5 minute read
Sales tips and best practices for sales leaders and reps
Sales Notebook
Sales tips and best practices for sales leaders and reps
How sales reps can get their time management to a science
Time management is crucial to the success of any role in sales. There are only so many hours within a week, and so many of them are wasted because sales reps aren’t effectively prioritizing their time. According to Falon Fatemi, a contributor to Forbes, there is an art and a science to effective time management
Fatemi writes in Forbes, “The most effective salespeople are time management czars. Their discipline and focus gifts them with additional hours each week to focus on high-impact revenue-generating activities and enables them to stand atop the leaderboard.”
The reality is that time management has more to do with the body’s internal clock than a compilation of to-do lists. Fatemi cites Daniel Pink’s book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, saying there is “extensive research to support the fact that humans experience three distinct phases of productivity throughout the duration of each day: a peak that occurs in the morning after waking up, a trough that occurs in the afternoon, and a rebound that transpires in the evening.”
Because sales reps are highly analytical people, they draw on their analytical skills throughout the entire sales cycle – from the early prospecting process to the close. Because of this quality, Fatemi argues that sales reps should schedule analytical tasks such as lead scoring, pipeline tracking and management, sales forecasting, and acquiring new knowledge during their peak period in the morning. “Night owls, on the other hand, should schedule their most analytical and logic-oriented work in the evenings when they reach peak levels of alertness and focus.”
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Sales management strategies
If your sales team is underperforming, know that they are not alone. A Hubspot survey found that 66% of salespeople are not reaching their quotas. That could be for a number of reasons: lack of proper training, no definable sales process, bad company culture, or they just aren’t cut out for sales. Whatever the reason may be, there’s always a way to fix it. Here are some sales management strategies to boost the performance of your sales team:
No. 1: One-on-one coaching
If you want to help your sales team reach peak performance, don’t let one-on-one coaching fall through the cracks. Regular coaching is integral to your team becoming more productive, confident and skilled at sales. Coach your sales reps through a variety of customer interactions, giving them a greater arsenal to work with in difficult situations and a better opportunity to close more deals.
No. 2: Streamline the sales process
No two companies will have the same sales process, but it’s important to have a process in place that equips your sales reps with the proper tools and information they need to reach their sales goals. A playbook can
Food for your thoughts “All big things come from small beginnings.”
– James Clear, author of “Atomic Habits”
“Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.”
– John Maxwell, business author and speaker
– Ryan Holiday, author of “The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Adversity to Advantage”
take the processes of your top performers and share those tactics with your underperforming sales reps. This will streamline the whole process, making it more efficient, productive and consistent across your entire team.
No. 3: Establish a good company culture
Establishing a good, healthy company culture is key to the success of your business. Whether you are creating a positive physical and social environment or celebrating employee achievements, your team needs a culture that will allow them to thrive. Provide them with a flexible work schedule (which could include allowing them to work from home), offer professional development, or drive engagement with events and competitions for your team.
Tips for managing a successful sales team
Managing a sales team can be challenging even in the best of circumstances, especially when you are trying to drive growth for your organization. As the lifeblood of your company, the sales team needs an effective management team to steer the boat in the right direction. Here are three tips for managing a successful sales team from Sales Hacker:
No. 1: Be results oriented
Hiring people with drive and determination is a great way to build a sales team. But even drive and determination can wane over time. Focusing on the results of your sales tactics will help your team to distinguish the difference between activity and productivity. A strong sales team will drive the entire organization to profitability.
No. 2: Manage expectations
Managing expectations in a sales environment is a significant part of keeping morale up around the office. One of the first lessons you learn in a sales environment is to take rejection in stride, knowing that it’s just part of the job. Managing expectations helps your sales reps to understand that they won’t land every deal and might not even hit their quota every single month.
No. 3: Set high, but realistic goals
With a high sales goal, your reps will have something worth pursuing. But it also needs to be achievable, which will help to bolster their efforts to hit the goals each week, month, and year. If you achieve only 70% of a stretch goal, you’re doing better than achieving 100% of a mediocre goal.
