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Upselling and cross selling to existing B2B customers can be one of the most effective ways to quickly increase sales. There are hundreds of different approaches, each being suitable for a different situation. In this article, we’ll look at 5 upselling and cross selling techniques, with accompanying examples, which product-focused B2B sales reps can use to increase sales.
Convincing someone to buy a more expensive product requires more than social proof and a list of benefits. Despite our world becoming more remote, the value in physically demonstrating products in context is worth the effort.
Real-life demos can be a convincing and natural way to begin an upsell, particularly since a demo’s only cost to the customer is their time.
Let’s investigate this through an example. Your company specializes in high grade building equipment and has released a new cordless drill which fully charges in 8 minutes. When your top-growing construction customer contacts you to order more standard drills, explain that you’ve got a new model out: and you need to show them what it can do because compared to the standard drills, it’s a better fit. However, rather than bringing the drill to the office, head out to the building site, and show how the newer model stacks up in context. Demonstrating the better product in use could be the final push needed to convince your customer and secure the upsell.
By leveraging your knowledge of a customer’s needs and goals, you can craft a cross sell based on making their business smoother with complementary products.
If you’ve got a strong relationship with a customer, it’s much easier to ask questions about their needs and spot hidden sales opportunities. And if you can consistently improve their efficiency by recommending products which save them time, you’ll develop a stronger relationship.
Example: You’re in the tire business, and have one customer who consistently averages around $25k’s worth of tire orders a quarter with you. However, changing a tire takes more than fresh rubber: what else does your customer need to change tires, and do so more efficiently? They may need bead sealer, tire mounting lube, valve stems, cores, caps and more. How much more convenient and efficient would it be for your customer to buy these additional products from you with the tires instead of gathering these consumables from other suppliers? Discuss this with the customer, perhaps there are other products they need which you didn’t consider.
Particularly if you’re working in FMCG, you can try using a story centered on the customer’s journey to success, the risks they may face, and how you’ll support them, to encourage an upsell.
A vivid success story which uses risk to create stakes can be solid reasoning for a customer to purchase more because it shows them what they desire, and what could happen if they don’t take action.
Example: Your top retail customer has just contacted you to replenish their toilet paper stock. When the time is right, begin your upsell by reminding the customer of what their success looks like, for example 50% category growth for the year. Explain how you’ll work together to get there, and the opportunities lying ahead. Now create stakes: what if there’s a supply shortage? If you sell out, you’ll be making 0 profit, and you can’t afford that- not while you’re picking up momentum. Having extra stock on the shelf may seem intimidating: reinforce the purchase and dispel the customer’s uncertainty by offering additional support: the steps you’ll take to ensure they mitigate the risks and sell successfully.
Consistently planting the seeds to an upsell can be a practical way to keep new products in the front of a customer’s mind and gradually guide them into a higher value sale. A great method to stay consistent is to create a schedule for following up with customers.
Example: After meeting with a customer and gauging their interest in a better product, plot out a series of dates in your calendar to recontact the customer and continue discussing the upsell product. The key is to stick to your plan: send out calendar appointments to the customer, and ensure that if they ask for something, you get back to them.
In nearly every industry, time-sensitive deals are used to build urgency and increase sales. You can do this yourself by creating a bundle package offer available only within a set timeframe.
Example: Let’s say you supply automotive parts and have arranged a package deal for August based on your most popular SKUs. In early August one of your auto parts customers calls in to place an order for engine oil and filters. Here you can drive a cross sell by explaining your package deal: free delivery plus a 20% discount on coolant, grease, additives, and transmission fluid available only until September. By pairing suitable products and marking a deadline, you create urgency and lower barriers to purchase. Don’t forget to follow up on the offer throughout the month.
Upselling and cross selling are staple techniques in a B2B sales strategy. If you’re struggling to get inspiration for your next up/cross sell, use these 5 techniques to inspire you:
Still looking for more sales techniques and tips? Check out our article on the 3 principles for building stronger B2B relationships, based on the advice of US sales expert Liz Heiman.
Sales call notes are a rep’s personal record of client information, notes taken during clients calls which are crucial for remembering important information and highlighting sales opportunities.
Unfortunately, reps easily forget to record call notes, or don’t record the right things.
In this article we’ll give you a handy quick guide to the most important things to ask your reps to include in their call notes to make the most of sales opportunities.
Let’s jump right in.
If a rep can’t get a client’s first and last name right, the road to building a prosperous client relationship will be a long one. Without the trust that comes with strong client relationships, your reps will find it difficult to probe for deeper information to find sales opportunities.
Cementing relationship foundations needn’t be hard: it begins with recording contacts and personal news in call notes. Regularly updating a client’s full contact details shows a rep is committed to keeping in contact despite change. Additionally, reps can build rapport by noting any exciting personal news: a new child, a wedding, a long-weekend holiday up North.
Ultimately, these small details can help reps develop client relationships where there’s room to ask deeper questions or make more ambitious offers.
When a payment problem, or pricing misunderstanding is left unchecked, a damaged customer relationship is the least of a rep’s worries.
To avoid losing a customer, recording any discussions around pricing, problems with payment, or incorrect invoices should be a priority in a rep’s call note checklist. If credit terms were set up wrong, or a price misunderstanding has occurred, the rep needs to note it down and make it a priority. This information could present an opportunity to give a customer a better price, or a discount deal if a certain volume is purchased.
To stop this information slipping by, suggest faster ways for your reps to get their pricing notes recorded, perhaps with voice-to-text notes entry or call note templates.
Regular proposal rejection could be a sign your reps don’t have a great understanding of their clients needs. How can reps get more sales if nothing seems to appeal to their clients?
Taking call notes of what resonates with clients regarding products, pitched over the phone, in whitepapers, or new range presentations, is crucial feedback for nurturing a sales opportunity. What did the client think about the new product? Did anything stick out to them in the new range presentation? What stayed with them?
Encourage reps to ask these questions and note feedback: the rich detail could be used to help a rep pitch products more suitable to their clients.
It’s been 6 months since your rep picked up their latest client, however, they're yet to jump on an upselling opportunity. After questioning the rep, it happens that they don’t have any information on what the client currently stocks, or who’s stocking it for them.
Any information concerning your competitors could highlight a sales opportunity, and should be recorded in call notes. Additionally, understanding a client’s purchase patterns can help a rep see if there’s an existing sales gap to jump on.
If the client normally buys safety goggles for $7 per unit from your competitor, but you sell them for $5.85, the rep could make a special offer.
With over 30 clients to attend to, it’s unsurprising when a rep misses the follow up call they promised to have with a client a month ago. Unfortunately, that rep could’ve unknowingly missed out on a lucrative deal and burnt goodwill that might have led to extra future sales.
If a rep has the right sales performance tool, they should take initiative to record a call note against the client about any agreed next action. If it’s following up on a client’s decision, or sending a quote through, a rep should record it and put it in their calendar, or even tag the note as an activity for your KPI leaderboard. Furthermore, putting a date down acts as a deadline for a rep to resolve any other issues raised in the call.
Personal client information, pricing discussions, client feedback, current stock, and agreed next step should form the foundation of your rep’s call notes if they want to capitalize on future sales opportunities.
If you want to get more consistent, high quality notes from your reps without wasting their time, check out how a sales performance app runs customer note-taking.
Building strong B2B relationships takes more than a weekly phone call and quarterly gift bag. To establish and grow client relationships, sales people need to carefully evaluate compatibility, communicate decisively, and collaborate regularly. But how does that all work in practice?
In this article we’ll unpack 3 principles which underpin strong B2B relationships, based on the advice we received from sales expert Liz Heiman, founder at Regarding Sales. Read on to discover inspiration and actionable advice for improving client relationships.
The essential ingredient to a strong B2B relationship? Compatibility. While slight incompatibility can make selling your product a minor inconvenience for a client, a majorly misaligned client relationship could net you $0 revenue.
Liz explains that unless your product fits the client’s sales catalog and end buyer needs, your client will struggle to sell your product.
“They have to sell products which fit with yours, if you’re asking them to go outside of their normal interactions it doesn’t work…make sure that it [your product] fits so well with buyers that they [partners] prioritize you over any other option.”
A compatible B2B relationship makes selling easy: if your product is easy to sell, there’s a higher chance your client will prioritize you over your competition.
But how to find a compatible client? In a single sales territory, there could be many suitable customers. However, taking time to evaluate each prospective client’s compatibility could make a huge difference. You can use the following criteria to judge a prospective client’s compatibility:
There’s a large difference between calling a client every week to ask them about a deal’s status versus a guided conversation. Spamming clients and pestering them for updates only leads to distrust, frustration, and missed phone calls.
The solution: proactive communication. It’s a fundamental sales skill, essential for building rapport with clients and nurturing transparency in B2B relationships. From her experience, Liz explains that scheduling discussions for updates, lead progress, and delivery changes are shared is a great way to kill spam and work as a team.
These discussions can give a sales rep greater understanding of their client’s situation: when the right questions are asked. To get started, use the following questions:
Listen to Liz’s full approach to proactive communication with your B2B clients here:
Strong B2B relationships need constant maintenance and course-corrections to stay productive. It’s for that reason why Liz recommends yearly and quarterly client collaboration using 2 set agendas. Designed to help sellers understand how to improve their client’s success, these yearly and quarterly discussions use a predefined structure to encourage efficient collaboration.
The yearly agenda is made to focus on wider partnership goals and needs. Discussion should focus on the following topics:
The answers gathered from these questions can help a rep understand the likely position the client will be in over the year, and how that position will affect the client’s spending.
The quarterly agenda focuses closely on month-by-month progress against yearly goals identified in the yearly agenda discussion and outstanding needs. Each quarterly discussion should include the following:
Framed by the wider structure set in the yearly agenda, quarterly discussions help each party quickly share information, review progress, and set the next quarter’s pace.
In action, Liz’s 3 principles can be used as guidelines to ensure new client relationships get a solid foundation. Likewise, if you or your sales reps are struggling with a stagnant relationship, consider using the principles as a diagnostic tool: are we properly aligned, do we have a communication framework in place? Furthermore, if you’re enjoying a strong, issue-free B2B relationship these principles can be used to inspire new ways of working constructively with clients.
If you’d like to get more sales insights and opinions from experts like Liz, why not keep an eye on our webinar page? Stay tuned for details on upcoming free live shows in August and September 2022.
