The Secrets to Sales Productivity

When it comes to measuring the success of your sales team we tend to see a lot of the same metrics: passed leads, pipeline revenue generated, number of quality conversations — we know them well. However, if your sales team isn’t hitting the goals you’ve set for them the focus then tends to shift towards productivity, and how your team is using their time to try and hit these goals. It’s here that we often see a disconnect between helping your team, and simply telling them to do their job better.

Sales is a game of ebbs and flows, and the best reps will know how to minimize the low points and maximize the high points. In a Salesforce survey to some of the tops sales minds in the country, they revealed some of the ways they remain productive throughout their busiest days. Let’s hone in on a few that tend to be particularly relevant, regardless of the situation.

Break up your day

When it comes to wading through a variety of tasks, it’s best that you do them one at a time. More importantly, it’s best that you work on them totally separate from the other tasks you need to finish. That means no more sending emails for your outbound campaign while simultaneously cross-checking inbound leads in your CRM. To be the best you can be at one task, you need to focus on that task and that one alone. This means no email distractions, no social media distractions, no meetings, no anything. If it’s a more important task it’s best to block off a set time period for you to finish what you need and to only finish that.

Schedule your prospecting

Borrowing from the above idea, it also helps if you break up your prospecting into manageable chunks. The law of diminishing marginal returns occurs in sales just like in anything else you do, the more time you spend on one activity (in this case prospecting) the less you’ll get out of with each passing hour. By budgeting aside an hour of your time to just prospect you’ll get just as much done as if you were prospecting distracted for 3 hours.

Use the tools at your disposal

If you work with a sales enablement platform or database manager, make sure you’re utilizing it to its full potential. Productivity can be increased with the effective use of technology, but it can also be hindered when technology is used incorrectly. If there are upgrades or new applications to add on, go ahead and make sure everything is up to date. Sometimes scheduling a training session for your reps will alleviate this problem as well. Informing your reps on the most useful and up-to-date tools can provide an impetus for them to explore solutions on their own.

Creating a well-oiled sales machine isn’t easy, but if you take the time to focus on a few key areas and read up on what the experts are doing, things can change quickly. Read the full survey on the Secrets of the Most Productive Salespeople to find out how to maximize your day to day efforts!

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