Guide
Apr 04, 2019
Xactly User Conference May 20-22, San Francisco
To drive revenue, you need to know how your business operates and how to improve it. Here are four tips to use data to improve your sales performance.
How well is your sales team performing?
For sales organizations to succeed, leaders must answer this question correctly. This requires visibility. Sales leaders need access to performance data to truly understand the effectiveness of their sales plans and how they can drive performance and growth.
Successful companies know how their business works at a granular level. They know what it takes to bring in revenue and how to make changes across their organization to improve sales performance. This means that hungry, growth-oriented organizations are constantly on the hunt for the right tips, tactics, and strategies to increase sales and seller performance.
To help you refine your sales performance strategy, below are four Xactly expert tips that will help you find the right tools and strategies to create efficiency and alignment across your organization.
Tip 1: Improved Performance Requires Transparency
A recent report on the great resignation by Mckinsey showed that 51% of people who left did so because they didn't feel a sense of belonging. Giving credit for work done, and transparency in processes and plans go hand in hand with improved performance.
Employees need to feel that their time, work, and wellness are appreciated and respected. This can differ for every company, but some of the most successful initiatives include offering:
- Work flexibility by allowing employees to work from almost anywhere
- Stipends to create productive, comfortable remote workspaces
- Mental health days to promote employee wellness
- Direct, clear communication with leadership and executives
- Educational opportunities and training
- Tools that make plans more transparent, increasing a sense of belonging and involvement in the growth and successes of an organization.
Tip 2: Investing In Performance Is An Investment In People
Tools that improve performance may seem like a direct jolt to the bottom line, but at the end of the day, they are a direct investment in your people and key to keeping your talent engaged.
2020 has reminded us that all businesses are people businesses. Leaders need tools that will help them empower their employees and optimize team performance. Organizations need to dig deeper into performance analytics, ask the tough questions we may not have thought to ask a year ago, and beat out the competition when trying to hire the best of the best. These factors combined lead sales organizations to be more competitive when trying to attract and retain top talent.
Tip 3: Just Spending Money Doesn't Increase Performance
A typical organization spends $24,000 per person on improving productivity, yet 49% of organizations have zero or limited means to measure productivity.
The average-performing sales reps spend only about 35% of their time in direct selling, and 65% dealing with non-selling activities.
These non-selling activities (aka time sinks) include:
- Non-sales calls
- Internal conversations/meetings
- Networking
- Administrative, manual tasks
All of these activities seem harmless on the surface, but like all things, they add up.
Focusing on employee engagement is more than just buying tools, it’s knowing how to use them effectively that’s essential. Once you know the cause of the low productivity, you can take steps to remove the roadblocks and get your sales teams back to selling.
Tip 4: Consistent Performance Requires Attention
Organizations where salespeople use the company’s sales training methodology and get consistent coaching see 73% quota attainment.
If spending more time training reps leads to better sales numbers, why not figure out what training your team needs in order to sell more effectively.
How do you start?
- Offer additional training sessions or continuing education
- Supply the right enablement materials
- Make sure incentive plans are competitive and clear
- Create effective and efficient channels of communication.
Help your reps become more productive by providing the information and solutions they need to hit their quota.
Using Intelligence to Improve Sales Performance
Successful companies know how their business works at a granular level. They know what it takes to bring in revenue and make changes across their organization to improve sales performance.
With intelligent data insights, organizations can identify where the business has the greatest growth potential and determine whether they have the sales resources needed to achieve goals. Using data, organizations can see how their plans compare with other companies and easily track actual performance versus expectations.
Want to learn more ways to improve sales performance and how you can get started today? Download our guide, “What is Sales Performance Management & How Can it Transform My Business?”
