How to Drive Accountability Among Your Sales Reps

How to Drive Accountability Among Your Sales Reps

How to Drive Accountability Among Your Sales Reps. Did you know that, according to CSO Insights, more than 45% of salespeople miss their quota? Instead, managers must focus on creating a culture of rep accountability wherein reps effectively manage and measure their own performance, allowing management to make the transition from giving orders to providing strategic coaching. These directions are your sales process, which provides reps with a clear series of steps they need to take to move a lead all the way through the sales pipeline to close. For example, to move a deal from the Qualified stage to the Quote stage of the sales pipeline, an established sales process may require reps to complete the following: – Conduct 360 analysis of company’s needs – Visit prospect on-site – Create proof of concept – Receive a verbal yes Rather than management having to constantly correct course or harass reps about their next steps during 1:1s, once reps have a defined “map,” it’s up to them to follow it. Jordan continues, “From my perspective, the most important data is the data that gives you insights into how you can sell and manage better. And it’s not outcome data!” Instead, managers should choose a standardized set of metrics that measure the sales activities that lead to revenue, as well as how leads are converting at each and every stage of the sales pipeline. establishes a set of activity metrics that they can independently monitor and use to benchmark performance. Fortunately, today’s sales platforms have the power to do the number crunching and provide up-to-the-minute reports. With robust permission controls to boot, there is no reason why modern sales managers shouldn’t be sharing these reports with their reps and encouraging them to check them out multiple times a day. Choosing a sales platform that makes these reports available across mobile devices takes this to a whole other level, giving your reps 24/7 access to real-time performance data.

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Did you know that, according to CSO Insights, more than 45% of salespeople miss their quota? Of course, there could be a million reasons why this is happening, but the question we want to address here is, who should be held accountable for this deficiency?

While some fingers may immediately point to management and lack of coaching, others may find themselves blaming rep ineptitude or lack of productivity. The truth is that it’s actually a combination of shortcomings from both sales leaders and reps – but it’s up to managers to take the steps necessary to correct course.

Harassing and hovering over your team may drive reps to push toward their quota out of fear for a short period of time, but it will only create a culture of “Big Brother” and frustration in the long-term. Instead, managers must focus on creating a culture of rep accountability wherein reps effectively manage and measure their own performance, allowing management to make the transition from giving orders to providing strategic coaching.

Fortunately, sales teams today are lucky to have the technology and tools to make this easier than ever. Here’s how to get started.

Firm up Your Sales Process

When you’re driving, you must know the right turns to take to arrive at your destination, otherwise you won’t get there. In sales, your destination is always a closed deal, but the problem is that, while many companies expect reps to arrive at this destination, they fail to provide them with the directions that they need to reach it. When this happens, reps either a) get lost, or b) find their own way.

While there are many routes that can lead to the same destination, some are more efficient than others; the same goes for sales. As a manager, it’s your job to provide your reps with the directions they need to get to their destination in the fastest and most effective way possible. These directions are your sales process, which provides reps with a clear series of steps they need to take to move a lead all the way through the sales pipeline to close.

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For example, to move a deal from the Qualified stage to the Quote stage of the sales pipeline, an established sales process may require reps to complete the following:
– Conduct 360 analysis of company’s needs
– Visit prospect on-site
– Create proof of concept
– Receive a verbal yes

Rather than management having to constantly correct course or harass reps about their next steps during 1:1s, once reps have…

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