sales enablement

Apr 20 2020

How to Increase Productivity of Sales Teams with Sales Enablement Software

Today, people want what they want faster. If they have a need, they don’t want to wait around for people to accommodate this need, they will simply move on to the next person who can offer more immediacy. This is why learning how to increase the productivity of sales teams with sales enablement software is so important. Your sales reps need to be able to move quickly on a prospect and respond as efficiently and effectively as possible in order to retain their attention.

Increase the productivity of your sales team with efficient sales tools

Too much of a rep’s time is spent not selling. They are wasting time having to sift through information in order to find the right content for their prospect. Sales enablement software eliminates this issue and gives sales reps access to technology that will increase their productivity and improve engagement with prospects. By making these tools accessible to your team, you will inevitably see an increase in lead conversion and revenue.

Create daily goals

The right sales enablement tools will give you insight into your sales pipelines, allowing you to forecast, plan out your strategies, and close more deals. Having access to all of your sales data gives you invaluable insight into your strategies. What is proving to be effective? Which strategies should we bring back to the drawing board? Which reps are performing the best and which ones need improvement? All of these questions are easily answered with the right sales enablement software

At SalesTalk Technologies, we offer our clients modules like Upstream Your Insights and What2Know. These tools give you the ability to gain more insight into pipeline forecasts, access actual ABM metrics and individual contact progress. When you have this information at your fingertips, you can create relevant and realistic goals for your team to accomplish.

You can’t simply pick an arbitrary number and tell your team to hit that number. You need to analyze your data, determine what is realistic for your team to accomplish while also pushing your team to excel. It’s a fine line that you need to walk, but with the right tools you can do it effectively.

Encourage the “single version of the truth”

In order to create a formula for sustainable success, there needs to be consistency. Taking the guesswork out of the equation is going to eliminate a lot of issues that would otherwise show themselves in the future. If reps are having to figure out which piece of data is reliable and which one is not as useful, time spent selling is decreased. Not to mention, your customers and prospects may be getting different pieces of information depending on who they happen to talk to. Eliminate confusion by using sales enablement software that can organize content for reps to reference.

The “single version of truth” practice also makes it easy for decision makers to have access to the right data they need in order to develop business strategies. Having the right tools in place to assist this process gives you the ability to consolidate and analyze the data your team deems appropriate for what you are trying to accomplish. Keeping your team on the same page in this regard will increase productivity.

Inspire collaboration and communication

In any part of business, communication is key. This is no different in sales. Pair this with collaboration and you will see your team’s productivity take off. However, we can’t accomplish this without the right tools. Choosing the right sales enablement software will bring your team together and create a more efficient selling process.

Sales enablement software can help your reps personalize content for each of their prospects and then they are able to see which content is performing the best across the entire team. It can also encourage more collaboration between sales and marketing, where the sales team is able to give immediate feedback to the marketing team. It will allow marketing to adapt their content in order to fit the customer needs and it comes straight from the people interacting with them on a daily basis.

Automate routine tasks

Something as simple as sending a follow up email can take time for a rep to accomplish. How much more productive could your team be if tasks like this were automated? It’s possible to automate tasks like the follow up email while still making it personalized too. You still want to maintain that personal feel to sales interactions, ensuring the prospect that they aren’t talking to a robot and, instead, to an actual human being. Through certain sales enablement software tools, you can accomplish this. Using things like automated email workflows that are personalized based on contact information and their stage in the sales pipeline will cut out some of that time where reps aren’t selling.

You can also automate things like prospecting. It allows you to filter out prospects and assign them according to their relevance to industry, rep, stage in the pipeline, etc. Again, taking extra work off the plate of your sales team just means they will be selling more and converting more leads.

Start improving your sales team efficiency and effectiveness

If you truly want your business to take off, sales enablement software is where you should start. The inevitable increase in productivity it will create for your team is indispensable for those businesses looking to expand. At SalesTalk Technologies, we want to help make this happen for you. Through the variety of modules that we offer, we can improve any number of productivity impediments for your team. Request a demo over at our website and start increasing your sales team’s productivity.

Apr 13 2020

How Can Sales Team Tools Keep Your Sales Team Ahead of the Game?

