The first step to improving outbound lead generation is to better understand pipeline activity. An analytical approach can help sales managers to create efficiencies in sales rep activities, resulting in improved lead generation outcomes: Sales Activity Lead assignment to reps – Placing a manageable quantity of leads in each sales reps’ queue on a timely basis so they can start calling, qualifying and closing deals without being overwhelmed. Lead disposition by reps – The “why” of determining which leads are not qualified or worth pursuing is just as important as converting a qualified lead into an opportunity. Time spent on non-sales activity – Creating action lists that can be used to prioritize, assemble and validate actionable info How can analytics make reps more efficient with these sales activities? Lead assignment: Reps disqualify leads at a faster rate than they qualify them. The assignment of new leads can be automated based on total current active leads as a ratio of closed leads, and the relative volume of leads compared to other reps. Lead disposition: Disposition reasons that are clear, accurate and consistent can yield valuable info to fix specific problems. For example, if the reasons show bad data, go back to the vendor and get updated records …Read More
Tag Archives: sales operations
Try this one weird trick to boost SFA adoption
That which is scarce is precious. That which is abundant has little value. More or less, these are the lessons of life. Sales organizations go through the CRM selection process with great diligence. They spend even more resources redesigning existing processes, integrating the technology and people, training and rolling out the shiny new thing with great fanfare. Making sure every sales person is empowered. Yet adoption remains at an abysmal level by measures beyond logins, “clicking on plays” and “call blocks.” Why? Here are three most cited reasons aggregated from numerous research: It is delivered primarily as a technical tool, relegating the human element. It is perceived as management pushing something from above. It is not believed to generate more value: sales, profits, targets. In other words, it is not adding value to the life of the sales person. One sales leader I know used to say, “if you don’t know the value of what you’re doing, then stop doing it. You will find out.” Yes, we are asking you to consider the opposite of what every expert says, everything you have heard, and even what we’ve said on these pages – stop doing SFA – if you are not sure of …Read More
The Evolution of Sales Force Automation
It’s no secret that sales force automation (SFA) was dreaded not too long back, but has now become an indispensable friend to the sales person. There are many who may still be leery of it, but that number is certainly dwindling. Lauren Carlson’s blog at Software Advice reflects on this sales force automation evolution over the past 15 years, and identifies four factors that explain the change. While we agree with those, here’s our take on where this is headed. The central theme as we see it (of course being a SaaS company ourselves) is 1) the deployment of SFA on SaaS platforms and 2) SFA is more inter-operable in a sales environment. And that is a great fit to how the best sales people think and act: sales is seen in the larger context of client and business needs. So while software engineering has taken great leaps forward with usability, content and inter-operability, it has made it easier rather than harder for sales reps to use these tools. Let us now envision what the future holds in terms of increasing adoption and further making SFA an indispensable tool for the reps of today and tomorrow. SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY: Thanks to Amazon, Google, Apple and iPhones, and other innovators, we now live …Read More
Why you should put some sales tasks on auto-pilot
For any airplane pilot, the auto-pilot is a valuable companion. It can automate routine tasks such as maintaining altitude and direction so you are free to focus on the next tasks needed to reach your goal destination. Airplane auto-pilots can handle many tasks for the pilot. They can: Follow programmed climb and descent rates to pre-set altitudes Turn the plane to a specific direction Line up for landing on the runway Execute missed runway approach procedures, like climb away from the ground if the runway approach lights are not visible But amazing as auto-pilots are, aviators are aware that the auto-pilot does not fly the plane for you. You are still always responsible for reaching the goal destination. Business analytic tools – particularly those with predictive methods – can function a lot like an auto-pilot. They reduce workload, prioritize tasks and standardize best practices so you can focus on things the auto-pilot doesn’t do: continuously improving human performance, anticipating hazards far in advance, and staying ahead of the navigation tasks. Like auto-pilots, how can analytics contribute to sales enablement and productivity? REDUCE WORKLOAD: Pilots joke that flying is a long span of boredom followed by moments of panic. Perhaps like all the sales activity during the final days of the quarter? In flying, reducing mundane workload is a …Read More
How predictive analytics adds value during & after selection of your CRM system – Part 2
Yesterday we posted the first tip of how to use predictive analytics to make your CRM system even more valuable. Today we share several more tips … Retain focus on business objectives The excitement of implementing a tool that solves basic operational problems is understandable. The front-end responsibility of reliability, inter-operability and security is clearly with IT. These challenges are significant. But it is important to go beyond the technology’s bells and whistles. By establishing a vision for analytics – metrics, measurement methods, forward-looking indicators and performance management – and incorporating these in the design, the rationale for the CRM system and its ROI can be validated. Through predictive analytics, business processes can be mapped and modeled, and benchmarks created for delivering quantifiable goals to the enterprise via the CRM system. For example, is the primary objective of your CRM to support lead generation, product penetration or customer retention? Based on your needs, predictive analytics can help develop appropriate forward-looking indicators, expected results and diagnostics of the results at all levels of activity – customer, sales people, products and operational areas. This will allow ongoing correction and calibration of your activity within the CRM system that maintains the focus on the business outcomes, not …Read More