A Modern Sales Roadmap. 7 best practices to drive sales success. tellwise

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1 A Modern Sales Roadmap 7 best practices to drive sales success tellwise

2 Introduction Whether you re an inside sales rep or the Chief Sales Officer (CSO), you know sales is a demanding field, with countless factors that can cause sales numbers to go up or down. Fortunately, sales best practices have evolved in part due to technology into proven processes that give organizations more control over their methodologies and therefore their bottom lines. The seven sales best practices outlined in this e-book address the biggest sales challenges and are applicable and effective across all types of sales organizations. Brought together in a cycle of continuous improvement, we call these best practices a modern sales roadmap. We hope this roadmap will lead you and your organization to more effective sales processes. Enjoy! Conrad Bayer CEO, Tellwise Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 2

3 The biggest barriers to sales Sometimes sales slump for economic reasons and other factors that are out of our control. But, sometimes the reasons for declining sales have nothing to do with external forces. Sometimes the real barriers to better numbers are internal, and result from a lack of best practices to guide the sales process in a holistic manner. In one study, CSO Insights 1 found the following common barriers to sales effectiveness (Figure 1): Figure 1: Current Sales Effectiveness Barriers, from CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization Study, 2015 Summary of Charts, slide 11. Notice that four of the top six barriers to sales effectiveness involve the sales process itself: Close rates not high enough Sell cycle too long Lack of common sales process Ineffective sales process Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 3

4 7 Best Practices for Effective Selling When the challenges are internal and due to poor processes, organizations can take action to bring about change. Overcoming these barriers requires systemic change within the organization so that sales becomes a process with a continuous cycle of feedback and improvement based on the following seven core best practices (Figure 2): 1. Product Training 2. Methodology 3. Content 4. CRM Tools 5. Social Selling 6. Key Performance Indicators 7. Sales Enablement Product Training Sales Enablement Methodology Key Performance Indicators Content Social Selling CRM Tools Figure 2: Seven best practices for effective selling. Below you ll learn more about each of these best practices and how they can be implemented in a holistic manner to improve the sales processes at your organization so those sales numbers will continue trending up. Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 4

5 1 Product Training Training is a critical first step in following a modern sales roadmap, but it comes with some caveats. Although some studies indicate more firms are investing in sales training than ever before, this increased investment is not reflected in sales numbers. Why not? If companies are spending more money on training, shouldn t sales go up? Theoretically yes, but training in and of itself doesn t fix all problems. Figure 3: Annual Investment in Training Sales Manager, from CSO Insights Sales Management Optimization Study, 2015 Full Study Charts, slide 40. Figure 3 shows the annual investment in training sales managers, which is only the beginning of the training needed as sales reps follow suit. Sales managers and CSOs are right to invest in the training, but there are several possible reasons why they may not see an increase in sales as a result of this investment, including: Organizations end up with inconsistency in processes because training is given but isn t necessarily applied. Remote sales teams make scheduling training a challenge in the first place, and managers are hard-pressed to ensure training is being put into action. The training itself is ineffective. According to one source, 2 only one in three sales trainers feel their current training programs are effective. Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 5

6 Finally, there s the delivery method, which is fraught with challenges no matter which one you choose. Almost half of organizations use video for training, and those videos tend to average 20 minutes in length despite experts suggesting the maximum length should be no more than 5-10 minutes. For training offered via mobile devices, many sales people find it s not formatted well for their smartphones, making it difficult to use as a training tool. As Figure 4 demonstrates, training comes in a variety of formats. Figure 4: Training Reinforcement Methods Utilized from CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization Study, 2015 Summary of Charts, slide 33. You know training matters and is a crucial part of building a strong foundation with your team, so how do you improve upon what you re already doing? In order to make training an effectual part of your entire sales process, take steps to: Invest in the ongoing training of your sales people. Choose the right method for the training, offering more than one channel if necessary. Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 6

7 Ensure the content is engaging, relevant and current. Offer training via the channels your sales people will actually use, and make sure that videos are an appropriate length (if used) and that training offered via mobile devices is formatted correctly. Offer on-demand training. Be clear in your expectations that techniques in the training will be implemented by your sales team. Use tools such as CRM to track sales activity and monitor how much or little training is implemented by sales people. Remember that training is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. The extra effort required to ensure training is effective and worth it, as Figure 5 shows in the measurable benefits you ll achieve. Figure 5: Measurable Benefits from Sales Training, from CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization Study, 2015 Summary of Charts, slide 37. Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 7

8 2 Methodology Training on its own can only advance a sales team so far. That s why a sales methodology is the next of the seven best practices. The training must be put into action, and that s more likely to happen with a known sales methodology in place and followed. As with training, having the methodology does not ensure it will be used. As shown in Figure 6, 16.7% of CSOs report 3 their sales force consistently uses the sales methodology less than 50% of the time, with another 34.6% using it up to only threefourths of the time. Yet research shows using a sales methodology has a direct correlation on results with significantly better performance. Figure 6: Sales Methodology Adoption Rates, from CSO Insights Sales Management Optimization Study, 2015 Full Study Charts, slide 41. Perhaps sales people ignore a methodology because they don t think it works, they aren t trained on it, or they don t realize the value of it. Make sure your sales methodology is one they will want to use (and get trained on). What does an effective sales methodology look like? A sales methodology provides not hard-and-fast rules, but rather a framework upon which the sales process is based. A sales methodology should: Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 8

