Most sales organizations are keen to set up best practices across their organizations to improve performance and drive revenue growth. In surveying more than 200 B-to-B sales enablement and operations leaders, SiriusDecisions found just how committed those organizations are to paving their way to success: within the past two years alone, there’s been a 69 percent increase in sales enablement technology spend.
Despite this growth, there are still clear obstacles that sales leaders face in achieving their revenue growth goals. SiriusDecisions’ research showed that 65 percent of those individuals are spending too much time on non-selling activities. And, although many companies exceeded their sales targets in 2014, here are three key areas that sales leaders should focus on to ensure organizational growth in the years to come:
1. Sales Talent
The need for talented sales professionals within an organization is without a doubt one of the most important ingredients of sales success. Sales enablement leaders should work to perfect their onboarding system to attract sales executives who are best suited for their requirements, such as looking at competency and the ability to execute with the desired knowledge and skills.
2. Better Conversations
In a recent survey, SiriusDecisions found that 71 percent of participating sales enablement leaders identified their biggest sales challenge as the inability of their reps to connect their offering to the business issues of their buyers. To create a message that truly resonates with potential clients, sales enablement leaders need to work together with product and marketing. Functional alignment will allow sales representatives to be confident in their ability to have productive conversations with buyers, while also sharing the organization’s message accurately.
3. High-Return Activities
To maximize sales representatives’ focus on high-return activities, sales enablement should collaborate closely with sales operations to monitor time spent. By analyzing this information, sales will have a better shot at minimizing time spent on activities with little or no return. For example, an hour spent planning and preparing for a sales meeting should provide more of a return than the time a representative spends figuring out the commission he or she earned on a recent sale.
B-to-B companies of different sizes, industries and markets all cater to their own unique customers and partners, resulting in distinct opportunities and challenges for each organization. But, they all have one main goal in common: success. By improving sales enablement processes, organizations’ revenue-generating functions’ can become more efficient and have better conversations with buyers, which will lead to sustained revenue growth.
Get Involved: Join 2,300+ industry experts at SiriusDecisions’ 10th annual Summit to learn more about how to improve your sales, marketing and product strategies. To register, click the banner below.