sales managers

Sep 21 2021

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:

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.
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.
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?

May 22 2020

How to Build a Sales Team with Top-Tier Sales Members

The most important aspect of building a successful business, one that is ready to scale at an acceptable rate and maintain that success, is building out your sales machine. This process relies on a foundation of great sales reps to lead the charge of selling your product and keeping your customers happy. To build a successful team, you need top-tier sales members contributing to your process.

What characterizes someone as a “top-tier” sales rep? How can you successfully build your team with these top-tier performers?

In this blog we will discuss the answers to these questions and get you on track to building the sales machine your business deserves.

Characteristics of highly successful salespeople

Not all successful sales reps possess the same qualities; some thrive on competition, others rely on collaboration. There are however, some general characteristics that you can look out for when determining whether or not a candidate would be capable of helping your sales process really take off. The best sales reps will generally have these traits and it would be beneficial for you to keep these in mind when going about building out your sales team.

The “Hunter’s Mentality”

When deciding between candidates to bring into your sale operation, you want to find those reps with the “hunter’s mentality.” Meaning you want the reps who are always hungry to land the big deal. They will do anything and everything it takes to accomplish this. They won’t take any issue with doing the legwork to get a deal finalized and convert all of their leads into customers.

The reps who don’t take no for an answer and won’t accept failure are the ones who will drive your team to success. A sales rep with a hunter’s mentality will finish off one sale and immediately be looking towards their next. A constant flow of wins is what your team needs to be truly successful, the hunter’s mentality rep will help build that culture.

Personality and Charisma

The stereotypical sales rep has this extremely outgoing personality, one that will catch the attention of anyone they talk to. The fact is, a sales rep’s personality and charisma does not need to hinge on the overly extroverted approach. Top tier reps can take many forms when it comes to their personality. Cool, calm and collected can work just as well as the overly excited and enthusiastic approach.

The one common denominator with both of these however is the ability to have the customer hanging on every word. The rep should be engaging enough and interesting enough to keep the attention of anyone who is one the other end of the conversation. If the leads or customers don’t particularly like the personality they are dealing with, it will be hard for that rep to make a sale.

Resilience

The ability for a sales rep to bounce back quickly after a loss is one of the most important traits a salesperson can have. Rejection is a harsh reality that can accompany any given sales interaction. The fact is, more often than not, the lead on the other end of the conversation will not give a rep the time of day to make their pitch.

A top-tier rep will have the ability to see the big picture with these rejections, realizing that every interaction presents an opportunity and that when one lead doesn’t necessarily work out, there are others waiting to be converted. You don’t want a team made up of reps who reflect on the losses, you want those that take the loss and use it to fuel the next win.

How to build a sales team with top-tier performers

Once you have the right sales reps in place, those with the top-tier qualities we all look for, how can you build towards success? Once assembled your team needs tools, direction, and a common voice that they can all fall back on in order to really drive the process forward. Part of establishing all of this means doing your part as the sales leader to train and motivate while also knowing which tools will help each individual rep do their job effectively.

Training

Even the greatest sales reps out there need to have a proper onboarding and training process to get them up to speed with your particular product and culture. The most effective sales teams will have a repeatable, digestible system in place for bringing on new reps. Too many businesses take their entire “handbook” and throw it at their new reps expecting them to read and learn every aspect of the sales process in a short period of time. This just isn’t realistic for any rep. It’s more beneficial for your team if you provide smaller, bite-sized pieces of information throughout a period of time. Pairing this with real-time coaching and ongoing training is much more effective for bringing your reps up to speed.

Goal setting and motivation

It’s not enough to just assemble the team and sit back to let them do what they do. To an extent, the hands off approach will be beneficial to your reps, but they will need some reason to sell. This is where setting the right goals to keep your team motivated will come into play. Goals should be developed both with the individual rep in mind, as well as the sales team as a whole.

Sales reps are prideful people. They like to know that they are always driving towards and accomplishing something. Being strategic with your goals will keep your reps and your entire team moving forward and motivated to keep selling for your business.

Providing reps with the right tools

Even the best sales reps can be pushed that much farther with the right tools at their disposal. In today’s selling environment, sales enablement tools are becoming the norm. In actuality, they are even becoming a necessity for sales teams. The convenience and efficiency these tools offer your team is second to none and will keep your team moving forward instead of staying stagnant. The ability to have access to the right content for each individual contact, at the exact right time, is an invaluable luxury to have. You want your reps to always be confident in what they pitch. Giving them access to sales enablement tools empowers your team to generate and convert more leads.

