How to Make Your Sales Team More Productive
There’s always room for improvements! If you’re looking to increase productivity in your business, you may want to change the way your sales team functions.
In sales, there are two main obstacles that stand in the way: Multitasking and non-selling activities.
Multitasking involves juggling a lot of tasks to get things done in a timely manner. You may think this is efficient but the results of multitasking might surprise you. Here’s the problem: While 7 out of 10 people think they're stellar multitaskers, the truth is that 98% of people are not efficient at handling numerous tasks. Studies show that 40% of a worker’s time is wasted when they consistently switch tasks. In fact, multitasking actually negatively affects the brain. In a study conducted by the University of London it was found that found that multitasking between text and email can knock a whole ten points from your IQ. This is similar to the effect of losing a night’s sleep. So much for getting things done effectively!
The second obstacle is non-selling activities. You would assume the vast majority of salespeople’s time would be dedicated to actually selling for the company but that’s not the case. When it comes to time, 78% of salespeople spend it on non-selling activities such as planning, order processing and travel. It leaves about a quarter (22%) of their overall workday spent in selling mode. The rest is dedicated to a variety of unrelated tasks.
Certain activities, such as travel and incremental breaks, aren’t likely to diminish anytime soon but there are ways to better optimize a seller’s time.
One of the solutions is to organize tasks by priority. Workers who use priority lists can manage 12% more prospects while the sales cycle time is 30% shorter.
The other solution: Use efficient processes and integrated sales tools and technology. This alleviates the way salespeople switch tasks, re-enter data or search for information.
The benefits of driving sales productivity are clear and simple. With more productive sales teams, organizations see a 60% higher conversion rate and 30% faster response times. This means more quality time is spent with prospects which leads to stronger customer relationships.
How does this look when it’s applied in the real world? We’ve outlined some best practices to hold true. Check out our detailed infographic to learn more.
