We all want to save time and money.
And let’s face it: Investing in yet another piece of sales technology does not seem like it does either of those. Not only do you have to spend money to purchase it, but then installation and roll-out eat up time for you and your sales team.
But hear me out.
Sales activity management can save you time and money. Not because it’s the newest, shiniest, most high-tech category of sales software. But because it’s based off of a modern sales methodology: Activity Based Selling.
The Methodology That Inspired Sales Activity Management Technology
Activity Based Selling tells us that sales is a cascading chain of controllable behaviors that lead to a defined outcome, no matter what type of organization you run.
Whether you’re a field sales rep trying to close an enterprise deal or a sales development rep aiming for setting a certain number of qualified appointments with new prospects, there is a defined set of actions that lead to your desired result.
Think of it this way: Before that field sales rep can close her enterprise deal, she needs to first uncover a business opportunity, identify the key players in the buying process, provide a value proposition, host a demo and discovery session, negotiate a contract and then finally close the deal.
It’s the same with a sales development rep. First, he has to identify a potential lead, connect with the lead, have a conversation with the lead, qualify the lead as a prospect and then set up an appointment with the qualified opportunity and a sales rep.
That’s why it’s critical to guide those activities that lead to sales by investing in sales activity management. Here’s how it helps you conserve two of your most valuable assets.
How Sales Activity Management Saves Time And Money
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Achieve higher revenue production per sales employee.
The investment you make in your employees is significant, especially when you layer that with CRM and other sales stack technologies you purchase to enhance their productivity
In an ideal world, we’d get the highest amount of productivity when we hire the right people and give them the right tools. But sales is complex, and sometimes reps need a little more guidance on where they can best spend their time.
That’s where sales activity management comes in. Managing and motivating teams around a common set of leading indicators (those activities that lead to closed deals in your sales process) increases revenue. How? When reps know which activities will lead them to success, they’ll spend less time making guesses on what to do next and more time on the specific selling behaviors you know lead to success.
It’s like making a pizza. If you don’t have a recipe, you’re going to spend a lot of time trying to figure out exactly how much of everything you need to include: 5 cups of flour? 2 cups of cheese? 3 pounds of pepperoni? Isn’t there supposed to be sauce somewhere in there?
If you don’t put in the right amount of the core elements, you won’t get a pizza. In the same way, if reps don’t know what activities to spend their time on and how much of each activity they need, they’ll be losing deals. Not all, but more than they should.
Sales activity management provides reps with a recipe for success, increasing the number of times they close a deal and decreasing the amount of potential revenue you’re losing out on.
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Course-correct performance in real time.
You know that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach when you look at your sales report at the end of the month and learn why you didn’t hit quota? Yeah, it hurts.
A sales win / loss analysis of closed deals can help you learn what to do better next time. But that’s not enough. Don’t you wish you could have known that you were behind three weeks ago when you could have done something about it?
Sales activity management gives you that power. It allows you to monitor performance on a daily basis and lets you know when you fall behind pace. Not only do your reps have their individual activity goals, but you have a composite sales leader goal that helps you view how your team is doing as a whole.
So when you’re team hasn’t made enough phone calls to hit their monthly quota, you can use recognition, competition and incentives to rally them around that key metric. Some sales activity management software will help you automate that, too.
Is one of your reps struggling to hit their qualified appointments goal? Maybe they need some coaching around better qualifying and connecting with leads. Which brings us to our next point…
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Consistently onboard and coach sales reps.
As a sales leader, onboarding and coaching are two of your most important responsibilities. Research from DePaul University tells us that sales organizations continue to struggle with sales rep turnover and that the average cost per turnover is $97,690. That’s almost $100,000 for one person! But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Sales activity management allows you to save time and money in replacing talent by ensuring that you onboard new salespeople against a common set of metrics. This allows them to get ramped up thoroughly and consistently because they know where they’re expected to be performance-wise.
What’s more, once your sales reps are fully onboarded, sales activity management provides objective data to guide your weekly one-on-ones and coaching sessions. When you have metrics that tell you where individual salespeople are falling behind, you know exactly what you need to help them with.
The best part is that not only are you saving money, but you’ll be getting more of it. Stay tuned to our blog for our upcoming piece on why you can expect instant ROI from Sales Activity Management.
Now that you know three big ways sales activity management helps you, are you ready to take the leap? If you’ve already invested in sales activity management, share your experience in the comments below!
