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Sales are vital to every company’s survival and growth prospects. Successful sales outcomes often depend on timely access to key information, efficient and professional communication, and engaging with potential customers in a way that engenders trust. Companies are increasingly recognising the value of a Sales Portal, especially when the sales process is complex and lengthy.

A Sales Portal uses Data Room technology, which is far more versatile and wide-reaching than the fundraising and M&A activity it is often associated with. Data Room technology is perfect for multiple business processes, including sales, HR, corporate governance and regulatory compliance. Here we look at how a Sales Portal can help sellers manage sales and business development.

How a Virtual Sales Portal helps sales

Branded Sales Portals can be set up for existing and potential customers to provide a safe and efficient space to store, share and exchange confidential information such as proposals, presentations, NDAs, RFI and RFP responses and contracts. Documents are easy to find, review and edit, and version control and full audit trails are maintained. Users are alerted whenever a document has been updated or a new one added.

Authorised users can access information whenever they need to from anywhere in the world. High-level Data Room security infrastructure removes the risk of sharing confidential information via unsafe generic file sharing services, emails or texts. Granular permissions protocols prevent unauthorised access to the Sales Portal and restrict the documents each user can view to those agreed between the parties.

Sellers and buyers can communicate, collaborate and hold confidential discussions and negotiations in the Sales Portal. Team spaces can be opened for group fact-sharing, discussions and presentations and for small group or individual talks, Q&As, and negotiations. Members of the sales team can be alerted to respond to customer questions and given tasks to progress the transaction.

Monitoring tools enhance the sales process by showing who has accessed the Sales Portal, which documents they looked at and the length of time they looked at them. This valuable insight enables sellers to gauge whether interest is genuine and focus on specific areas for further discussion and negotiations. It can also highlight a potential problem for remedial action.

The added value of a Sales Portal

Focus: Each party can focus on the main goals of the transaction without worrying about security or how best to collaborate and conduct confidential discussions and negotiations.

Understanding: Clarifying the interests and motivations of buyers enables the seller to frame the appropriate responses, which can be critical in progressing a transaction.

Capability: Setting up a unique, purpose-built Sales Portal for a potential customer demonstrates the seller’s professionalism. The process of setting up the Sales Portal helps the seller understand the customers point of view and prepare for questions and negotiations.

Engagement: The secure spaces and channels of a Sales Portal enhance productive communication and dialogue between parties, which fosters the engagement crucial for winning and developing business.

Sales management

From a sales management perspective, a shared space can be set up for sales and marketing teams to access up-to-date versions of crucial documents for the sales process, negotiations and deal closure. Documents such as price lists, product information, customer information, NDAs, SLAs, brand templates for proposals and presentations, can be updated, amended and replaced quickly and easily. This is particularly helpful for companies whose sales and marketing teams work remotely in different locations.

If you would like to see how Perivan’s Data Room, Engage, can provide a Sales Portal to help you manage your sales and business development, please contact the Perivan team to arrange a demo and answer your questions.