Do you have horror stories from your early days in sales? Think about those first challenges you encountered. There were probably times you wondered if you have what it takes to become a successful salesperson.
With annual turnover in sales around 20%, the onboarding process is crucial. If you can quickly establish a new salesperson in their role and overcome early problems, they are more likely to succeed.
This week’s roundup of what’s trending explores how to help salespeople through their early struggles. You’ll also learn about how to improve your sales chances in the RFP process, eliminate common voicemail mistakes, and more.
What Sales Pros Were Reading and Sharing This Week:
3 Ways to Help New B2B Sales Reps Avoid Early Collapse
Sales managers know one of the hardest parts of building a sales team is onboarding and retaining talent. The team at Brainshark offers insight into how you can use data to identify areas where a new sales rep may be struggling. They focus on three ways to track success:
- Perform a sales readiness assessment
- Measure sales rep activity
- Analyze your sales results
One key takeaway is that organizations too often only track results. While results matter, mapping a sales rep’s actions allows you to see where things are going wrong, making it easier to fix specific problems.
Improving B2B Sales Closing Rates by Influencing the RFP Process
All is not lost if a client decides to go the RFP route. That’s what Steve Gruber of Venture Accelerator Partners argues. While he acknowledges that it’s ideal to avoid RFPs altogether, that’s not always possible. He offers three key tips on how to be an influencer during the RFP process:
- Be at the table early
- Be consultative
- Identify the core decision makers and influencers
Gruber dives into more detail, but he stresses that the best option is to be involved from the beginning. If you can influence how the RFP is written, you’ll have a much higher likelihood of winning that bid than if you just submit a response.
The Biggest Mistakes Sales Reps Make When Leaving Voicemails
Few people pick up for a number they don’t recognize, which means sales professionals tend to leave a lot of messages. Author and speaker Jeff Beals says that leaving a voicemail should be viewed as an opportunity, not a burden.
Beals explores eight common mistakes sales reps should avoid when leaving a voicemail. His practical, actionable items range from the length of your voicemail to the type of language to use. His entire list serves as a good reminder on how to perform a simple but important part of sales.
What the Best SaaS Sales Reps Know That Others Don’t
One trait of sales is that the key elements apply to every industry. Steli Efti explores SaaS sales in his post for Close.io. It’s an important and growing area in tech, but his post isn’t just for SaaS reps. Any salesperson can find value in the key areas he highlights:
- Upselling
- Persistence
- Technology
- Marketing metrics
- Growing sales teams
Efti dives into detail about how the best SaaS sales reps differentiate themselves in these areas, and it serves as a reminder that all sales reps can differentiate themselves in their own industries.
The Beginner’s Guide to a Data-Driven Sales Strategy
You can never have too much data. Even the most sophisticated data operations have inefficiencies, which is why you should consistently analyze your own. The ZoomInfo beginner’s guide is great because it offers an in-depth look at some of the most important data points in the sales cycle.
There’s plenty to explore in the piece, but these two stats jump out:
- 40% of companies said that scattered information and poor visibility into data impact their sales organization.
- 56% of sales executives expressed dissatisfaction with their ability to deliver valuable, data-driven insights.
Whether you use the guide to review your current practices or start new ones, it offers valuable insight that can be leveraged by any sales pro.
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