The sales team is always a startup’s leading edge, generating sales and attracting – as well as maintaining – clients for the company. Having an effective and productive sales team could make all the difference between a successful startup and a failed one.
Unfortunately, a lot of startups are busy with product development, so much so that they forget the need to sell the products to clients. Even worse, they end up with a sales team that doesn’t really perform.
If you need to boost your sales team’s productivity and generate more sales for the company, there is actually a lot you can do. We are going to cover some of the simplest tips to help you get started in this article.
Good supply of information
A sales officer must be given the ability to make decisions in the field. Giving sales officers control over important decisions, especially those related to clients, pricing strategies, quotes and other similar matters, will help the entire sales team be more flexible on the field.
This, in turn, will result in more closed sales and fewer dropped requests. When a sales officer can keep up with the client’s demands quickly and effectively, it is easier for that officer to keep clients happy and well-maintained.
The best approach to take in this situation is to provide easy access to information. Systems such as SalesForce allow sales officers to react to customers’ demands in real-time, without overstepping their boundaries and while keeping all decisions entirely data-driven, even when they are not in the office.
Better mobility
Even when you’re catering to online customers, there are still times when the sales team needs to go out and meet clients in person. It could be for a business meeting or just for a cup of coffee and casual chat as a part of relationship building efforts, but face-to-face interactions with customers can be very important.
Another way a startup can boost its sales team’s productivity is by allowing sales officers to work from outside of the office. Even better, you can choose to facilitate the mobility of sales officers by offering them Uber credits or similar facilities. You don’t even have to spend a lot of money to improve mobility, since you can find plenty of deals and special offers here.
Clear directives and goals
Last but not least, always make sure the sales team is operating under clear directives. The team needs to know exactly the goals they have to achieve for the particular period in order to formulate strategies on how to achieve them.
As a startup owner, you need to be in touch with the sales team on a regular basis. Conduct regular sales meetings and listen to the feedback you get from each sales officer. As mentioned before, they are the leading edge of the company, which means you can get a lot of valuable insight from them and their experiences handling your clients.
Do you have more tips on how you boost your sales team’s productivity? We’d love to hear about them, so be sure to tell your stories by leaving a note below.