If you are at all concerned about the sales team’s delivery of your targeted revenues then make sure you pay attention to the following activities:
1 – Every possible lead/prospect in your pipeline is reviewed and chased more than once and not just on email.
The National Sales executive Association found that 80% of sales required five follow up calls after the initial contact, yet 44% of salespeople give up after one follow up.
It never ceases to amaze me how poor sales people are at ‘follow up’ – check the pipeline management in every sales meeting and demand at least five follow-up calls (get them using the phone).
2 – New business
Far too many sales teams talk about selling ‘cold’ but very little energy is successfully applied to this vital part of business growth. Sales is not magic, it only happens when people contact other people and this is the ‘hard graft’ of sales in B2B territories. Any sales team should be spending at least 20% of it’s time developing new business opportunities including cold calling and developing strategies to increase multiple contacts of key target accounts.
3 – Make sure your team know the true value of what they are selling
Sadly many CEO’s don’t really understand the value of the service they deliver to their clients day in day out. Your sales team will sell more if they are able to articulate the true value of the products they sell. You need a clear value proposition that defines the value you deliver in your customer’s terms. If your team can’t articulate the value then get help – you need it.
4 – Consistent sales process across the whole team
If your team are all selling in a completely different way then there will be gaps in performance. A great sales process is one that focuses entirely on the customer and has a reliable problem identity format and strong customer solution with obvious value in it. This is more than a sales training issue, the whole team need to know ‘how to sell’ – if you are relying on ‘flare’ based salespeople then you’ll get some results but not the performance that you need.
5 – Team focus on being ‘customer curious’
In this day and age when buyers have access to all the information they need to make purchases without referencing salespeople it is vital that salespeople can ‘add something’ to the client conversation. Salespeople must see themselves as an additional resource for a buying team. They should gather and search for ‘insights’ about the people and the business’s they are needing to sell to (the leads in your sales funnel that haven’t closed.
6 – Accountability
I have never seen a top performing team that wasn’t being held to account for actions against a plan and against a target. It is simple in principle but hard to deliver as it takes determination and consistency of management but it has to be done. Any sales leader who fails to hold the team to account is making it harder than it should be to deliver consistent growth.
7 – Clear pricing
Sales teams who are left to fight for a single price without a clear policy on discounts and negotiation pathways nearly always end up under performing. It is too easy for a sales person to simply ‘give’ an extra discount just to win an order. Remember that top salespeople don’t ‘trade’ unless they really have to, they ‘sell’ meaning only the buyer moves. It takes a lot of skill but even young sales teams can perform well if a clear price strategy is in place.
Any weakness or failing in any of the above will lead to underperformance. The first step of sales growth is to check where you are against where you could be. At Kiss the Fish Ltd we have a team of highly experienced Sales Experts who will show you the potential of your team and then work with you to help you realise that. If you are nervous of your team achieving the targets you need them to then don’t hesitate to reach out.
Get in touch at info@kissthefish.net for a free consultation
