Even the most successful sales people waste time. Sometimes because of outmoded sales practices. Sometimes because of roadblocks that management creates. Here are some common time wasters and how you can remedy them.
1) Planning Becomes Forecasting
Pipeline meetings shouldn’t turn into discussions of deal sizes and close dates. Focus on identifying an account issues, road blocks and sales strategies. In other words, how to drive deals forward.
2) Inactive Opportunities
Dormant deals clutter your pipeline and complicate forecasting. Contact prospects who haven’t had activity in a
3) Misuse of Social Media
Don’t spend hours looking for content to curate or spam contacts with sales pitches. Instead, use social media to solve problems, add value and promote your own content. People buy from leaders, not followers.
4) Cold Calling
Buyers today do a lot of homework. They know what problem they want to solve and review options before they talk to a salesperson. Let the marketing department attract and educate prospects. Sales should be selling.
5) “I’d Rather Do it Myself”
A rep drops everything to track down a ship date. Or takes half a day to find an old pitch deck. Yes, the best sales pros thrive on independence and like to do things themselves. But any rep who has support should use it.
6) Unqualified Prospects
A prospect fills out an online form. Or calls for information. Yes, a follow up call is worthwhile. But drop qualifying questions early in the conversation, and move on quickly if the prospect doesn’t meet your criteria.
7) Inefficient Sales Processes
Companies with a formal sales process drive 28% more growth.[1] Make sure your processes to align with the company’s GTM strategy. Review them regularly to see what works and what doesn’t.
8) Failing to Update the CRM
Every minute a rep spends looking for names, past activities and outcomes is a minute wasted. CRM makes that information instantly available. But it representatives need to update it immediately after every activity.
9) Updating the CRM
17% of salespeople cite manual data entry as the biggest challenge of using their existing CRM.[2] Configure your CRM to match your reps’ workflow. Or better yet, eliminate manual data entry altogether. 2
10) Lagging technologies
Underlying CRM technologies are evolving at a dazzling rate. Soon, manual data entry will be as quaint as phone messages on sticky notes. You either adopt more productive technologies or give an edge to competitors that do.
Rollio uses Artificial Intelligence to eliminate manual data entry from Salesforce.com. Reps use their own words to tell the app about an activity, and Rollio populates CRM fields. And that gives a lot of time back to salespeople.
Visit gorollio.com for a demo.
[1] https://hbr.org/2015/01/companies-with-a-formal-sales-process-generate-more-revenue&ab=Article-Links-End_of_Page_Recirculation
COMMENTS