Many Small and Mid-sized Businesses (SMBs) are looking for ways to Increase their Sales Productivity over the next few months. We have always been told (and believe) that "If you do a few things well, you will be successful."
The following 5 easy-to-implement Tips should significantly increase your sales and reduce your cost of sales.
- Define Goals, Metrics and Reports Have a team meeting and get agreement to a 90-day program. Set weekly goals, metrics and reports. If it doesn't get measured, it doesn't get done. Result: Team focus on closing sales
- Leverage Lead Process All leads need to be contacted and qualified in 24 hours or less. Fastest response time is king these days. I just contacted a software company and was told that it would be two days to hear back from a sales rep. I'm now talking with their competitor instead of them. Result: More Qualified Leads
- Increase Sales Calls per Week The average outside sales rep can make a maximum of 10 customer sales calls per week (2 per day). Three quick ways to increase sales calls: - Add an Inside Sales Resource - Add a web service like WebEx or GotoMeeting to add two extra web sales calls per week - Ask for referrals on every call Result: More Sales Calls per week
- Increase Skills & Knowledge Create weekly in-house workshops to improve closing skills, best practice sharing, meeting skills, phone skills, product knowledge, competition and industry issues. Workshops should be held during non-selling hours and run no more than 45 minutes. Implement web-based meetings if your team is geographically separated. This is one of the best suggestions in improving sales productivity. Result: More Deals in Forecast
- Improve Sales Recognition Most sales teams are pretty beat-up right-about-now. Reps sell more when recognized on a regular basis. Set up weekly recognition in a team phone or web meeting. A happy Sales Rep is a more productive Sales Rep! Result: More time selling and more sales closed.