BlogmyQuery – BMQ

Introduction

Many sales representatives spend a lot of time selling, coordinating with marketing and finance teams and interacting with customers to receive feedback. It’s a taxing job and often leads to a downward spiral in sales teams’ productivity. Improving sales productivity is a challenge for many leaders. 

There may be a disconnect between time with customers and expectations. Improving productivity requires collaborating with sales representatives. There are various strategies you can use to boost it. This blog reveals six of these strategies. 

Sales productivity entails maximizing sales volumes while cutting down the associated resources. These resources include human capital and time. The rate of increasing company revenue is the best measure of productivity. For team leaders and management, and the sales team itself, the goal should be to improve efficiency.

Track your sales

Improving sales productivity requires an understanding of your current position. Dashboards are excellent for achieving this. They enable you to understand trends and gain insights into each employee’s activity-based metrics. 

The metrics will let you know how the sales representatives are spending most of their time. To measure activity-based metrics, you need to be consistent. Don’t allow your sales team to delay in entering their activities. This will make it difficult to define a benchmark to measure your outcome. 

The sales productivity levels are not just measured in monetary terms. Measuring the level can be done in different ways. One of the best methods to use to measure productivity is conversion rates. This refers to the number of contacts and attempts the sales representatives make. The idea is to find the percentage of customers who complete specific actions. 

The range of targets can vary depending on the sales type. Conversion rates will give you insights into the performance of each team member. The number of deals completed depends on the sales activities completed. For instance, if a sales representative closes five accounts out of 60 leads, this means they are inefficient. However, you need to know that sales are not universal. In some companies, even a single deal may be significant.

Another sales key performance indicator is the average hourly sales. Understanding your team’s efficiency is an important aspect of a business. To boost your team’s productivity, pay attention to the time employees spend completing activities. Exclude anything that is not related to deals. For instance, time spent attending company meetings is not necessary. 

Average hourly sales is an excellent metric to determine whether the sales team uses time effectively. If the number falls below average, the sales team is not efficient. You can also compare actual sales with forecasted sales. This metric measures whether an employee exceeds or fails to meet their target.

Establish a routine

Sales representatives who go for fieldwork normally have schedules. They are busier than the employees who spend more time in the office. Getting things done should be your ultimate aim. The method of achieving results may not always matter. For field sales persons, there are opportunities for creativity and flexibility.  

Achieving more results requires the sales team to create a daily schedule. After laying down what they need to do, they should prioritize the items. Encourage them to say no to anything that does not help them to meet their goals. 

Better sales outcomes require a good structure. The meetings must start and end at the scheduled time. Sometimes frequent business trips may interfere with meetings. This puts the employees in difficult positions in trying to reschedule the meetings. They should focus on prioritizing. This requires you to encourage the sales representatives to place long-term and significant clients on top of their list. 

Set daily goals

The key to improved results is setting goals. Goals help to motivate the sales team. They give them a sense of direction and encouragement to meet their targets. The goals should be SMART, that is:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Time-bound

Use past data to make realistic and attainable goals. Analyzing the team’s past and present performance will also help you to succeed. Understand how your team is performing. You can divide the total annual leads by the total sales over the same period. 

The other step to setting smart goals is to determine the sales minimums. This requires determining where you want to be in the next few years. Failing to define business goals may make it hard to set sales goals. The idea is not to do the minimum but to help the business grow. The goals should be above the minimum. Encourage the individuals to follow up after a sales call. This will help the team to meet the sales goals. 

The trick here is to be realistic and ambitious. Don’t go too high in your estimate. Additionally, avoid shortchanging your organization and set targets that don’t challenge the sales team. In the end, this could demoralize them. A good sales goal will do the following:

1. It accounts for past revenues and future projections.
2. It is based on the entity’s expected product roadmap.
3. The sales quota accounts for the market size.
4. It includes growth in other departments within the organization.

Automate administrative tasks

Sales productivity entails maximizing sales volumes while cutting down the associated resources. These resources include human capital and time. The rate of increasing company revenue is the best measure of productivity. As a manager, your goal should be to improve efficiency. Automating administrative tasks could help to improve efficiency.

Administrative tasks take up a lot of sales representatives’ time. It is practical to automate tasks by investing in a digital engagement platform. This will reduce low-value work that lowers efficiency. It will also save a lot of time and employee effort.

