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Measuring CI ROI at the Sales Manager Level

Being in Sales Management has always been challenging . . . and ever more so in today’s Work-From-Anywhere environment, where our “ride alongs” with reps and in-person account reviews are a thing of the past. With almost every call being virtual today, Sales Managers are turning to other methodologies – like reviewing call recordings – to accurately know what is happening in the deals they need to make their commitments. 

Effective utilization of Conversation Intelligence is helping Sales Managers overcome the obstacles of virtual management – actually making their job easier, making them more effective as coaches, and more dependable as “the sales team that always hits their quota.”

Consider the following statistics and challenges facing Sales Managers today:

  • The average Sales Manager salary in the United States is $120,030 as of September 01, 2021, but the range typically falls between $101,604 and $141,034. 
  • For an ROI calculation, let’s assume $120,000 per year in salary for working 50 weeks – 2,000 hours:  so, the Cost of the Sales Manager is $60 per hour. 
  • The average span of control for U.S. sales forces is 10-12 salespeople per manager, but there is wide variation around this average.   Let’s assume 10 salespeople per manager. 
  • If the average sales rep spends 20 hours per week talking to prospects on recorded phone calls or virtual sales presentations, the sales manager has 200 hours of recorded sales calls per week to shift through to know what is going on in the pipeline that he is responsible for managing. 

Here is how our Conversation Intelligence (CI) solution meets this challenge:

  1.  We automatically create a list of the “Interactions That Matter” for the Sales Manager to review.  Deals can be selected on any criteria:  over $X, over Y% probability to close this period, etc.  Assume that the creation of this focused criteria for review saves the Sales Manager 3 hours per week.
  2. We allow you to create a “Call Map” of all conversations of each sales rep by simply clicking on a description of the conversation subject.  Sales Managers can quickly scan our Story-So-Far to see which conversations (recorded calls or video meetings) they want to listen to (or see) based upon the criteria in step one above.  Sales Managers will select the Topics of Interest based upon the subject and the Duration of the Discussion, which willsave the Sales Manager 6 Hours Per week.
  3. Sales Managers can contextually make suggestions to the reps on how to move the Relevant Deals to close by using the Suggestions2U™ feature, which puts the suggestion(s) in the lead record, sends an email to the rep with the suggestion, and creates follow up list to discuss with the reps – automatically! Saving the Sales Manager an additional 3 hours per week. 

The ROI of the proper technology is incredible:

SalesTalk’s Conversation Intelligence solution is only $59 per rep per month, so the monthly investment for SalesTalk to support the Manager’s 10 reps is $590.  The 12 hours per month saved of the Sales Manager’s time is valued at $720 (12 hours at $60 per hour).

  • A monthly investment of $590 for the whole team SAVES $720 per month in the salary cost of the Sales Manager who would have used this time on non-revenue producing admin functions!
  • Imagine how much more revenue will be generated using Suggestions2U – and by the manager knowing which deals / conversations can be fine-tuned? Especially since they have been given an additional 12 hours per month to help close those deals!
  • How much more revenue will the reps generate with the insights the Story-So-Far gives them?

Sales Teams using SalesTalk’s patented CI solution can see up to a 500% ROI given the improved effectiveness, efficiency, and enablement we provide. Want to take a test drive and see how SalesTalk can work for your team?

Reducing Sales Ramp Up Time

One of the unfortunate truths of the sales landscape is the amount of turnover that occurs within sales teams. Reps typically stay with one company for less than two years before moving on to their next endeavor. For this reason, reducing your sales ramp up time is one of the most important aspects of maximizing your sales potential. The cost of employee turnover can take a toll on a business that isn’t prepared and maximizing the time each sales rep has with the team. There are a few things that you can do to really reduce that ramp up time and make sure you are getting the most out of your sales team.

Reducing sales ramp up time

Reducing sales ramp up time means you are reducing the time it takes reps to produce their first dollar for your company. When you take on a new rep, they will obviously need to be trained on the product they will be selling, general sales coaching, and the voice you want your sales team to take on when selling your product. Developing ways to streamline this process will be huge for your ability to maximize each rep’s time with your company.

