SALES PITFALLS8 Productivity Mistakes to Avoid

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 1

INTRODUCTIONA typical sales representative only spends 34% of their day selling — the other 66% is spent doing other necessary but lower-value activities like manually entering sales data, trying to sort through prospect research, or waiting for quotes to get approved. As companies look to grow, every minute their sellers can dedicate to high-value activities counts. This makes it all the more important to have a productive sales team that is optimized for maximum selling.

Of course, the path to creating a truly productive sales team can be challenging, and there are many roadblocks along the way. Though there isn’t a map to guide you perfectly from start to finish, becoming familiar with the pitfalls that may slow down sales productivity can help you maneuver around them without a hitch.

Dive in to learn about the eight productivity pitfalls you should avoid when trying to build a highly productive sales team.

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 2

CONTENTSIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Sales Pitfall #1Making Your Reps Work in Too Many Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Sales Pitfall #2Bogging Sales Reps Down with Manual Data Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Sales Pitfall #3Making Business Decisions Without Real-Time Sales Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Sales Pitfall #4Lacking Insights into Deals and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Sales Pitfall #5Allowing Quoting, Approvals, and Pricing Delays to Block Closing Deals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Sales Pitfall #6Working in Silos and Not Collaborating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Sales Pitfall #7Not Leveraging Virtual Interactions to Amplify Selling Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Sales Pitfall #8Skimping on Sales Enablement and Undertraining Your Reps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

MEET ASTRO AND FRIENDS

As you may have noticed, the style of this e-book is inspired by the great outdoors and U.S. National Parks. Why? Because they express a feeling of fun, adventure, and exploration — and Salesforce is all about empowering people to blaze their own trails and be part of something greater. Pretty cool, huh?

If you want to know more, check out Trailhead, the fun way to learn about Salesforce.

Get started today at

salesforce.com/trailhead.

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 3

Sales Pitfall #1

MAKING YOUR REPS WORK IN TOO MANY SYSTEMSDid you know an average sales representative uses six different tools to do their job? With so many tools at our disposal, we have all been guilty of creating our own hodge-podge methods for collecting notes and storing data. A co-worker catches you as you’re running out the door, so you jot down a reminder in the notes app on your phone. You’re in the middle of a phone call at your desk, but don’t want to pivot over to your CRM in the moment so you use sticky notes to keep track of follow-up items. Or you have a series of emails with a prospect sitting in your inbox that include important requirements for a deal to go through.

Maybe you’re thinking, so what? It works, and you still have access to the information you need. But this ultimately results in a lot of wasted time and productivity — 30 minutes tracking down notes for a customer call, 20 minutes aggregating task items so you have a complete to-do list, and so on. It sounds inconsequential at the task level, but when added up across your teams you can be left with a lot of time lost. And things just tend to fall through the cracks when you don’t have a single, unified place to store important information.

In fact, high-performing sales teams are 2 .1 times more likely to have integrated systems that offer a connected view of data across the entire customer journey. An integrated CRM tool can help aggregate all of your information so that your teams have the visibility they need into the business. With the right CRM, you can integrate various systems — from marketing automation to finance apps — to bring together information from different sources and simplify processes for your sales reps.

A M D

Y

C XE R

T

O

A

U

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 4

Sales Pitfall #2

BOGGING SALES REPS DOWN WITH MANUAL DATA ENTRYYeah, we get it. It can be difficult to get your sales reps to log their data in your CRM — really difficult. But very few salespeople got into the profession because they love (or are good at) entering data. Their time could be better spent connecting with customers and establishing new relationships. And while you as a sales leader see the value in having all of this data captured and stored, it can be tough to convince sales reps of the value.

We understand. That’s why we recommend using a CRM that has built-in automation so that data entry never slows your reps down. Email, calendar, and voice over IP integration with your CRM can also make data entry even simpler. Imagine sending an email or making a phone call, and that information automatically being captured in your CRM. That’s already possible today.

With automation, your sales reps can take back the 8% of their day that they spend manually entering sales information, and focus on high-value activities like selling.

1 min ago

2005 20

07

2009

2011

2013

2015

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 5

Sales Pitfall #3

MAKING BUSINESS DECISIONS WITHOUT REAL-TIME SALES DATAHigh-performing sales teams are 1 .5 times more likely to base forecasts on data-driven insights. As a sales leader, you need to make business decisions based on accurate and complete data. Otherwise, you can potentially lose a lot of productivity putting resources into activities that may seem good, but actually deliver little-to-no business value.

