James Crabtree

Having a set, consistent cadence with your clients is crucial for building long-term relationships and fostering trust. Regular check-ins—whether weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly—allow you to proactively address concerns, gather valuable feedback, and anticipate client needs before issues escalate. Transparency is key during these interactions, ensuring your clients are always in the loop regarding project progress, potential delays, or any challenges. Ultimately, this structured approach helps solidify client loyalty and opens up opportunities for repeat business, upselling, or referrals.

Embracing failure in a sales environment isn't just about admitting when things don't go as planned; it's about leveraging those setbacks as stepping stones to success. By taking ownership of our failures, we demonstrate transparency, accountability, and a commitment to our clients and team. It's through these moments of vulnerability that we learn, adapt, and ultimately grow stronger. In the world of sales, owning failure isn't a sign of weakness; it's a testament to our resilience and determination to excel.

I've worked in companies that have had, as well as not had training programs and tools. The ones where I've personally performed best in are those that have used tools and platforms. There's never a perfect call, pitch or presentation, so having tools in place that allow us to reflect, critique and improve are integral to becoming the best you can be. There's some amazing platforms out there that provide real-time training based on words our prospects are saying, it's a great time to better ourselves in the game that is sales-perfection.

A CRM should be a sales functions single source of truth. Like anything, it's only as good as what you put in, so making it simple for teams to use is a must! It's a crucial tool to understand what's working and what's not so that we can make the appropriate changes to our strategy and approach to maximise sales efforts and replicate the things that lead to 'wins', regardless of the size.

Listening to customer dissatisfaction is crucial for rebuilding trust and a positive relationship. Actively engaging with their concerns demonstrates respect and empathy, which is essential for de-escalating. Provide a forum which offers undivided attention, no interruptions, and a chance to showcase your accountability to the problem or issue. Validate their feelings and reassure them of your commitment to solving the problem. This could involve bringing in additional stakeholders from your team to showcase how important it is to you to find a solution that works for them.

Trusting the process is paramount for success, but equally vital is scrutinising the data it yields. While faith in the process drives momentum, analysing the data offers insights into its efficacy. By interrogating metrics, trends, and outcomes, we refine strategies, identify weaknesses, and optimise performance. Trust fuels action, but data informs decisions, ensuring that your sales approach evolves with precision and purpose.