9 Map the sales process to the buying process. Have agreed upon target definitions. Be customized to an organization s structure, customers and sales environment. Offer well-defined stages, with actions spelled out for each step. Help to qualify leads. Be easy to use. Move deals through the funnel faster. Be supported by management. Provide common tools for the sales force. Enable accountability and incentives. Adapting and implementing a sales methodology can help to overcome all four of the common barriers to sales effectiveness described at the beginning of this e-book. It s an imperative best practice, and plays a key role in the modern sales roadmap. 3 Content When it comes to sales, delivering a consistent message at every touch point is key, especially as buyers now access information about you, your company, and your solution in multiple ways. Your business presence is visible across many channels and should align with and reinforce your sales methodology. Your content is part of your sales methodology. This is where alignment between marketing and sales becomes imperative, because it s usually marketing that develops and controls a brand s messaging and creates the content sales teams are to use and prospects are to find. As you can see in Figure 7, the assessment of marketing s sales support materials could use improvement. For that reason, it s imperative marketing communicates with sales to know what pain points customers have, the types of solutions they seek, and the kind of language that resonates with those customers. Marketing also needs to develop the types of communications sales needs for each stage of the sales lifecycle. Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 9

10 Figure 7: Assessment of Marketing s Sales Support Materials, from CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization Study, 2015 Summary of Charts, slide 43. Marketing and sales alignment on content is typically approached in three ways: 1. Refine marketing activities within the sales cycle For example, marketing creates a whitepaper that addresses concerns typical of prospects at a certain stage in the sales cycle. 2. Improve coordination around lead generation For example, marketing creates a drip campaign that is triggered when someone registers for a webinar. The lead information and type of content accessed by the user is then delivered to the salesperson, who can then customize the template for each prospect and make a connection. 3. Increase sales force participation in the marketing process For example, marketing includes sales in the development of an marketing campaign, or seeks their feedback after a campaign has launched and sales reps gather customer reactions to help marketing refine their delivery. Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 10

11 After creation of the necessary content pieces, sales departments need a delivery method that enables every rep access to the content, as well as an ability to customize the materials and keep them up-to-date. The key is to find the right tools that allow enough customization, flexibility and responsiveness for sales while protecting the brand for marketing. 4 CRM Tools Your CRM system becomes another key best practice only when your sales people know how to use it, and do so as part of your sales methodology. Just having a CRM system is not enough. Your team needs to be trained on how to maximize it, and your managers need to make sure that they do, by using it themselves. Figure 8 illustrates some of the challenges sales managers face in respect to CRM usage within the sales team. Figure 8: Assessment: CRM Usage in Forecast Management, from CSO Insights Sales Management Optimization Study, 2015 Full Study Charts, slide 49. Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 11

12 Adoption is the key. Just because you build it (or in this case invest in it) does not mean they will come (or use it). A big factor in the adoption rate of a CRM system is the training (which leads us back to the first best practice described above). According to a CSO 2015 survey, 4 CRM adoption is over 90% in 38.1% of companies Figure 9: CRM Adoption Rates by Sales Reps, from CSO Insights Sales Management Optimization Study, 2015 Full Study Charts, slide 47. Training is not the only factor influencing the adoption rate, however. For adoption of the CRM system and ongoing use of it, organizations must have: Both training and support A defined sales methodology (our second best practice) Ease of use Integration with what the reps are already doing, including your other sales tools Mobile enablement: 93% of reps use their mobile devices to check , schedule appointments, and sync with the sales department or corporate office Management as a role model: They must use the system and manage the pipeline within the system Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 12

13 A hard line for management is to say, If your deal isn t in the CRM, it doesn t exist, but that doesn t take into account failure to use the CRM because it is difficult to navigate or doesn t integrate with other content or tools. It might get sales reps to use the CRM, but not to its fullest extent. Without incorporating full use of your CRM into your sales process, the effectiveness will likely lag behind what it could otherwise be. 5 Social Selling These days, social selling is hot, and LinkedIn leads the way for B2B sales. It is by far and away the most widely recognized (and effective) social engagement selling application in the B2B space. Twitter is useful for researching companies to discover what they care about, but it s within LinkedIn that the real social selling happens. And that s why we list this as the fifth best practice of the modern sales roadmap. Social selling helps sales reps to: Identify potential customers. Connect with leads in new ways. Start conversations. Strengthen relationships. Prioritize their time and effort. And it works: Organizations with strong social selling programs, training and tools are more successful, with 65% of reps meeting or beating their quota vs. only 53% of those reps at companies that lag behind in social adaptation. Forbes magazine reports that 78% of sales people using social medial outsell their peers. 5 To incorporate social selling into your sales methodology, encourage your sales reps to add social media to their daily activities. Help them to choose relevant groups to become active with, and to build personal brands on LinkedIn that will position them as knowledgeable in their field. Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 13