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“I think it's really important that sales is both manageable and predictable, and people think that it can't be, but it absolutely can. Even when you're working through a partner.” Liz Heiman, CEO and Chief Sales Strategist at Regarding Sales has made it her mission to take the mystery out of sales. When it comes to getting the most from distributor relationships, her position is clear: it’s about them, not us.
A US based sales expert, Liz Heiman specializes in optimizing B2B sales organizations. She joined Jonathan and Connie for Making Your Number 2, where she shared her approach to growing sales results by setting shared sales goals with distributors. Additionally, Liz’s discussion set the scene for Numerik’s latest feature release, Customer Goalcards.
Read on to watch the Making Your Number 2 recording, get Liz’s key takeaways, and learn more about how Numerik’s latest feature can help you achieve better sales results with your distributors.
How can you leverage your distributor relationships to grow sales revenue? According to Liz, it’s all about being proactive, picking the right distributors, setting up plans, and sticking to yearly and quarterly agendas. That’s a lot to think about. Let’s break it down!
“The first thing that we really need to think about is that we tend to think if I have a partner that I'm selling through (or a distributor or an agent) that “all I can do is take orders” and just be reactive. And that’s absolutely not true.”
If you aren’t communicating proactively with your distributors, you’ll only come across as spammy, slowly damaging distributor relationships to a point where there’s no goodwill left to explore shared sales goals.
Liz explains that as suppliers, you need to “Find out what their goals are, figure out exactly what they need from you in order to sell your products; support their needs. Figure out some co-marketing opportunities so that you’re actually working together to grow income and have a predefined way to check on the status of existing leads so that you’re not badgering.”
By asking these proactive questions, you’re building distributor relationships, understanding how each distributor defines success, and how you can help them get there.
To put proactive communication into practice, Liz recommends to “...have a process that you go through with them [distributors] where you communicate about what’s going on, what they need from us, and what timing they think they’ll need so you can deliver in time. It’s all about them, not us.”
You can’t build strong distributor relationships and set shared sales goals without the right distributor. If misalignment exists between the products you offer vs those the distributor sells and the end user’s needs, you should be looking for a different distributor.
Before choosing a distributor, Liz asks us to consider: “do you share the same client profile? If you don’t know who your ideal client is, and you don’t know who your ideal agent/partner/distributor is, then you won’t be able to align. You have to be really clear about who your product is best for.”
If your product fits the distributor's needs and works with their clients, they’ll sell it.
As Liz explains: “They have to sell products which fit with yours, if you’re asking them to go outside of their normal interactions it doesn’t work. So make sure your product fits into their product line well, that they are happy with your relationship and with your product, and that it fits so well with clients that they [partners] prioritize you over any other option.”
Meeting regularly to share information must happen, otherwise you’ll have no idea what products are selling. At a minimum, have quarterly meetings with distributors to update them on product changes and make note of anything you can do to help them achieve their goals.
Liz says “you want to have regular meetings with your distributors, at least quarterly. What do they expect to sell so that you can be prepared to deliver it? How can you help them hit their personal goals?”
To plan your next move, you’ll want to find out what tools and support they need and what products they need improved. Additionally, to find sales opportunities, ask the distributor where you stand with them compared to your competitors: their answers help you develop an advantage.
To set shared sales goals and track progress with distributors, you can use yearly and quarterly agendas, whose purpose is to help grow distributor success. Remember: making your distributors more successful makes you more successful.
Starting at the yearly level, Liz says “you want to ask them what are their overall goals, how much money do they want to make this year, how much can you make with us, what do you need for support from us.” Identifying tools and marketing is important, as these can help distributors sell more efficiently. Additionally, take note of changes happening in the distributor’s market, as these could alter your own activities.
At the quarterly level, focus on showing the distributor “their progress toward the goal that you created together. And their progress towards their own personal goal with all of the products they sell. And if they’re not selling the other products, help them sell more of yours.”
Keep the ball rolling by updating each other on leads gathered, those you have for the distributor, and those they’re bringing to you. Help them maintain their schedule by giving an update on future deliveries, pointing out when they can expect orders in what time frame. To maintain proactive communication, don’t forget to ask your distributor for extra information, and give them transparency on any changes you’re making to products, deliveries, or the sales goal.
Got any questions for Liz? She's open for questions: send her a message at liz@regardingsales.com
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The purpose of Customer Goalcards is to allow users to set and track a shared sales goal/rebate with a distributor. The automated system makes it easy to engage distributors in a set sales goal/reward program, helping companies build a better rebate structure.
"they [companies] find that the reporting on rebates is very manual, it's a spreadsheet that goes out once a quarter. Often they will set a target and put a target in place, but it doesn't really drive the results."
In the same way which Numerik's Scorecards help reps keep track of the score, Customer Goalcards helps distributors monitor their progress towards a goal, and motivates them to achieve it.
Distributors will be given a login to Numerik, which'll allow them to see their target, for example, an annual goal of $15,000 per year.
"...they [distributors] are able to log in at any point in time and see how they're going against the goal that's been set for them. What then happens is they're able to break down that goal, click on it and see sales broken down at the product category level."
At the product level, products which have been purchased more/less than last year are highlighted in green/red, allowing reps to have meaningful discussions with distributors on how they're going with their sales.
"...everyone wants to be winning and doesn't want to be in the red. So you naturally start to ask those questions: why is that product group behind, or why is that product behind?
Was there a problem with it? Is it just not getting enough air time within the business? Was there a problem with supply?"
Fully customize-able incentives or rewards can be tied to the achievement of shared targets. Additionally, goals aren't limited to annual goals: you can set promotional goals too.
"...we can also set a promotional goal. This example is a promotion that's running maybe for a month, or it could be running for a quarter. That keeps the distributor not only focused on their annual goal, but also on the promo that's running within the month. And within those arrangements, we can do the' buy 40 get 10 free' type arrangements or any kind of bundle deal."
"...building those relationships with distributors: in this instance, they've probably got 100, 200, or 300 different people selling to them. So how do you be the people that really stands out in their mind?"
By using Customer Goalcards to share the numbers, users are able to ensure they're staying front-of-mind with distributors, and building trust with transparency.
"...[it's] the point about building trust through transparent sharing of the numbers: there's nothing hidden."
Customer Goalcards help remove the strain of organizing data to share with distributors and tracking rebates.
“This is how we'll remove the admin burden from the finance team. Often we found rebate tracking is done by the finance and it's a hassle. [Goalcards] removes that and automates all that part of it."
Send Jonathan an email at jonathan.hubbard@numerik.ly to get more information on how customer goalcards can help you boost your sales revenue.
11:00mins - Jonathan: That's excellent. Liz. I was really interested in your point about building out relationships within the business. I think often people just sort of tend to think of that one to one. Have you got anything more to say about how you've seen that work, or ways to spread your reach if you were with those distributors?
11:21mins - Liz: So there's a couple of ways to do it. First is that the existing relationship with that one person has to be really successful, and then you can ask them: “Hey, who else in your company would be successful selling my product, and can you introduce me?” And: “How is what they're doing different than what you're doing?”
If your distributor is happy with you, if they like working with you, and you ask them to introduce you, they probably will. The other thing you can do is go into each organization, go into LinkedIn, (if you don't have LinkedIn Navigator, you can try doing it on regular LinkedIn or any other tool) and look up all of the people in that organization who are selling, but aren’t selling your product- sometimes it’s an engineer, sometimes it’s a salesperson, sometimes it’s a dentist!
Now you could ask for specific introductions, but you could also send emails, personal emails, let's say: “I'm working with _______ in your company, I'm helping him do about this much a year. I'd love to help you increase your revenue by that much, can we talk?” You can use campaign tools to do this, especially if you really understand what they’re needing, you can say: “Hey, this is the product we sell. And here are some of the tools that would make it easy for you to sell it. Can we talk about how I can help you do this?”
The most important thing to remember is not about you. It’s about the distributor. Every conversation we have is about them and not about us. It's about how do we help them.
13:07mins - Jonathan: That's really good. I thought that your systematic approach, the quarterly and then the annual approach was good. This sales process can be applied to distributors just the same way that it can be to new prospects. But sometimes we don't think about mining those existing relationships do we?
13:26mins - Liz: Yeah, it's a problem. It's not just mining for additional people, it's about mining in the relationships that you have. They don't always think of you. I often help my clients come up with a plan for ‘when this is happening with your customer, that is a good time to talk about this.’ It gives them a little bit more help about when it is a good fit.
13:56 - Jonathan: And I like what you mentioned about how distributors sell what works. If you think about it from their perspective, all these suppliers coming to see them, all these different products. At the end of the day, the products that make them the money, the suppliers who are easy to deal with: they sell what works. It’s always a good challenge, do you think, to have that in your mind from a sales rep perspective, ‘is my offer really working in this account/customer or not?’
14:29mins - Liz: Right. And our distributor is our customer, right? So for our customer and their customer, it has to be a good fit. It has to work and we have to help them.
If you’d like to hear from more sales experts, keep an eye on our Webinars page to save your spot at our next live event.
The quickest way to increase sales is to sell more to existing customers. However, to get a customer into a position to purchase more, a sales rep will need to nurture them, using specific know-how, sales data, and the right sales tool.
In this article, we’ll look at why a sales performance app is the ideal tool for helping reps identify which existing customers to nurture.
To identify customers who need nurturing, it’s best to start with a wider perspective by looking at overall customer performance.
With a sales performance app, sales reps can access a dynamic customer leaderboard which ranks their customers according to a selection of sales metrics. It’s a tool which can give reps a wider perspective on which customers are generally performing better, who the top performers are, and who is lagging behind.
The above example shows the top 7 customers on a rep’s leaderboard organized by order of highest revenue earned for the period. The small vertical dashed line represents a paceline, which signifies a customer’s performance for the same time last year. Those customers in red who are yet to reach their paceline could have the potential to grow if nurtured. However, a rep will need to dig deeper to understand where they should focus their efforts.
If a customer is lagging behind, sales data can help a rep pinpoint where they should focus their effort to nurture more sales.
Drilling into a customer’s sales data reveals which products a customer has purchased more of, those purchased less, and even shed light on why. Similarly to the customer leaderboard, product group and SKU leaderboards use a paceline to show a customer’s purchases for the same time last year, and can be adjusted against other sales metrics.
