Today, more than ever, the sales process has become more complex and challenging as a result of the abundance of information that is readily available to buyers. According to Sirius Decisions, the average sales cycle is 22% longer than five years ago. Buyers have gained greater control of the sales process resulting in a greater struggle to offer differentiated value and improvements in customer engagement.
However, top performers tell a different story. Sales leaders are consistently working on delivering valuable content and aligning this content with sales cycle stages. What’s more is that world-class sales reps are working together with marketing to create data-driven content that arms them with personalized, relevant, and timely messages that enable Sales to achieve success during the face-to-face interaction and in the follow-up stages.
So, what are the most effective ways of making this happen? The aim should be to focus on how to achieve higher sales goals by executing campaigns that optimize revenue using the most relevant messages. Leading sales teams take this a step further. They present greater value to differentiate themselves from the competition in order to increase win rates. How do they do this?
Let’s take a look at four processes that enable companies to properly execute on their sales objectives.
1. Capture new accounts
Targeting the right customers and employing the right demand generation tactics are the fundamentals to inciting interest and closing more business. The lifeline of any organization depends on the ability to acquire new customers — and top performing sales reps know that by working in collaboration with marketing, the ability to plan and execute the right campaigns is key. And so follows the importance of being fully prepared for the face-to-face interaction as well as the follow-up stages to secure new business.
2. Increase Existing Account Penetration
Twenty percent of the largest customers produce 80% of revenue. Sales reps are increasing development into existing accounts by strengthening relationships through up-selling and cross-selling. Through the use of sales force automation (SFA) systems, leading sales reps are now, more than ever, technology-enabled and are setting goals and creating timelines for account development. Best-in-class performers are working on gaining repeat business and are gaining positive results with existing customers.
3. Reduce Sales Cycle Time
Companies face major problems with lengthened sales cycles that result from more informed, knowledgeable customers. Content has become readily available to buyers and they are now learning more about products and services all on their own. Best-in-class performers are changing the ways their organizations sell by switching focus — not on acquiring new leads, but rather on simplifying the decision-making process based on a keen understanding of the buyer’s interests, behaviors, and needs.
4. Improve the Customer Experience
The reality that comes with more knowledgeable customers is the demand to create tailored customer experiences. From touch points at the marketing stages, to sales-qualified leads followed by a face-to-face interaction, to customer service and support, top performers know the customer experience must be deepened in order to increase customer engagement and win rates.
The Role of Sales Enablement
With the advent of mobile sales enablement, sales organizations that have adopted the game-changing technology are leading the way and driving revenue ahead of competition. The potential of mobile devices to help grow sales productivity is staggering. IDG research shows that 73% of organizations who have implemented a sales enablement platform realized a significant gain in productivity. The tablet has come into play in the face-to-face interaction allowing reps to get involved in the selling process at earlier stages of the sales cycle. To stay on the cutting edge of sales performance, companies that adopt mobile-enabling technology are closing the loop between sales and marketing teams, arming sales reps with targeted collateral and advanced opportunities to close more customers.
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