Here are some signs your sales team is underperforming: not reaching business goals, having a disengaged team, increased employee turnover, fewer calls, not attracting as many leads, and fewer conversion rates.
When this happens, it's easy to look elsewhere, but more often than not, the solution lies within your team — and their ability to do their jobs efficiently.
The truth is 74% of salespeople are underperforming. Another 20% are doing well but could improve. That leaves just 6% in the elite! For management, this can feel frustrating. An underperforming team strains morale, makes achieving business goals difficult, and reflects poorly.
Now, how to motivate an underperforming sales team? We have the scoop! Here are our tips on how to build a high-performing sales team with a training plan for sales team members specifically.
Reasons Your Sales Team Isn't Nailing It
Your sales team should be passionate, cooperative, and enthusiastic, but underperforming often causes confidence to plummet. There could also be a lack of cohesion among the group with no real strategy, as many businesses are just winging it. Here are some likely reasons why your team isn't nailing it.
Lacking sales & marketing knowledge
The problem in most underperforming cases is that your team doesn't have the knowledge they need to do their job effectively and efficiently. What can you do about lack of knowledge? Work with Navaquest to create a customized and comprehensive sales and marketing training plan.
Customer relationships aren't being built
Today's consumers require trust and communication to support or purchase from brands. In fact, 8 in 10 consumers cite trust as an important factor in their purchasing decision, and 46% would pay more to buy from brands they trust. Customer relationships aren't being built if your team doesn't know your target audience and how to appeal to them.
This is where sales training and coaching can make all the difference in ROI and long-term goals associated with a stronger and more reliable connection between your brand and your customers.
You don't have a sales playbook or strategy
A sales playbook or strategy is a game-changer. When team members have knowledge and resources at their fingertips, they have a reliable source for refreshing on things they may have forgotten and a trustworthy place to go when they're faced with a scenario that may be new to them. This not only cuts response time and avoids typical pitfalls but empowers your team and feels them with more confidence.
Navaquest can help with this, too! And it's not a one-size-fits-all approach. It's carefully and expertly crafted for your business and sales team to ensure success.
Tips for Improving an Underperforming Sales Team
If your sales team can't appropriately handle the opportunities being presented to your company, you may never have 'the right opportunity.' After all, any opportunity can be right if your team has the skill and knowledge to make it one.
An underperforming sales team holds your company back from the growth and success it deserves. Fortunately, we have some valuable tips to help you and your team.
Assess the team's strengths and weaknesses
Closely evaluating your team's strengths and weaknesses will reveal what pain points must be addressed and which strengths must be embraced. Not every team member is alike, so you'll find that by assessing and managing each, more of your staff will be empowered to embrace the unique qualities they bring to the table and more inclined to improve in areas they are lacking.
Make sure each representative is knowledgeable about the product or service
Don't let your sales team be part of the large percentage in the industry that doesn't know what they're selling — let alone how it will bring value to their prospects. A thorough lesson on your product/service is crucial to their success so they can not only communicate why prospects need your solution but so they can answer questions and address any concerns customers may have.
Provide sales scripts
Sales scripts have a host of advantages to them:
- Less stress on your sales team
- Generate more leads
- Improve sales efficiency
- Keeps messaging/communication more consistent
- Strengthen your brand
- Makes you more memorable
- Ensures your team delivers the same key points (which reduces overpromising!)
Have a solid strategy for all sales representatives to follow
A solid strategy is the foundation of your sales rep's selling. The quality of your strategy can even make or break the sales deal. When you create and share a solid plan for everyone to reference and learn from, you set them up for success by laying out the foundation of the sales process while relying on them to tailor each experience to each customer to avoid being robotic and too generalized.
Teach active listening, overcoming objections, and relationship building
Before your team can ever come close to appealing to the needs and interests of a client, they must learn how to actively listen to them. Doing more listening than talking will allow them to better pinpoint the problem, clarify the issue, and then come in with the home run that shows you can solve it. As a result, they get better at overcoming objections and building relationships because now the customer knows your team members understand them well enough to solve future problems.
Provide professional coaching and training
Eventually, it all comes down to coaching, certifications, and sales training. Professional training and coaching can address all the issues your sales team is experiencing, leading to their underperformance. Each member could benefit from a performance boost of 20% or more when participating.
Reach out to Navaquest for a one-stop shop for improving an underperforming sales team, and follow our blog to learn more about the importance of empowering your team with the right skills and knowledge.