In the above example, the sales data shows us that purchases in the Laundry group are slightly down from last year. To figure out why, a rep can drill into the product level and even sort their product leaderboard by average unit price compared to last year: revealing if price increases have contributed to the decline in sales of Laundry products.
It’s this intensive data breakdown which gives reps the ability to spot sales opportunities and diagnose why a customer is lagging. From here, reps can look at building a game plan for taking advantage of any sales opportunities and develop ways to nurture customers back into purchasing previously coveted products.
While getting this information from your sales CRM or BI tool isn’t impossible, it isn’t exactly easy and can be a massive time sink for sales reps. A big advantage of the sales performance app is its accuracy, and speed.
Relying on data from your ERP, the sales data used in a sales performance app is live updating, ensuring reps are never making decisions based on month old invoice data. Additionally, quick workflows give reps the capability to quickly skim through sales data to remind themselves of a customer’s situation before going into a phone call or meeting.
Nurturing existing customers is a great way to sell more if reps can identify the right customers to invest time into. By keeping a close eye on sales data, a rep can be the first to spot a sales opportunity, or take action to win back sales.
When it comes down to it, a sales performance app helps reps nurture existing customers by:
If you’d like to see everything a sales performance app can do for you and your sales team, get in touch with us for a hassle-free demo.
If you want to increase sales, the best place solution isn’t casting the net in search of more customers: use your existing customers instead. However, while this sounds simple on paper, getting more sales from existing customers can be like getting blood from a stone: unless you have the right plan.
We spoke to Ian Cartwright, a sales author and consultant with over 30 years experience to discover his technique to growing sales revenue. The result? Use your existing customers!
Listen to the video below to hear Ian’s technique for increasing sales with existing customers, or read our breakdown.
Knowing where to do it is really like polishing what you've got, and hopefully, you have got some way in which you categorize your customers. It's about understanding - and Pareto principle really applies - that typically 80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers.
Before you can polish your existing customers and increase sales, you’ll need to understand each customer’s significance to your business, and their growth potential.
One of the best ways to do this, Ian explains, is to categorize your customers: in our case, that’s Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. From here, you’ll need to decide the criteria a customer must meet for each tier. This could be based on how much business they give you, their average spend, or their growth potential.
By doing this you're making sure that you're actually following the money and not chasing unicorns: it's a phrase a customer reflected back to me because he was spending a lot of time on people who ended up being Bronze categories, because he thought they might be good, but he hadn't been through the process to work it out.
What about timeframe? Ian recommends you use customer sales data over 2-3 year to build a detailed picture of customer trends, however you can use software to identify these trends for you quicker. Using sales data will show you why an existing customer has grown, or why they flatlined: information you can use to decide which customers you could increase sales with.
Once you’ve categorized your existing customers, and identified trends, you’ll need to put a plan in place for nurturing them. To start building this plan, ask the following questions:
[once we’ve identified our top customers, we can] program objective activity to make sure that we are in front of them or reaching out to them the right number of times in the right places regularly. Being able to find a way to gather that information and share it within your team is really important. Because that means that across the team you can start replicating good practice which works: making sure that you are clear on who your top customers are and that you are really loving them.
Your goal with this plan is to give sales reps the guidance and resources they need to start nurturing their top customers and realizing their growth potential. Jumpstart your planning with the key account plan template on Ian’s website.
We know who your Gold and Silver customers are: but are you getting all of their business? A really simple exercise to identify low hanging fruit here is to identify whitespaces.
Using their key account plans, your sales reps can now plot out what products your existing customers are buying: and make plans to fill the gaps. This is the ‘how’ of increasing sales among existing customers. Follow these steps:
By identifying whitespaces, your reps can capitalize on previously hidden opportunities to get more sales. As Ian says: “If you can really nurture those existing customers, make sure you're maximizing the amount of problems you're solving for them - you do that you'll get the revenue.”
By this stage, your sales team will be on the way to increasing sales among their existing customers. But what if that’s not enough? Ian has an answer for this too: grow mold.
My last little saying around knowing where to do it is grow mold. Mold grows and spores right next to each other. So does really good sales. So if you've got an existing customer who might be doing some business in an area really similar to where you'd like to grow the next piece of business, just replicate that.
Growing mold is about leveraging the strong relationships formed with existing customers to get referrals and contacts in related businesses. It’s simple for reps to ask customers "we've been doing some great business together, who else do you think I should talk to?”
When a strong relationship exists, Ian explains that these discussions can even turn existing customers into advocates. Additionally, reps can use these customers to generate low cost case studies, perfect as anecdotes for other customers, especially those who are being nurtured from Silver to Gold.
Increasing sales among existing customers is all about nurturing the right customers, taking advantage of sales opportunities and leveraging relationships. Want more expert sales advice? Check out our upcoming sales expert webinars here.
Sales leaders from all industries use sales coaching to equip their talent with the right skills and abilities to effectively achieve sales success. It’s a no-brainer that sales coaching improves sales performance, however, coaching doesn’t come naturally to everyone.
Before you bring in a top sales coach, it’s best to look at your own sales coaching style and make improvements. In this article, we’ll provide five research-backed and expert sales coaching approaches to help your team improve sales results.
Your lowest performing rep has just hit their target for the first time thanks to your one-on-one coaching. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said when you try the same approach on a top performer. Where did you go wrong?
It’s long been discussed that to improve sales results quickly, you’ll need to adapt your sales coaching approach to the individual.
Adapting sales coaching style to the individual is a core finding from a 2015 Texas State University review and research paper. Key Takeaway: You should prioritize adjusting your approach to suit a rep’s character, what they need, what they like/dislike, how they like to communicate.
Some reps may need a show-not-tell approach. Some prefer hard critiques, others need softer words. Perhaps you could sit down for coffee to talk through a sales performance problem, or maybe a few chat messages will suffice.
Jamie is your longest standing rep, a close friend, and takes every critique with ease. In contrast, new rep Casey appears guarded whenever feedback is given. You’re just trying to help, but if feedback isn’t being taken on board positively, it’s hard to see how Casey’s sales performance will improve.
Defined as close harmonious relationships, rapport is essential for not only a great work culture, but great sales coaching. Without rapport, there is very little trust, and low chances of advice being taken to heart. No doubt you already have great relationships with your reps, but it takes time to build trust in all areas of any relationship- especially when it comes to criticism.
In 2019, researchers from California State University found that unless rapport existed between managers and reps, sales coaching effectiveness would be minimal at best. Key Takeaway: Rapport must exist for feedback to be taken seriously and for sales coaching initiatives to succeed.
Build more rapport with your reps by sharing perspectives, asking for their opinions, and empathizing with their experiences.
The logistics of coaching a large sales team can be unrealistic at the best of times. There’s only one you: there has to be a better way to spread knowledge and improve sales results!
Why not use your existing talent? Having top performers act as mentors can be a cost effective approach to quickly improving a newbie’s sales performance, or anyone who’s struggling.
A Kennesaw State University article discovered a strong link between sales mentoring and increased learning uptake in mentees. Additionally, they found that internal mentoring was more effective than external sales coaching. Key Takeaway: Reps will learn more from mentors than outside sales coaches.
What you can do: recognise your talent, work with them on a mentor role (perhaps help them manage their time or give an incentive), and pair them up with someone struggling.
Recently, you’ve been struggling to get your message across while coaching your reps. Perhaps using the same assessment and feedback approach is starting to get old: you need ideas.
Using role play and participating/observing reps in-the-field can be a great way to build better relationships within your team and proactively guide them towards higher sales performance.
A 2017 essay from the University of South Florida explained that unlike typical business coaching, sales coaching requires greater involvement from managers to facilitate learning: using role play or participation/observation. Key Takeaway: Draw conclusions and feedback based on a rep’s sales performance out in the field.
Ask yourself: what are some situations where your reps could find your presence helpful? You could try listening to a sales call on speaker, attending a new range presentation, or getting a rep to try their upselling skills out on you.
While your top reps consistently exceed their targets, you can see others struggling to adopt the same sales-winning behavior. If you can’t find a way to change their behavior, there’ll be no time left to improve sales results before the quarter’s end.
Woven throughout sales and marketing, key performance indicators are metrics which can be used to drive sales performance when they’re tied to sales activities.
According to Australian sales expert David McMurdo, activity KPIs guide sales behavior by identifying expected results, and where the results should come from. Example: you choose a target behavior (e.g. overall sales meetings), show reps exactly where they’ll get success (e.g. a particular category sector), and then benchmark sales performance against the activity (e.g. sales meetings per category sector.)
Look at using activity KPIs in your sales coaching strategy as a tool to define specific successful selling behaviors and set benchmarks. Afterall, what gets measured, gets done!
From the research, we can see that adapting to the individual, building rapport, using mentors, getting involved in the field, and activity KPIs are all viable approaches to beef up your sales coaching. Next time you’re needing to shake up your sales coaching approach, Would you like more free advice like this? Consider booking yourself into a Numerik webinar: where we get sales coaches in to share their approaches for sales success.
In order of appearance:
Badrinarayanan, V., Dixon, A., West, V.L. and Zank, G.M. (2015), "Professional sales coaching: an integrative review and research agenda", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49 No. 7/8, pp. 1087-1113.
Nguyen, C.A., Artis, A.B., Plank, R.E., and Solomon, P.J. (2019), Dimensions of effective sales coaching: scale development and validation. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Vol 39, No. 3, pp. 299-315.
Bradford, S.K., Rutherford, B.N., and Friend, S.B. (2017), The impact of training, mentoring and coaching on personal learning in the sales environment. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, Vol 15, No. 1, pp. 133-151
Nguyen, C.A. (2017), Essays on Sales Coaching. Graduate Theses and Dissertations. University of South Florida Scholar Common
In a previous post, we took a closer look at how Numerik brings value to sales reps. However, there’s more to Numerik than admin-free notes, ease of use, and live commissions. In this article, we’ll take a look at 3 more Numerik features, and see how they give value to sales managers and the wider sales team.
Sales performance has started dropping: your sales reps explain that their targets are unrealistic, difficult to access, and that they’re struggling to plot their course. Left too long, these issues will solidify into long term performance problems, and higher management may intervene.
Being able to tailor sales targets specifically to the individual rep, have them accessible at a moment's notice, and have a live-updating sales forecast can give you and your sales team the visibility and clarity needed to regain sales performance.
