As with any new year, businesses are building their sales strategies to see more ROI than the year before. With what could be an impending recession on the horizon, most of us are challenged with doing more with less, thus locking in a solid return on investments is critical to having a successful year. However, having a strong sales strategy to attain a positive ROI is only half the battle. In order for a sales strategy to be successful, it must be executed by a competent and well-equipped sales team—the backbone of any company that must be nurtured and supported. But what exactly does a winning sales team need to pull off your 2023 sales plan?
There are 4 components of a successful sales team that need to be taken into consideration to execute on an effective strategy. From providing tools for success to giving feedback on strengths and weaknesses, we will explore how these 4 elements can help drive your sales team to meet your goals.
1. Arm Your Team With The Right Tools for Success
The effectiveness of a sales strategy is largely dependent on the skills and resources of your sales team. Not having the right sales enablement platform, for example, can mean the difference between winning and losing a deal, as it’s a crucial place for reps to easily access product knowledge, case studies, testimonials, and other resources that contribute to their ability to increase win rates. Other tools to keep in mind are things like CRM software and marketing automation (think Salesforce or HubSpot) to help your sales team manage their leads, track their sales velocity, and close more deals.
Just as important as providing the right tools is making sure your sales team knows how to use them effectively. This means providing the necessary training and support to ensure the entire team is competent and informed on how to use these tools to the fullest potential.
2. Implement a Seamless Onboarding Process
A smooth and seamless onboarding process can help new hires hit the ground running and enable them to contribute to the team’s success quickly. This should include everything from training and sharing resources to introductions with key stakeholders, confidence building exercises, and tools to better understand your overall sales strategy.
For an effective onboarding process, new hires should be provided with a comprehensive overview of the company—including its products, services, target market, and sales process. Once again, having an ongoing and standardized training program that covers all key knowledge needed to excel in sales will help new hires reach their full potential and propel your sales strategies forward.
3. Ensure Everyone Knows the Basics
Making sure everyone is working towards the same goal begins with everyone on the sales team being on the same page. In the beginning, standardization of training is crucial in ensuring that everyone on the sales team has a solid foundation of knowledge—such as the same level of training on product knowledge, sales techniques, and the company’s sales processes.
Having a checklist of the things people should have a firm understanding of can make it easier to identify areas for improvement, allowing you to evaluate the team on an individual and organizational scale.
Standardizing sales fundamentals also means that there are no confusing language barriers when discussing the sales strategy, as everyone is using the same terminology to work towards the same goal. In order to remain successful, reviewing the basics should be conducted regularly to keep the team performing at their best.
➡️ For more on this, download our Building a Team of Top Performers: A C-Level Look at Sales Enablement and Training.
4. Give Feedback on Strengths and Weaknesses
Understanding the sales team’s strengths and weaknesses is also paramount to making sales strategies happen. By identifying areas of strength and weakness through sales performance data like win rates, lead-to-close ratios, and sales efficiency, you can help your sales reps prioritize what they need to work on.
In the earlier 3rd point, it was mentioned that having a standardized training program is important for onboarding. However, when areas of improvement need to be addressed down the road, creating personalized training tailored to address those individual areas will prove far more beneficial for your sales reps.
Incorporating sales coaching to provide more in-depth feedback and guidance on specific skills or techniques will increase sales readiness. In fact, training your team and focusing on improving their skills can increase individual reps’ performance by 20%.
Final Thoughts
With 2023 already here, it’s time to start planning how to help your sales team perform at their best. Remember that they are the driving force behind your sales strategy, and investing in their success will ultimately lead to the success of your business.
Get in touch with our team of experts to begin building your sales team into a robust sales unit, ready to execute your sales strategy all year long.
