Optimizing your sales team is key for company-wide success. However, even the highest-performing sales teams encounter challenges when developing buyer relationships. Avoiding common sales mistakes and overcoming challenges is what sets a company that is just drifting along apart from a successful one. 

Luckily, many of these mistakes have straightforward solutions. 

Absence of a Defined Sales Process

One major, and unfortunately common, problem with many organizations is that they never take the time to define a consistent sales process and establish a common sales language. A sales process that is not properly defined will cause your sales team to improve their own methods, resulting in variation, confusion, and haphazard end points. This inconsistency will be noticed by customers and with severe results. If your team is out of sync and communicating different sales messages, it can degrade your brand and reduce your ability to predict revenue. Prior to hiring, it is essential to streamline your sales process and keep everybody on the same page.  

Not Enough Time Spent Selling

According to SalesForce, sales reps spend less than 30% of their time actually selling. That’s right. A majority of company time– for which you’re paying them– is spent on tasks that are not making you more money. These shouldn’t be the figures your company is working with. 

Modern sales tools like Saleboat allow salespeople to work more effectively than ever by showing exactly where your sales reps are putting in the effort, which sales activities are leading to revenue, and, of course, where time may be being wasted.

Selling To Unqualified Leads (the Wrong People)

Your sales reps can make plenty of calls and send lots of great emails, but if they’re targeting the wrong prospects, they won’t be able to close a deal. 

The key to a solid sales process is formulating well-defined criteria that helps your sales team efficiently qualify prospects. Without qualifying prospects, it is impossible to determine if the prospect even understands your original value proposition. 

Not only do poorly qualified candidates waste company money and time, they also lower sales-team morale and can frustrate your employees. Use a qualification tool like ZoomInfo to qualify prospects ahead of time and give your team 20/20 vision on the right people.

Your Team Can’t Reach Their Sales Prospects

You’ve identified your best buyers, perfected the outreach process, and have an unfailing sales process in place. Now your prospects aren’t answering your communication. This is a case of following up, not giving up. Gone are the days of the good ole smile and dial. 

Technology is constantly changing, and so is how buyers want to buy. Encourage your sales team to do their research on each prospect, build rapport, personalize their messaging, and attempt different outreach messages. 

Helping your sales team avoid these common mistakes is what stands between you and that revenue increase you dream of seeing month over month. These days it’s all about putting the right sales process in motion and motivating your sales team to put effort into the right interactions so that they can sale to new heights.