In every profession, you are given expectations you need to achieve. The key to reaching those expectations is to have access to the tools you need to succeed. This is no different in sales. You will give your sales team the expectations to sell your product and hit certain thresholds while doing so. Your responsibility as the sales manager or sales leader is to provide your team with the tools necessary to accomplish this. Without the proper tools, your team will be fighting an uphill battle to reach the goals you set for them.

Increase revenue with sales team tools

Without the right tools in their arsenal, your sales team will see their productivity dip dramatically and in turn that will decrease the amount of revenue generated for your business. It’s a failing strategy and one that needs to be eliminated from any business. In 2017, SalesTech Report found that out of 400 surveyed, sales executives spend $1,000 or more on sales tools per rep annually. And while this number may seem relatively high, it pays off in the end. The ROI achieved by spending the funds on these tools will greatly surpass the amount you spend on the front end.

When analyzing the success or lack of success of your sales reps, ask yourself if you’re giving them not just the right tools to succeed, but the right tools to exceed expectations.

You also want to make sure you, as the sales leader, also have the tools to lead your team successfully. Sales tools will only make your job easier and more efficient. Sales team communication tools, sales team assessment tools, sales team management tools, and sales team training tools are all examples of things that will make you more effective in your role while increasing your revenue.

Meaningful sales data

In this day and age, lack of information and analysis should never hinder your ability to increase revenue and productivity. There are so many options out there to make your efforts more effective and far reaching. You can find sales team assessment tools to help track and record each individual sales interaction, allowing you to go back and analyze how some strategies are working and how some aren’t.

This also allows your reps to be held accountable, both by you and themselves, while they are able to see how they are doing individually. The competitive nature of sales reps will keep them wanting to improve their sales numbers in order to keep up with other members of the team. It also allows them to see which areas they need to improve upon in order to not only meet goals, but surpass them. Accountability translates into better data, which brings in more revenue to your business.

Effective sales content leads to successful sales conversations

Sales tools give your team access to the most relevant content for each call they make. Too many reps are wasting time having to look through loads of content in order to find what they need to stay relevant and confident in their sales interactions. Sales tools streamline this for the sales team. Having the content they need at their fingertips, at a moment’s notice is going to lead to more successful sales conversations.

The prospect wants to feel as if their questions are being answered and they don’t want to wait around for that to happen. If you provide your sales team with effective sales content, you avoid this scenario from happening. Keeping your reps in the know will lead to more conversions and more money coming in.

Valuable integrations

Too many businesses have their sales team and marketing team working separately from each other. It almost creates this dynamic of working against one another, instead of collaborating. The most effective sales machines will have the marketing team work alongside the sales team in creating the strategies your business needs to thrive.

Because both teams are working in different parts of the sales process, communication between them is key. Your sales team is the “boots on the ground” component of the sales process. They’re working with your customers and prospects on a daily basis, fielding and answering their questions. For this reason, they know what the customers want and what they need in order to be content with a product. Marketing is more on the outside looking in and should rely on this information from the sales team in order to develop more effective strategies in reaching more customers. This collaboration is made easier with sales team tools. Sales team communication tools are a necessity for seamless communication between teams and creates a more efficient process for sharing analytics.

A sustainable process

All of these tools being utilized are going to create sustained success for your business. As you know, the key to keeping your business thriving isn’t just the initial sale. You need to have a plan for sustained success that keeps customers in your pipeline in order to really grow your business. Using sales team tools, you can make this an easier process to accomplish and give your team what they need to continue to expand your customer base, bringing in more and more revenue.

The streamlining that takes place with these tools makes it easier for your team to continue selling indefinitely. It greatly reduces downtime, increases productivity, and allows for seamless integrations. In this day and age of technology, every sales team should have access to these tools to make the job easier.

Ready to try sales enablement tools?

At SalesTalk Technologies, we understand the importance of giving our clients the best tools to convert leads and sell to more customers. We offer a whole suite of sales enablement tools in order to accomplish this. They can be easily integrated into your current processes and you will notice the benefits immediately. If you think that your business is ready to take the next step and close more deals, head to our website and request a demo where you can get a feel for just how effective these tools can be.

