and churn reduction. Customer success (CS) is the function focused on helping customers realize value and renew, and close collaboration between sales and CS improves...
Sales operations (Sales Ops) designs and manages the processes, tools, data, and reporting that keep a sales organization running. RevOps (Revenue Operations) extends this by aligning sales, marketing, and CS operations to drive end-to-end revenue, reducing silos and creating shared metrics. A central tool is the CRM,...
Modern sales organizations are made up of specialized roles. An SDR (Sales Development Representative) typically focuses on prospecting, qualifying leads, and booking meetings. An AE (Account Executive) owns the full sales process and closes new business. An AM (Account Manager) focuses on growing and retaining existin...