Sales Executive student handbook (2)

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT Consistent with its association with Steve Jobs's keynotes, a response to this style has been that it is particularly effective for \"ballroom-style presentations\" (as often given in conference center ballrooms) where a celebrated and practiced speaker addresses a large passive audience, but less appropriate for \"conference room-style presentations\" which are often recurring internal business meetings for in-depth discussion with motivated counterparts. Use it better A third reaction to PowerPoint use was to conclude that the standard style is capable of being used well, but that many small points need to be executed carefully, to avoid impeding understanding. This kind of analysis is particularly associated with Stephen Kosslyn, a cognitive neuroscientist who specializes in the psychology of learning and visual communication, and who has been head of the department of psychology at Harvard, has been Director of Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and has published some 300 papers and 14 books. Kosslyn presented a set of psychological principles of \"human perception, memory, and comprehension\" that \"appears to capture the major points of agreement among researchers.\" He reports that his experiments support the idea that it is not intuitive or obvious how to create effective PowerPoint presentations that conform to those agreed principles, and that even small differences that might not seem significant to a presenter can produce very different results in audiences' understanding. For this reason, Kosslyn says, users need specific education to be able to identify best ways to avoid \"flaws and failures\": Specifically, we hypothesized and found that the psychological principles are often violated in PowerPoint slideshows across different fields. that some types of presentation flaws are noticeable and annoying to audience members, and that observers have difficulty identifying many violations in graphical displays in individual slides ... . These studies converge in painting the following picture: PowerPoint presentations are commonly flawed; some types of flaws are more common than others; flaws are not isolated to one domain or context; and, although some types of flaws annoy the audience, flaws at the level of slide design are not always obvious to an untrained observer. The many \"flaws and failures\" identified were those \"likely to disrupt the comprehension or memory of the material.\" Among the most common examples were \"Bulleted items are not presented individually, growing the list from the top to the bottom,\" \"More than four bulleted items appear in a single list,\" \"More than two lines are used per bulleted sentence,\" and \"Words are not large enough (i.e., greater than 20 point) to be easily seen.\" Among audience reactions common problems reported were \"Speakers read word-for-word from notes or from the slides themselves,\" \"The slides contained too much material to absorb before the next slide was presented,\" and \"The main point was obscured by lots of irrelevant detail.\" 300

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT Kosslyn observes that these findings could help to explain why the many studies of instructional effectiveness of PowerPoint have been inconclusive and conflicting, if there were differences in the quality of the presentations tested in different studies that went unobserved because \"many may feel that 'good design' is intuitively clear.\" In 2007 Kosslyn wrote a book about PowerPoint, in which he suggested a very large number of fairly modest changes to PowerPoint styles and gave advice on recommended ways of using PowerPoint. In a later second book about PowerPoint he suggested nearly 150 clarifying style changes (in fewer than 150 pages). Rosslyn summarizes: there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the PowerPoint program as a medium; rather, I claim that the problem lies in how it is used. ... In fact, this medium is a remarkably versatile tool that can be extraordinarily effective. ... For many purposes, PowerPoint presentations are a superior medium of communication, which is why they have become standard in so many fields. In 2017, an online poll of social media users in the UK was reported to show that PowerPoint \"remains as popular with young tech-savvy users as it is with the Baby Boomers,\" with about four out of five saying that \"PowerPoint was a great tool for making presentations,\" in part because \"PowerPoint, with its capacity to be highly visual, bridges the wordy world of yesterday with the visual future of tomorrow.\" Also in 2017, the Managerial Communication Group of MIT Sloan School of Management polled their incoming MBA students, finding that \"results underscore just how differently this generation communicates as compared with older workers.\" Fewer than half of respondents reported doing any meaningful, longer-form writing at work, and even that minority mostly did so very infrequently, but \"85 percent of students named producing presentations as a meaningful part of their job responsibilities. Two-thirds report that they present on a daily or weekly basis—so it's no surprise that in-person presentations is the top skill they hope to improve.\" One of the researchers concluded: \"We're not likely to see future workplaces with long-form writing. The trend is toward presentations and slides, and we don't see any sign of that slowing down.  Preparing Reports Report Writing Format Are you wondering how to write a report? Unlike an essay, which sets out to defend a writer's view about a topic and does not have to feature headings, a report discusses a topic in a structured, easy- to-follow format. Reports are divided into sections with headings and subheadings. Reports can be academic, technical, or business-oriented, and feature recommendations for specific actions. Reports are written to present facts about a situation, project, or process and will 301