Apr 06 2020

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jan 14 2020

How to Run a Successful Sales Team

In the simplest terms, managing a sales team consists of hiring talented sales people, giving them the information about the product they’re selling, giving them the tools they need to sell, and watching the customers filter in. However, there’s a lot more that goes into running a successful sales team than that.

Managing sales takes a lot of hard work on the part of the sales manager in order to see their team hit the goals set for them and continue to grow the business. In the following blog, we will detail how to run a successful sales team and keep your business growing.

How to run a successful sales team

It takes planning, strategy, dedication and execution to run a successful sales team. You will need to provide your reps with more than just the tools to sell. Expecting to hire the right people and hope they figure out how to sell effectively and efficiently won’t get you very far. It takes participation on your part to ensure your team is bringing in customers and maintaining all important business and customer relationships.

Have deliverable goals

Expectations and accountability are important aspects to any position in a company. Without knowing what they’re aiming for, how can a team measure its success?

You should be providing your sales team with goals that are both detailed and attainable. Your team shouldn’t be left guessing on what they’re expected to achieve. This means having your expectations for your team readily available and properly communicated to them.

Perhaps the most important aspect of setting goals for your team is making them both challenging enough to push the envelope but also realizing these goals need to be realistic. This means putting in the legwork to figure out the numbers your team will be able to hit and what will promote business growth.

You should be looking into and researching things like the business you’re in, pricing of similar products, realizing how long you’ve been in the game when compared to your competitors, your client base, and how many leads you produce in a given time period.

Looking back at numbers of previous quarters will also help you develop the proper goals for your team. As a rule, if a few members of your team aren’t meeting the goals, chances are the responsibility falls on those individuals. However, if a majority of your team are consistently missing the goals you’ve set, your goals may need to be altered as they are probably not realistic.

Continue training and development

We mentioned that simply having the tools in place isn’t enough to breed success within your sales team. You want your team to be constantly learning how to better utilize these tools. This means that training and development sessions should be used to empower your team to perform better and more efficiently with what they’re given.

Give your team access to consistent training on things like product information, prospecting, time management, strategizing, role-playing, and effective communication so that they can constantly be learning and adapting. Continuous learning should be a part of your business’s culture.

Communicate regularly

Communication is one of the most important parts to any aspect of a successful business. When it pertains to sales and managing a sales team, proper communication can directly affect how your team performs for your business. Your team needs a constant flow of information covering product changes, industry trends, company news, etc.

Keeping a good communication flow with your sales team will keep each individual in the loop and on the same page as everyone else. This will cut down on mistakes made due to misinformation while also keeping your team engaged in their goals and expectations. Effective communication also helps to eliminate any wasted time trying to dig up information or correcting mistakes that were made by a misinformed team member.

Understand & clarify customer needs

Making sure your sales team has a full understanding of customer needs puts your business in a position to give the customer what they need, when they need it. In order to gather this information to communicate to your team you should be utilizing things like focus groups, researching keywords in your industry, and being present on social media to identify what your customers are looking for.

By understanding all of this, you can create the content needed to provide your sales team with the most effective tools to sell. By having these tools in place and encouraging your team to be in touch with their individual customer needs, you can anticipate future needs.

Encourage quality sales conversations

The sales world has changed over recent years in terms of where customers are getting their information. Chances are, when your sales team members have their first conversation with a customer, that customer will have already done some basic research on the product. This means that your team needs to be immediately and sustainably relevant to that prospect, because if they aren’t, the prospect will disengage – quickly.

By encouraging your team to be properly prepared for what the customer needs before going into a call will greatly improve sales conversations. Have your team do the research on what typical customers are looking for in terms of information by the time they are in contact with your team. Having a goal in place before a call is made, and having information ready for customers that align with that goal, is going to inevitably improve the quality of your team’s sales conversations.

SalesTalk Technologies: Successful sales teams, successful sales

SalesTalk Technologies gives your business the tools they need to ensure you’re able to effectively run your sales team. By streamlining the sales process and providing relevant content to your team, SalesTalk helps you build a successful sales team that will lead to successful sales. Head to our website to request a demo and get your sales team on track to growing your business.