We live in a hyper-wired society. Think about how often you check your favourite news site, or social media feed to see what's happening.
While those examples can be detrimental in our lives or distract us from our goals, the same root principle can help your reps get excited and invested in team goals. A stream of relevant “news” keeps a sales team engaged with their targets and lets them keep a watchful eye on how their customers are tracking.
In today's fast-paced business environment, with everything vying for attention and tasks climbing over one another on a priority matrix, it is too easy for a sales rep to miss critical information. Handing relevant data to them via a newsfeed overcomes this challenge.
Imagine a sales rep noticing in real-time that a customer has just ordered 6 items but could get a price break at 8 items. They could contact the customer immediately and see if there is an opportunity to upsell.
The data could also help a rep better gauge how much effort to spend on acquiring new business versus how much time to spend on maximising the current client base. Scooping up the dollars left on the table could make all the difference in hitting your targets!
In the absence of having a system that can provide a live feed, there are several improvements that can be implemented:
1) Keep your invoicing as up to date as possible. You could even make sure any team members involved in invoicing are shown how their efforts impact sales rep decision-making. This means they’ll prioritise keeping invoicing current, and feel invested in reps hitting the targets.
2) If your ERP system allows it, set up daily automated reports showing each sales rep their sales total for the month to date.
3) Set up a group chat to share wins and learnings. Make a basic start today, and work on increasing the levels of engagement. Get any team leaders on board with a quick brainstorm of what you will each do to participate in the beginning (such as celebrating with a message when someone else shares a win), as the engagement of a group chat is often destined to match the culture in which it got started.
If sales reps have fast access to the latest data, it enables faster reactions to grab the low-hanging fruit.