Empower your top-tier reps with SalesTalk

At SalesTalk Technologies, we give sales teams access to an entire suite of tools that help every step of the sales process. From onboarding, to training, to live coaching, your team will be prepared and on the same page with the ultimate sales operation. We also provide you with modules that keep track, organize, and present your sales content with the relevance you need to generate those leads into customers. If you think your reps are ready to progress to the next tier of sales, contact our team to request a free trial of our suite of sales enablement tools.

May 15 2020

How to Retain Sales Employees

You’ve assembled a dream team of sales representatives. This group is ready to embrace and take on your company voice, learn your product inside and out, and challenge themselves to constantly improve. So how can you be sure to keep these reps by your side for the long haul? Inevitably, sales reps start looking for different opportunities where they can progress their own careers. It certainly is a challenge for any sales leader to retain their top employees in this landscape. It’s important to fully understand how to retain sales employees. With this knowledge, you will be better equipped to appease your reps and keep that dream team assembled and ready to sell.

Challenges in attracting and retaining employees

Attracting the right sales reps for your company is a hard enough skill to master. But the challenge doesn’t end with simply attracting those reps and hiring them. Keeping them motivated to stay on your team creates a whole new set of challenges for today’s business owners.

According to a recent study, the average sales rep’s tenure with one company sits at around 18 months. When you take into account the time it takes to get a rep fully up to speed with your company’s workflow and ready to sell at their full potential, this isn’t a large amount of time to reap the benefits of a talented sales rep. So what are the factors that contribute to these challenges in retaining sales employees?

New opportunities

Today’s generation values the ability to take advantage of new opportunities, especially in the workplace. The reality is, job hopping can lead to career advancement for a lot of the younger sales reps. Getting experience in one sector of sales means they can take that and advertise it to new job opportunities, giving them the ammunition to prove they are seasoned and ready for new heights.

The fact is, sales reps know that they can be replaced at any given moment. This leads to more of a “free agent” mentality rather than becoming loyal to one entity that they believe can and will turn on them at a moment’s notice.

Stale work environments

In relation to job hopping, sales reps tend to see new opportunities as more exciting than their current work environment. Going through the same routines, day after day and selling the same products on a daily basis can become tiring for a lot of reps. When this happens, it’s natural for them to look elsewhere for fulfillment. A new company presents new challenges, new content, new products to sell, and new routines.

The younger generation of sales reps are less likely to look for that stability in order to “settle down” and instead will look to fulfill their work lives. This means they are more likely to move on from one place to another, constantly searching to keep their work fresh and exciting.

Opportunity for growth

Too many sales leaders miss the mark on what the best sales reps are looking for. They think that money will buy everything, keeping their best reps happy. While proper compensation is obviously a need for employees, the best reps are looking for more than that. They want to feel as if they have the opportunity for career growth. If they start to see the writing on the wall that they don’t have the ability for advancement where they’re currently at, they’re going to quickly look elsewhere. Sales reps are proud people and they won’t be happy if they feel as if they aren’t given the opportunity to show what they can do with newer, bigger opportunities.

Employee retention in sales

As a business owner, you want to provide your employees with reasons to stay loyal to your company. Sales rep turnover is an expensive reality for sales leaders, but it’s one that can be curbed to an extent. As we mentioned, it’s an inevitability that sales reps look for other opportunities as it’s the nature of the business. But for the best reps, you’ll want to give them reasons to start declining those opportunities instead of jumping on them.

Build a sense of camaraderie within your team

You want a positive workplace environment, that should go without saying. The happiest reps are the ones who enjoy coming into the office and working alongside their colleagues. Promoting a friendly atmosphere and that sense of camaraderie will go a long way in keeping your reps happy and loyal to your company.

This goes with creating a culture that your business takes on. You want to create as little stress as possible in the workplace and creating a team environment is one way to reduce this. Even introducing and encouraging friendly competition between sales team members is good for morale and relationship building. Keep your team feeding off each other and growing their relationships.

Keep challenges and goals fresh for your reps

You don’t want your reps’ day to day to get stale. If this happens, your reps get antsy and start looking for new ways to fulfill themselves through their workday. You want to be constantly developing goals for your team to accomplish and work towards. This should come both for the entire team as a whole, and for your individual reps. If they feel that they are constantly being pushed, they will see that you think of them as worthy for the challenge.

Giving them the same goals all the time will get them thinking that there may not be much of an opportunity to advance. Create that sense of accomplishment for your reps and allow them to progress with your company.

