5 Tips For Sales Effectiveness

In a sales organization, the information should follow a two-way path from executives to sales managers to sales team members, with questions, concerns, and comments flowing upstream.  For example, if there has been a product enhancement, the manager should distribute details to the sales team and be prepared to answer questions and clarify critical benefits.

1. Focus on Clear & Concise Communications

One way to decrease the risk of poor communications is to reduce the need for it. If every member of your team knows what to do in various situations, conversations become unnecessary. For example, if a customer has a “big ask,” sales team members should remember to consult management.

Ongoing, two-way communication makes it easier to recognize repetitive customer requests and offer detailed group training on how to handle them. This communication allows the manager to provide first-hand information, get direct feedback and hold the sales team more accountable. The key is to make sure the path for dialogue is always open and clear to stop preventable mishaps and to keep everyone in the know.

Improve Your Sales Communications with a clear path, group training, and an open door policy.

2. Make Sure Everyone is Involved

There shouldn’t be a single member of your sales team that is not engaged in achieving big business goals. The purpose of picking a sound sales methodology for your team is so everyone can follow it. However, team members who prefer to do things a different way are not always a “poor fit” for your organization. A one-on-one meeting can help clarify the situation.

Allowing members of your team to make suggestions that could improve your sales process may be beneficial. After all, some people might look at a tree and say “the tree is brown” while others say “the tree is green.” Both observations can be correct if one person looks at the trunk and the other focuses on the leaves. Keep in mind, however, that, as a manager, you get to decide which part of the “tree” to place your focus.

If a team member isn’t adopting your strategy, it may indicate that he or she either doesn’t understand the strategy or doesn’t want to conform to it. Either way, it’s essential to recognize the situation and communicate your expectations. After all, bad sales practice is money down the drain.

Improve your sales management with team involvement, one-on-one meetings, and goal setting.

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3. Review Current Processes

Though your business may have had specific procedures in place for a long time, that doesn’t mean they are still the best and most efficient methods for your team. You can prevent falling in a sales rut by reviewing often-used processes to identify any that are particularly difficult or complex.

You can do the audit yourself or assign each member of your team a specific area on which to focus. Either way, someone should review every process that is important to a sale to determine how easy it is to complete. If it’s not easy, you should look into ways to improve it. If a specific team member uses the process most, their input can be particularly valuable.

Improve your sales processes by reviewing important procedures based on feedback from team members.

4. Put Technology to Work

Automation is often the solution for process-related problems. The challenge, however, is that new technology seems to pop up every day. Also, investing in a robust technical infrastructure can be costly. If chosen wisely, however, the right technology can save time, resources and ultimately money.

Encourage your sales team, office staff, and technicians to investigate new technologies that simplify their jobs. Automating customer relationship management and estimating, or making it easier for customers to visualize project results can reduce costs and increase sales. 

Learn to work smarter by keeping in touch with new technology, involving professionals throughout your business, thinking about the future of sales.

5. Track Your Progress

After identifying and correcting some of the problems in your sales strategy and execution, you need to track the results in a concise way that offers valuable insights and feedback consistently. This way, you can keep track of your business and provide information to key stakeholders and sales team members.

Tracking the most appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs) is critical. Whether you use a targeted software application, or keep a running report in Excel, with your goals, projections, and performance in view, you can make every decision an informed decision.  Determining which KPIs you should measure can be tricky. 

Improve your sales tracking by reading up on KPIs, learning more about Excel, and keeping numbers updated.

The Bottom Line

Streamlining your sales requires you to look at the big picture, zero in on the problems, and then put solutions in place. Many obstacles get in the way of good sales. Don’t let something small gain in the way of big numbers. Get on the road to increased sales today.

About Chris Young, Director of Client Growth Management

Chris teaches business owners around the nation how to drive strategy to increase sales opportunities and growth through Sales Enablement, Strategy Implementation, and Team Management.