The March Madness basketball tournament is notoriously unpredictable, and this year is expected to come with even more upsets than usual. And while the thrill from the uncertainty may be exciting to watch on TV, the same can’t be said for experiencing chaos on your sales team. If you are feeling like you have a case of prospect madness due to the unpredictability of your sales team, you have some work to do to up your game.
Ready to rise from being an underdog and overcome your competition? Below are five ways you can help your sales team rise above the madness:
1. You cannot have speed without control, on the court or in sales.
Sales teams today are usually equipped with a CRM solution and a dialer to speed things up. While both of these technologies can help drive more activity, if it isn’t the right activity, it will not yield the results you want and enhance sales. In order to ensure that any increase in activity is producing proportional results, sales leaders need to be laser-focused on incorporating control functions into the sales workflow.
For example, Joseph Semrani, a mortgage-banking executive at M&T Bank in the West Region Mortgage Division, understands the significance of a well-defined and coherent sales structure. Once he applied a guided sales process across his entire team, he was able to achieve a 90 percent contact rate, 50 percent qualification rate, and a 3-5 percent conversion rate on competitive internet leads – results that are very rare in the mortgage industry.
2. Utilize your star players for the best outcome.
In sales, getting the right prospect to the right rep at the right time is how you achieve the best results. Leveraging a tool that has built-in distribution rules to send higher-quality leads to reps who get the best results and successfully follow the sales strategy encourages everyone to adopt the established sales process, leading to more conversions.
We have found that your average rep can more than double their lead conversion by receiving more leads similar to those that they have been found to be skilled at converting.
3. Having the right data insights will help you implement the most effective strategies
A recent study by McKinsey uncovered that organizations that effectively use big data and analytics to drive productivity are 5 to 6 percent more profitable than their competitors. This further proves that in order for sales organizations to succeed, they do not necessarily need to have the most data, but they have to use it best.
Having the appropriate data can help ensure your workflow is optimized, your highest priority accounts are maximized, and that your team is functioning at peak efficiency.
4. Knowing you position against competition can motivate the entire team.
Sales reps often thrive off competition, making the current score a driver of both strategy and motivation for the team. Provide your team with insight into how they are matching up against their peers. Leaderboards allow you to see, in real time, who is in the lead throughout the work day. Knowing how they measure up at all times can help reps focus on what needs to get done to achieve their daily goals and get them to MVP status.
5. Keep your eye on the prize.
At the end of the day, the goal of strengthening sales teams and results is to increase the bottom line. And sales reps are also concerned with their bottom line. Therefore, it is practical and effective to reward higher-performing reps to drive peak performance. We believe in a universal approach to motivation that includes the carrot, the stick, and the race.
Having a good compensation plan may be more powerful than you think. According to a recent study, companies that offered better compensation plans (“the carrot”) noticed improvements in morale and an increase in revenue from the year before. Another highly effective, but lesser-used carrot, is awarding high-performing reps with better-qualified prospects based on real-time performance metrics.
Implement a redistribution program. This is also known as “the stick.” When high-value prospects go untouched for too long, revenue is being lost. Establishing a program that reassigns prospects if they aren’t touched in a set amount of time helps discourage this behavior.
Peer competition. This is the “the race.” Tools like leaderboards displayed for the entire sales team to view can help sales teams keep score in real time and motivate reps.
Have a clear game plan in mind and be sure to communicate it to your entire sales team. In doing so, you will help ensure your sales team does not fall victim to a March Madness meltdown. By incorporating the strategies outlined above you and your team will be well on their way to closing out the season with success!