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT define and analyze the issue at hand. Ultimately, the goal of a report is to relay observations to a specific audience in a clear and concise style. Let's review the proper report writing format so you can craft a professional finished product. Preparation and Planning First, you should take some time to prepare and plan for your report. Before you start writing, identify the audience. Your report should be written and tailored to the readers' needs and expectations. When planning, ask yourself several questions to better understand the goal of the report. Some questions to consider include:  Who are the readers?  What is the purpose of the report?  Why is this report needed?  What information should be included in the report? Once you identify the basics of your report, you can begin to collect supporting information, then sort and evaluate that information. The next step is to organize your information and begin putting it together in an outline. With proper planning, it will be easier to write your report and stay organized. Formatting the Report Elements To keep your report organized and easy to understand, there is a certain format to follow. This report writing format will make it easier for the reader to find what he is looking for. Remember to write all the sections in plain English, except the body, which can be as technical as you need it to be. The main sections of a standard report are as follows. Title If the report is short, the front cover can include any information that you feel is necessary, such as the author(s) and the date prepared. In a longer report, you may want to include a table of contents and a definition of terms. Summary The summary consists of the major points, conclusions, and recommendations. It needs to be short, as it is a general overview of the report. Some people will read the summary and only skim the report, so make sure you include all of the relevant information. It would be best to write this when the report is finished so you will include everything, even points that might be added at the last minute. Introduction 302

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT The first page of the report needs to have an introduction. Here you will explain the problem and inform the reader why the report is being made. You need to give a definition of terms if you did not include these in the title section, and explain how the details of the report are arranged. Body This is the main section of the report. The previous sections needed to be written in plain English, but this section can include technical terms or jargon from your industry. There should be several sections, each clearly labeled, making it easy for readers to find the information they seek. Information in a report is usually arranged in order of importance with the most important information coming first. Alternatively, you might choose to order your points by complexity or time. Discussion If you wish, this optional section can be included at the end of the main body to go over your findings and their significance. Conclusion This is where everything comes together. Keep this section free of jargon as many people will just read the summary and conclusion. Recommendations This is where you discuss any actions that need to be taken. In plain English, explain your recommendations, putting them in order of priority. Appendices This includes information that the experts in the field will read. It has all the technical details that support your conclusions. Report Presentation You will want to present your report in a simple and concise style that is easy to read and navigate. Readers want to be able to look through a report and get to the information they need as quickly as possible. That way the report has a greater impact on the reader. There are simple formatting styles that can be used throughout your report that will make it easy to read and look organized and presentable. For example:  Font: Use just one font in your report. An easy-to-read font such as Arial or Times New Roman is best for reports. Section headings can be a different font from the main text if you prefer.  Lists: Use lists whenever appropriate to break information into easy-to-understand points. Lists can either be numbered or bulleted. 303

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT  Headings and Subheadings: You can use headings and subheadings throughout your report to identify the various topics and break the text into manageable chunks. These will help keep the report organized and can be listed in the table of contents so they can be found quickly. Report Writing Style There are also some writing styles to consider:  Keep It Simple. Don't try to impress; rather try to communicate. Keep sentences short and to the point. Do not go into a lot of details unless it is needed. Make sure every word needs to be there, that it contributes to the purpose of the report.  Use the Active Voice. Active voice makes the writing move smoothly and easily. It also uses fewer words than the passive voice and gives impact to the writing by emphasizing the person or thing responsible for an action. For example: \"Bad customer service decreases repeat business\" is more concise and direct than \"Repeat business is decreased by bad customer service.\"  Mind Your Grammar. Read the report aloud and have someone proofread it for you. Remember that the computer cannot catch all the mistakes, especially with words like \"red/read\" or \"there/there.\" You may even want to wait a day after you write it to come back and look at it with fresh eyes. Different Types of Reports While the basics of any report are the same, there are notable differences between academic, business, and technical reports.  Academic Writing: The first thing to note is that academic writing is extremely formal. Typically, it should be free of contractions and any sort of slang. It's also important, generally, to write in the third person, eliminating pronouns like \"I\" and \"we.\"  Business Writing: Business writing will also take on a formal tone. However, it's allowed to be slightly less buttoned up. The goal in a business report is to present new initiatives and \"get things done.\" Here, things like contractions would be permissible, along with ample imagery and data.  Technical Writing: Technical reports focus on how to do something. While an academic or even a business report will attempt to prove something, a technical report is more descriptive in nature. Also, the report writing format for students and professionals may cite facts and statistics to make their case, but technical reports are more likely to follow a logical, step-by- step approach. First Impressions Count Reports should be well-organized and easy to follow. To achieve this, following a structured format will keep your writing on track. How a report is presented makes not only a lasting impression but also makes the writer seem more credible and reliable. 304

