You may be experiencing whiplash if you spent any amount of time or effort into keeping your sales teams competitive over the last 5 years. There are new technologies, processes, and an endless supply of confusing ideas and suggestions. It's hard to know whether up is down or if they're supposed to fist-bump vs handshake...
You probably know about inbound marketing by now, and have no doubt toyed with video and a plethora of other marketing tactics.
But none of them seem to be doing what they're supposed to do - help you lead your sales teams to victory. That's because you may be missing 3 critical components that have only recently come into focus.
1. CRM implementation
According to data compiled by State of Inbound 2017, your sales teams are spending WAY too much time on administrative tasks.
What I also find interesting is how disconnected management seems to be about this issue.
According to the same study, the higher we go in the chain of command, the less time people think the sales force is actually spending on administrative tasks.
The people actually doing the work (your sales teams) are saying that 45% of them are spending an hour or more on administrative tasks every day, with 18% spending more than TWO full hours a day on them. A mere 16% said they spend less than 30 minutes on admin duties every day.
Conversely, 34% of your CEOs and 23% of the VPs out there think sales is spending less than 30 minutes on admin tasks daily. 21% of CEOs and 30% of VPs believe it's more than an hour.
photo credits: State of Inbound 2017
Although a glaring problem for your sales teams, those making the decisions on technologies and processes being adopted appear to be disconnected with those actually using the software to perform their jobs.
However it is that you're tracking sales calls and organizing your database of contacts, your system may be broken. Unless you're running a "modern CRM," and you have followed the next 2 steps, I'd say this is an area to revisit.
Running on the cloud doesn't make your CRM modern.... Neither does having customizable portals or an open API... In fact, it's not even a features discussion; it's a discussion about vision & philosophy.
Looking for ways to boost sales?
A "modern CRM" supports your sales reps first, and everything else is secondary. It centralizes data, automates a wide array of functions (like adding notes, contacts, or making calls), and puts data in front of your sales people when and where they need it.
Signing up for a modern CRM like Hubspot Sales is just the beginning. You're going to want it integrated with everything else you're doing, set up to your specifications, and incorporated everywhere.
It helps to have a service provider who has been through it more than once helping you with this.
2. Sales & Marketing alignment
This is not as easy as it sounds. You have two departments accountable for similar goals, but working completely isolated from one another. Coming together and bridging this gap ain't easy either!
But it's oh so important.
Sales & marketing alignment services will help you get your teams on the same page a few different ways:
- Collaboratively define target buyer profiles & personas
- Develop lead views and automated hand-offs through your CRM
- Create goals and accountability through a mutually-developed SLA
This creates synergy that has your most important investments in growth working in harmony.
No more blame-game. No more missed opportunities.
3. Enablement
Sales enablement is a buzzword you've probably heard more than once. But until recently, there hasn't been a lot of actual definition around it.
What does it mean? How can your business' performance improve with a sales enablement engagement?
Sales enablement comes down to making sales easier for those selling.
- Help your sales people meet prospects where they exist
- Integrate marketing's content strategy into the sales process
- Enable a 5-minute or less sales response time
Why an agency?
A b2b sales services agency brings a lot of different skills to the table along with a proven, repeatable process. As the sales leader, you are going to play an important role in any program designed to promote sales growth, and you may want to take on some or all of these responsibilities. There are some clear benefits to doing so, but there are also some drawbacks.
Agencies that specialize in b2b sales services:
- ... have more than one client & build upon prior experiences
- ... can own this piece of the business
- ... bring an 3rd party perspective
- ... remove bias from the entire process
We have a 10 step process for setting up modern CRMs - for example.
Check out our Sales Enablement Services to learn more:
