With the threat of a global recession looming over 2023, prospects are – and will continue – approaching new investments with greater caution. Sales roles have become even more challenging in that regard. But, with the right revenue and mitigation strategies in place, there are still opportunities for businesses to grow.
Even then, success will rely on a motivated sales team that embraces the challenge and adopts new ways of working. Now, businesses need to prioritise company culture and techniques that boost reps’ confidence as well as productivity.
Using sales data to motivate reps and boost performance
The value of data to improve the sales process is well-accepted. It has been the driving force behind CRM software for decades. But a new depth of data is required if businesses are to help their sales reps take quick, targeted actions that make a tangible difference. By applying new techniques to sales data, businesses can provide insight for sales reps to work smarter instead of even harder. Through methods such as gamification and AI, this may motivate them to hit their revenue targets.
Encourage and incentivise information-driven sales
CRM has become a fundamental sales tool, but many companies still fail to maximise their ROI. The trouble is that salespeople often view CRM as a way for management to track their performance, rather than a tool that adds value to the sales process. For businesses to unlock the full benefits of their sales data, this needs to change.
With the right model, the earlier in the process that data is inputted into the CRM, the more help and support salespeople should receive. For example, good data can help them to qualify out poor prospects early on and only ever focus their time on the best opportunities.
As a first step, businesses can introduce gamification techniques. This includes leaderboards and scoreboards to encourage the necessary level of data input CRM. Promoting success throughout the sales process in this way, and not only celebrating sales wins, can help build confidence across the entire team. And this is while creating the data picture to help them work more efficiently and effectively.
Share best practices to maximise success
Ensuring the sales team can rapidly understand the benefits of an ever-expanding data resource is hugely valuable. Which sales activities have been the most successful? At what point in the sales journey? By applying AI and behavioural science techniques to sales data, businesses can identify the steps that lead to success across the entire sales team.
Combined with gamification and nudge techniques, these activities can be encouraged across the team to accelerate change, increase win rates, and improve forecast accuracy. This technology can also provide far more nuanced insight into the performance of less successful team members.
Who is failing to master the new workflows – and in which areas? By tracking the entire revenue process, a business can more quickly identify and resolve problems – such as reps who are potentially making poor or risky deals to hit targets.
Provide personalised sales training and coaching
89% of sellers reported feeling burned out from work. Many employees, particularly those newest to the company, willalready feel concerned about their job security. The pressure to contribute to a healthy pipeline and convert deals quickly is only set to increase in 2023.
Of course, when the economy turns, layoffs can be inevitable. But retaining and nurturing experience and talent in the sales team, and avoiding additional disruption where possible, is important. In addition to limiting the time and cost ofrecruiting and onboarding new employees in the future, businesses must also be careful to avoid a ‘hire and fire’ approach. This can massively harm team morale and performance.
Sales managers need to ensure their focus is on managing salespeople, rather than just negotiating deals. This will provide everyone with the support they need to be productive and add value. With a combination of AI and gamification techniques, it’s possible to objectively pinpoint areas of improvement for sales reps that aren’t performing as well.
With this information, managers can coach individual reps on the areas they need help with. Then, they can direct training to those who need it most. This is more cost-effective than group training sessions; it’s motivational; and it will ensure every sales rep can continue to hit their targets.
What’s the way forward?
Remote working, high staff turnover and economic pressures have contributed to widespread demotivation and burnout of sales teams. With another challenging year ahead, businesses need to turn this around urgently. By supporting salespeople with sales intelligence, companies can enhance the day-to-day experience of sales reps. They have the capacity to motivate them to improve performance and hit their revenue goals. This is becoming possible by maximising organisational data investment with new techniques like gamification and AI.