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT A finishing touch to make a great impression on the reader is how you package the report. Always print the final report on good quality paper. You may also want to consider placing the report in a binder or folder. Remember, first impressions always count! And, when it's time to change gears from the formality of a report to a persuasive essay, check out Persuasive Essay Writing Made Easy. 305

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT Glossary Sales Terms Starting with “A” ABC: Short for “always be closing”. This “motivational” phrase is used to describe a sales strategy implying that a salesperson should continuously look for new prospects, pitch products or services to those prospects, and ultimately complete a sale. The quote is attributed to the character played by Alec Baldwin in the 1992 film Glengarry Glen Ross. ABM: Short for account-based marketing. AMB is a B2B sales strategy that concentrates sales and marketing resources on a clearly defined set of target accounts and employs personalized campaigns designed to resonate with each account. Adoption Process: Refers to the way a consumer adopts a new product or service. The adoption process for a new product is the actions an individual pass when first learning about an innovation to finally adopting it. ARR: Short for annual recurring revenue. ARR is a key metric used by SaaS or subscription businesses that have term subscription agreements. This means there is a defined contract length, and it is calculated like this: ARR = (Overall Subscription Cost Per Year + Recurring Revenue from Add-ons or Upgrades) – Revenue Lost from Cancellations. Sales Terms Starting with “B” B2B: Short for business to business sales. This term refers to companies that primarily sell products and services to businesses, rather than direct to consumers. BANT: Stands for budget, authority, need, and timeline. This framework can be used to determine how qualified a lead is to work with your company, and determine which leads should be prioritized. Budget should center around your prospect’s expectations and ability to pay in regards to your product or service. Authority is all about who will be the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to making a purchase. Need is based on their pain point and goals. And finally, the timeline should aim to understand when your prospects need to be achieving their goals. BOFU: Short for bottom of funnel. This is the closing stage of the sales funnel called decision & purchase and is the final stage of the sales process that leads will go through in their journey towards becoming a paying customer. 306

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT During this phase, they have decided they are ready to buy and are now looking into the product or solution that is the best fit for their pain points, budget, and goals. Buyer Persona: A representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. Buying Signal: Signals are indications your prospects are ready to buy. There are two types of signals that can be used to identify this moment: internal signals and external signals. Internal signals are actions that are taking place on your online “property”, such as visiting your website’s pricing page or reading your blog. External signals are actions that are occurring outside of your domain, such as checking your prospect’s site to see if they have installed a technology that’s complementary to yours. Business Development: The process of generating new qualified leads. Sales Terms Starting with “C” CAC: Short for customer acquisition cost. CAC is the total cost of acquiring a new customer. It should generally include things like advertising costs, salaries of your marketers and salespeople, costs of selling, etc., divided by the number of customers acquired. Cadence: A sales cadence is the sequence of actions you go through in the hopes of closing a sale with a prospect. It includes every contact attempt a salesperson makes with a prospect, including emails, phone calls, voicemails, and social media interactions. Call Cadence: Rules of engagement a salesperson follows when calling a prospect on the phone. A call cadence has “rules” for how often to call, what to do if no one answers, and how to track results. Call Blitz: A focused full day of calling prospects and/or customers. It has a specific offer, targeted list, and short-term goal(s). It differs from any other day by its intensity and focus. Case Study: Any story, data, or evidence of your product or service benefitting a customer. Churn Rate: The rate at which customers stop doing business with an entity. To calculate your churn rate, do the following equation: (customers beginning of the month – customers end of the month) / customers beginning of the month = churn rate. Closed-Lost: When an opportunity with the sales prospect has been terminated, and there is now a 0% chance of a sale. 307

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT Closed Opportunities: There are two possible outcomes to a sales opportunity: Closed-Won: The sale is secured and a transaction takes place. Closing Ratio: A measure of a salesperson’s efficiency. It’s calculated by dividing the number of closed deals by the number of prospects the salesperson worked with. Cold Calling: A technique in which a salesperson contacts individuals who have not previously expressed interest in the offered products or services. Commission: Sales commission is a key aspect of sales compensation. It’s the amount of money a salesperson earns based on the number of sales they have made. This is additional money that often complements a standard salary. Consumer: Person or entity who consumes your product or service. Consultative Sales: A unique approach that prioritizes relationships and open dialogue to identify and provide solutions to a customer’s needs. It is hyper-focused on providing value to the customer. Conversion Rate: Measures the effectiveness of your sales team at converting leads into new customers. To calculate: (closed-won opportunities / qualified leads) x 100 = conversion rate. CRM: Short for customer relationship management, which is a system that helps manage customer data that will support sales management, deliver actionable insights, integrate with social media, and facilitate team communication. CRM Hygiene: The process of maintaining clean and updated CRM lists, by routinely deleting or updating contact information. Cross-Selling: Sales technique used to get a customer to spend more by purchasing a product that’s related to what’s being bought already. Customer Lifetime Value: The total worth of a customer over the period of the relationship. To calculate it, you need to calculate the average purchase value, and then multiply that number by the average purchase frequency rate to determine customer value. Then, once you calculate average customer lifespan, you can multiply that by customer value to determine customer lifetime value. Sales Terms Starting with “D” Data Quality: Refers to the accuracy and completeness of the information collected. 308

