The Exciting World of Sales

Hello there! And welcome to the Zolo family.

To excel in the world of sales, it’s important to understand every aspect of the selling process.
This module will help you do just that.

By the end of this module you will:

● Know what sales is and what a salesperson does

● Understand how Zolo sells its products
● Get tips on how you can become a great salesperson

Excited? Let’s get started.

Introduction to Sales

Sales is the heart of an organization. In every organization that you can think of, sales
is one of the major divisions. There is an entire team of employees, the sales team, dedicated to
selling the organization’s products and services.

Let’s still answer the basic question. What is sales?

Sales is a term used to describe the activities that lead to the selling of goods or services.

Every sale has two parties - the buyer & the seller.
➔ Buyer is the person who sells or agrees to sell the goods
&
➔ Seller is the person who buys or agrees to buy the goods

As products and services evolve, the process of selling grows in complexity.

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The role of a Salesperson

A typical sales person dons different hats and performs different tasks every day. A salesperson’s
responsibilities include:

Planning the sales processes

A salesperson starts his journey by understanding how the industry works, who the competitors
are, who the customers are, and what matters to the customers. This planning will help him/her
approach and sell better.

Finding potential customers

A large part of a salesperson's job is finding customers who might be looking for or may be
interested in their company’s products and services. This involves understanding who is the target
customer.

For eg. In the case of Zolo, a person who is in the 18-34 years’ age bracket, and is looking for a
home is a target customer. Maybe he/she is a student like you or maybe a young professional,
like you will be soon.

A good salesperson uses this knowledge to reach the target customer. In our case, maybe they
are scrolling through Instagram, responding to roommate requests on Facebook groups or looking
at real estate websites.

Guiding the customers

A good salesperson understands the product in and out. They know exactly how the product
features will benefit the customer. This enables them to guide the customer on which product will
suit their needs and how they can make the most of it.

A salesperson at Zolo, guides the customer and helps the customer understand coliving and Zolo
offerings better so they can make an informed decision. They may say things like

“With Zolo, you don’t have to worry about cooking and cleaning. You can relax and enjoy your
free time.”

Attending to queries and complaints

Salespeople also help the customer by answering their questions, solving their doubts and guiding
them through the services. Through this simple act, they build strong relationships with buyers
which helps in getting recurring customers and referrals.

Beyond this, they also ensure that they pay heed to any customer complaints and do their best to
get them resolved, quickly and sincerely.

Selling products and services

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The primary responsibility of a salesperson is selling. This involves meeting potential customers,
presenting and demonstrating products, inducing customers to buy, taking orders and effecting
sales.

Accumulating goodwill
Every salesperson is a representative of the company. A salesperson goes beyond his primary
responsibilities to ensure client satisfaction and thus, create a positive image about the company
in the minds of customers.

5 things that make for a great Salesperson!

Want to excel in sales? Here are the 5 ways you can do that.

1. Display Product Knowledge

Know the product in and out! That’s key to being a great salesperson. If you have faith in the
product that you are selling and believe that it is the best in the market, no one can surpass you.

2. Have the Right Attitude

The key to success in any field is your attitude.
One piece of advice: Be Yourself. Any interested buyer will pay attention to a person who seems
real and genuine. If you try to copy someone else’s speech or style, you will end up making them
distrust you.

3. Appear Confident
Prepare for every meeting you go to, and you will exude confidence. An unsure, under confident
person would never be able to win a sale. So, prepare your pitch, practice it and present with
confidence.

4. Take Good Care of Your Appearance

Presentation matters! Looking neat and presentable is always a good start to a client meeting. A
great first impression will go a long way.

5. Be Well-Mannered
Start with a firm handshake while making eye contact (under the present post-covid
circumstances, a namaste might be a better choice). It makes you appear confident and sincere.
Be courteous, friendly and approachable. And most importantly, don’t forget to smile.

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How does Zolo conduct sales?

Now that you have familiarized yourself with sales, let’s talk about sales at Zolo. Every sale starts
with a lead.

Leads are, simply put, potential customers. These are usually potential customers who've
indicated to the service team, through various means, that they are interested in becoming
a paying customer of a product or service.

Lead Generation is the process of identifying potential customers for a business's

products or services.

Lead Generation at Zolo

At Zolo, leads are generated by various platforms. These can be categorized into Online and
Offline lead sources-

Online Lead Sources

1. Customer Signup:
When a potential customer downloads the Zolo app and logs in, or goes to the Website and signs
up with his/her contact details, this information is captured and is considered a lead.

2. Classifieds - CFD
Zolo property ads at various third party sites such as Magicbricks, 99acres, Propertywala,
Justdial, commonfloor and housing.com generate leads which are sectioned as CFD Leads.

3. Livechat
A designated chat team sitting at the Zolo Headquarters generates leads through chat by
interacting with the customers who come to the website. Leads generated through this process
are tagged as Live Chat generated Leads.

