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A relentless pursuit for better results is a common thread in the fabric of successful sales leaders.
The more refined your team gets at generating sales leads and executing adequately, the less room you might think you have to grow.
However, there are a lot of fine-tuning opportunities that even strong leaders and reps overlook.
The top three sales management objectives for 2016 according to a report from Miller Heiman Group proffered these insights:
- Capture New Accounts – 58.4%
- Increase Sales Effectiveness – 40.2%
- Optimise Lead Generation – 39.3%
The following is a look at key areas to help you unlock your sales team’s full potential.
Use and Trust Analytics
Top-performing sales teams consistently utilise analytics capabilities better than their mediocre competitors.
McKinsey recently reported that 53 percent of the fastest-growing sales organisations self-rated their use of analytics as extremely or moderately effective.
Knowing the importance of analytics is only beneficial if you know what you want to do with the insights you glean. Only then can you collect and evaluate the right data.
Lead generation is one of the best opportunities for enhancement. With analytics, you can develop a more thorough profile of your best prospects by assessing demographic, geographic, firmographic and intent data of your customer base.
Also, data is beneficial for evaluating the capabilities of your sales team for effective territory assignments and training programme development.
These insights can help your reps leverage their greatest strengths and improve their deficiencies. Analytics enables you to work with reps to optimise pipeline management and forecasting.
Implement Reinforcement Training
Sales companies often invest a lot of time, energy, and resources in an initial training programme for new reps.
And this is great because it gives new sales reps the confidence and knowledge needed to hit the ground running.
Unfortunately, people lose 84 percent of knowledge [link opens full PDF from Sales Performance International] acquired during training programmes within 90 days.
Therefore, it is imperative that you reinforce this content on a continual basis.
So keep training sessions concise, but facilitate them consistently, especially with knowledge and skills you want to prioritise.
Through analytics, for instance, you can reinforce the importance of data collection with your reps, and help overcome any concerns with using technology.
Invest in Partnerships and Tools
Even in the digital age, talented reps remain your greatest asset in converting prospects into long-term customers.
However, the more you equip your team with the right support and resources, the more likely they are to turn their talents into revenue and profit.
Successful sales teams require advanced on-site and mobile tech tools to search prospects, identify contacts, set appointments, evaluate opportunities, manage existing relationships, and utilise analytics for improvements throughout the selling cycle.
In addition, or alternatively, you could invest in a collaborative partnership with a lead generation expert that functions as an extension of your team.
Wrap Up
Unlocking your sales team’s potential requires a combination of savvy training, investment in tech tools or partnerships, and an emphasis on analytics.
And even though it takes time to build good habits, your diligence will pay off in greater returns.
