Effective sales strategies are developed through careful evaluation and constant improvement. At Highspot, we work with sales and marketing leaders every day to enable their success, so we know firsthand the importance of a strong sales strategy.
Below, we’ve distilled our learnings with hundreds of customers to answer the most frequently asked questions about developing a winning sales strategy.
Winning a buyer’s heart is no easy feat. In today’s age, competition is fierce and mistrust abounds. As with most modern relationships, achieving lasting customer love requires both time and effort from sellers. Use the tips below to ensure that your buyers are feeling the love right from the start.
Prospecting, pitching, tracking engagement — there’s no question that modern technology solutions have made it easier for sellers to complete these essential tasks. But even as the tools have improved, selling has become more complicated as buyers’ expectations have risen. With increased access to information, buyers today do more of their research independently and invite more internal stakeholders into buying decisions. To capture and win buyers’ attention, sellers must now research and present insightful solutions tailored to multiple decision makers’ needs. The result is that reps end up spending more time trying to keep up with increasingly complex sales processes, impacting overall sales productivity.
Think back to the times you’ve gone through a new employee onboarding program (NEO) — chances are you got a pretty good feeling for how much the organization invests in its employees just from those first few days. Sales onboarding is no different. 49% of high-performing sales reps identify the availability of onboarding as “very to extremely important” when considering a new position, according to SiriusDecisions.
Sales onboarding not only matters to top sales talent, but to sales and executive leadership as well. Sales and executive leaders are responsible for ensuring that the company is hitting its quota targets; therefore, they need to ensure that they are preparing enough quota-carrying reps to be out in the field at any given time. Unfortunately, on average, new sales hires spend 10 weeks in training and development and only become productive after 11.2 months, according to Sales Management Association.
As a leader, how can you make the most of every chance to improve the sales productivity of your reps? Here are five important opportunities to keep top-of-mind.
What is sales effectiveness?
There isn’t one single answer. Some might say effectiveness comes down to performance against goals, while others might define it in terms of revenue or profit. Sometimes, it even gets conflated with sales efficiency. While both sales effectiveness and sales efficiency relate to the improvement of sales performance, efficiency reveals how fast sales reps complete tasks — but not whether they’re performing the right tasks. That’s the focus of sales effectiveness.
Because sales effectiveness is variable and unique to each company, it can be difficult to assess your sales team’s efforts. But without a clear definition of sales effectiveness, it’s impossible to get started measuring and, most importantly, improving.
To help with this conundrum, we’ve written a guide to provide a straightforward explanation of sales effectiveness and the metrics that matter. Read on and we’ll walk you through the process of identifying, measuring, and improving your sales effectiveness.
In the early days of sales operations, sales ops professionals measured financial analytics, conducted reports, and predicted sales forecasting. Mainly, they were problem-solving number crunchers.
These days, they do all that and much more.
Modern sales ops professionals play a vital role in the success of a sales organization by staying ahead of problems and enabling the sales team to focus on selling. When implemented alongside strategic training, tools, and engagement techniques, sales operations can help sales teams become more productive and efficient and have a positive impact on both the top- and bottom-line performance.Continue reading article ›
The term “practice makes perfect” is often associated with coaches and their effort to persuade individuals on their team to train as much as possible during their free time, and it turns out that these coaches were on to something. Studies have found that in order to become an expert, individuals must spend no less than 10,000 hours practicing and honing their skills.
The idea that practice makes an individual better applies to far more than team sports: it is also applicable when discussing the ever-changing B2B sales landscape. Today’s buyers are more informed and demanding than ever and require that sellers are ready at a moment’s notice with value-added insights. Before this can occur, however, reps must be equipped with the proper training and tools to quickly navigate these complex buyer conversations. If not, sellers will find new opportunities at organizations they feel will provide the tools and support they need to thrive and evolve.Continue reading article ›
To traditional sellers, consultative selling can feel intimidating. Instead of maintaining power in the selling process, the seller must yield it to the buyer. It’s certainly not easy to do, but consultative selling can pay off because it provides the personalized experience that modern buyers have grown to expect today. It requires selflessness and time, but implementing consultative selling techniques can help grow an organization’s sales team, increase customer loyalty, and solve each customer’s biggest needs.
Selling is hard. Doing it well is even harder. On any given day, a seller has to keep track of multiple tasks, diverse objectives, and different layers of information in order to have a chance at making the sale, not to mention meeting quota.
To start, a sales rep has to have the most up-to-date information on products and be trained on new versions, new messaging, and new features and functionalities. Reps have to understand and put into action their company’s sales methodology whenever they engage with prospects. And they must have just the right content on hand, ready with the information their prospect needs to help them progress through the buyer’s journey, taking another step toward making a purchase decision.Continue reading article ›
Buyers have had enough. In today’s fast-paced business environment, they don’t have time to sift through bad subject lines, generic follow-ups, sales jargon, or typos. This means that for today’s sales reps and marketers, the struggle to engage buyers is very real.
The truth is, your buyer is more informed than ever. SiriusDecisions states that the modern buyer has already gone through 67% of the buyer’s journey by the time they have their first meaningful interaction with a seller. This means that they’re out there doing independent research and educating themselves before you even reach them.
Since the modern buyer is educated and independent, sales and marketing teams must ensure that their outreach conveys the exact message that their buyer needs to hear at the exact moment that they need to hear it. Now more than ever, landing the right sales pitch that compels buyers to engage with your company is key. But how do you master the perfect balance between controlling the messaging that your sales reps are sending out and giving them the freedom to customize and personalize their outreach?
