Category Archives: partner

Increase you Teams Productivity

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In a recent sales productivity study we conducted for one of our clients, we learned that while their sales reps spend more time on selling activities compared to the external benchmark, they spend a small amount of time actually meeting with customers.

Salespeople face all sorts of distractions. Factors ranging from internal corporate demands to ramifications from a reeling economy and shifting competitive landscape all take a toll on their customer-facing time.  So how do you keep them focused on their primary task at hand?

Too often “time sinks” require a disproportionate amount of salespeople and sales managers’ time compared to the value delivered to their customers for those activities.

In a recent sales productivity study we conducted for one of our clients, we learned that while their sales reps spend more time on selling activities compared to the external benchmark, they spend a small amount of time actually meeting with customers.

Significant national account time was also being spent in post-sales activities that were time sinks. For example, their star salespeople were spending twice the amount of time constructing estimates as they were meeting with customers. Issue resolution required almost a day a week.

In the same previously mentioned sales productivity study, we learned that star and on-quota sales leaders spend more time managing their teams, including one-on-one coaching.  The best understand the systems and processes that their teams are using—both those that make them successful and those that impede their productivity.

  • Maximize selling time.

    How much time are your salespeople spending doing paperwork or following up to see that orders are processed and delivered? Can you remove those tasks from their to-do list if you improve your processes?

    Functional reassignments or outside resources can provide many of these support functions as long as your salespeople remain in the loop. In general, be attuned to removing obstacles to their selling success.

  • Keep them focused on the prize.

    One of the most powerful ways to keep momentum in the sales organization and drive consistent results is to establish a pattern of accountability through regular reviews. Visit account strategies and action plans once a quarter with your salespeople.

    Clearly framing your expectations and identifying milestones and planned near-term actions for the next 90 days keeps their focus on activities that lead to accomplishments versus things that are urgent. A 15-minute review of each plan keeps them moving forward with consistent targeted actions, resulting in a tight cycle of value with key customers.

  • Coach around sales calls.

    A well-written call plan and strategy for each call is a best practice. Coach your salespeople to cut through the clutter and be heard by articulating value that is personal, relevant, and time-sensitive.

    Spending five minutes to develop a thoughtful call plan brings more value to their customers, improves their odds of getting back in front of the decision-makers, and ensures that they are efficient and effective each time they meet.

  • Make sales calls with your folks.

    There is no better way for you to learn about your salespeople’s sales challenges and performance than by seeing them in front of their customers. And by watching what happens in between sales calls, you’ll gain a fairly accurate picture of where they need time and territory management improvement.

    Spending time in the field allows you to observe, analyze, and coach your salespeople, a highly productive use of time for all of you. Some studies suggest that on-site coaching can increase performance by as much as 20 percent.

  • Provide just-in-time market-ready plays with sales playbooks.

    Customer-facing time is valuable. But too often, salespeople don’t formulate how they want to talk to a customer or what message they want to convey until they’re standing in front of the customer.

    Sales playbooks capture and document what your best salespeople do to qualify, advance, and win deals. Brief and easy-to-reference, they deliver sales stage-appropriate content to your salespeople within the context of their current deal.

  • Provide a consistent rhythm for sales process.

    Brief weekly footprints (activity report) and as-needed, agenda-driven conference calls or meetings keep your sales teams accountable and give you an opportunity to shine the spotlight on their successes. Crisp, tight pipeline and forecast reviews define expectations and reveal a lot about your salespeople’s abilities and how they spend their time and effort.

Improving sales productivity is a common goal among sales organizations seeking ways to improve the top line of their business. As a sales leader, you must identify key factors to improve selling time—specifically customer-facing time—and generate better results from the selling time spent.

Top 10 Time Sinks for Salespeople

These sap time, energy and creativity, and limit high-value interactions with customers.

  1. Estimating/proposals
  2. Contract management
  3. Installation coordination
  4. Pricing/billing
  5. Scheduling
  6. Service delivery
  7. Issue/problem resolution
  8. Internal and customer communication
  9. Internal processes/systems
  10. Daily “emergencies”
  11. For more information please contact us at www.1salesboard.com or info@1salesboard.com…
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Building an Effective Partner Strategy

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Partners that add value to your company. Partners that work with your company on providing services TO your company. What’s the real value of these partners? You need to think beyond just the services or products they provide to you.

Companies engage with partners for one underlying reason: leverage. Vendors need partners in order to:

  • Scale marketing efforts. That is, get more leads with a lower cost of acquisition of said leads.
  • Scale sales efforts. That is, create an additional “sales force” without the inherent overhead in hiring salespeople directly.
  • Scale services efforts. That is, create a 3rd party ecosystem of providers who can implement your products.

And, these partners come in the following shapes and forms:

  • VARS, Distributors, SI’s, Dealers, Agents, and the like. Those reselling or providing services.
  • Those providing advice, implementation services, or similar offerings to clients of your products.
    And, they come in all different sizes and shapes, depending upon your product or solution and the niche you reside in.

I’m not telling you something you don’t already know, but I have been primarily talking about external influencing partners.

What about partners that are internal to your organization though?

Partners that add value to your company.

Partners that work with your company on providing services TO your company. What’s the real value of these partners?

You need to think beyond just the services or products they provide to you. And, frankly, it dawned on us the other day when a client, unbeknownst to them, said it directly to us.

The REAL value of an “internal” partner exists in the following:

  • They live in a unique microcosm that exists between you and the reality of the marketplace. They can tell you “how it is” and “how it should be done” in a plain and honest way. This value is unbelievably important because vendors often live in their own little world and can’t see beyond their borders. Partners you work with can!
  • These same internal partners are independent. They see and they bring experiences across a much wider swath of engagements, clients, and situations than a vendor could ever realize. Our client told us that they appreciate that we are independent because we bring to them best practices, best approaches, and best advice – all of which were tested via other clients. This speeds their routes to market. Don’t get me wrong, not all the advice is perfect for every client but it shortens the routes to success in every case. A great example is that a client was wondering what the best approach to creating a training program was and, because we are in this world we were able to articulate, in a fast manner, the right approach plus some other unique nuances that ultimately created a training program that resonated and connected to all parties – fast.
  • Lastly, honesty. The real value resides in the partner’s ability to be brutally honest at times – about approaches, about people, about what they think needs to be done. You just can’t get this 100% of the time from your people. You CAN get this 100% of the time from a good partner.

In today’s fast-paced marketplace, you can’t do it all yourself. You can try, but it will be more costly and probably won’t provide the ultimate value you are looking for.

So, establish your own internal network of partners for your company in certain areas. Just like you create leverage externally, you need to create leverage internally – to ultimately accomplish the same corporate goals!

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