Spring clean your sales process: strategies to improve sales performance

Spring clean your sales process: strategies to improve sales performance

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What sales performance is, how to measure it effectively, and strategies for meeting and exceeding your sales goals.


Just like cleaning out our homes and decluttering our “just throw it in there” cupboard, it’s important to take a fresh look at our sales strategies and techniques to see what’s working and what could use some improvement.

According to Spotio, only 60% of sales reps meet their quota, which means there’s always room for improvement. Spring is the perfect time to dust down those old tactics and try out some new ones to help you boost your sales and achieve your goals.

In this blog, we’ll be sharing some tips and tricks for giving your sales performance a spring clean, so you can start the new season off on the right foot.

What is sales performance?

Sales performance simply means how well you or your sales team are doing in terms of meeting or exceeding your sales goals. It involves everything from finding new prospects and generating leads to closing deals and building solid customer relationships. The better your sales performance, the more sales you’ll make.

How can you measure sales performance?

You can measure sales performance using things like:

  • sales revenue
  • conversion rates
  • average deal size
  • customer feedback

Measuring sales performance is important because it helps you track your progress toward your sales goals, figure out where you need to improve, and reward your top performers (if you want to!). Without measuring your sales performance, you’re just guessing and not optimising your sales strategy.

8 tips on how to improve sales performance

Think about the individual

Often when we’re looking at sales performance, we want to think about the whole team. But a team is made up of individuals, and although they’re all striving towards the same sales goals, they all work in different ways. So how can you ensure you’re looking after each sales representative and helping them do their best? 

Set individual sales performance goals

Each rep should have their own individual growth plan, as well as the team goals that everyone is working towards. Not every sales rep will be able to bring in the same amount of sales – that’s just how it is! 

And it doesn’t mean that person isn’t cut out to be in sales. It just means their journey will look a little different, and that means setting goals that they can achieve. 

Create a safe working environment

Communication is essential in any business. Your sales reps need to feel comfortable talking to their sales managers, especially if they’re finding things challenging. Often performance can waiver due to stress or pressure, and talking through these issues can help to resolve them. 

Introduce peer-to-peer training

Sales training is important and while it can be a great way to teach, it can be expensive and time-consuming. Peer-to-peer training can be a great way to utilise your high-performing sales reps, getting them to share their own tips and experience.

“A happy worker is a productive worker”

It’s a common phrase and not one to be overlooked! Sales teams with high morale were found to be 21% more profitable and 17% more productive. High morale leads to lower turnover rates, fewer sick days, and higher engagement levels, all of which contribute to a positive work culture that enhances productivity and profitability.

Plus, if your team is happy to be at work, you’ll probably be happier to be there! Misery breeds misery, but happiness can breed happiness too. 

Alignment

Company alignment might not be something you think of when it comes to increasing sales performance, but it plays a crucial role. 

Not only this, a breakdown of communication between departments can cause major delays to projects and campaigns and ultimately decrease sales performance overall. Project plans and campaigns should always be communicated across all departments in the company, from Sales to Marketing to Design to Tech and anyone that’s going to work on it. Make sure you agree on deadlines and that everyone is on the same page. 

Also, miscommunication across teams can cause rifts – you want your whole company to be on the same team! 

Declutter

We’re back to the spring cleaning analogy, but it’s not just in here for gimmicks. Decluttering and organising your sales process is another important part of improving sales. 

Coming back to alignment, it’s also vital your sales team follows the same sales processes. 

To do this, we suggest creating a thorough guideline of your sales cycle that you can share with new and existing employees. Utilise your team, and speak to them about their typical sales journey with a client so you can make a document that is accurate and leaves room for each salesperson to bend it to their style.

Set achievable goals

It’s great to aim high, but there’s nothing worse than trying to hit unattainable sales targets. They can lead to frustration, stress, and burnout for sales reps, resulting in decreased motivation and productivity.

It’s important to set goals that everyone is happy with and that are realistic. Not only it look after your reps’ well-being, but it will also help you manage finances for the business and your expectations on how many deals you’ll be closing each month. 

Avoid micromanaging

If sales performance isn’t doing well, it can be tempting to start micromanaging sales reps and sales managers but this will likely only make things worse. 

Problems with micromanaging:

  1. Decreases motivation: Micromanagement can make sales reps feel like they are not trusted or valued, which can lead to decreased motivation and morale. 
  1. Reduces productivity: Micromanagement can be time-consuming and distracting for sales reps, taking away from time that could be spent on sales-related activities. 
  1. Limits creativity: Micromanagement can stifle creativity and innovation, as sales reps may feel like they need to be allowed to think outside the box or try new approaches. 

It can also create a rift between you and your sales teams, and as we said before, “a happy worker is a productive worker”. 

Use AI

What a time to be alive… much like with the invention of the Hoover or the washing machine that made spring cleaning so much easier, we now have new tools at our disposal that can be used to make sales success easier. High-performing sales teams use nearly three times the amount of sales technology than underperforming teams. 

AI tools to make selling easier:

  • Noty AI: a ChatGPT-powered meeting assistant that converts your meetings into transcriptions, action items, summaries, and follow-ups within seconds.
  • Klu AI: easily and securely find the information you need. This AI-powered search engine scans through vast amounts of content and provides precise answers to your queries in no time.
  • InBox Pro: manage your inbox like a pro with AI and powerful automation tools. Enhance your email productivity with an AI-powered email assistant, Contacts, Calendar, Sequences, and Analytics to streamline your workflow.

Find more AI tools to help you day-to-day by signing up for the Superhuman newsletter

Outsource

Sales reps can find they lose a lot of their time to manual outreach processes. But this method of manual outreach can prolong your sales cycle.

Bar graphs showing B2B sales reps spend more time closing deals if they use a specialist agency

Using a specialist agency, like ours, that can:

  • Map your addressable market and find your ideal prospects
  • Create a thorough database that’s GDPR compliant
  • Reach out to prospective clients with personalised emails that feel 121
  • Get those leads to your sales team!

That leaves your sales reps with more time to actually sell your product or service! An effective sales strategy may be outsourcing some of the work to give you more resources to focus on closing deals. 

Here at Sopro, we can take care of the clutter and leave your sales team with the time to do what they do best – sell! Find out more by booking a demo today. 

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