“I get a forecast from my managers twice a month. That used to be an arduous task, where they’d have to pore through data and chase their team. Now it’s easy for the sales managers to do forecasting because their sales team are live forecasting on a daily basis.” Daniel Roberts, Tradelink
With Numerik, you can create custom sales targets and use live-updating sales forecasts to set reps on the right path straight from your phone. To account for each individual’s different capabilities, you can set specific sales targets, and change these on-the-fly as sales performance improves. And with live updating sales forecasts, you can always be sure that your team knows where they’re headed, with the forecast itself able to be adjusted by each rep as they anticipate a deal.
It’s the end of Q2 and each rep is over $5k behind their sales target. Unless they can find extra sales, they’ll all miss their targets, growth will stagnate, and you’ll have higher management knocking on your door.
Showing reps how to identify potential deals in sales data can help you boost sales performance and dodge a missed target. However, if you can’t find these easy wins quickly, it’ll be a waste of time.
By drilling into existing customers’ sales data, sales managers and reps can quickly find a hidden sales gap. Perhaps your top automotive parts buyer is $500 behind the pace on oil filters compared to last year:why is that? These sales gap insights give reps the heads up they need to get in touch with customers and close the deals needed to get them to their sales target.
Your reps barely use your CRM for data entry, and you need a sales report compiled ASAP. Without the sales data, you’ll be spending another evening combing through hastily typed notes to piece together your team’s sales performance.
Sales reports may not be critical for an individual rep’s day-to-day, but they help sales managers make better decisions and coach their team. Above all, reports remove the mysteries behind a sales team’s sales performance and customer spend.
Automatic mobile reports in Numerik collate sales data to give you bite size, customizable sales reports whenever you need them. Reports can be configured to share sales team progress, outstanding quotes, revenue and GP, and customer performance. Additionally, reports can be set up to send daily, helping you build a clearer picture of sales performance and as an early warning system when performance starts to drop.
Rep specific sales targets, live updating sales forecasts, sales gap insights, and mobile sales reports can all help you and your team get a better understanding of your sales performance. If you’re curious to see how Numerik works in practice, get in touch with us here to book a live demo.
“My mantra is that sales has no real dark art. It's actually just about being organized and disciplined, and using the right tools so that you can manage the right activities in the right places.” For author and sales consultant Ian Cartwright, growing sales revenue requires a simple but direct approach defined by action: not fixating on end sales results.
Ian Cartwright is the founder of Ian Cartwright Sales Coaching, and author of The 6 Fundamentals of Sales Know-How, a sales handbook for new B2B professionals and SME owners. Ian joined Numerik CEO Jonathan Hubbard for a discussion and interview on his approach to growing sales revenue based on his 30+ years of sales experience.
Read on to watch the full liveshow, get access to Ian's free resources, and view our highlights.
Get the resources mentioned in the video here
How do you grow sales revenue? Ian explains that to grow sales revenue, you’ll need to recognize which sales activities bring success, and concentrate on doing them in the right areas.
“…if you understand your numbers, and what it takes to get a prospect through [to a closed deal], then you can do the right things in the right places every day.”
Make sure your reps understand and can measure how much of a particular sales activity they need to do to achieve a particular sales result.
“In my first sales role in 1994/93, I knew my measurement was I needed to make 12 phone calls a day for meetings: it's still really simple like that. Things have changed with social selling and digital selling, because we're doing different types of outreach, but we still need to be doing the activity.”
Here's an example: If a rep needs to hit a $100k sales target, and they know that 50% of proposals succeed, they can work backwards to find out which activities they need to do each day, and how many. E.g. X number of calls, X no. meetings, X no. proposals per day.
If you want to grow the most sales revenue in a short time, the best place to start is with your existing customer base: building closer relationships, understanding how your products help them, and where growth opportunities lie.
To pinpoint which customers have room to grow, and make plans for nurturing them, your reps will need a way of categorizing their customers, relative to their importance/growth potential.
“I know who my Platinum customers might be: those one or two which your business really revolves around. Then you've got your gold customers, silver, bronze. You’ll need to come up with some criteria that works for your business to ascertain what it means if a customer’s gold, silver. It might be to do with how much business you do with them now, but it might be potential.”
By tracking customer performance over time, reps can see which customers have room to grow, and which ones should be left alone. Make sure your team knows how to communicate with, and nurture each tier (platinum, gold, silver, bronze) of customer.
To get their deals over the line efficiently, reps need to know exactly the right people in a business to be talking with.
“[It’s] about making sure that you know who all the decision makers are, particularly in your platinum and gold customers, because you don't want to be surprised.”
Encourage your reps to find out who the key decision makers are for each tier of customer and note them down in a contact matrix. As for getting a contact, it can be as simple as asking 'this deal that we're trying to get over the line...who else do I need to be talking to about it?'
Once your reps have a better understanding of their existing customers’ potential, they can start looking for sales opportunities: whitespaces.
“Write down who your top 10 customers are. You may have five, six, multiple products that you're dealing with, or taking to market, but you might be able to map out and say actually, for my top customer, they're only dealing with four out of my six products. And I know they're getting the other two from someone else. So I need to put a plan in place to see what I need to do to secure that business.”
By understanding each customer’s problems, building rapport with them, and knowing how to engage with them, reps can begin to capitalize on these whitespaces to boost sales revenue.
Once reps have developed great customer relationships, they can start leveraging those connections to get case studies, referrals, and turn existing customers into advocates.
“If you can really nurture those existing customers, make sure you're maximizing the amount of problems you're solving for them, then you get to develop low cost simple case studies that you can share as anecdotes with other customers that you're talking to.”
Reps can ask their customers for recommendations of other related businesses they could get in contact with: an easy conversation to have if a strong relationship exists. Ian explains that sales is like growing mold, mold spores next to one another, and so do great sales.
Read the condensed interview below for Ian’s take on enriching customer relationships, developing a sales coaching routine, how his 6 Fundamentals work, and how to advance prospects down the sales funnel better.
Jonathan : 15:15min - If I’m a rep out in the field, what can I do to make sure I’m talking in my customer’s language?
Jonathan : 17:29min - Would ‘speaking in your customer’s language’ be something a sales manager could roleplay with a new rep?
Jonathan : 18:39min - How can sales managers practically work coaching into their month?
Jonathan : 20:51mins - Can you give us an example of how your 6 Fundamentals have worked well in practice?
Audience Question : 26:02mins - In the sales funnel you referred to customers being further along these days. In your opinion is it better to give them more info online and let them advance themselves? Or get them to contact you to get that info (but potentially frustrate them) but control the process better?
If you’d like to hear from more sales experts, why not come along to our next webinar on July 12th? Click here to get more details.
First and foremost, Numerik is designed to be a sales rep’s go-to tool for sales performance management, customer insights, and data entry. Sales managers can use the app to track rep performance against set targets and view rep notes instantly - but how exactly does Numerik give value to your sales reps?
In this article we’ll unpack with examples three reasons why Numerik gives sales reps value.
With over 5 million search results for ‘how to get sales reps to use crm,’ on Google, it’s clear that poor sales CRM engagement among reps is a chronic problem. CRMs are a great, powerful tool, but they don’t give sales reps instant access to relevant features or insights to help them close more deals or manage their sales performance.
As Daniel Roberts of Tradelink explains, his reps were disengaged from the CRM because it wasn’t giving them the information they needed to make better decisions and sell more. His team needed help: “Help me reduce my admin. Help me increase my conversions.”
To cut out admin and reduce time spent on non-sales activities, Numerik gives reps the ability to make quick multi-media sales notes against customers. Designed to work like a social post, these sales notes can be shared with managers and the wider sales team, who can react/comment on the post, ultimately providing a growing record of info saved to each customer.
In the heat of a customer meeting, reps need sales insights on hand to support their case and show their credibility. Of course, they could get these insights from a BI tool, provided they curate the latest data, identify the sales opportunities, and type/write it up… before the meeting. Do your reps have time for that?
Carl Fowler’s sales department started using Numerik in late 2021, and praises the app’s ease-of-use. His West Europe sales manager agrees, despite having used Salesforce and other tools, Numerik is the simplest to use.
Check out the quick clip below to see how quickly and easily a rep can find customer and product insights starting from the homescreen:
Commissions are a massive motivator for sales reps: who wouldn’t like to have the power to directly influence their potential earnings? Unfortunately, having the luxury to instantly view your current commission, or future commissions is a luxury few reps have.
With Numerik, sales reps can see their commissions update in real-time when customer orders come through, and can adjust sales forecasts to show them their potential future earnings.
Both Carl and Daniel agree that Numerik’s live updating and forecasted commissions have saved them hours, and helped motivate their reps to get more sales from their customers, especially when tied to forecasting. Daniel says “A salesperson can see instantly on their phone what happens to their incentive if a customer orders more. Seeing their incentive dollars ticking up in real time drives salespeople to use forecasting.”
Zero admin sales notes, quick easy access to sales insights, and live-updating commissions linked to sales forecasts are just three Numerik features which give reps value. In another post we’ll explore how Numerik’s other features, including customizable sales targets, sales gap insights, and glanceable reports can give you and your sales team extra value.
“The team love Numerik. They say, ‘If you're going to invest in a new tool, just make it as easy to use as Numerik, because Numerik helps me do my job’. If someone was on the fence about choosing Numerik, I’d send our most change averse salespeople to speak to their team. Because when even the tech cynics in our team are using it and being advocates for the tool, that speaks volumes.” - Daniel Roberts, Tradelink
Click the following links if you’d like to read more about Daniel and Tradelink’s Numerik journey, or Carl and Quin Global’s Numerik story.
In the competitive arena of B2B sales, working smarter — not harder — is crucial for salesreps to hit their targets. As you strive to hit those ever-climbing targets, the right sales enablement tools can be your secret weapon. In a sea of thousands, it's crucial to choose tools that not only deliver results but also provide actionable analytics, insights, and intelligence. This guide will spotlight top-tier sales solutions, each infused with analytics and reporting capabilities to elevate your sales game.
Field sales reps, constantly on the move, need tools that not only generate leads but also provide deep insights and easy access. According to research by Forbes, sales reps spend up to 65% of their time searching for prospects and doing outreach. The right tools can significantly streamline the process, enabling sales reps to focus more on engaging with leads rather than finding them. Here are five tools that redefine lead generation efficiency
Investing in the right lead generation tools is a game-changer, especially for field sales reps. It’s about hitting those ever-growing targets with smarter strategies, not harder work. With tools like these, you’re not just chasing leads; you’re strategically engaging and converting them.
