How the zest for doing more lessens your sales team productivity

Your sales representatives are ticking all the appropriate boxes of sales management for maximum growth and profitability. They appear as human versions of robots working incessantly to fulfill their targets. They are as busy as bees, keeping the ball rolling to gain momentum and doing enough legwork for a better deal. However, in pure economics, when their productivity is measured, the drama is not in detail but the results. They boil the ocean for a handful of salt. Their efforts don't match their productive yield. It's not that there's a veil of imposter or such, but they lack optimization. Optimization nowadays is spreading like butter on the bread smoothly and efficiently in a highly data-driven world. People are already living an optimized life. Why do your salespeople fail to do so?

If this fable sounds familiar, you need to improve your team efficiency; unlocking sales force efficiency and channelling sales force is a breakthrough for a firm's long-term sustenance and hitting through blockbuster revenue goals.

Easier said than done because the challenges like fragmented distributions, diversity in talent acquisition, and high attrition rates make sales transformation tougher to execute. According to research, sales employees spend the majority of their time, 60% on mundane work that can be automated, only 27% of their time on their skills, and only 13% of their time is used for actual conversion.

Here are a few pillars that propel sales force productivity:

Coverage on potential rather than distribution

When there is a clear differentiation of high growth and slow growth markets, the team effort is also divided according to the potential. This approach brings uniformity in the team, and their responsibility is not stretched but shared to bring ineffectiveness. Understanding the geographical distribution of markets and customers can help in creating an evocative strategy that encompasses best in class companies' power of data and analytics based on business potential and at the same time don't sacrifice salesforce time

Don't underestimate the power of sales force automation and analytics

Mature organizations rely on digital tools to enhance sales force effectiveness, tap on the competitor's strategy, performance management or gather market intelligence. Adopting easy-to-use, quick to implement, and eliminating complex systems can work like magic. The trick is to streamline chaotic data that has been sundered. It could be as simple as a daily and monthly planning and reporting system, lead funnel, and performance management.

Training is not enough, engage them in experiential learning.

The learning modules are highly dynamic to keep in tandem with the current market scenarios. Using PowerPoint presentations can make their classroom bright; however, salespeople are bred on the field, and they need to be street smart. Based on this, the focus should be on experiential learning such as role-plays, gamification, and high engagement of social media presence.

More time should be spent on conversion rather than collection and coordination

Although salespeople are great at multitasking, their main aim is to convert maximum leads. Collection of orders or coordinating the supply chain can be taken care of by other means. They should focus more on creating customer values by giving maximum time to hone such skills. Managers and leaders should probe further to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness by analyzing their sales team. Are they spending more time on redundant work? How much time is invested in an on-demand generation?

Here are a few quick tricks and tips to ease your sales routine and enhance your productivity:

Swiss your cheese into easily digestible pieces of time: This will help you prescribe your daily activity throughout the day without burnout. It's the best way to establish a schedule that dedicates time to specific activities. The time constraints help you complete the individual task with focus and determination to prioritize the time block for the most critical tasks.
Eat a live frog: Sounds weird, doesn't it? But yes, this is the most important thing, and many times this is responsible for our unproductive mannerisms. The phrase here implies you to finish the most challenging task by giving it the majority of the time at the earliest, preferably in the morning. Go and see what your live frog that needs to be tackled is
Pareto principle: Famously called the 80/20 rule emphasizes doing the highest value work first. Also, it teaches us to involve our maximum time to sharpen our axes so that the tree cuts efficiently. For salespeople, it's usually prospecting and following up. Use this technique to cut through the fluff, measure the sales activities, figure out what's working in your favor and do your best to see what works for you and what works against you.
Sales training: Sales Training is neither a waste of time nor about micromanaging your representative's process and performance. Instead, consider it as a hub of knowledge and skill-building activities. All your questions and problems like handling objections, improvement in sales enablement, etc., finds actionable solutions by the team of experienced professionals. Sales training can boost sales productivity by 88%, yet many salespeople run away from it, and only 5% of salespeople get benefits through actual sales training.

If your team is struggling with vitamin 'P' (productivity) deficiency, it's time to start a supplement of productivity prescribed by ChalkWalk. Visit our website to learn more about it.

Written by Admin, 07 June 2022.

How the zest for doing more lessens your sales team productivity