If your reps phone conversations are the #1 catalyst to sales opportunities, and you lack insight into this activity, read on! Sales leaders today can

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Edmund Lewis
7 years ago
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1 GRYPHON WHITE PAPER Solving Challenges: Dispersed Sales Team Management

2 If your reps phone conversations are the #1 catalyst to sales opportunities, and you lack insight into this activity, read on! Sales leaders today can t ignore the growing emphasis on business intelligence and the availability of tools to analyze data. Many rely on Salesforce or spreadsheets that tend to focus on lower funnel activity. This may suffice for some but there is much more to be measured, especially on the front end, and not just for the sake of measuring, but to take action that will lead to a significant impact on lower funnel results. This paper takes you through three challenging areas where Gryphon s Sales Performance Dashboard shines, told in a case study format so you can envision this solution making a difference in your world. 3 TOP

3 Use Case #1: The Dispersed and Growing Sales Team Challenge: Max Thompson leads a team of 24 sales reps and 4 regional managers. His company recently acquired a smaller firm where he inherited 4 more reps and at any given time, it seems he has 3 reps on the way out and about 3 in training. Some are located at the headquarters, some work from regional offices, and some work from home. Max is finding that neither he nor his regional managers have any insight into their reps calling activity, even though the phone is the first touch point that leads to a sale. Aside from Salesforce reports and some ad hoc meetings, Max and his managers are largely relying on hope and quota intimidation to fill monthly pipelines. Sometimes they hit, sometimes not. The one thing Max is sure of is he s losing control. Solution: Max discussed the matter with his regional managers and all agreed the biggest blind spots they have are not knowing if team members were making enough calls, having a healthy number of conversations, and following up sufficiently on leads. Max decided to seek out a solution that would provide analysis of phone activity. But how do you do that when you have reps in different locations, calling from a host of different devices, including personal cell phones? How do you get the calling data into a format that is in an easy to read context? Enter Gryphon Networks. Max learned he wouldn t have to bother his IT department with another project and soon entered into a 60-day free trial. Next, Max s team was asked to make a minor change to their calling habits those dialing from wired phones would enter a PIN before making calls. Those who may call from smartphones were directed to download an app that replicates their native dialer. With all calls now passing through Gryphon s Secure Cloud, Max also received Gryphon s Sales Performance Dashboard and was assisted with configuring sales KPIs and benchmarks that clearly show team call totals, conversations, and frequency of dials per lead. Max was also

4 instructed to set several Watchlists which are performance ratios such as calls per rep or contacts per rep, that can be summed up by location or person over a desired period of time. Outcome: Within a week Max was able to view his sales dashboard and know his sales organization was making calls according to goal benchmarks and that the number of conversations and frequency of calls were maintained at levels that consistently lead to opportunities and wins. Max really enjoyed being able to monitor this activity on his ipad, which made it simple to make quick decisions at-a-glance. In the third month Max noticed total calls dipping a bit. With one click he brought up a line graph showing calls by location and immediately noticed one rep was lagging behind. Max and the regional manager were able to intervene and correct the problem before it made a significant impact on the overall goal. Max now had control. Use Case #2: When CRM is Less Than Accurate Challenge: Mark Tolliver recently accepted the role of Vice President of Sales where he inherited a team of 32 sales reps spread across 6 regions. Three of the regions had General Managers overseeing Sales and Customer Service functions, the other regions were in transition, trying to fill the GM role. Mark s firm used Salesforce to process leads and opportunities, however, some used it diligently but most used it sparingly or followed their own workflow methods which resulted in useless reports. Mark couldn t get the data he needed to understand if there was enough activity to reach revenue goals and it would be impossible

to get everyone on the same page in a short period of time, especially with limited management oversight. To him, Salesforce was a big expense with little value.

It had to be easy enough for all reps to adopt and ideally would complement the investment made in Salesforce.