14 6 Key Performance Indicators Peter Drucker once famously observed, What gets measured gets managed. In other words, if you don t know what s broken, how can you fix it? The better the sales process and the more widely it is used across an organization, the more successful the sales team. This includes effective training and consistent usage of CRM, content and other tools described above. However, your sales methodology can be even more effective if you make key performance indicators (KPIs) a regular part of that process. For KPIs to play a key role in your modern sales roadmap, consider the advice of some experts who say KPIs should be defined as activities, not goals. Your sales methodology as described above should include these activities. Your sales process should define each activity clearly with expectations as to how many of these activities are to be completed in pursuit of sales goals. For example, most if not all of the following activities are probably expected of your sales force. Your KPIs could include these activities, with sales people required to complete X amount of each within a given time period. Because if you don t pay attention to the little things, the big things are elusive. Sales Activity Contacting prospects (by phone, , InMail or another way) Meeting with new prospects Meeting with prospects in the pipeline Conducting presentations Submitting written offers Conducting follow up calls Contacting existing customers (by phone, , InMail or another way) Meeting with existing customers Required Number Per Time Period X X X X X X X X Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 14

15 In order to make KPIs part of your sales process, you ll need to decide which performance indicators and activities are the ones that add up for your business. Then communicate these KPIs across the sales department, make them part of your training and methodology, ensure the content used for each is appropriate and on brand, and make sure activities are mapped back to the CRM system. You could even include social selling in your KPIs to encourage daily activity on LinkedIn. Social selling KPIs could include liking content, adding to connections or commenting on group posts. 7 Sales Enablement Sales enablement is the culminating best practice and the one that brings the other six together. In fact, if you re doing everything described in this document thus far, you are enabling more effective sales. Hubspot 6 says if sales and marketing are married, then sales enablement is their child, although admittedly the term means different things to different companies. In general, however, sales enablement should be systematic and part of the sales process to help to provide all six of the other key elements already described above: 1. Product Training 2. Methodology 3. Content 4. CRM Tools 5. Social Selling 6. Key Performance Indicators Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 15

16 Figure 10: Dedicated Sales Effectiveness/Enablement Staff, from CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization Study, 2015 Summary of Charts, slide 110. Some businesses have decided sales enablement is important enough to warrant staff dedicated to that role. SiriusDecisions 7 found the top four activities performed by sales enablement are: Providing guidelines for using sales assets. Sharing enablement best practices. Building sales assets. Developing product training. As a unit or department, it can report into sales, marketing or more than one business unit. Regardless of where the function resides within the organization, it provides a key (if not the key) integration role between marketing and sales. You don t have to have a separate department or staff person labeled sales enablement to put these principles into practice, however. You can see in Figure 10 that only a quarter of sales forces have a dedicated sales enablement team. An article in Yahoo! Small Business 8 describes sales enablement as, A systematic approach to Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 16

17 increasing sales productivity, by supporting reps with the content, training and analytics they need to have more successful sales conversations. This is possible at any size organization, with or without a dedicated sales enablement team. It really goes back to the beginning of this e-book and all of the key elements of a modern sales roadmap described herein: bringing together training, methodology, content, tools, social, and ways to measure progress to improve the sales process. Conclusion A strong sales process provides a skilled and motivated salesforce with structure and consistency, as well as reducing customer churn and employee turnover. An effective sales process enables consistent execution. Look holistically at improving sales at your organization by implementing these seven best practices in a continuous loop of feedback and improvement. Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 17

18 Footnotes: 1. Sales Performance Optimization Study, 2015 Key Trends Analysis, CSO Insights, p Sales Performance Optimization Study, 2015 Sales Process Analysis, CSO Insights, p Structure.aspx html Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 18

19 CSO Insights CSO Insights benchmarks the challenges faced by today s sales and marketing organizations. CSO Insights track trends in the use of people, process, technology and knowledge to improve sales effectiveness. They have served sales and marketing executives for over 15 years offering pragmatic suggestions, experienced-based examples and the kind of insights you ll want before your next Executive Strategy Session or Board meeting! For More Information: Tellwise Tellwise is a cloud-based sales acceleration platform that automates sales lead tracking through the entire lifecycle from start to close, and streamlines how buyers and sellers communicate more effectively and efficiently along the customer journey. Tellwise, which is deeply integrated with Salesforce, combines the best of , instant messaging, collaboration, social media-like features, and analytics into a single environment. For more information, visit or contact sales@tellwise. com for a free 30-day subscription. For More Information sales@tellwise.com 1 (425) Lake Bellevue Dr Suite 213 Bellevue, WA Copyright 2015 Tellwise. All Rights Reserved. 19