The one thing that businesses rely on the most is their sales teams. They are the ones who bring the bread to the table to keep the company growing. The prevalent struggle that leaders often find, however, is that oftentimes the sales figures are too low, and when that happens, it’s time to do some digging.
Dealing with disappointing sales figures can be tough and most definitely frustrating, but not impossible to improve. In order to enhance your team performance, you need to identify the common mistakes first. So, let’s take a look at the different factors that may be affecting your sales team.
Poor Quality Leads
Your leads are what drive your sales. If you don’t invest enough time into prospecting you will run out of good leads eventually. It’s easy to grow complacent when you already have an existing pool of leads, but at one point or another those leads will lessen and you need new ones. Don’t wait for your reserve to run out, keep it flowing.
Another factor to consider is also having a strong process that helps you qualify leads as it also greatly impacts your sales. If you have poorly qualified leads it will result in your sales reps wasting time on prospects who are actually not interested in making any purchase.
Related: Sales Leads That Convert: What is a High-quality Sales Lead?
Lack of Follow-ups
Staying in the vein of leads, the frequency of your follow-ups is just as important. There are studies that show that the average number of follow-ups for an average success for a salesperson should at least be 4.4 times. By doing so, you increase your close rate by 17 percent. So, as you set your goals and standards with your team, it’s good to keep this in mind. If you only focus on contacting new prospects, that would discourage them from doing follow-ups that can get converted to actual leads. There should be a good balance in between.
Related: Value Your Leads: Lead Nurturing Best Practices to Boost Conversion
Wrong Approach
Not all leads are the same which means you can’t treat them all the same either. Too many times sales reps focus more on the features and benefits rather than helping the prospect solve an issue that they may be currently having. Try to address their pain points and present your product/service as a solution to it. Remember to work with them.
Related: 5-Step Approach to Getting More Enterprise Leads and Customers
Technology
If your team is equipped with all the right skills to close a sale, it should also be accompanied with the right tech skills. As a business, it’s important to invest in training your teams to be able to use major platforms. Be sure that you train your teams to use tools that are specific to your own business’ expectations. Say, if the products you are selling heavily involve technology, your employees should be able to receive thorough training on it as well.
Related: Top Must-have Sales Tools That Will Help You Close More Deals
Product Performance
Granted, your sales team may not be involved in the creation process and distribution of your products, but it still directly impacts your sales nonetheless. How? It’s when your salespeople keep getting calls from customers who aren’t satisfied with your product performance. If your products keep having issues or arrive at your customers with defects, your sales team’s reputation is going to take a big hit. Be sure to invest in good product development and improve your customer service efforts to readily and efficiently help your customers out. By doing so you’ll see a great improvement in your team’s performance.
The Takeaway
If you look through the list, you will see that it’s the small things that make the biggest difference. It’s all a matter of being able to take a better look at your team’s current situation, find the root of the problem and treating it accordingly. If you’ve been experiencing these shortcomings, we hope that our tips will help you greatly improve your overall sales team performance and bring out its full potential.
