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Sales are the lifeblood of a company, which makes your sales team very important. In order to give them the very best chance of succeeding, there are a number of things you can do to make their lives easier and improve their performance.
There are a lot of factors that lead to a dip in sales performance. Many sectors have been badly affected by the pandemic in the last 12 months, which is something that couldn’t have been anticipated. You might also have a poorly organized team or sales funnel, or not be receiving quality marketing leads.
Give them the right tools for the job
This isn’t the 80s. Sales teams need more than a phone and a Filofax. Modern sales and marketing methods are increasingly sophisticated, meaning your sales team has to be too.
Take as much of the admin burden away from the sales team as possible. You can do this by tightening up any processes and embracing automation for your sales and marketing processes. The right CRM platform can transform the way you attract, collect and convert leads throughout your sales funnel. This article on 6 pro tips for closing more deals with sales automation technology can is great for getting your teams up and running.
Invest in sales coaching
Even though someone might have a natural talent for sales, they can still benefit from specialist coaching from a business adviser. If there is no one internally with the skills to do this, then investing in a specialist consultant to organise coaching sessions with the team.
Identify underperformance early
If a member of the sales team is repeatedly underperforming, it’s in your best interests to catch this early and try to rectify it. There could be a number of reasons that this is happening. Perhaps they need further training or are unhappy in their role. If it’s an issue that can be rectified, then it’s better to spot it and act early, rather than operating a revolving door in the sales team which will decrease employee engagement throughout the team.
Don’t silo the sales team
The most successful companies have departments that work in collaboration with each other. Foster a team working within your organisation so that you succeed or fail together. Don’t let an ‘us and them’ attitude creep in.
Set up regular communication and reviews
When your sales team is performing well, it can be tempting just to leave them alone to keep repeating that success. However, this hands-off approach isn’t ideal, especially if you then start getting heavy-handed when sales start to dip. Set up regular communication with all members of the sales team to go through their current targets, performance and additional coaching or resources they need.
Conclusion
Having a well organised and resourced sales team is the key to improving and maintaining sales. If you ignore things until there are signs of a downturn, you are automatically on the back foot, which can put a lot of pressure on the sales team and the rest of the company.