Sales leaders have several plates to spin if their business is to succeed. Driving revenue, keeping operational costs low, and team performance consistent can be a tricky balance to get right. That’s why understanding sales performance is crucial.
It’s always a good idea to support your salespeople as a matter of course with training, one-on-one coaching, and incentives for meeting sales goals. But when it comes to finding out why your sales are lagging, you’ll need to do some detective work first. With that in mind, here are our top 5 ways to increase sales performance.
To get the actionable insights you need to address performance bottlenecks, you must have access to accurate and timely data. A solid Sales Performance Platform will give you the insights you need to improve sales performance and remove the inefficiencies and inaccuracies of more manual approaches. If you’re still using spreadsheets, there are better and more efficient approaches.
If your sales performance is lagging behind it may be time to try a different approach. Revenue Performance has been a buzzword for some time, but what does it actually mean? At its heart, it’s a way to streamline processes, transform operations, and generate more revenue. The end result? Reduced operational overhead and maximized revenue growth – the data shows that companies can expect 19% faster growth with an aligned revenue engine.
More and more companies are employing automation where possible in their sales department. Automating tedious tasks helps your sales team focus more on prospecting and closing deals. Furthermore, it also cuts costs and takes some of the pressure off your spending budget. For sales, some examples of previously manual tasks where automation can now play a part include:
Your salespeople, no matter how good they are at their job, need consistent support. In a HubSpot Research survey of salespeople, 44 percent of respondents said they relied on their manager to help them improve their sales techniques, and 35 percent said they rely on team training resources.
You can provide that support by giving your team an abundance of training resources and coaching opportunities. These will allow them to improve in areas where they are lacking, refresh their memories of your company’s sales models, and keep afloat of the latest sales trends and techniques.
Another way to improve your sales team’s performance is to offer non-cash incentives (such as gift cards and recognition) for meeting their sales goals. This is a strategy that the most successful companies in the world are implementing. The results of a recent survey reported by the Incentive Research Foundation showed that top-performing companies have higher non-cash reward payouts for their employees than companies that don’t perform as well, and they are also more likely to agree that non-cash rewards and recognition are effective at improving employee performance.
Boosting your sales performance starts with identifying where your problem areas lie. By leveraging new strategies, automation, and the latest technologies, you can identify the gaps in your sales performance so that you know how to improve. Supporting your sales team with consistent coaching and new incentives are also surefire ways to improve your sales performance and increase your bottom line.
