4 Ways a Sales Management System Can Help You

Ever wonder what your sales reps across the country are doing at a certain point of the day? Add in the time difference and you’ll start going crazy. Managing a sales team is no simple task, but managing a decentralized team is a completely different story.

With the rise of telecommuting, you certainly aren’t the only one lacking visibility into your team’s sales performance. With more businesses embracing mobility, employees are now working remotely and across multiple offices. This means the visibility gap has become even greater.

Of course, there are benefits that come with having a dispersed team. But for a sales manager, enabling mobility also means relinquishing the control and visibility you once had in a centralized office. Without the right sales management system in place, it could easily turn into a nightmare.

Like most managers with a dispersed sales team, you probably rely on:

• Spreadsheets where your reps record their daily call activity
• Manual CRM updates reporting call results
• Weekly phone check-ins with individual reps
• Monthly in-person team meetings

This process works when you oversee a few reps, but as your team expands, the reliability is weak. This approach will lead to future problems.

The good news, there is a multitude of sales intelligence tools designed specifically for this reason. It’s your job as a manager to find the one that best fits your needs. Not only will it make your day a whole lot easier, but it will also improve your sales performance.

 Get Accurate Insight Instantly with a Simple Sales Management Tool

If you’re a manager who swears by your CRM, you’re probably forgetting to account for the 40% of manually entered data in your system that is most likely inaccurate. Your business will only be as successful as the accuracy of your insight.

Tracking the phone conversations your reps have, how effective their delivery is and the result of each conversation will give you the factual information needed to make improvements. You’ll also increase the certainty of sales projections and make smarter decisions.

4 Sales Activities That Will Instantly Improve with Access to Accurate Insight

1. Making Better and Faster Decisions

For years, sales decisions have been based on gut instincts. Research shows that fewer than 4 out of 10 managers use reports to make important decisions. As sales performance solutions and big data flood the market, businesses who lag to adopt analytical technology find themselves behind their competition.

With accurate data on your team’s daily activity, you will instantly know which direction your reps are trending. This will enable you to make more informed decisions that could end up saving a business deal in the long run.

2. Targeted Training & Coaching

Effective sales training is a challenge alone, but hiring and training a new rep in a dispersed environment is double the headache. Without accurate visibility into their performance, it’s difficult to pinpoint weaknesses. Thus, how can you implement efficient and effective training?

The cost to hire and train a rep is upwards of $27,000. This can get costly over time if you aren’t setting your reps up for success from the get-go. Adopting a sales management system will help you identify when and where coaching is most needed and fine-tune each of your reps accordingly.

3. Improved Communication

Communication skills are critical in any managerial role, but even more so when leading a remote sales team. As a manager, you must convey your expectations and establish achievable sales goals for your team to meet.

Simplify your job by adopting a sales management system to improve this communication. Set your reps up for success by relying on data-driven numbers to determine and solidify your sales best practices and expectations. No one wants to work under an uncertain manager.

No one wants to work under an uncertain manager.

4. Improved Forecasting

When making a sales forecast, it’s important to have factual data. For instance, if your rep has a deal slated to close at the end of the month with a 90% probability, you can look back over the past month and instantly find clear evidence that supports this claim. \

Data including the number of calls made and dispositions recorded can all be displayed via intuitive dashboards that give you this insight. With a click of a button, you’ll have the information you need to make more accurate sales forecasts.

Armed with insightful sales KPIs, sales managers can not only manage their remote teams more effectively, but they can make themselves stand out as innovative leaders.

Whether you are looking to maintain a disposable income, solidify your standing among executive peers, or further advance your sales career, consider a sales management system that you can easily master to manage your team of reps.