Why do your sales people only spend a third of their time selling? This question may sound like a bait-and-switch for your reading, but it's the reality, and not always a pleasant one. And with good reason: the allocation of salespeople's working hours is a subject of tension in many companies.
It will come as no surprise to you that your sales force doesn't devote 100% of its time to sales. However, there's a good chance that the actual time spent by your sales force on business development is far less than you'd imagine.
So what would your reaction be if I told you that your salespeople actually spend almost 2/3 of their days on activities that are unrelated to sales and therefore not revenue-generating?
In theory, a salesperson's activity can be divided into four main phases:
Whether it's finding information, making appointments or carrying out administrative tasks (meeting minutes, expense reports, updating information systems...), a salesperson's day is polluted by a multitude of tasks impacting his or her productivity, and in the long term, motivation.
In the majority of companies, sales reps don't have access to tools enabling them to better organize their day and maximize their sales time in the field. This is worrying, since good time management is the prerogative of good salespeople. It is therefore crucial for the company to help sales reps reduce the tasks that will hinder their productivity.
Controlling and disseminating information are major issues for companies. The lack of visibility on a prospect or a customer (exchange history, past contracts, order history...) gives sales reps an additional workload that distracts them from sales. Sales reps need easy access to all the information they need to prioritize their sales actions and maximize their sales potential.
Continuity of information must also be a priority, as the success of many opportunities will depend on a good mastery of the company's data. It is inconceivable that you or your employees could miss a deal because an employee is sick, or that another has left the company without having shared the history of his exchanges with a client/prospect.
A tool that often crystallizes a majority of the tensions between sales and management, CRM is often pointed out by sales staff as one of the main causes of their loss of productivity.
Never up to date, too long to fill in, too complex to use... There are many reasons why a CRM is neglected by sales forces.
Initially intended as a productivity tool (see Why invest in a CRM), a poorly used CRM can even become counter-productive. The frustration that results from using an unsuitable solution means that the CRM is more often than not perceived by sales staff as a punishment and a means of tracking their activity, rather than an ally in their day-to-day work.
Not all systems experience the same level of resentment from the sales force, with those that allow clear tracking of sales cycles, current opportunities and the ability to link documents to them being the most popular tools.
As we have seen above, the 'simple' implementation of a CRM (a euphemism as the implementation of a large number of systems can be painful) is not a systematic answer to your problems.
Since most systems are designed for sedentary use, your mobile users won't be able to benefit from these tools, which will be perceived as a punishment. How many times have your sales reps found themselves before a meeting, in their car in the parking lot, their computer on their lap, sharing a connection with their phone, desperately searching for a network to access the company database? How much time have they spent re-entering their appointment reports on your information systems in the evening at home or at the hotel? What about the days wasted searching for lost receipts and processing expense reports?
Given the investment and time involved in setting up a CRM, you can't afford to have your sales force neglect the solution deployed. So it's essential to take stock of the situation and understand your needs.
Beforeanything else, it's essential for you to carry out an audit to understand precisely which tasks are keeping your sales reps away from sales. To carry out this diagnosis, work with your teams: collect and list their feedback, ranking them from most to least recurrent.
Processes for handling administrative tasks rarely keep pace with a company's growth, and some of them can represent a bottleneck to your growth. Do your sales reps spend half a day a week processing their expense reports? Maybe it's time to rethink the way they're processed!
Technologyand digital are your best allies. Despite digitalization in the professional world, the field sales profession remains highly artisanal. Are you sure you're putting your teams in the best possible position by giving them access to tools to help them boost their day-to-day productivity?
To help you determine which CRM tool best suits your sales organization, it's important to ask yourself several key questions.
Eliminate or automate redundant, time-consuming tasks with little added value. Chances are, many of these can be automated, if not eliminated, to free up precious time for your employees.
Trainingyour staff is also crucial to getting the best out of your sales people. Whether it's managing their time or using the company's tools, your employees need to master the company's resources at their fingertips, or risk seeing their commitment wither away.
Management interference and 'micro-management' can not only have a negative impact on your employees' productivity, but can also lead to a loss of confidence and demotivation, which will have a major impact on their performance.
To optimise your company's sales organisation and enable your sales staff to maximise their sales time, there are solutions adapted to their daily lives and the realities of their business.
On the move, your teams don't have time to enter superfluous information, and above all are looking for a simple, effective assistant that enables them to effortlessly track their sales pipeline. They needa mobile CRM.
Collaboration is also a key success factor for your sales force: chat, collaborative database, news sharing, document management - your sales solution must enable them toaccess information everywhere, all the time, with or without a network.
If software publishers have ignored the field for too long, solutions for mobile salespeople are gradually appearing with the aim of helping salespeople to regain pleasure and interest in using CRM.
Sidely is a 'mobile first' sales force software that supports the field salesperson, whether prospecting, on a customer tour, or at trade shows, so that they can finally regain control of their day-to-day lives.
