This article is for you if:
- You want your business to grow.
- You already have dedicated personnel for sales.
- You want to increase the performance or efficiency of your sales team.
The argument of this article is that there are ways you can improve the daily workflow of your company in very meaningful ways and drastically increase the performance of your sales team. Although there are many opinions and discussions on the best way to increase sales, there are a few very simple and effective solutions that are commonly overlooked.
If you want to grow your business, you know the return from investing in any aspect of your business is the true indicator of future potential. When investing in your business, you’ll want to do it effectively, whether it be increasing your marketing budget, or hiring new salespeople. Besides, nobody grew a successful business by throwing their money away.
1. It’s REALLY important to be able to work as a team.
You’ve heard it a thousand times before, but there’s a good reason for it. There’s more to building your team than organizing BBQs or team lunches. The goal is to create a team that works together. Although sports teams work in different ways than sales teams, the challenge of creating a team mindset is the same (and so are the results). We all know of underdogs that challenge the top teams in their league and walk away victorious. It feels satisfying to root for them since we know that motivating each other to perform at peak performance and working together seamlessly is a greater achievement than simply spending the most money. Not that having a lot of resources is a bad thing; it’s about how you’re spending it to achieve the same or better results with a fraction of your resources.
The underlying factor in creating a team to work in such a harmonious manner is to get everyone to think together. To achieve this, a team member should be able to understand the challenges that their colleagues face. In sports, where every player can see what’s happening on the field, sharing information isn’t so much of a concern. However, information doesn’t flow as easily in most businesses. The concepts of open offices, open door policies and similar initiatives have the same goal, making information sharing easier. Your marketing person would do a far better job knowing what kind of questions prospective customers ask, what your customers really like about your product/service compared to your competitors’, and receiving constant feedback regarding their marketing efforts. This creates a feedback loop of solving each cross-departmental problems and working not just better, but smarter.
2. Salesperson magic. Use sparingly.
We all know that salespeople have a magic touch in every deal they close. They put their magic to use by remembering their best customers, following up on earlier conversations in a timely manner, keeping customer preferences in mind, or better yet, taking note of it somewhere that is easily accessible. Creating a solid strategy minimizes the need for that magic; start with a sales strategy or a sales funnel that works for your business, and have it in writing to make sure everyone is on the same page. There are many factors that are dependent on your type of business; from the products or services you sell, to whether your customers are businesses themselves or individuals. Do research on different approaches that will fit your business and make sure to include your salespeople in the discussion. This will ensure that their concerns are being addressed and a smoother transition to the agreed upon method. Most often, resistance to change can be solved by making sure that everyone gets a chance to voice their opinion.
Moreover, don’t use the magic unless it’s necessary. You would rather your team spend time actually selling than spend half their day going through their inbox to keep track of their customers, writing meeting notes on Post-Its that will be lost into the abyss of their office desks, loaded with information that will never be used again unless remembered. Think about searching through notes in your phone that you jotted, your notepad on your desk, your inbox, and the small notes in your calendar. It’s painful to even think about looking frantically for information while the customer is on the phone. Removing the inefficiencies in the way your business keeps track of tasks, customer information, and follow-ups will be just as effective as adding another member to your sales team.
3. Keep track of the important data.
Let’s face it, you want to know as much as possible about your own business, if not everything. The old way of achieving this would be weekly and monthly meetings with department managers to discuss performance and give/receive feedback. Many people dread preparing reports ahead of these meetings, perhaps seeing their own performance for the first time as well.
Keeping data is important, but getting meaningful information out of raw data is what takes time. Automating this process, setting goals ahead of time during the initial strategy meetings, and constantly keeping track of weekly variances and performance trends will remove the element of surprise for both sides, and give constant feedback on what’s working and what’s not – for not only you, but for the rest of the sales team too.
Learn why lead qualification is important from the top of the sales funnel, and how optimizing lead qualification will give you insights regarding the performance of both the sales and marketing departments.
TeamGram provides an award-winning sales CRM that allows you to customize your sales funnel, set reminders and follow-ups, and keep customer information and interactions accessible to your team. Start your 14-day free trial now, and begin import your contacts to see if you’d like to make TeamGram the newest member of your team.