10 Ways to Achieve Your Top Sales Priorities
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RAIN Group shares the top sales priorities of sales and enablement leaders, and 10 research-backed ways you can achieve them.
10 Ways to Achieve Your Top Sales Priorities
- 1. 83% TO ACHIEVEYOUR WAYS MAKEVALUE A PRIORITY Sales organizations that drive value for their buyers are more likely to grow revenue, have higher win rates, and retain top sellers. Indeed, Top Performers are more likely to prioritize and focus on value. IMPROVE SELLER PRODUCTIVITY Based on our Extreme Productivity research, individuals who are Extremely Productive (The XP) are more likely to be top performers, satis鍖ed with their jobs, and very happy. CREATE A REFERRAL AND RETENTION MACHINE Creating a referral and retention machine relies on a multi-pronged strategy. Rely only on sales process or product/service satisfaction and you create competitor inroads. TRAIN SELLERSTO INSPIREWITH IDEAS According to our What Sales Winners Do Di鍖erently research, educated me with new ideas or perspectives was the #1 factor most separating winners from second-place 鍖nishers. IMPROVE SALES MANAGER EFFECTIVENESS Organizations where sales managers inspire the best performance from sellers are signi鍖cantly more likely to be found among Elite and Top Performers compared to The Rest. OPTIMIZEYOUR SALES PROCESS According to our Top-Performing Sales Organization research, 51% of respondents havent formally de鍖ned their sales process. Those that have see higher proposals won, fewer proposals lost to competitors, and fewer proposals lost to no decision. FOCUS ON GROWING EXISTING ACCOUNTS According to our Top Performance in Strategic Account Management research, 76% of all organizations in our study believe they should grow their strategic accounts by at least 25%, and 47% of respondents believe they should grow them by at least 50%. APPROACH SALES OPPORTUNITIES DIFFERENTLY Sellers often treat their pipeline opportunities the same. They de鍖ne need, qualify, propose, present, and wait for a win or loss. A few may bubble up for more focus, but it's not always the right ones. PERFECTYOURVALUE PROPOSITION In our research, we found that 58% of sales meetings arent valuable to buyers. Communicate value (see #1) and make sure you follow the framework below to set yourself apart from the pack. WIN NEW LOGOS AND ACCOUNTS 75% of purchases are strategic, meaning buyers dont have to buy, yet sellers proactively bring new ideas to buyers only 14% of the time. Work collaboratively with strategic accounts to co-create value in new, innovative ways 47% 21% Company leaders prioritize developing sellers to be as valuable to buyers as possible 66% 39% Our sales organization focuses on driving maximum value for the customer 81% 61% The XP are 5.3X more likely than The Rest to have productive work habits. Top Performers in Strategic Account Management are 2.5X more likely to have e鍖ective processes for building strategic account plans. 83% of companies dont believe they have e鍖ective sales training for driving account growth. 49% of people who are very satis鍖ed with a product/service would still consider switching to a di鍖erent provider. Client satisfaction shoots up when account managers create new opportunities proactively. Clients are looking for ideas and want sellers to reach out to them. Use the CARE mnemonic device to determinute whether opportunities are worth the pursuit e鍖ort. You should consider: Competitive Position Relationship with Buyer Competitors Advantages Buyer Preference Partner Bias C A Attractiveness Timeline Buyer Budget Pro鍖tability Potential Growth Logo R Relationship Strength Partnership Perception of Value Relationship Loss E鍖ect Reaction to Replacement Competitive Bidding E E鍖ort to Win Time Investment Financial Investment Resources to Win Political Clout Cultural Fit 64%64% of companies dont believe their sellers have the advanced consultative selling skills needed to 鍖nd and win business consistently. 71%71% of buyers want to talk to sellers early in the buying process when theyre looking for new ideas and possibilities to drive stronger results. Buyers want ideas and sellers arent delivering. Why act? Why now? Why us? Why trust?SUBSTANTIATE DIFFERENTIATE RESONATE Make a case for why its important and urgent to move forward, connecting with the buyer on both a rational and an emotional level. Make the case for why youre the best choice based on your overall distinction and the buyers perception of scarcity. Make the case for why the buyer should believe in you, your o鍖ering, your company, and your ability to achieve the desired results. Companies that focus on driving sales wins win more sales opportunities. Driving and winning sales opportunities 86% 68% 50% Elite Performers Top Performers The Rest 28% 42% 57% Management prioritizes and maximizes the time sales managers spend coaching 32 % 5 5% 77% Managers are e鍖ective at creating and sustaining maximum selling energy 3 1% 48% 63% Leaders and managers quickly address under-performance Elite Performers Top Performers The Rest Focus on value they can deliver me Collaborates with me Educates me with new ideas and perspectives Provides valuable insight related to my industry or market Deepens my understanding of my needs 96% 93% 92% 92% 92% Factors that in鍖uence a buyers purchase decision: Our sales process is customer-focused and maps to our buyers buying processes Our sales process is 鍖exible to apply to our buyers various roles and situations Leads are assigned to people best suited to succeed with them We have an e鍖ective process for sellers to manage their pipelines Elite Performers Top Performers The Rest 80% 0% 20% 40% 60% StronglyAgree/Agree(%) Nearly half of people spend a signi鍖cant amount of time on work-related Mandatory/Empty activities. Top Performers The Rest 22%22% of buyers agree that sales winners educate with new ideas and perspectives. Theres a huge opportunity here to give sellers the skills they need to di鍖erentiate in the sales process! Boston - Bogot叩 - Geneva - Johannesburg London - Mumbai - Seoul - Sydney - Toronto www.raingroup.com info@raingroup.com 1 Mike Schultz, John Doerr, and Mary Flaherty, The Top-Performing Sales Organization (RAIN Group, 2016). 2 Mike Schultz et al., Top Performance in Strategic Account Management (RAIN Group, 2017). 3 Mike Schultz and John Doerr, What Sales Winners Do Di鍖erently (RAIN Group, 2013). 4 Mike Schultz, Bob Croston, and Mary Flaherty, Top Performance in Sales Prospecting (RAIN Group, 2018). 5 Mike Schultz, Mary Flaherty, and Erica Stritch,The Extreme Productivity Benchmark Report (RAIN Group, 2019). RAIN Group can help you tackle your priorities and implement winning strategies. Get started today. >> RAIN Group recently surveyed 423 sales and enablement leaders and discovered their top 10 sales priorities for the year ahead. Do you share these priorities? Scroll down for tips on how to tackle them! 70%Improve ability to communicate value 65%Improve productivity of sellers and sales teams 64%Increase business with existing accounts 62%Improve retention, repeat business, renewals 61%Improve sales opportunity approach and planning 57%Improve sellers ability to inspire with ideas 56%Win more against di鍖cult competitors 54%Improve sales manager e鍖ectiveness 53%Drive new logos/new accounts won 53%Optimize our sales process 82%82% of buyers accept meetings with sellers 3 Elements of a Value Proposition Answer the 4 Whys Make Your Case to the Buyer Signi鍖cantly better Same Somewhat/signi鍖cantly worse 83% 37% 35% Strongly Agree/Agree (%) Account managers create opportunities proactively Client Satisfaction