Invesp's research shows that nurtured leads can yield 20% more sales opportunities. Effective nurturing tools are essential for maximizing these prospects. Lead nurturing is all about strategically cultivating relationships with potential customers throughout the sales funnel. In 2024, the game has changed – it's not just about staying in touch, it's about staying relevant, engaging, and one step ahead. Here’s a look at the top lead nurturing tools for sales teams this year, each bringing something unique to the table:
Selecting the right lead nurturing platform is crucial for turning prospects into loyal customers. With tools like Pipeline, Inside Sales Box, AWeber, Salesforce and Pardot, and LeadSquared, your sales team is equipped to not just follow up, but foster meaningful relationships that drive conversions. (Add Numerik into the mix, and you've got a winning formula for nurturing leads with precision and insight.)
Communication is the cornerstone of success. As sales teams navigate through the complexities of client interactions, target chasing, and internal collaborations, the need for effective communication tools becomes increasingly evident. The right set of tools can transform the way sales teams interact, share information, and collaborate on strategies. It's not just about staying connected; it's about enhancing productivity, fostering a culture of collaboration, and aligning team efforts towards common goals.
Each of these platforms offers unique features tailored to different aspects of sales communication and collaboration. From the comprehensive team management of Microsoft Teams to the specialized sales focus of Numerik, these tools collectively empower sales teams to communicate effectively, collaborate efficiently, and achieve their targets with greater precision and insight.
The paradox of reporting is that while it's essential, it can eat into valuable selling time. Today's sales teams require tools that offer more than just data compilation – they need systems that provide real-time insights, identify trends, and facilitate swift, informed decision-making. Here, we explore some of the top sales reporting tools of 2024, each bringing unique capabilities to the table.
These tools are tailored to transform the way sales teams approach reporting. They provide the perfect blend of efficiency, insight, and user-friendliness, ensuring that sales strategies are data-driven and results-oriented. Whether it's through detailed analytics or at-a-glance updates, these platforms empower teams to make informed decisions swiftly, driving sales success in today's competitive market.
As we step into 2024, the landscape of B2B sales continues to evolve. Embracing these cutting-edge tools is not just about keeping pace – it's about leading the charge. Are you ready to equip your team with the best to not just meet, but exceed your sales goals? The future of sales is here, and it's powered by innovation. These tools provide a competitive edge, blending informed strategies with workflow optimizations. Remember, the right tool not only fits into your current process but elevates it.
Embracing these sales enablement tools means you're not just keeping up with the industry; you're setting the pace. Here's to smarter selling and bigger wins!
Building robust sales relationships goes beyond the routine practices of sending monthly newsletters, commemorating birthdays, or offering substantial discounts—although these gestures are universally appreciated. However, the real depth of sales relationships is often overlooked, with Sales Reps frequently defaulting to CRMs when considering the use of customer data to enrich interactions. A more impactful strategy lies in utilizing data to initiate meaningful conversations. This article unveils three key sales metrics, derived from customer data, that Sales Reps can leverage to enhance sales relationships without disclosing sensitive company details.
Facing challenges in deciphering the reasons behind a customer's erratic or stagnant year-on-year growth? Identifying these patterns is crucial for leveraging the full potential of your customer relationships. The Revenue Swing metric, a cornerstone in sales data analysis, facilitates dialogues around the overarching trends impacting a customer's purchasing decisions by comparing their monthly revenue year-on-year.
An approach might include discussing observations such as, "We've noticed a trend in your spending with a decrease from March to June, yet an increase from September to December. Could this be related to budgetary restructuring?" This metric not only paves the way for customized sales strategies but also enriches the CRM database with actionable insights for future engagements.
To calculate the revenue swing, compare the monthly revenue generated by a customer in the previous year with the corresponding month in the current year to identify the year-on-year variance.
Struggling with pitches that miss the mark, despite having detailed purchase histories? The Quantity Swing metric offers a granular view of a customer's purchasing patterns, comparing their monthly purchase volumes year-on-year to unveil trends of growth or decline.
By inquiring, "Could you share how current market demands are influencing your order volumes? Are there new projects on the horizon?" Sales Reps demonstrate a vested interest in the customer's operational challenges and preferences. This depth of understanding strengthens sales relationships, enabling the delivery of tailored product recommendations.
To determine the quantity swing, organize a customer's purchases from the previous year into a 12-month history and compare it on a month-by-month basis with the purchases made in the current year, in order to detect any increases or decreases.
When sales teams have access to customer data and SKU pricing but still face reduced order sizes, additional context is needed. The Average Unit Price Swing metric illuminates the specific pricing changes affecting purchasing behaviors, comparing SKU prices year-on-year.
A conversation starter might be, "We've observed a notable decrease in your usual SKU purchases. Are there new sourcing strategies in place, or are other factors influencing your purchasing decisions?" This metric fosters a comprehensive understanding of customer preferences and market dynamics, crucial for strategic sales planning.
To find the average unit price swing: Compile the prices of SKUs purchased by a customer last year, and juxtapose these figures with this year's prices for the same SKUs to identify any price changes.
With the right customer data at their fingertips, Sales Reps are equipped to foster insightful conversations at any engagement level. However, the challenge often lies in efficiently accessing these insights. Sales performance apps like Numerik are revolutionizing this process, consolidating critical sales metrics and enabling on-the-go access without compromising sensitive data.
In essence, targeted sales metrics can profoundly enhance sales relationships, provided the conversations aim at achieving personalized, mutually beneficial outcomes. If navigating these metrics seems daunting, consider exploring how a tailored demo can illuminate these insights, transforming your approach to sales strategy and CRM integration.
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We know that sales performance apps help sales reps achieve their targets and increase overall performance, but how else can this tool boost sales results?
In this quick article we’ll discuss a sales performance app’s additional benefits to help you decide if it’s the right investment for your team.
The quarter is nearing completion, and ¾ of the team is set to make their target. Unfortunately, you have no idea why the other ¼ is struggling. Without intervening and guiding reps towards more successful behavior, growth will stagnate: how can you boost sales results before it’s too late?
Good sales coaching is about recognising the core issue behind a rep’s poor sales results and then personally working with them to improve. According to a 2021 Harvard Business Review article, a big step for successful sales coaching is understanding the root cause of a problem and making expected behaviors clear.
Fortunately, a sales performance app can act as a problem diagnosis and behavior guidance tool through tracking performance and activities of reps, and assisting managers in encouraging specific actions that lead to best results with KPIs. Once a rep begins struggling, their manager can intervene and specify the correct behavior. Managers and reps can then measure performance against these behaviors on a KPI leaderboard.
Reps are blocking out whole afternoons to update the CRM and they’re getting increasingly frustrated that they’re having to set aside this time at all when they could be selling. How can you drive sales results if your team is being forced to do admin?
Cluttered and unintuitive CRMs and slow to update BI tools aren’t made to quickly give reps insights they need, like customer revenue vs last year, gross profit vs LY, a six month sales forecast, or their customer notes. Furthermore, if reps are waiting until later in the day, or week, to log customer notes, it’s almost guaranteed they’ll have forgotten key information which could help them make future sales.
A sales performance app cuts that time by making rep-specific information a priority, meaning reps can quickly spot opportunities, spend more time selling, and enjoy taking customer notes without the admin.
This month’s sales campaign isn’t off to a profitable start and rep motivation and competitiveness has dried up. If the problem isn’t solved, you’ll have missed another target and be left with overstocked warehouses.
A recently developed field in management and still growing, gamification involves applying gaming attributes to non-game situations to increase engagement and motivation. Articles from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in 2015 and 2016 explained that among existing research, gamification can succeed in a sales context, particularly using leaderboards.
Built to communicate information in leaderboard format, a sales performance app is a great fit for a sales manager looking to incorporate gamification as part of a wider motivation program. With rep leaderboards and a live feed, this tool can help managers and reps quickly check progress and share performance with the team.
Your reps are struggling to find success pitching additional products to clients, and it’s affecting customer relationships. Clients are feeling as if their reps don’t understand them, and missed sales opportunities are beginning to impact sales results.
Upselling and cross-selling can help reps quickly boost revenue and give customers more personalized deals providing they understand customer intentions, needs and purchase history. According to Forbes and Business Matters in 2021 and 2020, upselling and cross selling can build better customer relationships and loyalty. Business Matters particularly highlights how access to customer data can influence an upselling/cross-selling strategy.
A sales performance app is designed for reps to quickly access and record customer notes and data to help them identify a current or future sales opportunity. The customer data insights they provide, including revenue vs LY, average unit price vs LY, and quantity purchased vs LY can help reps make informed upselling/cross selling choices.
To kickstart the sales coaching process, spice up sales campaigns with gamification, free up selling time, and make better upselling/cross-selling decisions, you’ll need a sales performance app. If you’d like to see how this tool can deliver a strong ROI for you and your team, book a demo here.
Harvard Business Review, Avoid a One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Sales Coaching, December 16, 2021
Knowledge at Wharton, Gamification: Still a Gamble, but One with Real Payoffs, December 7, 2015
Knowledge at Wharton, People Love Games — but Does Gamification Work?, February 3, 2016
Forbes Advisor, What Is Upselling? Everything You Need To Know, December 15, 2021
Business Matters Magazine, Upselling and Cross-Selling: Maximising your business’s revenue and profits, September 7, 2020
Sales leaderboards are tools which can boost sales motivation by displaying rep performance against their peers. Additionally, sales leaderboards can create healthy competition, help build company culture, and guide your reps towards successful sales behaviors.
Let’s see how a simple sales leaderboard can help you motivate your sales team to greater success!
It’s mid year, and you’re struggling for ways to reinvigorate a stale sales campaign. Even your best reps are struggling: sales motivation is low.
A company’s front line fighters, sales reps are passionate, determined, and enjoy a competitive environment. Unfortunately, without motivation, a rep’s performance begins to stagnate, as they begin to slack off. Luckily, if sales motivation is dwindling, you can use a sales leaderboard, and gamification to turn your sales campaign into a competition.
Gamification applies game playing concepts, like leaderboards, points, or scores to non-game situations to make them more engaging. Essential for nearly every competition type, leaderboards show who the winners are, and who’s on the up. Using this simple principle to stir up existing competitiveness amongst reps is a great way to boost sales motivation: especially if there’s a prize.