Entering activities and contacts into CRM consumes over five hours a week. Think of how much time it is in a year. Selling and closing business deals should not be a time waster. Some key tasks that can be automated include:

1. The day-to-day sales plan
2. Data entry
3. Emails and texts
4. Logging visits
5. Data management specific to sales targets

One of the ways through which automation can boost productivity is by optimizing sales processes. Some tasks are difficult to automate. In this case, sales software may be an alternative to take care of technical aspects. 

The sales software works fast and properly with a computer of the right speed. Learn more tips on how to free up memory and optimize your work device to enjoy the benefits of process automation. Always check your computer storage regularly to ensure that it functions smoothly. Remove viruses and uninstall unnecessary apps using special software.

Automation can enable sales representatives to make better decisions when interacting with customers. A good example is when they use lead scoring. Instead of analyzing and responding to many dozens of emails, special tools could simplify the task. This may help them automatically detect buying intent. 

Use sales tools

There is a need to embrace sales tools to achieve more results. The most effective tools will help to automate unproductive administrative tasks. It becomes easier to boost sales after automating repetitive tasks. 

CTM tools can help to increase the team’s effectiveness. CRM platforms significantly reduce the time employees take on redundant tasks. The idea is to let the employees create time for revenue-generating tasks.

A great way to use these tools to boost sales is through triggered events. These are particularly useful in dealing with follow-up emails. The trigger will let the sales representatives respond faster and do minimal work. Following a defined workflow can help you to boost your organization’s overall performance. 

Establish effective communication channels

Communication is one of the most important ingredients for success. Managing the field sales team is more difficult than managing the inside sales team. Many interactions have to take place over text messages or the phone. To boost sales, you need to consult each salesperson to know how they perform. 

Interact more with new hires. Understand that check-ins do not have to be always scheduled. Besides check-ins, you can conduct one-on-one meetings. The frequency of meetings may vary with the team. The face-to-face interactions could promote more in-depth engagements. 

Find opportunities to tailor your training to individual sales representatives

For a newly launched business, you need to create more time engaging with the sales team. This is because the team is yet to understand the communication channels in the business. One-one one interactions also help you to get timely feedback from the team. This will help to find room for improvement. If an individual is struggling in a particular area, others could be struggling too. Always ask the team what you can do to boost their productivity. 

Conclusion

Driving sales manager productivity is the best way to grow a business. As a sales manager, you should collaborate with your sales representatives. Understand the reasons for business existence and set goals based on that. Your role is to create an environment to help the team meet their targets. Evaluate your results regularly and design strategies for improvement. 

The post Ways to Drive Sales Manager Productivity appeared first on noupe.

Employees often suffer burnout during stressful periods due to value disconnect, pressure, overload, and lack of managerial support. The signs of burnout include lack of concentration, physical fatigue, and reduced productivity. In the worst cases, it can cause some employees to leave their jobs. 

Managers have a role to play in reducing burnout in the workplace and increasing productivity. Knowing how to do so will help managers to retain employees and improve their overall well-being. This guide reveals the best practices for managers to reduce burnout. 

Holding walking meetings

Holding walking meetings is a great way to reduce stress and allow employees to recharge. They can get out of the office for a while and be active during the meetings. Walking meetings are more effective with small groups such as departments. Managers must ensure that the walking meetings are as productive as other meetings. 

During the meetings, teams can discuss the roadblocks they are encountering at the workplace and suggest ways to overcome the difficulties. It is also a great opportunity to share project updates, upcoming tasks, and new opportunities. People can discuss how to outsource the calling process and other non-core business activities like IT infrastructure management, HR payroll, facility management, general accounting, and more. 

Helping workers connect to their purpose

Encouraging employees to connect to their purpose can also help to prevent workplace burnout. Emotional connection to work means connection to the organization and the purpose, which could help employees cope with stressful situations. 

Managers can connect the employees’ roles to the organization’s vision, mission, and values. They should make people understand how their work contributes toward achieving the organizational goals. It is also important to help workers participate in job crafting, so they reflect on the meaning of their work. This causes the employees to think of how making small changes in their roles can make a difference in the organization. 

Promoting management training

There have been many cases of employees leaving their jobs due to bad bosses or poor working environment. Others prefer to stay in low-paying jobs if they are allowed to work with a great boss. If managers are not well-equipped, they can create a stressful environment, and this may hinder the achievement of organizational goals.  

