Every business strives to increase its sales volume, aiming for a higher target and greater revenues each year.
As field sales reps continue to encounter newer challenges with institutional and individual customers who have the online marketplace at their fingertips, outside sales strategists need to come up with newer ways to convert leads and build brand loyalty.
Table of Contents
Ways to Boost Your Field Sales Performance
In a fiercely competitive environment, door-to-door selling needs to be backed by a meticulous sales strategy.
If you’re struggling with poor sales performance, here are eight proven strategies to help improve your sales and turn your outside sales team into your strongest asset.
1. Establish a robust sales process that your sales reps can follow
To begin with, lay down a step-by-step line of events for your outside sales process and implement a system where you can track and measure progress right from the development of a lead till the time it converts (or doesn’t convert) into a customer. This will help bring order, definition, and greater control into your field sales process.
2. Create a strong sales team
Anyone can be a salesperson but it takes a few to be exceptional at convincing people to buy something.
If you’re struggling to boost your sales, invest in people development and, at the same time, consider if you have the right people for the job. For success in sales, you need a team of driven, ambitious self-starters who’re sociable, friendly, and outgoing.
3. Make use of cutting-edge sales technology
Bring in an efficient sales tracking software solution designed to cater to the needs of an outdoor sales team.
Invest in a product that comes with essential features such as customer mapping, geographical lead tracker, team communications, real-time sales data, prospect information, route planner, rep performance management, easy integration with other products, report generation, territorial mapping, and customer relationship management.
A good field sales management solution can help optimize your selling process and make it a lot easier to track and manage reps, leads, and sales territories.
4. Make training and upskilling easier.
Create a database of high-quality training materials (books, eBooks, videos, blog posts, articles, and case studies) for your field reps. In addition, make refresher training and upskilling programs a part of your company culture to make your employees feel valued, motivated, and more confident in their skills.
5. Improve your pre-sales process
Successful sales leaders know the importance of a robust pre-sales strategy in driving actual sales. Studies show that a business with a strong pre-sales process enjoys higher conversion rates.
A pre-sales strategy essentially involves taking a dip check with each prospective customer to determine their interest levels and unique problems in order to filter the good leads. This support system eliminates weak leads and increases the closing rate for a sales team.
6. Train your sales team in soft skills
Your field sales reps may be exceptional at pitching a product or service, but do they know how to step into a customer’s shoes and understand what he or she wants? A great sales team is made of people who can identify with their customers’ problems and offer a tailored solution that will make their lives easier.
Soft skills such as empathy, ability to listen, patience, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, observation, and positivity are as important for a sales rep as are the core selling skills.
7. Revisit your incentive plan
Take a critical look at your incentives strategy to check if it’s fair and feasible at the same time. Does your incentive plan appropriately reward and recognize good performers? Does it offer enough traction for low-performing employees to up their game?
It’s fair to set incentives based on volumes, but consider if it makes sense to penalize your sales stars for low margins. In addition, it introduces incentives for overlooked achievements such as customer retention, low customer complaints, and high ratings from new and existing customers.
Review your incentive program from time to time and take feedback from performers at both ends of the spectrum to know what can be improved.
8. Focus on long-term success
Often, in a bid to achieve the next weekly or monthly target, sales managers and leaders lose sight of the long-term sales strategy needed to retain existing customers and ensure recurring orders and profitability.
This attitude funnels down to the customer-facing team and their focus shifts to meeting the numbers instead of creating a sustainable future for the company. Inculcate the right approach at the managerial level and you’ll see a definitive surge in your outside sales.
- AI’s Impact on Personalization, Analytics, and Retention in Gaming - April 12, 2024
- The Marketer’s Marathon: Long-Distance Strategies for Sustained Traffic Growth - March 29, 2024
- What Is MagSafe for iPhone? A Quick Guide - March 18, 2024