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT Decision Maker: An executive or another person with purchase power who is in charge of the final decision of acquiring a product or service. Demographics: Categorization of prospects according to variables. Some of the most common demographics for business purposes include job title, company, and location. Discovery Call: A call with a lead in which the goal is to either qualify a prospect (discover a pain point your product or solution can fix) and deem a sales opportunity, or disqualify them so as not to waste further time. Sales Terms Starting with “E” Email Cadence: Rules of engagement a salesperson follows when emailing a prospect. An email cadence has “rules” for how often to email, what those emails say, responses, etc. Enrichment Metrics: Data points that can be used to complete information on prospects. These can be things like company size, headquarter location, annual revenue, etc. Sales Terms Starting with “F” Feature: Describes a fact or characteristic about a product or service. It usually says what the product or service is. Follow Up: Reaching back out to a prospect after the first contact. Forecasting: The process of estimating future sales. Accurate sales forecasts enable companies to make informed business decisions and predict short-term and long-term performance. Companies can base their forecasts on past sales data, industry-wide comparisons, and other external factors such as economic trends. Sales Terms Starting with “G” Gatekeeper: A person who is trained and responsible for keeping a prospect from being bothered by irrelevant callers. Sales Terms Starting with “I” ICP: Short for an ideal customer profile. The process of creating a list of common elements your Ideal Clients share, so you can look for prospects that share that same profile. Ideal Client/Customer: Those customers that are happiest and most engaged with your product. Ideal Prospect: Prospects that fit into your ideal customer profile. They share common elements with your Ideal Clients. 309

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT Inbound Leads: The process of attracting people through content, and providing enough value that they are willing to give their contact information in exchange for access. Industry: Individual companies are generally classified into an industry based on their largest sources of revenue. Examples of industries can be ad tech, B2B software companies, logistics, payment, etc. Sales Terms Starting with “L” Lead: Person or business who may eventually become a client. Lead Conversion: Process of converting a lead into an account, contact, and/or opportunity. Lead Enrichment: When you verify, correct, and include additional information to a lead in order to enhance your data. Lead Generation: Lead generation consists of two types of efforts: inbound and outbound. Inbound lead generation is the process of attracting people through content and providing enough value that they are willing to give their contact information in exchange for access. Outbound lead generation is when a salesperson initiates the first contact by reaching out to their target audience. Lead List: A list that provides you with contact information of potential customers within your target market. Lead Qualification: The process of determining whether a prospect fits your ideal customer profile (ICP), has a high chance of becoming a customer, and most importantly has a high chance of being a successful long-term customer. Lead Routing: The (usually automatic) process of distributing incoming leads among sales reps. Prospect’s industry, company size, geographic location, spoken language, culture, and other metrics are considered during the routing process, so the most relevant salesperson in the organization is assigned to the leads they’re most likely to be a good fit for. Lead Scoring: Lead scoring attributes a value to each incoming lead that determines how it should be treated through the pipeline. When a lead scoring methodology is created, you rank leads based on a number of parameters such as how likely those leads are to close, and their predicted lifetime value. Logo Retention: The percentage of customers retained over a given period of time. 310

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT Sales Terms Starting with “M” Meeting: Gathering (can also be virtual) in which a product or service is being discussed, and the benefits are outlined to the potential buyer. Market Intelligence: Information relevant to a company’s market – trends, competitors, and customers – as well as the position of the company itself within the market. This information is gathered and analyzed for better decision-making and strategy creation. MOFU: Short for middle of the funnel. It’s the second stage of the sales process that leads will go through in their journey towards becoming a paying customer. During this phase, prospects are gaining interest in your company’s product/solution and are actively engaging with content, and sales teams. MRR: Short got monthly recurring revenue. MRR is income that a business can count on receiving every single month, predictable revenue. To calculate MRR, multiply your total number of paying users by the average revenue per user. MQLs: Short for marketing qualified leads. MQLs are leads that marketing deems are qualified and ready for sales follow-up. Sales Terms Starting with “N” NRR: Short for net revenue retention. NRR takes into account the total revenue minus any revenue churn (caused by departing customers, or customers who have downgraded) plus any revenue expansion from upgrades, cross-sells or upsells. Nurturing Leads: Process of developing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel, and through every step of the buyer’s journey. It focuses marketing and communication efforts on listening to the needs of prospects and providing the information and answers they need. Sales Terms Starting with “O” Objection: Expression by the prospect explaining why they will not complete the purchase. Objection Handling: This is when a prospect presents a concern about the product/service a salesperson is selling, and the salesperson responds in a way that alleviates those concerns and allows the deal to move forward. Opportunity: A qualified prospect who has a high probability of becoming a customer. Outbound Leads: Outbound lead generation is when a salesperson initiates the first contact by reaching out to their target audience. 311

