Every week new companies come to us and ask, why aren’t their sales teams crushing it?
The #1 question we ask is, how are you currently leveraging and optimizing your salespeople's time?
Now, we all know that sales optimization is spending more time selling and less time on operations and busy tasks.
But what is leverage in sales?
Let’s start with the equation we use and work backward from there!
% of time selling X opportunity in pipeline X leverage
% of Time Selling= Is the amount of time sales people actually spend prospecting, closing and doing other revenue generation activities vs operational work aka lost time
Opportunity in the pipeline is defined as how much dollar value is in the current pipeline.
Leverage can be gained in the following ways: Let’s Briefly though of the Top 7!
P.S- You'll notice most of these actions also increase the % of time selling in most teams giving a double benefit in the equation above.
Targeting- This is where so many people miss the boat as they don’t measure, research, verify and plan to target to almost any degree. Targets need to be set by opportunity available, sales cycle time, and cost per acquisition. What we are seeing is some businesses are considered one of these elements but not all due to directives at the top being based on scarcity and month-to-month thinking. Be strategic and stick to the plan.
Enhanced Messaging- So many people leave messaging up to the salespeople and aren’t exploring open rate, click thru rate, reply rate, and meeting book rate from their messaging directly to potential customers once they are in the pipeline and out of marketing's hands. To control this, create a variety of templates and try micro-variations to increase conversions & decrease sales cycle times.
Sequencing- This is automated, measuring and controlling the flow of communications from sales to customers. Ex. New lead, Call immediately, Email 1 after 4 hours, Email 2 on Day 2, Call 2 on day 3, Email 3 on Day 4, Email 4 on day 7, Call on day 8, Email 5 on day 12, Call on Day 14, move to general nurture. All sequences are automatically broken if a client responds or books a meeting with most CRMs worth their weight. By doing this we can measure, manage and improve the flow of communications, and templates and take pressure off of sales on what to do next.
Automating Touchpoints- Too often salespeople are not provided the tools they need to cut out the monotony they face on a day-to-day basis. They are constantly writing the same emails and not split-testing their responses. With automation, you can eliminate the mundane and give your salespeople better data to track the effectiveness of their actions. This poses the response, "I don’t want my salespeople to sound generic/robotic" but the truth is you want your salespeople to garner the highest and most positive response rates. Track, Optimize, and Test.
Workflows- When leads enter the sales process many of the first steps can be automated to push them towards a meeting and educate them based off who they are such as job title and industry. Some people say this can come across as robotic but not if done with skill and intention.
Inbound Methodologies- This is where 90% of the B2B world is dropping the ball. They are constantly using salespeople who are focused on pushing product vs pairing sales and marketing together aka SMarketing to design an effective Pull methodology. This is where by understanding the needs, messaging, and timing for the marketplace through sales direct feedback then marketing will prepare material (lead magnets) and boost via ad dollars this to the market. This will create an influx of highly qualified inbound leads and increase morale across the revenue generation team.
Reach- Traditionally B2B teams expand sales by hiring more people and adding territories. When focusing on reach this becomes a larger scale game that is more based on timing, needs, and the customer being aware of you at the right time. Having a robust nurture series that is highly value-based and targeted for the customer can put your company as the thought leader in their mind and when buying intention arrives “bingo” you get the deal.
Bonus #8 is the classic Referral to leverage current relationships but you already do this we are certain as it has been a staple for thousands of years and sometimes a small reminder can kick this power back into gear!
If you’re wondering what we do first and how we implement these strategies effectively you are not alone as it is a complex balance between the Art and Science of Sales. Feel free to reach out to us to share some ideas and collaborate on bringing your sales team to the next level together.
Email to Connect: Jordon@set2close.io