Mistrust, jealousy, conflict: these problems borne from poor company culture can seriously affect sales motivation. If the workplace isn't nice, reps won’t be keen about working there!
Sales leaderboards can help you create a more supportive and tight-knit company culture through transparency. Sharing rep performance with the team is a great way to break the ice and facilitate interaction: if the leaderboard shows someone is clearly struggling, it’s simple to ask if they need a hand.
By using a sales leaderboard to create transparency, you’ll take the first step into creating a workplace where reps feel motivated to do their best, knowing they have the support of their colleagues.
While your top reps consistently exceed their targets, you can see others struggling to adapt their sales strategy to each customer. There’s nothing more demotivating than trying everything you can to succeed while others seem to succeed without trying.
To revive sales motivation, you can use sales leaderboards, and activity Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to coach your reps into more successful behaviors. Begin by selecting the specific sales techniques you know bring greater success and assign targets to them: these could include sales meetings per product sector or targets by product category. You can now create a KPI leaderboard which shows rep performance against their peers for each KPI, adding a competitive element to the journey for better sales results.
By guiding your sales team towards more consistent and successful behaviors, you’ll find that satisfaction and sales motivation increases as each rep finds their stride and starts earning higher commissions.
Ultimately, a sales leaderboard is a versatile tool which you can use to generate competition, build a better workplace culture, and guide your reps to greater sales success. If you’d like to see a sales performance app which uses leaderboards for not only rep competition, but also customer performance and revenue breakdowns, click here.
A sales deck is a slide show which sales reps use during a product demonstration, new range presentation, or sales pitch to engage prospects and reinforce their talking points.
However, if your reps are using a poorly designed sales deck, they’ll struggle to get purchase with their prospects, and sales performance may suffer. If you’ve got waning sales performance, reviewing your rep’s sales decks should be on your list.
In this article, we’ll give you 4 criteria every high performing sales deck should meet.
After a new range presentation, your rep remarks to you that despite their existing relationship with the customer, it was difficult to engage them, no matter how many anecdotes were told. Surely there’s a more effective way to capture attention?
Fortunately, reps can use narrative structure to re-engage their audience with creativity and clear direction. Using a problem→solution story structure can spark curiosity among a rep’s audience as they wait to know how a product can solve their problem.
Build out a story sales deck by recognising and empathizing with the prospect’s problem. Identifying the prospect’s problem should be easy if your reps are logging detailed call notes. Next, outline costs for not solving the problem and the failings of other solutions. To finish, the rep presents their product as the best solution.
Despite having statistics for ROI evidence in their sales decks, reps are still being asked the same product questions: Is it popular with your other clients? What do they say about it? The reps are struggling to shift stock and you’re beginning to notice sales performance is flatlining.
To break a prospect’s barriers to change, reps need to use social proof in their sales decks, through either case studies or testimonials to justify the product solution their story identifies.
Reps could contact their top customers and ask how well the product contributed to their sales performance, or what their customers have to say about it. After setting up a testimonial slide in their sales decks, reps won’t be faced with additional questions.
The sales decks your team produces for new range presentations have images, but you don’t think they’re enough to make an impact on customers, and some appear to be purely decorative. How can their sales decks be visually modified to generate buzz and help close deals?
Humans are excellent visual thinkers- sales reps can use this to explain complex ideas in an appealing way using visual metaphors. Visual metaphors use pictures or videos to stand in as a symbol for something else: think of any car advert where a cheetah is used to represent performance.
Ask your reps to identify each product’s largest benefit: how would you visualize that benefit? What image can you produce that’ll get the product to stick in the prospect’s mind?
Reps are seeing great results with sales decks for wholesaler product demos, but struggle to gain purchase when presenting account managers the same content. You know that without getting through to these key decision makers, sales performance won’t grow quickly.
Reps should adapt sales deck material and story structure to their audiences as no audience is the same: an account manager needs different information to be convinced to purchase compared to a branch manager.
For existing customers, reps could use customer data and details captured in call notes to justify additional spending on a product, perhaps sales are down on last year’s and there’s room for a deal?
Using story structure, justifying claims with social proof, and explaining points with visual metaphors are key steps which can help a rep’s sales deck contribute to sales performance.
However, if you want to help reps personalize their sales decks to customer needs, you’ll need the up-to-date sales gap insights offered by a sales performance app. Check it out here.
If you’re using sales KPIs but aren’t getting sales results, or finding it impossible to get your team engaged with those KPIs or writing customer notes, read on.
Welcome to setting KPIs reps care about: with David McMurdo and Jonathan Hubbard.
To help you create better sales KPIs, we had veteran sales coach and founder of McMurdo Consultants, David McMurdo, with us to discuss the KPIs you should avoid, the ones you should embrace, and how to create them.
Complementing David’s teachings was a feature release demo for Numerik’s new KPI/posts feature given by our CEO Jonathan: unique rep-focussed features designed to make note-taking as fun and simple as possible.
Scroll down to discover David and Jonathan’s top 5 takeaways, a full transcript with images, and the live-show recording.
If you’ve got any questions for David and Jonathan, you can reach them on LinkedIn at:
Five key takeaways from David’s discussion on making better KPIs which drive success:
Five key takeaways from Jonathan’s KPI/Posts feature Numerik demonstration:
Key timestamps:
0:25 - Connie’s Introduction
2:33 - David begins his discussion
3:03 - David’s background
5:38 - The Rack Model
6:55 - How do we get results?
8:23 - The Effort Model
9:44 - What are KPIs and what should they look like?
11:07 - The mistakes organizations make regarding KPIs
13:50 - Using activity KPIs
16:02 - David finishes his discussion
16:26 - Jonathan begins his demonstration
18:06 - How Numerik works (targets)
20:26 - How Numerik works (leaderboards)
22:33 - Why we’ve introduced KPI/posts
25:00 - What can posts do?
31:57 - David adds insight (rep motivation to enter data)
32:43 - Jonathan’s response to David’s point
33:35 - Examples of posts your reps could create
34:45 - Introducing the KPI leaderboard
36:10 - Jonathan summarizes his demonstration
38:35 - Q & A session begins
39:07 - David answers the first question
41:25 - David gives his answer for the second question
42:40 - Jonathan gives his answer for the second question
44:05 - Connie gives David and Jonathan’s emails, and teases the next webinar in July
Is your team performing at their peak? If your targets are being consistently missed, reps are slacking off, the CRM isn’t being updated, no-one is communicating: chances are they’re not quite there.
It’s vital we solve lacking sales performance issues to ensure we consistently make our number and ensure you’re getting the most from your frontline staff.
To solve this problem, let’s look at 7 quick tips you can start using today to improve sales performance.
Flicking through the CRM, you realize that despite increasing the number of proposals they’re sending out, your reps still aren’t getting more customers. Are these proposals actually driving sales success?
To redirect your reps’ focus, you’ll want to identify the right sales behaviors, and incentivize their achievement. Start by identifying specific activity Key Performance Indicators which align with company strategy, then tie a target to each KPI and set up a leaderboard to track rep progress against each target.
Show your reps what’s in it for them by setting up incentives for topping the KPI leaderboard. Explain that achieving the KPI targets will help each rep’s sales performance and ultimately help them earn higher commissions.
Several times a month your reps come to you for help finding their sales targets in the BI tool. Without quick access to their sales target, your reps’ will begin to flounder and sales performance will miss the mark.
Easy, clear access to the sales target is critical for rep engagement, focus, and sales motivation. Collaborate with your team to set achievable targets which everyone can access no matter where they are.
You’ve started noticing your reps are becoming gloomy, and are hesitant to reach out to you. When pressed on the issue, they explain they’re unsure if they’re performing well because you aren’t giving feedback.
To sustain sales performance and improve company culture, we need to acknowledge success to provide a benchmark for others. If your reps are doing a good job, celebrate their achievements: post feedback into your sales team WhatsApp, or put it in your sales performance app posts page.
Reports are in: overall revenue for every customer is down by an average of 39% over last year. Your reps have been missing out on deals and if the sales opportunities can’t be identified, company growth will flatline.
An effective way to improve and sustain sales performance long term is to capitalize on hidden sales opportunities. Teaching your reps to identify sales gaps in customer data within the CRM/BI tool is a great way to accelerate progress towards the sales targets, and grow their commission.
However, getting information from the CRM can be a difficult and time consuming task for reps: it’d be far quicker and easier to use a rep-specific sales performance app to drill into customer data.
When the month began your team was performing in top gear, yet they finished well behind target. Worse, no-one can pinpoint when things started going wrong.
A high performing sales team needs sales forecasts for the same reason they need sales targets: direction. Without a sales forecast, reps will struggle to gauge sales performance towards target and fail to take action when progress starts slipping. Get started by meeting with the team to create a forecast or let them update their forecasts themselves throughout the month using a smart sales forecasting app.
Your sales reps are bored: you can see they’re at idle, doing the bare minimum to get by - but only barely. There are no excuses for a poorly performing sales team, and you have to act quick before progress grinds to a halt.
Reps are determined and naturally competitive: use this to your advantage to reignite sales motivation. Sales leaderboards are a visual tool which pits rep performance against each other, harnessing rep competitiveness, motivating them to sell more. You can use leaderboards in conjunction with unique rewards/achievement to gamify your sales campaign and put the spark back in your reps’ worklife.
If you’re tracking at 65% for the month, you don’t have time to drill into your reporting data to see what your reps were up to. You don’t have time to build a sales forecast or sales leaderboard from scratch. And you definitely don’t have time to manually sort through customer data to find sales opportunities.
Rep-focused sales performance apps are designed to be a rep’s go-to tracking and insight tool, while allowing you to spot gaps in their performance. A sales performance app can provide forecasts, leaderboards, identify opportunities, and benchmark current performance based on historical data all from your phone.
Clearly there’s a lot of moving parts to give your reps the best shot at a stellar performance. If you want to give your reps that opportunity, we recommend you book a demo here.
Sales targets are a sales team’s most important goal - the final destination and visualization of success. Whether you benchmark revenue, units sold, or gross profit, the biggest costs of consistently missing sales targets are the same: stuttering company growth, rep burnout/turnover, and stock pileup.
In this post we’re going to cover four ideas that can help your team make their sales target, without having to hire more reps.