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT An example of outbound lead generation efforts can be calling or emailing a prospect hoping that what you offer will interest them enough that they’ll want to schedule a meeting to hear more details. Sales Terms Starting with “P” Pain Point: Specific problems that prospective customers of your business are experiencing, usually this comes in the context of how your product or service can alleviate their pain points. Persona: Representation of your real and potential customers, based on market research and data. Personalization: Strategy by which companies leverage data analysis and digital technology to deliver individualized messages and product offerings to current or prospective customers. Pipeline: A set of stages that a prospect moves through, as they progress from a new lead to a customer. Prospect: Potential client who resembles your ideal customer profile but has not yet expressed interest in your product or service. Prospecting: First step in the sales process, which consists of identifying potential customers, aka prospects. Sales Terms Starting with “Q” Quota: A sales target that sales reps are required to reach within a specific period (month, quarter, year). Sales Terms Starting with “S” SaaS: Short for software as a service. SaaS is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted online. It is sometimes referred to as “on-demand software”. Sales: Term used to describe the activities that lead to the selling of products or services. Salesforce Insights Connector: Tool that will keep you in full view of all the insights Similar Web has to offer, right on your prospect’s Salesforce account page. Sales Funnel: Visual description of the stages of the sales process, from the very beginning until the “end” when you’ve made the sale and have a paying customer. There are three stages in the typical B2B sales funnel: (1) Awareness & Discovery at the top, also known as the top of the funnel or TOFU, (2) Interest & Engagement in the middle, also known as 312

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT the middle of the funnel or MOFU, and (3) Decision & Purchase at the bottom, also known as the bottom of the funnel or BOFU. Sales Intelligence: Technologies, applications, and practices for the collection, integration, analysis, and presentation of information to help salespeople find, monitor, and understand data that provides insights into prospects’ and existing clients’ daily business. Sales Organization: Group within a company that is responsible for the sale and distribution of goods and services. Salespeople: Plural of salesperson. Salesperson: Individual who sells goods and services to other entities. Also known as rainmakers or wizards. Sales Process: Set of repeatable steps that a salesperson takes to take a prospective buyer from the early stage of awareness to a closed sale. Sales Signals: Indications your prospects are ready to buy. There are two types of signals that can be used to identify this moment: internal signals and external signals. Internal signals are actions that are taking place on your online “property”, such as visiting your website’s pricing page or reading your blog. External signals are actions that are occurring outside of your domain, such as checking your prospect’s site to see if they have installed a technology that’s complementary to yours. SAM: Short for the serviceable addressable market. SAM is the share of the total market that can be fulfilled or served by all businesses that offer a particular product, or service. Social Proof: The idea that consumers will adapt their behavior according to what other people are doing. Social Selling: Using social media to find, connect with, understand, and nurture sales prospects. Sales Terms Starting with “T” TAM: Short for total addressable market. TAM is the revenue opportunity available for a product or service. Technographic: Profiling of target accounts based on their technology stack. 313

Sales Executive (BFSI) VILT TOFU: Short for top of the funnel. The phase of the sales journey where your prospects are entering the stage of “Awareness & Discovery”. During this stage of the sales funnel, prospects are coming into contact with your brand, solution, or product for the first time. Trusted Advisor: A sales professional that buyers seek out for advice and counsel. They’re viewed as a credible source of information on industry trends, competition, and strategic solutions. Sales Terms Starting with “U” Up-Selling: A technique where a seller invites the customer to purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons to generate more revenue. Use Case: description of how a person using a product or service will accomplish a goal. Sales Terms Starting with “V” Velocity: Sales velocity is a relatively new term that refers to the measurement of how fast deals move through your pipeline and generate revenue. Sales Terms Starting with “W” Weighted Pipeline: Forecast that allows you to measure the expected revenue in your sales pipeline. 314