As a sales manager, you’re all too familiar with the daily challenges your team is up against. How about too few hours in the day to tackle all the tasks of required to get a sale — from researching data and following up on emails to making the cold calls with key decision-makers. All this, while trying to hit or exceed a quota. Then there’s your challenge — developing, training and equipping a team that manages to accomplish those tasks effectively and efficiently.
It can be a bit much, according to a report of executives and sales leaders in various industries. The research, conducted by Qvidian for MarketingProfs, identified three areas that are most challenging for organizations.
THE PROBLEM: Getting a new sales rep ramped up. About 36 percent of the organizations responding to the report said it takes too long to get a sales rep ready to take on the full responsibilities of the job. The respondents cited this as a problem with reaching their quota. Based on their feedback, it takes an average of nine months for a new sales rep to be full productive.
THE SOLUTION: According to MarketingProfs, this problem can be addressed with more strategic training. Instead of going for the firehose approach, where you’re dumping all the materials you can think of on the new hire, take the time to develop a comprehensive plan that integrates CRMs, sales enablement tools, and other resources in one organized system.
THE PROBLEM: Failure to personalize the buyers’ journey. This problem was cited by 55 percent of the organizations in the survey. They believe not tailoring content and other messaging to specific buyers is among the main reasons they’re not closing sales. According to a study by IDC, more than 40 percent of marketing materials are not being used by sales teams — mainly because they are unable to locate or access the materials.
THE SOLUTION: Instead of sending your sales reps on a wild goose chase searching for materials about the client online, consolidate data about the customer, any previous feedback, and info gathered from the CRM system — making it easily accessible in one location.
THE PROBLEM: Lack of efficiency. In a nod to the top two scenarios, this problem points to an overall problem with systems being disconnected. About 70 percent of the organizations responding to the survey, said that their tools and systems used for the sales process were only somewhat connected or slighted connected.
THE SOLUTION: Explore different tools and methods for gaining efficiencies, freeing up your sales reps to properly manage their sales contacts, make connections with key decision-makers, and more quickly learn about your company’s products and/or services, and how to meet the prospect’s need in the buyer’s journey.
MonsterConnect has been helping sales teams in a wide range of industries more quickly and effectively connect with the key decision-makers on their sales list. Let us show you how we can do it for your team.
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