7 Tips for Streamlining Sales with Connect Pro

In these tough economic times companies are looking for ways to do more with less and ensure that theyre getting the most out of their workforce. Given that the Sales department is the key revenue center for most companies, it is critical that they are able to work as efficiently as possible to generate maximum revenue in minimum time.

Web conferencing tools such as Connect Pro enable sales reps to cut down on non-productive travel and training time and spend more time selling and closing deals. There are a number of ways that web conferencing helps to increase sales success and Ive summarized the top seven tips here.

1. Replace the in-person sales call
   Traveling to meet with prospects takes time away from selling. Whether it be getting in your car to drive an hour in traffic, or dealing with the hassles of flying, when time is money its important to choose your travel wisely. With live streaming video and integrated audio, Acrobat Connect Pro creates an almost-in-person experience. It enables sales reps to meet with prospects to share documents and presentations, similar to an in-person meeting, without the expense, hassle and time spent traveling.



2. Keep in-touch with current customers
   When youre trying to acquire new customers, its sometimes hard to find the time to keep in touch with existing customers. Acrobat Connect Pro makes it easy to have periodic check-in meetings with your existing customers. You can share presentations on upcoming product releases and they can share their questions, concerns and success to date with you. With live streaming video, integrated audio and the ability to share interactive presentations, it is a much higher quality meeting than a simple conference call, without having to spend the time and money to travel.



3. Deliver dynamic live demos
   When your inside sales team is trying to qualify new leads and ascertain the level of interest of a given prospect, often times a live product demonstration is required. With one-click meeting entry, Acrobat Connect Pro makes it seamless for prospects to get into an online meeting room quickly and easily without having to download software. Most web conferencing tools require attendees to download large plug-ins to enter a meeting room. Acrobat Connect Pro is based on Adobe Flash Player, already installed on more than 98% of desktops worldwide, so there is no extra software needed to attend online meetings. You can ensure that prospects will be able to get into live online demos instantly, without any technology hassles that can get in the way of making the right first impression for your product.



4. Spend less time in sales training
   Sales Reps can be required to spend anywhere from 10 20 hours per month in sales training depending upon their product and industry. Using both live and self-paced online training available in Acrobat Connect Pro, sales reps can save time traveling to in-person training sessions and take training when they have time available, enabling them to focus on selling.



5. Hold effective regional meetings
   Regional meetings are typically held quarterly to review sales outcomes and share best practices. Spending the time and money to fly all of your regional reps to meet in person is not the best the use of resources. The same objectives can be met through an online regional meeting. You can share spreadsheets with quarterly results as well as create break-out sessions for sub-teams to share best practices for the current quarter.



6. Establish efficient forecast calls
   Depending on the company, forecast calls can be held weekly, bi-weekly or monthly do discuss the pipeline and closed deals. Typically these are conference calls and notes need to be taken manually based upon each sales reps report. With Acrobat Connect Pro, sales reps can visually screen share their pipeline right from within the Sales Force Automation tool and notes can be taken and shared in the Note Pod. Once the forecast call is over, all of the notes are saved within the Connect Pro meeting room to refer back to for the next call. This makes it easy to track changes and progress.



7. Create an engaging annual sales conference
   Companies typically hold a national or global sales conference on an annual basis. These conferences are extremely expensive in that they require air travel, lodging and meals. Depending on the size of your organization, this can be millions of dollars in expense. Acrobat Connect Pro provides the ability to create key note and break-out sessions with pre-registration and attendance tracking, plus the ability to include quizzes and surveys at the end of each session. In fact, SAP recently held their national sales conference over Acrobat Connect Pro and there were reps who found it to be much more engaging than the in-person alternative.

There are undoubtedly other ways that your organization is using Connect Pro as part of your sales process. If this is the case, let us know by leaving a comment below.