Let’s dive in.
When asked, your reps explain that their sales target is unreasonable, they simply can’t find a way to achieve what’s being asked of them. Their performance is clearly flagging, and you’re concerned these issues may land you with resignation letters if it isn’t solved in the long run.
Set up properly, sales targets can be a mechanism to drive rep performance. To get there, you’ll need to deconstruct the overall sales target and work with your team to set a new one which they can refer to whenever needed.
Set up a time to get together with the team, hear their thoughts, and collectively work to create a new sales target which they mutually agree is achievable; then ensure everyone can see the target, whether on their phone, or on a whiteboard.
Your reps aren’t following up their leads, aren’t communicating with you, and their capacity for customer data reporting has dried up. Low rep motivation is a pervasive issue which may lead to your team slacking off and doing the bare minimum.
Sales reps are a company’s front line, whose passion for selling must be nurtured, at team and individual levels.
Light a fire under your sales team by nurturing inter-rep competition. You could turn your sales campaign into a game, keep a physical scoreboard, and make the competition a regular part of standup team meetings.
Alternatively, if it’s an individual rep you’re concerned for, you could try helping them understand their individual impact, or suggest sales techniques which play to their strengths.
Stock is beginning to pile up and your team can’t seem to shift it, despite their continued efforts. After downloading customer data from the CRM, you’ve identified a pattern of missed sales opportunities which your team could’ve capitalized on: if they had the right information.
Acting quickly on a pre-existing sales opportunity could be the final push a rep needs to reach their sales target. To give your team this capability, you’ll need to either drill down into the customer data yourself and regularly share your findings, or encourage your reps to independently work through the data.
Unfortunately, using CRM data to identify sales opportunities can be very time consuming: in a pinch, a sales performance app is far more effective.
Sales performance was at a high on the 1st, but by the 30th, your team appears to have lost their way. Without a road map to plot the course ahead, the unfocused team is unlikely to hit their sales target.
Stopping to reflect on a sales forecast can be a great way to empower your reps. Forecasts give you the ability to influence the final result before you get there, allowing you to take corrective action before it’s too late.
At the month’s beginning, get together with your team, look at current spend vs. the sales target and plot how much additional spend is needed to get on track. To keep it simpler, you could look at using a sales performance app to give reps a live-update forecast on their phone, tied to their commissions, which can instantly show them how they’re tracking, and what they’re earning.
To make immediate improvements, collaborating to create more achievable targets, motivating reps at team and individual levels are both practical options. However, to properly identify sales opportunities, and make best use of a real-time sales forecast, you’ll need to look at using a sales performance app.
If you’re in a critical position and need to find a solution before another sales target is missed, get in touch now.
A sales performance app is a tool which sales managers and reps use to track their sales progress towards a target, motivates them to achieve it, and shows where opportunities for growth are. On the other hand, a sales CRM is a tool for managing customers, interactions your reps have with them, and who potential customers are.
On the surface, these two sales tools appear to do the same job, but when used in the workplace, they’re very different.
In this article we’ll highlight the key differences of these two systems and help you understand which is right for your sales team.
It’s five minutes before the quarterly meeting with their top automotive parts buyer, and your rep is feeling somewhat unprepared. Imagine the confidence your rep would have with a product breakdown by number of units sold, average price and the products which are growing/declining on hand to quickly identify an opportunity to sell more! Would they have the time to find this information in a CRM?
Because CRMs are built for managers, to analyze customer data and produce detailed reports, it can be very difficult for reps to find the right customer data when they need it. On the flip side, a sales performance app is designed to communicate essential customer insights to the rep in a quick, straightforward way.
The key difference is that sales performance apps give reps the customer data they need to make decisions in the moment, whereas sales CRMs give managers insights into customer relationships to plan for the future.
If your rep asks you what their potential bonus will be for hitting a forecasted target, chances are you’ll need to plough through your CRM’s forecasts to get an answer. You don’t have the time for this, but with a sales performance app, your reps won’t be asking you this question anymore- they can find out for themselves.
Both sales CRMs and sales performance apps provide forecasts and incentives. However, a powerful sales performance app combines forecasts, incentives, and commissions into one real-time updating package, keeping reps up-to-date and motivated.
Unlike CRM forecasts which must be updated manually, a performance app forecast can be updated on a rep’s phone very quickly, helping them visualize their potential earnings and change tactics if they see they’re falling behind target.
Sales CRMs give forecasts and incentives, whereas sales performance apps do forecasts, incentives, and show reps their commissions, all in real-time.
How many times have you entered your CRM only to discover that you’re missing half the customer information you expected to have? You already know why; none of your reps are using the CRM because it takes them away from what they’re good at and forces them to spend time in the office. Motivating your team is one thing, but you won’t get them using the CRM if it isn’t easy and natural to use.
Mobile sales performance apps are designed to be quick and usable, fitting with a rep’s on-the-road lifestyle. Instead of finding a space to set up their laptop and begin filing, they can pull out their phone to log notes using voice-to-text right after a meeting, keeping their manager updated.
A sales CRM is designed to be used by managers who have time to sit down and use the software for extended periods of time to dig for information they need; a sales performance app is made to be easily and quickly used on-the-go by the sales rep.
For sales reps, having a mobile, user-friendly tool that provides on hand insights can help them achieve more sales. CRMs retain their use for managers as a tool for reporting customer data, but they can’t give sales reps quick access to usable data, proper motivation through live-update forecasts/commissions, or easily slot into their lifestyle. If you’re interested in learning more about how a sales performance app can help your reps close better than your CRM, click here to get a free demo.
Powerful business tools designed for managers and analysts, CRMs are a great tool for making major business decisions based on customer behavior insights.
However, CRMs struggle to provide the same value as a sales performance enhancement tool; why is that?
In this article, we’ll explain a CRM’s key limitations as a sales performance tool and how to recognise your CRM is affecting your sales team.
Think back to your CRM onboarding experiences. At first you couldn’t find what you needed, but after months of extra training courses, independent how-to guides, and support calls, you were a natural.
However, without the outside support, you would’ve been in big trouble. Would that extra content still exist if the CRM was truly intuitive? A sales rep should be able to pick up a new software that’s built specifically for them and quickly begin using it to optimize their workday, however, if the software isn’t intuitive, they’ll only be wasting time.
Your CRM’s customer data section is empty, the team is falling behind target, and to top it off, they’ve all gone back to pen and paper. Is this a familiar situation? Chances are your sales team has been overwhelmed by your CRM.
If your management, onboarding, or IT Department misses the mark with CRM setup, it’ll become overwhelming for reps to use. If it’s a struggle to use, reps can become disengaged and lose motivation to use the CRM. An overcomplicated improperly setup software, doesn’t easily fit into a sales rep workflow, even if it’s intended as a tool to streamline regular activities.
How many times have your reps asked: “Do you want me to sell stuff, or do administration?”
Often, CRMs disrupt sales rep activity by pulling them away from their main role as a salesperson, interrupting their workflow; a classic example being sales note taking.
Having to hastily catalog a potential sales opportunity into the CRM between meetings wastes a rep’s time and explains why notes are not detailed, or non-existent. Without that information, management will have no idea if forecasted targets will be met, or if performance is on track at all.
Company managers/management decide what information is relevant for reps to use and enter, even if it’s unrelated to sales performance. Spending time entering data unrelated to their job for management’s benefit decreases rep efficiency and could discourage them from using the CRM altogether.
Now, sales target progress cards, sales team leaderboards, and sales live feeds are all tools which deliver valuable insight for a sales rep. Unfortunately, in practice, your CRM isn’t designed to deliver this value to the sales rep; the value is delivered for management only.
CRMs have their uses, but don’t cut it for reps who exclusively need sales performance insights. In practice, asking a rep to use a CRM to meet their target is like asking an accountant to use a compass to do finances; the tools don’t apply. It’s vital to have the right tools for the job, something you can learn more about here: sales performance app vs sales CRM.
Designed for sales managers and their reps, a sales performance tool is used to track sales target progress, foster sales team motivation, and identify sales opportunities. Business intelligence, or BI tools, are powerful data analysis and reporting systems which provide higher management with past vs present business performance data to help them make decisions.
Which is best for your sales reps? In this article we’ll compare these two tools to help you find an answer.
Let’s get into it!
With 3 minutes left on a call with top whiteware customer Sleek Kitchen Solutions, your rep has a hunch that there was an opportunity to get more sales. The rep settled on a microwave order half as large as last quarter’s, but the frustration remains; what caused the drop?
That information could have been found in a BI tool - but not easily. Even the best sales rep would struggle to trawl BI reports, and scan spreadsheets while keeping up an engaging and professional conversation with a customer.
Designed to make customer data available at a glance, a sales performance app can effortlessly drill down to the product level showing a rep where sales opportunities and gaps lie.
This time before their meeting, your rep was able to find Sleek Kitchen Solutions’ purchase history in their BI tool. Unfortunately, because that data was out-of-date the deal fell through: Sleek Kitchen Solutions felt as though your rep wasn’t paying attention to their recent purchases and had pitched them a product they didn’t need.
Without a live-data stream, reps may struggle to make strong decisions, and won’t be able to change their path if they aren’t on track to meet their target mid-month. Sales performance apps plug right into your ERP, and can present live-updated customer data in the moment when new invoices come through. With this tool, reps can rest easy that each sales opportunity they identify is genuine, and that they’re giving their customers the best possible experience.
Having access to the latest and most relevant customer data can give sales reps a big advantage when they’re negotiating with customers. BI tools have their benefits, but they can’t give reps up-to-date insights when they need them most, unlike a sales performance app.
If you’re interested in another comparison between a sales performance app and another common software for sales teams, the humble crm, check out our previous post.
To learn more about how a sales performance app can help your team, click here to get a free personalized tour.
You're 3 weeks deep into the month and you're still unsure how your team is progressing towards the target. You don't know where your reps are at, and you're pretty sure there are unrecognized sales opportunities among your existing clients. Now is the time to learn how sales tracking can be used to up your sales performance!
Although, without an understanding of the specific areas to focus on, it can be difficult to know how to use sales tracking to paint a clearer picture of rep performance.
In this article, we'll take a look at the most important areas to focus on in sales tracking to give you the best chance of improving sales and rep performance over time.
