Mastering Sales Jiu-Jitsu

In the US, 34% of salespeople say closing deals is getting harder, and only 58% of reps reach their revenue goal. So, if current trends hold, half of your sales team will not make quota this year.

There are many contributing factors to the decline in sales productivity, such as too much time spent on administrative tasks and lack of effective coaching. However, the number one barrier to quota achievement is the fact that sales leaders are still managing based on hunches instead of real accurate metrics. But, they are feeling the pressure; the average tenure for a VP of Sales has shrunk to only 19 months, from 26 months.

What can you really do in less than two years to effect change? Simple; you can bridge the gap between your best performers and your average sales reps. How? By introducing sales Jiu-Jitsu to your team.

A Data-Driven Approach to Sales Effectiveness

Jiu-Jitsu is a combat sport that uses leverage and proper technique to defeat one’s opponent. The idea of using the least force to the greatest effect as seen in the sport is the same principle you should apply to your sales team; leverage a small accurate data to gain the greatest insight into the day-to-day activities and behaviors of your reps.

To increase sales productivity and obtain a real business impact, focus on this smaller quantity of quality data, instead of just more information from a greater number of less reliable sources. For example, use sales intelligence to access and analyze the KPIs that matter the most, such as appointments sets or closed deals. In addition, keywords and speech patterns noted from call recordings are all tools that if applied during coaching, will help your reps close more businesses.

Optimize Training

Mastering jiu-jitsu takes proper training, and so does optimizing the performance of your sales team. Simply having access to accurate data and the stats needed to improve your team’s performance isn’t enough. Managers must train their teams over time to maintain and build on skills and behaviors that are indicative of success over the phone.

Further, sales intelligence data allows managers to monitor the performance of both individual reps and their whole team, making it simple to ensure they are achieving goals and reaching benchmarks. Increasing agent effectiveness starts with improving rep effectiveness over the phone by using data to identify strengths and weaknesses. By adopting this technique, you can bridge the productivity gap between average and top-performing reps, therefore strengthening your salesforce.

Become Indispensable with Sales Jiu-Jitsu

Establish yourself as an indispensable member of your organization by utilizing accurate data, optimizing training and adopting the art of sales jiu-jitsu. Through practicing sales jiu-jitsu, you will not only increase the power of your sales team but also reverse the cycle of just barely missing quota that ultimately results in decreasing tenures with organizations.

By mastering these principles, you can become an indispensable member of your team and be properly equipped to win the fight to close more deals and reach your revenue goals.

Learn more about this methodology and how you can improve the effectiveness of your sales team here.