5 to get everyone on the same page in a short period of time, especially with limited management oversight. To him, Salesforce was a big expense with little value. Solution: Mark needed a solution that would get him the data he needed to accurately forecast monthly and quarterly sales projections. It had to be easy enough for all reps to adopt and ideally would complement the investment made in Salesforce. Mark chose Gryphon Networks where most reps would be making calls using Gryphon s Click-to-Dial Salesforce App. This is an easy download that places a Click-to-Dial icon right next to the record s phone number in Salesforce. Reps click the icon and a call is initiated. Not only are call details captured by Gryphon but Mark s firm has the option of designating disposition results that reps can select with a keypad stroke. These results are then automatically entered into Salesforce. Outcome: Mark was able to get all users to download the Gryphon Salesforce App and commence calling via the Click-to-Dial icon. He instituted a handful of dispositions Follow Up 90 Days Appointment Set Showed Demo No Interest Wrong Person With these outcomes entered into Salesforce through minimal effort from the reps, and all call meta data automatically entered (e.g. calls made, conversations, duration), Mark s reports improved significantly. He now uses the Sales Performance Dashboard and integrated Salesforce reports to get actionable data to better manage the entire team and feel confident in his forecasts. The reps find it easier to zip through calls faster within the Salesforce record resulting in more total calls, appointments and demos set. As a bonus, Mark configured business rules that prevented reps from making calls out of territory. An icon now indicates Do-Not-Call in the Salesforce

6 record, avoiding field conflicts a reason two GM s resigned in previous months. Use Case #3: The Importance of Training and Coaching Challenge: Janice Denton heads up a team of 120 sales reps and 14 regional managers. At any given time she could have a dozen reps moving through a two month training phase and about the same either exiting the company or on a probation plan. She realizes that a failed trainee could cost the company upwards of $25,000 and losing a top performer could be much higher. Janice wants to shorten One of the most important training time, reduce dropouts, and retain tools is training and, more consistent top performers. To do this she would specifically, formal coaching. need an analytics tool that provides insight into Studies have shown that trainee behavior as well as habits of dependable sales coaching can greatly accelerate the rate at top guns. which sales reps learn. Whereas training alone Solution: can improve behaviors and outcomes, training combined Janice was presented a demonstration of with coaching can yield Gryphon s Sales Performance Dashboard, a even stronger outcomes, solution that integrates with her telecom provider, especially in complex, or a PIN or mobile app can be used for those dynamic environments. Our outside the network. She learned that call KPIs recent research confirms that captured through Gryphon s Secure Cloud are formal coaching methods can displayed for on-demand access via any webplay a key role in increasing enabled device. Now Janice has real-time insight sales effectiveness. to key sales metrics for the overall team as well as several watch lists that show regional and Accenture Strategy Study individual performance over time spans that are Powering Profitable relevant to her. Sales Growth Outcome: Five Imperatives from the 2014 Sales Performance Optimization Study. Through the Leaderboard view, Janice quickly identified top performers and noticed their call frequency and number of conversations per total calls. After some discussion

7 with them and script tweaking, she was able to standardize call expectations and set benchmarks to view progress via the sales dashboard. With these best practices documented, Janice shortened training time and gave new recruits a better chance at success. Those that wouldn t work out were detected much earlier, saving thousands. When reps were lagging behind their peers in volume, Janice recognized early and notified regional managers to intervene with coaching, preventing prolonged periods of underperformance. Janice also instituted a gamification strategy based on the accurate call data she now had. Top performers and those that consistently followed up on leads were rewarded, improving overall results and longer retention of desired talent. Conclusion Revenue and quota goals are obvious numbers to measure but if you have blind spots or lack the means to make changes in a timely manner, you ll find yourself relying on hope and guesswork more and more often, especially if your team is growing and dispersed. Front end measures are the foundation of lower-funnel results, and keeping your eye on them, with benchmarks in place, assures optimal sales performance management and greater chance at achieving goals as you forecast them. To request a demo or inquire about a free trial, please or call us today! Gryphon Networks 100 Summer Street Suite 800 Boston, MA Contact Us for-u@gryphonnetworks.com

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