3 Expensive Ways (Worth Every Penny) To Help Your Sales Reps Kill Their Goals

by Shannon F.

There are many reasons why sales reps won’t make their goal this year, but it often boils down to time. After all, the more selling activity salespeople can accomplish in the day, the more appointments they can set and the more deals they can close. So not having time-saving processes in place means less activity, fewer appointments…you get the idea. Here are three investments you should make to speed up your sales team and help them surpass their goals this year.

1. New, faster computer. Everyone can recall their first computer–mine was a Compaq Presario the size of a small planet. But while PCs of decades past can be remembered fondly, they have no place on a salesperson’s desk. You’d be surprised how many sales reps are working on outdated machines; it’s a big problem, because slow computers kill productivity. If it takes your sales rep 30 seconds every time they want to log into their CRM or find a prospect on Linkedin, the day will quickly be consumed by wasted minutes. Today, salespeople must work at a frenetic pace to keep up with busy, hard-to-reach prospects. In fact, many reps are so overwhelmed by keeping up with existing clients that they don’t have time to set appointments with prospects and sign new clients. An expenditure of $500-$1000 per sales rep to equip your team with new computers that allow them to work faster is a small investment with a potentially huge return over the lifetime of the equipment (3-5 years).
Cost: $$
Cheaper solution: if you need to get a few more years out of your equipment, upgrade existing PCs to get your sales team working faster.

2. Faster CRM. The traditional CRM is designed for managing customers but can be ponderous to use for sales prospecting. That’s why we’ve seen many salespeople resorting to a leads list on paper and even taking notes in the margins—a big step backwards—to avoid managing their leads in a CRM. Working a new lead requires a light, fast touch. Salespeople or appointment-setters must be able to make ten cold calls in as little as half an hour in order to stay on top of their sales goals. They must be able to reach contacts through several touch points—phone, email, Linkedin, etc.—in minutes or seconds. Today’s newer, faster breed of CRM allows sales reps to do just that. Our recent study showed that faster, smarter lead management increases sales by 25%-300%. And a faster CRM solution designed for sales prospecting—sometimes referred to as a contact management system or PRM (Prospect Relationship Management) is usually much less costly (and easier to use) than a full CRM system.
Cost: $
Cheaper solution: there isn’t one. But you can find a fast CRM that won’t break the bank.

3. Support staff member. When salespeople are bogged down by administrative, marketing, or customer service tasks, they don’t have time to do what they do best: sell. Hiring a support person to do the tasks that are taking up too much of your sales reps’ day could really pay off.  Duties that can be reassigned to a support person include appointment-setting; marketing initiatives, such as emailing prospects; product demos; fielding incoming calls; and more. By taking some of these burdens off of your sales team, you could see both happier employees and astounding sales growth.
Cost: $$$
Cheaper solution: hire a part-time staffer or outsource tasks such as appointment-setting to a third party.