In recent years, heavy expenditures have been made on training salespeople to deliver excellent customer service. When managers prepare for sales training, they often neglect to keep an eye on how well they manage sales behaviors and outcomes. Effective sales performance measurement is taken for granted by a majority of organizations. Sadly, this is terrible mistake organizations make today.
Organizations must understand that just because some of their sales professionals are performing well and delivering significant sales benefits doesn’t mean that other sales teams will also produce excellent outcomes. The financial health of an organization can win gains from locating and utilizing its most successful and efficient sales teams.
This blog will cover the behaviors of top sales performers and how organizations can measure sales performance to maximize return on sales investment and create a team with the best sales behaviors.
Recently, we hosted a webinar on Sales Training & Enablement Accelerates Results with Carol Cohen – Learning Strategist, Infopro Learning. The session was intriguing, with expert insights on how to better enable the sales team to research target buyers, best practices, and tools required to address the needs of modern buyers. Listen to the webinar replay.
Let’s begin by identifying the characteristics of successful salespeople.
5 Characteristics of Top Sales Performers in An Organization
Sales performance is proportionate to the time spent with customers and prospects, building a network, and brainstorming with management and leaders. Here are the 5 characteristics of top sales performers in an organization.
Taking the Time to Hear and Explore Customer’s Concerns
A good salesperson is a good listener and is keen to learn. Listening to clients or customers and learning about their concerns encourages them to open up and invest. Salespeople may better qualify leads and create long-term connections with potential clients this way.
Building Strong Relationships and Partnerships
Sales representatives that focus on managing existing client relationships and establishing and nurturing those connections generate more business opportunities, referrals, and other benefits.
Establishing Brand Credibility Among Customers
Establishing credibility and trustworthiness towards a brand name rates first when communicating with customers in virtual or face-to-face interactions. Successful salespeople describe themselves, their company, and their skills by citing similar companies in the industry and why they are the best among others.
Incorporating Creativity
Going the extra mile and adding creative ideas to sales pitches will help salespeople stand out and get clients to talk to them. Clients will pay more attention to a personalized email, phone call, or connection on LinkedIn.
Continuous Learning
Every good transaction hinges on the seller’s ability to learn and adapt. The best salespeople are always willing to learn how to improve their skills and develop new ways to engage their prospects and drive higher performance.
Some other factors that contribute to the behaviors of top-performing salespeople are: gaining clients’ or buyers’ trust, having frequent coaching sessions with each sales rep, and analyzing the crucial sales performance measures.
According to Oracle’s Essential Strategies for Sales Performance Management report, 51% of sales professionals do not think that their organization’s sales procedures are successful, leaving them susceptible to mistakes and data inaccuracy.
So how can sales leaders measure how well sales are going?
Factors To Consider In Measuring Top Sales Performances
Here are the things that sales leaders or managers should keep an eye on to get an accurate picture of how their sales reps are doing:
Sales Productivity Metrics
Time plays a crucial role in the success or failure of a sale. Managers must determine how much time their sales representatives spend selling their products or services and assist in measuring sales success in terms of efficiency.
Check in With Your SalesReps Frequently
The most efficient sales managers use check-in discussions to understand which of a representative’s behaviors or skills they are actively working to improve.
Percentage of Successful Opportunities
Successful sales are related to the number of leads that result in a signed contract. Leaders should track their teams’ success rate and examine their top performers’ strategies to learn what works. Exchanging the approaches will help other salespeople enhance their productivity too.
Measure Average Deal Size
Measuring the average size of successfully concluded deals can assist in determining which deals require reevaluation and what changes must be made to transform an opportunity into a winning one. Keeping track of the size of typical deals over time enables sales representatives to evaluate whether and when sales goals must be revised. This may prompt organizations to reconsider their sales techniques and concentrate on leadership development.
Conclusion
Monitoring sales performance in real-time allows for early detection of problems and remediation. As a result, correctly and effectively assessing sales performance is suggested for any organization to prosper.
Are you looking to reduce the length of your sales cycle? Get in touch with our team of sales development pros.