Imagine following a cake recipe that your friend emailed you from a cookbook they borrowed — except malt powder was autocorrected to salt powder, and they mistakenly typed 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract instead of teaspoon. Plus, they included a change that they found scrawled in the margins (a “note to self” from the previous owner) to crank up the oven to 400° F instead of the recommended 325° F.

Usually, following the recipe results in a delicious vanilla malt cake. Though you follow the recipe step-by-step, your cake turns out a little differently than expected. It’s slightly too salty, with an overpowering vanilla flavor, and unfortunately a little burnt. That’s because you were working off of outdated, inaccurate data.

Similarly, making business decisions based on old or inaccurate data can be even worse than having no data at all. If you’re not using a trusted system of record where data is monitored and kept healthy, your data is likely passing through many hands in multiple files and formats. Each individual might enter or process data slightly differently. As a result, you may end up with unclean or outdated data without ever knowing it. And if you carry through on plans that are based on that data, you may find

that it results in wasted time or money (or a burnt, slightly odd-tasting cake).

A CRM that has built-in tools for managing sales data can help solve this problem. You can enforce policies and design safeguards for collecting and organizing data from across your business. And with reports and dashboards that live in your CRM, you can easily see the information that is most important to you and track sales performance. Most importantly, you’re able to access a real-time picture of your business in just seconds to make the right decisions fast.

20LEADSCORE

20LE

ADSC

ORE

20LEAD

SCORE

100LEADSCORE

100LEAD

SCORE

60LEADSCORE

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 6

Sales Pitfall #4

LACKING INSIGHTS INTO DEALS AND OPPORTUNITIESIf you’re not using your sales data to surface valuable insights, then you’re losing out on potential productivity gains. In particular, not leveraging modern artificial intelligence capabilities could be costing you. Researching and understanding your customer is incredibly important, but can be an extraordinary time waster if it isn’t done efficiently.

The average sales representative spends 18% of their day researching prospects and prioritizing their leads and opportunities. They could easily spend hours on the internet trying to research each account, digesting all of that information, and then working to translate all of it to the value you can offer in a customer communication or presentation.

By using artificial intelligence and machine learning, you can analyze customer data in your CRM and automatically bring up valuable insights so that your sales reps don’t need to dedicate valuable time searching for them. AI can also analyze historical patterns to help score leads and opportunities and prioritize your sales reps’ day — showing them exactly which prospects to target for the highest return on investment and who to talk to next.

ApproveApprove

Approve

ApproveApproveApproveApproveApprove

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 7

Sales Pitfall #5

ALLOWING QUOTING, APPROVALS, AND PRICING DELAYS TO BLOCK CLOSING DEALSSales reps have more products to sell, external stakeholders to navigate, and internal approvals to secure than ever before. All of these things take away selling time from your sales reps and can be a big roadblock when it comes to meeting both personal and company goals. In fact, today’s sales reps spend on average 9% of their day just generating quotes and proposals, and waiting for approvals.

Imagine this scenario: Your sales rep has nurtured a relationship with a prospect who is pretty much ready to buy. All that’s left is to get a quote in front of them and the contract signed. But in order to get an accurate quote generated and approved, your sales rep must wait for their request to get in front of the right person and be manually approved. Days go by, and the prospect gets restless and begins having conversations with competitors. Your sales rep now has to dedicate time to tracking down the right person to expedite the approval process. Not only is it unproductive for your sales rep, it also produces a poor customer experience. After all, customers are more likely to buy from reps who are easy to work with, and being able to quickly turn around quote revisions can impact that relationship.

If your business has an overly manual and disconnected process for generating quotes or creating and amending contracts, you could be costing your sales reps valuable time and potential deals. Not only does it impact your rep’s ability to be more responsive to customer

demands, there is a greater likelihood of sending out bad quotes — resulting in even more time lost. For example, if your finance team reviews a contract after the customer has already signed and discovers that something critical is missing, your sales rep will need to go back and renegotiate a deal they already closed.