4. Google Adwords
The leads that are captured through Zolo’s online ads are tagged under Google Adwords.

5. Facebook
A designated team posts Zolo properties on various Facebook groups and spots potential
customers looking for a home. These leads are then contacted by the sales team.

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Offline Lead Sources

1. Direct walk-ins
The customer who visits the Zolo property directly is considered a direct walkin source. These
leads are the responsibility of the Field Sales Team. They are tracked by the caretakers of the
properties who capture the customer details which are then given to the sales team.

2. Hoardings
These are the leads generated by potential customers dialing the number on Zolo Hoardings
displayed around the properties.

3. Co- Branding Boards

These are the leads generated by potential customers dialing the number on Zolo Co- Branding
Boards.

4. BTL Activities
These are the leads generated by doing multiple below-the-line marketing activities.

5. Referral
Any lead that is received from Zolo tenants is termed as a referral lead

Sales Teams at Zolo

Zolo categorizes its sales teams as:

● Inside Sales
● Outside Sales

Inside Sales
Simply put, the Inside Sales team sells through phone. Zolo majorly uses Inside Sales and it tends
to have leaner, more automated processes and structured hours.

Outside Sales (Field Sales)

An Outside Sales team, as the name suggests, cracks face-to-face deals with prospects. This
team operates outside the company, performing field sales. Zolo gives this team the freedom and
flexibility to develop and implement their own sales strategies.

Let’s know more about these teams.

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Inside Sales Team at Zolo

The Inside Sales Team at Zolo is responsible for all incoming and outgoing telephonic
communication to the leads coming through various sources.

The Inside Sales Team majorly use three softwares to filter potential leads:
1. Leadsquared
2. Exotel
3. Omega

Leadsquared
Leadsquared is a Complete Marketing Automation and CRM software for businesses. It organizes
lead capture, lead management, sales management & analytics in one single platform.

Every lead goes through several stages in the backend that helps in identifying and qualifying its
potential:

● Prospect
Any Lead which the system captures at its initial stage, irrespective of its lead source, is
always a prospect. No lead can be in the prospect stage once any action is taken on it.

● Call 1 Failed
A lead that could not be reached the first time they were contacted.

● Call 2 Failed
A lead that could not be reached at the second attempt at call.

● Details Sent
A lead to whom property details have been sent without setting any specific time and date
to visit.

● Visit Scheduled
A lead who schedules a visit to a particular property with a specific time and date.
Scheduling a visit can be done either by the customer or the sales agent.

● Visited
A lead who has visited a property. The lead stage is changed to ‘visited’ when the Property
Manager fills a certain form at the property through Zolo’s internal Property Manager app
(PM app).

● Rejected
A lead whom we cannot provide accommodation due to certain reasons are rejected. The
sales agent has to fill the reason for rejection in order to reject a lead.

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 ● Pre Booked
A lead who has paid the Platform Onboarding Charges/Pre booking charges. When a
customer does this, the stage automatically changes to “Pre Booked”.

Exotel

Exotel is a cloud telephonic software used to take inbound calls. Customers who call our helpline
number 8880108010 are automatically directed to Exotel.

Once the call connects to Exotel, the caller can choose the IVR option to get connected to the
particular team.

IVR will present the caller with 3 options

PRESS 1 TO CONNECT SALES

PRESS 2 to CONNECT SUPPORT
PRESS 3 to CONNECT SEAL.

If a customer chooses option 1, the call is connected to Sales and based on the agent's availability
the call is assigned.
If a customer chooses option 2, the call is connected to Support and based on the agent’s
availability the call is assigned.
If a customer chooses options 3, the call is connected to the Seal support team.

Once the call is completed, the agent will request for feedback that can be provided by the caller
with the press of a button. This helps us in constantly improving our sales communication.

Omega

Omega is an Inbuilt software, which can be used to check if a property is available. This tool helps
sales agents suggest properties to customers based on their requirements.

With Omega you can

● Search properties using company names or cities
● See how many vacancies there are in a property and the amenities available
● Get complete information like property type, rent, amenities, tenants on notice, etc.
● Shortlist the property for customers.

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Outside Sales Team at Zolo (Field Sales)

This team works to create awareness about Zolo and increase visibility of new Zolo properties.
Their responsibilities include:
1. Bringing business-to-business deals for the company.
2. Converting leads who visit the properties
3. Taking ownership of marketing material
4. Marketing Planning for new properties
5. Creating partnerships with corporates
6. Handling launch events of new properties

This team is also responsible for all field marketing activities. These include:
● Installation of Property Direction Boards/ posters
● Distribution of Zolo merchandise
● Planning and Execution of Co- Branding Boards.

Now you are armed with everything you need to know about sales and sales at Zolo to complete
your assignment for the week. Go ahead and give it a shot!

This might be a lot of information and you might have a lot of queries. Do reach out to your mentor
with questions. You can also use the community forum to discuss what you learnt with your fellow
interns and make some connections.

Here, at Zolo, the more you ask, the more you learn!