Sales productivity is the rate at which a salesperson increases the company’s revenue. In other words, the best way to generate business and increase sales revenue is by increasing sales productivity. Let us look at eight such strategies
Improve email responsiveness
It matters how fast a salesperson responds to an email message. In the corporate world, it is crucial to respond to an email before the close of the business day. Otherwise, it might cost you a potential sales lead.
To ensure that the sales team does not miss any client query, make it a policy to always leave the notification alerts on. The devices they work on should also be free of all technical issues. Turning on the alert is very straightforward. To fix sound in your Mac computer, you need to go to Sound in System Preferences. Then toggle the volume slider and it will start working.
Regular sales coaching
Sales coaching often takes a back-bench and falls by the wayside under the weighty issues of the day-to-day rigmarole. However, regular coaching has a key role to play in making your team more confident, productive, and skilled. If the sales team is properly and regularly coached, they can handle difficult customers and close deals efficiently.
In addition, regular coaching makes sales members more confident because they have somebody to go to in case of difficulties. Your salespeople will appreciate the motivation you give them if you allow them certain flexibility and freedom. If you are too busy to work with each salesperson, provide regular input on their performance.
Onboarding new hires
Sales managers must set the tone of a high-performance culture using the sales performance guide right from when a sales member joins the team. The sales guide must include three things. They are the performance standards, administrative standards, and professional development standards.
The performance standards use measurements, such as conversion rates, sales KPIs, and quota attainment. The administrative standards look at performance at a granular level. Professional development standards see how well the member utilizes the training and coaching. The sales management of new hires should focus on both the process and outcome.
Encourage continued learning
Give your sales team a good start by setting them off the proper way with ongoing training. Make the training effective by obtaining their buy-in to implement best sales practices. Promote your middle performers to the top and lower performers to the middle when they generate more revenue. Some salespeople in the lowest rung can show real propensity too.
Encourage and motivate them so that they are driven to make sales. It is essential to keep the continued learning experience relevant and fresh in mind. A good strategy would be to create a training plan collectively for the following year and let the team own it. This training can reinforce previous strategies while adding new lessons for them to build on. They should also be encouraged to pursue personal education to have a competitive edge. For example, learn what is a content creator and consider hiring one.
Leverage advanced technology
The constant evolution of technology has automated the sales processes, making it easier and quicker for salespeople to complete tasks. It also makes collaboration between team members and client call tracking easier. With tablets and headsets, salespeople can now effortlessly multitask.
With the sophisticated systems, the team can document every client call and meeting without taking the focus away from the clients. The critical success factor in leveraging advanced technology is to ensure that the legacy tools and systems work seamlessly with the newer software. Look out for any latest development to make the team as efficient and productive as possible.
Use playbooks
Though the process will not fit all, a sales process gives your sales team the necessary information and tools to reach all performance metrics and sales goals. A playbook is the most effective way to develop a sales process.
They take your best salesperson’s processes and share them with your underperforming reps, resulting in a consistent, productive, and efficient process. Playbooks can act as a guide and take your team through the buyer’s journey.
Data based decisions
These days, most companies know that they must back their decisions with data. The problem is that when the team starts examining the data, they get drowned in it. Without clear guidance, it is very difficult to spot the right set of data. The quantity of data is not always the best.
Sometimes quality matters. Rather than more data, work on the relevant data, leveraging the analytics platform. The insights thus gleaned should be used to make the best company-wide and sales decisions. If the current platform is not equipped to provide you with enough of these insights, consider switching to another software or utilizing a sales funnel calculator for a more comprehensive analysis.
Automate admin work
Sometimes sales reps spend a considerable amount of time in admin work, which is a waste of time because that time should be spent on generating business. Admin work takes away their salespeople’s valuable time that should be spent on selling.
Invest in an engagement platform so that sales administration tasks can be automated. This can reduce all productivity-killing and time-consuming work. The tasks that sales engagement software can automate are data entry, planning your day, and logging.
Conclusion
Making the most of your sales employees involves providing them with the necessary resources and tools. But it also involves looking after their overall well-being, providing them with learning opportunities, and helping them with career aspirations. We hope this article has given you some valuable tips in that regard.