With the right configure, price, quote (CPQ) tool built into your CRM, you can speed up this process and give time back to your sales reps. Instead of twiddling their thumbs waiting for a quote to be approved or a contract drawn up, they can get access to accurate quotes and quickly get the approvals they need to close deals. And you can avoid sticky situations by ensuring this process is aligned with the rules and governance your business must follow.

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 8

Sales Pitfall #6

WORKING IN SILOS AND NOT COLLABORATINGSales can be a competitive profession, with each individual focused on trying to meet their own quotas and close business. However, 77% of salespeople believe selling collaboratively is an important part of the selling process. In order to run a successful business, teams across your company must collaborate and work toward a common goal — after all, a rising tide lifts all boats.

Much of a typical sales rep’s day is spent trying to track down relevant information for closing deals — information that, oftentimes, another individual in the company has. It’s important that teams are aligned so that your sales reps don’t miss out on information that can help them sell more effectively. If you really think about it, winning customers over and building lasting relationships has to be a team sport. That golden nugget that moves a deal forward could come from individuals all over the company, but if information and details are stuck in different systems, formats, or devices, the right people might never be able to help you surface it.

A collaboration tool that allows your teams to store critical information in a single place that all teams can access, at any time, can provide a clearer view of your business strategy, customer history, and recent engagement. Ultimately, investing in collaboration tools that allow your sales teams to work cohesively, among themselves and with the rest of the company, can enhance rep productivity.

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 9

Sales Pitfall #7

NOT LEVERAGING VIRTUAL INTERACTIONS TO AMPLIFY SELLING POWERThe sales landscape has evolved, and customer expectations continue to change, especially as the majority of the buyer population belongs to younger generations. Sales teams that are still focusing all of their efforts on traditional means of communication — in-person meetings, mail, and so on — are missing out on incredibly productive selling methods.

Research shows that nearly 60% of a buyer’s journey is completed before they ever make contact with a sales rep. That means that they’re defining the problem, forming opinions, coming up with the requirements for their desired solution, and researching potential products on their own, largely via online resources, and all without the help of your sales team.

In today’s digital world, traditional marketing and sales methods just don’t cut it. You need to be on the communication channels where your customers feel most comfortable, whether that is email, social, chat, SMS/text, or video. Enable your sales reps to connect with your customers wherever they are. Today, sales reps are connecting with customers on virtual channels 3 .2 times more than meeting them in person. And the icing on the cake is that these types of interactions actually save your reps time and allow them to power through more customer touchpoints each day. And they’re also saving on travel time and costs.

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 10

Sales Pitfall #8

SKIMPING ON SALES ENABLEMENT AND UNDERTRAINING YOUR REPSLast but not least, a well-informed sales rep is a productive sales rep. Research shows that high-performing sales organizations are twice as likely to offer ongoing training as their low-performing counterparts.

In order to build a highly productive sales team, you need to invest in proper education and coaching so that your sales force is fully equipped to sell effectively. According to HR analyst firm Bersin, the biggest driver of business impact is the strength of an organization’s learning culture. Yet, 90% of companies today don’t have a culture of learning needed to fully empower their employees.

By investing in enablement and training, you can supercharge your sales force’s productivity and decrease the amount of time you need to ramp up new employees. With proper soft skills and technical training, your sales reps will have the knowledge they need to be effective sellers.

Find out how Sales Cloud can help boost sales productivity.

Explore our tools in a guided tour.

See Sales Cloud in action.

LEARN MORE

GUIDED TOUR

WATCH DEMO

SALES PITFALLS: 8 PRODUCTIVITY MISTAKES TO AVOID 11

CONCLUSIONNo one wants to find themselves stuck in any of these pitfalls and suffering the effects of unproductive time. If you’re ready to learn how to use Salesforce to avoid these pitfalls, check out these resources. We promise it’ll be a productive use of your time.

The information provided in this e-book is strictly for the convenience of our customers and is for general informational purposes only. Publication by salesforce.com does not constitute an endorsement. Salesforce.com does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this e-book. Salesforce.com does not guarantee you will achieve any specific results if you follow any advice in the e-book. It may be advisable for you to consult with a professional such as a lawyer, accountant, architect, business advisor, or professional engineer to get specific advice that applies to your specific situation.

© 2019 salesforce.com, inc. All rights reserved.

1-800-667-6389

salesforce.com/form/contact/contactme