Maximizing Sales Efficiency

Efficiency is more than performing a task quickly while minimizing waste. It’s getting the best result with the least amount of resources in the shortest time. The secret to dialing in your sales efficiency is adopting the proper mindset and implementing a continual process of evaluation and adaptation.

Businesses all over the world strive to be efficient. You’ve likely taken part in a push for efficiency in an organization before. Sometimes efficiency pushes will go well. Often they do not.

So what makes the difference?

You won’t achieve efficiency for your sales team with occasional one-time efforts. Efficiency needs to be at the core of your organization and your sales processes.



Here are some concepts your organization can use to increase the efficiency of your sales team.

KPIs

What are your key performance indicators? These top-level goals are the objectives you are trying to reach. Not the number of sales made, but the steps taken to create better opportunities and weed out bad leads.

Example KPIs

• Speed to Contact - how fast are our sales reps responding to new leads?
• Contact Attempts - how often are our sales reps contacting each lead via phone, text, and email?
• Steps in Cadence - are there steps that we need to review and improve upon?

Effective KPIs must be easily measured, well communicated, and transparent. Ambiguity will cause confusion and wreak havoc on your team. Employees need to know how you measure their efficiency and where they stand.

Align Sales With Marketing

Gone are the days of siloed sales and marketing teams! Sales and marketing can’t operate independently; they have to work together. This requires standardized messaging and a unified approach to customer acquisition. 

Have your marketing team help with sales communication materials:

• Review email and text content for on-brand messaging.
• Review phone calls with sales managers for on-brand messaging and training opportunities.
• Review call scripts and language to align with your brand messaging. 

Identify Your Buyer Persona

Who is your ideal customer? What qualifies a customer for your business?
Trying to sell to customers who don’t need your product, don’t want it, or can’t use it is inefficient. Target your customers so that every sales conversation is meaningful and productive.

• Create buyer personas based on existing customers and review them annually.
• Get inside the head of your buyers and understand what motivates them to take action.
• Get feedback from existing customers on their experience in the sales process, with support, or any interaction with your team. 

Implement a Repeatable Sales Process

To improve your sales process, you need to identify problem areas. With a consistent and repeatable process, you can determine what works and what doesn’t. Every sales representative needs to apply the same method when working leads.

Reviewing employee feedback, KPIs, and other reporting will help you see the gaps and improve.

See also: Reducing Friction in Your Sales Process

Set ½ Day, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Goals

What can you complete before lunch? This afternoon? Today? This week? This month?

Structuring your time in segments can help you track productivity. This enables you to identify the lagging areas and distracting activities. Maybe the daily standup for your sales team is too long and off-topic, creating more of a time sink than a benefit. Or your sales team relies too heavily on manager input, waiting to meet with busy managers instead of working ahead.

Finding the best solutions to the problems you encounter when reviewing time structures can be difficult. A flexible and open-minded approach makes the difference. Forget about how things have been done. Concentrate on how things can be done and move forward with innovative solutions.

All told, organizations everywhere struggle with efficiency. An efficient sales team is the product of thoughtful process creation. Continuous review and adaptation will keep a team efficient with better work product, better outcomes, and lower cost. 

Read more here: What Tom Brady and Buddy Rich Can Teach Us About Sales Efficiency