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( votes)Helping your sales team improve their efficiency is key to maintaining a competitive edge and continuing to drive revenue despite a volatile market. Improving communication, quoting quickly and accurately, and selling efficiently are important goals for sales leadership.
In this article, we’ll highlight 3 easy steps you can take to make your team more agile and responsive by streamlining your sales process. What is more, we’ll talk about the importance of measuring performance, and how that will promote continuous improvement.
Step 1: Eliminate Manual Processes and Reduce Complexity
In the journey from lead acquisition to closed deal, are there momemts where your sales representatives are hunting for information, using a complex spreadsheet to calculate an approximate price, reentering data into your CRM system, or otherwise getting bogged down in time-consuming tasks? Such factors negatively affect your team’s performance and the resulting customer impression.
Wise sales leaders actively look for ways to improve sales workflows, analyzing from end to end. Evaluate the solutions you have in place; identify tools and strategies that can automate repetitive processes and thus give your sales reps more time to sell and close deals.
Discover: How CPQ Supports a Thriving Sales Team
Step 2: Ensure Accuracy in Customer Communications
First impressions are critical. Few things are more embarrassing than going back to a prospect or a newly-signed customer to correct an inaccurate quote. From there, the customer’s trust and confidence in your ability to deliver on your promises declines sharply – in some cases, ending the relationship altogether.
Inaccurate quotes are most frequently the result of human error. Before throwing all the blame on your sales reps, however, it must be noted that, in many companies, product and pricing information is difficult to keep up to date. Add to that the complexity of price configuration formulas, and the manual tools used to calculate them. In the end, your company is left to absorb the difference in order to make the sale.
By contrast, a sales team equipped with an automated CPQ solution gets it right first time, every time. Each quote is calculated accurately and validated before it is sent to the client, removing human error from the equation.
Step 3: Leverage your Business Data to Stay Competitive
Today’s advancing technology puts business data at center stage, with processes becoming ever more data-driven, according to global consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
Key stakeholders such as investors, board members, and sales managers need to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of organizational processes, as well as forecast future revenue accurately. Such analysis is only possible with the right tools in place that deliver meaningful business intelligence.
According to a survey conducted by Deloitte, 49% of participants said that analytics help them make better-informed decisions, with 16% saying that it empowers their key strategic initiatives, and 10% saying that it helps them improve relationships with both their customers and business partners.
The point? Your business data holds the key to remaining competitive. Collect data and analyze it closely. Gain insights from buyer and seller activities and interactions. Examine the frequency, duration, and intervals, along with communication style and content. See what the most successful sales team members are doing and reinforce those habits across your entire team.
The Bottom Line
If your sales team lacks efficiency and agility, your more aggressive competitors will overtake you – even if you have a better product. Today’s marketplace is filled with an overwhelming array of options for the buyer. To stand out and win the sale, you need to align with buyers’ needs and expectations. Analyze your sales processes and streamline them so you can, not just stay in the game, but win it.
Looking for the right tools to help you improve sales performance? Contact us today to learn more.
By DealHub | dealhub.io
The post Streamline Your Sales Process in 3 Easy Steps appeared first on CRM Software Blog | Dynamics 365.