Build smarter bonus structures

Your bonus structures are an important piece of employee retention. If you have a bonus structure based around quarterly or annual payouts, chances are your reps will stick with your company just long enough to achieve that bonus before moving on. Instead you should look into larger retention bonuses that you can pay out at 1, 2, 4, and 5 years, giving reps more motivation to stay for the long haul.

Providing shares in the company that vest after 12 months is another way to ensure longevity with your reps. Take the time to really think about the way you hand out bonuses for your sales team so that you keep their attention away from the next opportunity.

Retain your sales reps with sales enablement technology

Nothing can replace the feeling of confidence in a sales rep, or a sales team as a whole for that matter. By empowering your team with the tools they need to sell more and more efficiently than they have before is going to put you in a great position to retain that team you’ve worked so hard to build.

Sales enablement technology can help you accomplish this empowerment. By giving your reps the tools to know what to say to leads and customers, how successful other strategies and techniques are for their colleagues, and just a better way to communicate, you are putting yourself in a unique position. Your reps will want to stay onboard knowing that they are always put in a position to succeed and grow.

By reaching out to our team here at SalesTalk Technologies, we can get you started with a free trial of our groundbreaking sales enablement software. See how our tools can help you retain your quality reps and start scaling your business.

Mar 09 2020

What Does a Sales Team Do?

Sales is the backbone of your business. It is directly involved in the initial growth and sustained success of your company. If you want your business to be successful long-term, then you need a qualified sales team that has all of the tools that they need to succeed in order to sell your company.

So, what exactly does a sales team do for your business?

What does a sales team do?

Starting with the obvious, a sales team sells the products your company is offering. Bringing in prospective customers and converting them into actual customers is their ultimate goal. But there is a lot that goes into this whole process that might not be so obvious.

Observe Sales Goals

The members of your sales team should be aware of the goals they are expected to meet in order to help your company flourish. As a team, those goals will be in the forefront of their minds when interacting with customers. This not only refers to the individual goals they are expected and attempting to meet, but also the goals expected for the team as a whole.

For your part, being transparent about the goals put in front of them is important as well. Your sales team will be fully aware of what their expectations are and how they can work to reach these expectations.

Build Sales Opportunities

Your sales team is integral in taking the leads you’ve generated as a company and converting them into sales opportunities. You can have all of the leads and contacts you want, but your team needs to do its part in converting them into prospective customers.

Nurturing those leads and helping them along the buyer’s journey is a huge part of your sales team’s responsibilities. Allowing them to do this in a streamlined and efficient way, will greatly improve your chances to grow your business.

Convert Sales

The next natural step for your team would be to convert those sales opportunities into actual sales. This means taking those contacts, helping them realize why your product would benefit them, and then landing that customer.

It takes an abundance of knowledge about what they’re selling for your team to be as effective as they need to be with this step. Ideally, your team will be able to bring the relevant information to each individual customer, while being able to answer any questions they may have along the way. Being confident in what they’re presenting, as well as consistent with your company’s culture, will help them land more customers in the long run.

Retain Customers

One of the more understated responsibilities of your sales team is retaining your company’s customer base. Just as important as bringing new customers on, keeping your current customers coming back for more is something your sales team will need to master for long-term success.

Even if your customers aren’t actively reaching out for feedback or questions, your sales team will be in contact with them. Being proactive with their communication keeps your sales team in the loop with your customer base and allows your customers to build more trust with your team. What customer wants to stay with a business they don’t feel they trust or have some sort of connection with?

Utilize Their Resources

You want to provide your team with the tools they need to succeed. Providing them easy access to these tools will allow your team to efficiently sell your business. Timeliness is everything in sales, as no customer wants to wait around for the content to be given to them. Your customers want what they need now.

Your team should know what resources are on hand, what information is readily available, and where to find what they need in the moment. If your customers are having to wait around for your sales team, chances are they will turn to the business that can help them more efficiently.

What can a sales team do better with sales enablement technology?

The sales process is continuously becoming more automated. Because of this, there is more opportunity for things to get lost in the shuffle. By relying on the support of sales enablement technology, your sales team can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their process.

Sales enablement technology is software that gives your team easy access to the tools they need to sell. By empowering your team and providing them with this technology, you can almost certainly expect better results for your company’s bottom line. Utilizing this tool gives you the peace of mind that your sales team will always be able to get their hands on the most relative content for any situation.

Become relevant in all customer interactions

At SalesTalk Technologies, we provide your company and sales team with software that will keep all of your sales efforts relevant for customers. By streamlining your content and tools, your team will always know What2Say, What2Know, and What2Send when interacting with customers. If you think your sales team can benefit from this tool, don’t hesitate to request a demo from us over at our website.

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.