Managers must provide management skills and tools, such as functional computers with advanced programs. Slow computers can reduce productivity among workers due to frequent overtime, which is a major cause of burnout. Computers often begin working slowly due to many junk files. Showing the employees how to clean up system junk can help to avoid having slow working computers and boost productivity. Optimizing your Mac to get the best performance should always be your top priority.

Prioritizing workplace health and wellness

Managers should regularly provide their staff with opportunities to be away from work or unplug. Employees can also manage stress by finding a quiet place to relax, pray and meditate. 

Investing in office aesthetics such as new pictures, plants, and inviting chairs could also create a less stressful environment. During periods of high workload and stress, managers can support their staff through mental health awareness. Other ways to promote wellness at the workplace include:

• Allowing staff to rest
• Encouraging staff to give back
• Boosting morale by celebrating wins
• Encouraging employees to remain calm during stressful periods

Maintaining flexible job options

The pandemic made many organizations shift to work-from-home or remote work mode. Many employers have known that people can be productive even when working from home. Leaders have learned how to manage remote teams and encourage collaboration. They should be open to people’s circumstances and offer flexible working options.

Managers can make arrangements to allow people to work from home on a part-time basis to facilitate time management. The employees don’t have to struggle with domestic activities such as medical appointments and coordinating family affairs. 

Promoting work-life balance

Maintaining a work-life balance is also a practical way to prevent burnout. Many people juggle a lot in their work, and personal lives and the line between the two can be challenging. Even with days off, some people may resist using their free time for self-development.

Taking a break to work can improve employees’ moods and boost productivity in the long run. Managers can encourage the staff to use their time to completely unplug and recharge. Organizations with flexible work schedules can offer shortened Fridays to allow employees to have long weekends, especially during summer and spring. If an employee is on vacation, bosses should avoid calling them with job-related matters. 

Encouraging social connections

Human beings are social-they cannot live in isolation- an employee will rely on their boss or other employees for support. Social support relates to factors such as well-being, stress, health, and engagement. Managers can foster community among their staff by boosting social networks and team support. Through social connections, workers can find support that can prevent stress and burnout. 

Managers can encourage employees to design plans for social connections through meeting colleagues, family members, or friends. To motivate remote employees they can also schedule regular online coffee breaks or organize virtual team-building activities. Celebrating employees and bringing teams together are also practical ways to prevent burnout and  promote a sense of belonging. 

Monitoring work schedules

One of the major causes of burnout is work overload. Leaders must ensure that employees are not tasked with unrealistic workloads or rigorous schedules. Sometimes workloads may spike, but this is not a reason to overwork people. It becomes challenging for them to sustain demanding schedules and heavy workloads.

Leaders should monitor the work schedules to improve performance and ensure business success. They can do so in the following ways:

• Planning tasks
• Understanding resource availability
• Allocating tasks evenly and fairly
• Setting priorities
• Encouraging employees to avoid multitasking
• Managing change effectively
• Setting realistic goals
• Setting realistic work deadlines

Open communication

Communication is a game-changer in any organization setup- withholding information and having minimal communication can cause stress among the staff. Managers should encourage open communication within the organization to ensure that everyone receives transparent and timely updates.

Leaders should help employees to understand expectations and how their performance can bring change to the organization. They can give members of staff opportunities to discuss stress factors and voice their frustrations. Setting feedback options could give employees a voice concerning the problems they are facing. Open communication options may help employees to relieve issues that could lead to stress and burnout. 

Offering growth opportunities

Lack of growth opportunities and advancement is a leading cause of stress in many organizations. Technology is evolving, so it is important to help employees to acquire new skills to enable them to adapt to changes in the business environment.

Employees can find new opportunities within and outside the organization. Managers should help employees to take stressful situations positively rather than see them as threats. Involving employees when setting goals makes them understand their expectations at the workplace, and this may boost their job engagement. 

Conclusion

The relationship between managers and employees helps organizations to succeed in the long run. It also offers career advancement, drives collaboration, and alleviates workplace stress and burnout. Heightened stress levels at the workplace can lead to reduced productivity, absenteeism, and employee turnover, which may be costly to the organization. Managers can implement the above strategies to prevent burnout and create a better working environment. Although other factors outside an organization could lead to stress, managers have a bigger role to play. 

The post Stop Employee Burnout: Practical Guide for Managers appeared first on noupe.