A new quarter has begun, targets have been assigned, and your team is overwhelmed, unmotivated, and already lagging behind. How can you drive your team towards the quarterly target, and preempt a drop in performance?
Sales tracking is a critical tool which, when updated regularly, can help a team visualize their progress towards the overall target, and act as an early warning system for a drop in pace. Tracking team progress can help a team understand how their individual efforts are helping move the team towards the target, boosting motivation and focus.
If visualizing the goal in a clear way isn't enough, you can additionally use sales tracking to build forecasts- which are great for tracking the team's pace and identifying when to intervene to prevent poor sales results. If you use a sales tracking app, this is where you'd be keeping an eye on your team-wide pace using real-time updating forecasting / progress tracking.
Without having current data on rep activity, it's hard to tell what your team is really up to; are they following up on their leads, or following up on their Instagram? If you had the right information, you may have been able to pinpoint the moment when one rep began lagging behind, and gaps started growing between your top performers.
Tracking individual reps can help you identify rep level sales gaps and quickly identify which reps you should follow up on. Rep tracking data can additionally be used to drive healthy competition with leaderboards, and create better work habits using sales KPIs.
You could even tie a KPI to a sales activity, for example, number of face to face meetings, and track instances of reps meeting this KPI on a team leaderboard; increasing rep engagement and giving you an even clearer picture of rep performance.
March's revenue for your top buyer SensationBathrooms Ltd have suddenly dropped by 60% compared to last year. Without customer level tracking, this drop came out of nowhere, and now your rep is falling behind their target. Imagine if your rep had the customer data on hand to spot this earlier!
Keeping record of customer purchases, tracking their progress towards a target, and giving reps speedy access to that data can help reps identify sales opportunities and recognize which customers are behind and need attention most. However, if you still aren't getting a clear picture of why a customer is falling behind, you may need to drill down deeper to the product line / SKU level.
While investigating SensationBathrooms Ltd's purchase record, your rep has noticed that gold shower heads, the customer's most purchased product, is earning far less profit than last year. After checking gross profit for other shower heads, the rep realizes that performance can be improved by persuading the customer to buy the more profitable stainless shower heads at the same price.
Without that information, your rep would have missed the opportunity to the right sales...those which make the most money for the company! Through access to purchase tracking at the product / SKU level, reps are able to understand why a customer is lagging, and what they should do to get a better sales result.
Whether you're tracking team-wide targets, individual reps, customers, or specific SKUs, it's important to use a tool which updates information regularly and gives reps the right data when they need it. However, sales tracking isn't solely influenced by the tracking tools you use; external factors like supply, season, or global heath crises can also impact sales performance.
Understanding team performance is one thing, but it's another to understand where you sit at the macro level. If you'd like inside knowledge on how you and your reps sit in comparison to other sales teams across a range of industries and countries, watch this space for a cross-industry, cross-country benchmark of sales performance.
Accurate sales tracking requires many types of data, especially sales notes. However, this doesn’t mean your reps, who are too busy to see value in the task, enjoy making those notes.
Enter: voice-to-text, a rep-friendly technology that makes sales note taking easy, fast, and flexible. The days of janky software with constant typos and completely incorrect transcriptions are quickly becoming a thing of the past. Still not convinced? Here are 3 reasons why voice-to-text is the way to go…and a bonus best practice demonstration video!
Your rep has two back to back meetings and is hotfooting it to their next new range presentation. Thoughts swirl in their mind, but there’s no time to write them down…and now, they’re gone.
In a time-crunch situation, your rep can use voice-to-text to quickly create a customer note, before they forget. Since our speech is up to 7 times faster than typing, voice-to-text can be a very powerful tool for making sales notes. Crucially, today’s voice-to-text keyboards are faster and more accurate, meaning reps won’t have to stop and waste time repeating themselves when their keyboard bugs out.
Reps are on-the-go, on-the-road people, unable to stop, sit, and catalog sales notes. It’s for this reason many reps struggle with CRMs- and why note-taking frustrates them.
With voice-to-text, a rep can make a note whenever and wherever a thought crosses their mind; on the train, in the car, at the office, on their morning walk! It’s a spontaneous, simple tool which doesn’t clash with their lifestyle, designed for mobile, and can be especially useful if your reps already use a sales tracking app.
Reps are outgoing communicators who find talking effortless; it’s just part of the job. Typing up sales tracking data, writing down sales notes- aren’t tasks which play to a rep’s strengths.
To foster motivation, it’s important to understand the strengths of your team to help make their workflow more efficient. Encouraging reps to use voice-to-text as a replacement method for written data entry could help increase motivation; particularly given accent and dialect recognition has drastically improved in the last decade.
Quicker, more accurate, mobile optimized, and with greater nuance, voice-to-text is a modern tool which can streamline a rep’s workflow. However, reps aren’t the only people who benefit from a simpler routine, which is why it’s important for managers to have a simple and effective sales tracking app. Learn more about using voice-to-text with a streamlined sales performance app; watch this space for more sales note tools coming this quarter.
What is motivation? It is vital to the success of a company. It pushes your sales reps to break records. It brings joy when you have it, but when it’s gone, business suffers. Ultimately, it’s a complex emotion which ebbs and flows. So, how can we sustain it?
For when employee-of-the-month and posters on the wall aren’t enough, here are five quick tips that will help you spark motivation in your sales team.
Everyone works differently, but by understanding the specific behavior and strengths of your team, you can implement systems to maximize their potential. A 2012 Harvard Business Review article explains that each type of sales rep requires different targets and incentives to work at their best.
Underachievers responded well to quarterly bonuses; Overachievers continued working hard when they knew they’d receive an overachievement commission. Consistent performers, who make up the largest portion of the sales force, can make a huge difference if goals are split into micro-targets over the sales period. By understanding the individual rep, you’ll discover the best ways to motivate them, and potentially save money while doing it.
Timely, transparent communication is vital for maintaining a motivated workforce. Warwick University published a study in 2017 which showed that sharing information with employees, good and bad, positively impacted performance and motivation. By acknowledging success and underlying issues in a timely manner, reps feel more included and respected.
Avoid mistrust and low motivation by regularly connecting with your sales reps, be it on a group chat or a speedy Zoom catchup; they will value your initiative and work harder because of it.
Creating an ambitious, yet achievable, sales target is no easy task. In a 2018 article, The Journal of Business Strategy explained that sales teams feel unfulfilled when faced with unreasonably high sales targets; what motivates Star performing reps doesn’t work for the majority. Instead, collaborate with your sales team to create achievable objectives specific to each rep. Often, breaking large targets into easy-to-manage chunks can make them seem easier to achieve and more motivating for reps.
Lisa McLeod (2020) describes intrinsic motivation as an attitude where salespeople are motivated by the understanding that their actions are having a positive societal impact. For example, a rep who understands that the high quality auto parts they sell help mechanics provide a better service, putting safer vehicles on the road, will be a more motivated rep. Believing your work holds power to make positive societal change is a stronger motivational source than being told the company is relying on your performance to succeed.
Step back and consider how you could relate intrinsic motivation to your industry; you may find several instances where your sales reps are helping enact positive change.
When it comes to typical sales software like CRMs, many sales managers, and reps, feel apathetic; why should I waste my time doing admin when I could be making money? Numerik can fix that. Numerik is a sales target app designed for sales teams, helping sales reps achieve their targets, and stay motivated.
Featuring rep-specific target setting, a social media style team live feed, customizable target cards, and instant access to customer data, Numerik gives sales reps and managers the tools they want, wherever they need them.
Built specifically for sales people, Numerik isn’t just another CRM; it uses data straight from your ERP and can be set up in just hours. We’d love to help your team reignite their motivation and break records; reach out to us today to get started.
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When it comes to sales tracking, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are a must have tool for any sales manager looking to understand the performance of their reps.
Essentially, sales KPIs are a metric used to track the effectiveness or activity of your reps against a certain action. Armed with this information, you can make business decisions that help boost rep motivation, lighten their workload and build a focused campaign around your sales targets.
In this article, we’ll delve into just a few simple KPIs you should monitor and track for your sales team when endeavoring to understand and improve sales performance.
It’s important not to get tunnel vision on your KPIs, sales performance isn’t always about the volume of sales overall, sometimes it comes down to making the right sales.
For example, let’s say you’re fat-fingered and added a few extra zeros to your order of steering wheels and now your warehouse is full. Moving this stock is not going to be easy if you’re only baselining your performance off the total number of sales and reps have an easier time of selling tires.
While it requires a clever sales tracking app to configure and track this effectively, setting a sales KPI which tracks the performance of a sales promotion for steering wheels would be a great way to get the word out and shift the extra stock. Tying a sales target to this KPI, potentially even one paired with a commission incentive would be a great way to push sales of this stock even further.
Putting in more effort may sound like a feasible idea, but unless that effort is guided by insight, and funneled into areas that are known to close deals, you won't be increasing sales performance.
You may find yourself in a situation where you’re uncertain about which channels your reps are closing the most deals on. Without the right information, you’ve been encouraging your team to pursue discussion on every channel, in the hope that the extra effort across the board will close more deals.
To make life easier, you can begin tracking KPIs based on channels of discussion, for example, number of phone calls/F2F meetings. To do this, start by investigating which channels perform best by running reports on the amount of sales closed. Using the gathered insights to see which channels your team closes the most deals on you can then set KPI targets on the channels which have the highest conversion rates. To monitor these KPIs in the long run, you’d need to use a straight-forward sales tracking app. The final result? Less effort, and more sales.
Tracking the number of opportunities highlighted by your reps demonstrates their drive for getting more sales and their hunger for spotting new areas for growth. Likewise, the actioned opportunities show which members of your sales team have the drive and follow through to actually close the deals sitting on the table. Each of these are great KPIs to focus on to understand sales team motivation and whether it’s something that needs work.
While we’re on the topic of motivation and making KPIs, it’s important to ensure reps actually update your sales tracking software, a common rub point standing between sales managers and accurate KPIs. To address this, it’s important to pick the right sales tracking app that is unobtrusive on a rep’s busy lifestyle and feels natural for them to use.
You also may have noticed that many of the above KPIs are quite specific and tailored to unique business scenarios and behaviors of reps. In this sense, the generic cookie cutter KPIs presented in most usual sales tracking tools just don’t cut the mustard. Getting real results means tying performance to the right levers that keep things moving and money coming in, and that requires highly flexible KPI tracking, which you can learn more about here.
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