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While this initial training is an important step in getting the new hire up to speed, there is more to it than the simple onboarding process. Everboarding, or the ongoing learning of each rep while on the job, as well as live coaching for reps during sales interactions, are other methods we will discuss.

Effective onboarding and training

One of the most effective things you can do when developing training habits for new hires is to make the training process easily consumable for your reps. When a new sales rep is added to a sales team, they are expected to learn a vast amount of information in a short period of time. This inevitably means they will forget most of this information once they need to put it into practice. Training and onboarding your new sales reps is more effective if you break up the information and deliver it in small doses, over a period of time.

With this strategy, it will be easier for your reps to digest the smaller amounts of information instead of having to labor over huge binders full of details about your company’s process. We’ve all had the experience of having to cram for a test, trying to consume as much information as possible in order to do well. A week later, that information is typically forgotten. In sales, your reps need to retain the information they are consuming in order to remain confident through all sales interactions.

Everboarding

Everboarding refers to the ongoing learning for sales reps. This is where taking those smaller pieces of content and introducing it to reps over time comes into play. It allows the reps to really focus on certain portions of their learning while putting it into practice. For a lot of people, learning by doing is the best way to get a grasp on something new. Everboarding allows this to happen seamlessly and keeps your reps learning throughout their ramp up time and beyond.

Continued sales coaching

New hires will need more than just feedback from sales managers. They need to know how to reverse some of the shortcomings they may be experiencing so that they can continue to improve. Too many sales managers take the simple approach of just handing out feedback to their reps with no substance behind it. Instead, managers should take this feedback as coaching opportunities.

Sales coaching is too often looked at as a “nice to have” luxury and not often enough as a necessity for maximizing a rep’s abilities. As the sales manager, you want to develop your reps skills and be able to show them exactly how they can improve. This is where live coaching can be a huge factor in reducing ramp up time and developing your reps.

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At SalesTalk Technologies, we offer our Coaching4U™ module to help with this. It allows for real-time coaching opportunities, within sales interactions. It has the added benefit of remaining a non-intrusive way of developing your reps in live situations. Again, putting things into practice is one of the best ways to reduce the time it takes to get up to speed. Sales coaching will inevitably accomplish this.

Offer updated training videos

A variety of teaching methods always makes for a more effective learning experience. Consider using training videos to supplement the manuals you hand out to new hires and the live coaching that you utilize. Videos are an easier medium to consume for most people. It’s good to have the documents there to reference and read through, but having actual video available is a more digestible form of training for most.

The key to these videos is to keep them updated and relevant. When your product updates and analytics start showing certain trends, videos should be updated and swapped in for the old videos. Customized content will be a huge factor in reducing ramp up time for reps.

Practice makes perfect

You can hammer home all of the information and content you want to sales reps, but actually allowing them to put all of this into practice is where reps will really start to progress. By practicing, reps will retain information better because they are seeing what they’re learning being put to use. Off the bat, it may seem counterintuitive to give your reps time to practice as this isn’t producing revenue. But in reality, you are giving them the opportunity to weed out mistakes that may result in a loss of sale on the backend. By taking the time to sure up any shortcomings in a reps repertoire is going to get better results when it counts.

The right technology

Sales enablement technology is an overarching solution to reducing ramp up time. It sures up every aspect of the sales process and makes it easier to provide relevant information, consume that information, and put it into effective practice. A 2019 study showed that 42% of sales reps felt as if they did not have enough information going into a sales call and 84% of sales executives refer to reps’ content searching as the top impediment for sales. Having the right technology in place to circumvent these issues is going to reduce the ramp up time for new reps. Giving them the ability to reference the relevant information before going into a sales call and reducing the time they need to seek out answers will get them to where they need to be in order to start making money.

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Find out how SalesTalk Technologies can improve your sales ramp rate

At SalesTalk Technologies, we have a suite of sales enablement tools to help you with your entire sales process. This includes the process of taking on new sales reps and getting them up to speed quickly and efficiently. Through tools like Coaching4U™, What2Know™ and What2Say™, you have what you need to keep the learning process going in the right direction. Head over to our website and request a demo to start reducing your sales ramp up time, and start maximizing your sale opportunities.