The field of sales requires its practitioners to have many skills. Thorough knowledge of the product or service is a must. Charismatic delivery of information is key. Communicating enough without becoming annoying is vital.
But those skills alone don’t always do the trick. Sometimes additional tools and resources are necessary to get the job done. Other times, one-on-one support is required to bring people up to speed. Regardless, figuring out the best mix of training resources and tools to fit your team’s needs is important.
And the right combination will vary from sales team to sales team. Some groups may thrive with something simple while others may seek out technologically advanced options. Either way, beginning the search is the first step. Here are a few tools to consider exploring to create a more effective and efficient sales group.
1. Implement a Contract Management Tool
A verbal commitment to buy is a great first step, but everyone in sales knows it’s not final until the dotted line is inked. That’s what makes contracts the bread and butter of most businesses. They’re ironclad, legal documents that specify the terms of an agreement and allow everything else to begin.
Given the importance of contracts to your business’s bottom line, keeping them straight is essential. That’s where a contract management platform comes in. These tools facilitate contract development, enable digital client signatures, and maintain legal documents in one place. Such capabilities make these platforms a game changer for salespeople, clients, and legal teams alike.
Need quick access to the status of a certain contract? It’s only a few clicks away. Want to know how many contracts are pending to inform your sales team’s efforts? Easy. The benefits are seemingly endless.
Contract management tools offer efficiency-enhancing customizations that gives salespeople more time to focus on what they do best — make connections. The relationships they build will lead to satisfied customers who feel supported, which only further strengthens your business.
2. Think Through Performance Management
In nearly every business, there are employee reviews. Managers will detail the wins of the year, identify areas for improvement, and maybe offer a raise or bonus. These meetings can help team members understand how they’re doing from the company’s perspective. And that is invaluable when it comes to growth — especially in a field like sales.
But performance management isn’t always an easy task for leaders. For high performers, it’s a simple conversation about a job well done. For employees who are struggling, though, it’s a different story. That’s where performance management tools can really shine.
With resources to guide leaders through the experience, these tools save time and reduce stress. They often have automated timelines built in that leaders can follow seamlessly. They also allow for comments from both parties to help ensure a fair, unbiased review.
Take a look at what performance indicators are most important for your team and identify review tools that align with those goals. From there, it’s about having honest conversations with employees and creating improvement plans, as needed. Progress check-ins can identify the steps it takes to turn an OK salesperson into a stellar one. It just requires commitment from both sides and the right tool to help make it happen.
3. Speak the Same Language
How you and your sales team speak about your product or service is paramount to being able to get customers on board. If everyone is communicating differently — in tone or about your offering’s features — there will be a noticeable disconnect. And while not every prospect will notice, these mixed messages can negatively impact your brand.
So how do you fix that? If you haven’t already, create a brand guidelines document to explain your company and its mission. From there, you can add sales talking points or features of your product or service to highlight in initial communications.
If you already have this document and still have issues, consider revisiting it. Consult the sales and customer service teams to identify points of confusion and update items as needed. Remember that messaging is a living, breathing process that will change over time. Simply getting started will make your team more cohesive and, therefore, more successful.
4. Streamline Emails
Communication is essential to selling just about anything. From talking with suppliers to reaching out to potential buyers, there’s no shortage of emails being sent. But keeping them all organized requires diligence and time. That’s where email management tools come to the rescue.
They make getting back to your most valued customers promptly a breeze. They can remove spam on your behalf. And screening for high-priority messages becomes automatic, too. Some tools can even identify duplicate work across teams, making accidentally redundant emails a thing of the past.
These tools can dramatically improve how effective your sales team is at communication. That alone could improve customer satisfaction and brand affinity. Plus, streamlining the workload for your sales group makes their other job duties that much more manageable.
Closing the Deal
Salespeople are a special breed of charismatic, passionate workers with the drive to
excel. But that doesn’t exclude them from needing support. The resources outlined here are a great way to help ensure your sales team reaches its highest potential.
