As we know, all organizations have had a tough year but no one feels the pressure quite like sales teams. Sales is on the front lines of uncertainty, dealing with organizational pressure to bring in new business, increased expectations with decreased resources, and all the uncertainty that this past year has brought us. Marketing has already made their list this year, so it’s time to hear from sales!
More Leads of Quality not Quantity
What else would a wishlist for salespeople begin? The lifeline of any sales person focused on closing new business is leads, so it makes sense that this is the top of our list this year. But, it’s not just leads that sales wants…it’s quality leads they can actually do something with. But if marketing falls short, sales ends up sourcing their own which could lead to a disjointed message.
Data We Can Trust
If sales is reaching out to prospects without the proper data to back them up, this is a recipe for awkward interactions and a few hang up calls. Salespeople today spend on average one full work day researching their prospects so this research time needs to be worth it. Once you’ve agreed on the right data to capture, and how to integrate it with your CRM, then you can discuss how to properly leverage it and use it to your advantage.
Marketing Alignment
This wouldn’t be a complete sales wishlist without wanting something from marketing…the ‘needs’ from marketing could go on forever but, sales would settle for some good shareable content to kick us off. Sales and marketing cannot coexist without alignment. If marketing is more focused on outdated tactics and repetitive content that isn’t enabling your sales process, you might be right to worry.
Better Management
Good management can make or break a good salesperson. If your management is constantly hounding you to update Salesforce but not using it themselves, not utilizing the tools provided, and forcing you to make more cold calls all the time, it’s hard to be successful. This usually trickles down to the member of your sales team that needs the most support and has the highest rate of attrition.
Better Process
A successful sales department needs to be built on a foundation of good processes to function at their highest capacity. If the sales process is too rushed and you don’t know your buyer, you end up with low conversion rates and lost deals. Sales also needs structure. When your job involves bringing in new clients, no one wants to hear disjointed messages from multiple people, and receive annoying automated email blasts at odd times. Constant process changes will exacerbate this, so make sure your team is in agreement on a solid strategy.
Goal Alignment
When discussing the aforementioned strategy, goal alignment should be one of your first conversations. If sales and marketing can’t agree on who owns the number, no progress is made. Luckily, there’s a better way to ease the friction of attribution without listening to yet another presentation from marketing about clicks, opens, likes, and shares. The goals of marketing and sales should be the goals of the organization, moving towards them as one collective team rather than competing units.
A Miracle
Some things are just out of our control. I wish we could tell you how to find a client that won’t ask for a discount, or give you a product/service that works 100% of the time. Maybe add these to your list for Santa this year, and let us know if you find the answer… 🙂
