The pressure is on to maximise sales growth and hit those end of year targets, so taking your eyes off the prize is a big NO at this time of year. Reduce the risk of missing your year-end target by keeping your sales team’s performance high and making the most of every sales opportunity.
We’ve taken a look at some of the bad habits that can affect your team’s performance. So if you see these ghoulish traits creeping in, stamp them out (ASAP) so you and your team can maximise sales growth and get ready to smash your 2015 targets.
What traits do you NOT want in your sales team? And what CAN you do to ensure you hit the ground running in 2015?
Bad trait: Bad-attitude
If you want to lose your prospects fast, a bad attitude is needed. And make sure it definitely translates across in your team’s calls and communications with prospects.
70% of B2B buyers rate how vendors (that’s your sales team) engage with them as more impactful than what they’re actually selling. Work attitude translates easily across a person’s tone of voice and even more so in face-to-face meetings.
Get Happy
A good attitude is infectious, it’s impossible to help your team maintain a positive attitude if you’re not positive at work. Get your team laughing and you’ll see the positive results translate into their work.
Bad trait: Dis-organised
Timing is definitely not everything if you want to make sure you’re losing those hot leads. Don’t bother reminding your team to be timely and relevant with calls to prospects or pre-schedule call-backs too. Oh, and definitely do not research prospects before making contact with them either.
Get ahead of the game
Your odds of qualifying a lead are 21x better if you follow up within 5 minutes of that lead’s creation (rather than 30 minutes of that lead’s creation). Make sure your team are quick off the bat and well prepared in understanding how your prospects think and when they’re ready to buy.
Bad trait: Laziness
If you want to be incredibly unsuccessful this final quarter of the year, then make sure your sales team definitely don’t nurture any leads through the funnel. And don’t bother checking in with your marketing team to see what lead-nurturing activities they’re doing either.
Pro-active lead nurturing
Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads with a 33% reduction in costs. And when it takes an average of 80 calls to develop a new opportunity, it’s no use calling just once and leaving those leads to go cold. Be pro-active in nurturing your leads, send them relevant content and contact them regularly to keep them engaged.
Bad trait: No focus on the overall goal
Definitely do not focus your sales team on targets, and driving revenue. Increasing your average order values and maintaining consistent call times are pointless if you want to lose out. If you want a super unfocused team, make sure they aren’t reporting back to you on their daily, weekly and monthly figures – so you can be sure you have no idea where you are to target.
Focus, Focus, Focus
Some sales teams won’t close up to 53% of their forecasted deals, so it’s absolutely essential to continually monitor your sales pipeline with daily reports and feedback from your team – you’ll be able to evolve your pipeline, shorten sales cycles and focus your team on leaky funnels to maximise performance.
Oh, and remember – “Without a customer, you don’t have a business – all you have is a hobby.” Don Peppers
Want to smash your 2014 targets and really hit the ground running? Then download our guide to building a healthy sales pipeline or check out how to build the A-grade sales team.
This blog was originally posted on the Lead Forensics website. Read the original article here.
