Inside Sales Lead Management Featured Article

Even the most dynamic sales program occasionally runs into roadblocks. Seasonal ups and downs are not uncommon, and every organization encounters them. If you suspect, however, that your sales program lately has more downs than ups, it’s time to take stock in your methods and see what’s causing the lag.

Every sales organization falls into ruts on occasion. Without realizing it, they may be spending too much time on activities that don’t lead to sales. They might be chasing cold leads, or they could be using the wrong approach in either the sales pitch or communications channels. In a recent Business.com article, the author posits that most companies with stalled sales are guilty of a few common mistakes.

Not automating common tasks. If the sales team is spending too much time filling out forms, doing data entry, looking up customer information from disparate sources or any other baseline work that can chew up a large part of the day, it’s time to automate better, possibly with a customer relationship management (CRM) or lead management solution. CRM software can also help you spot trends to react to.

“[CRM] software not only automates repetitive, customer-facing tasks such as email marketing campaigns and sales follow-ups, it also helps you manage customer interactions and analyze possible factors contributing to a sales decline,” according to the article.

Focusing efforts in the wrong places. Many times, sales departments spend the bulk of their time selling to where they think the buyers are. The problem is that they haven’t taken the time to do any analysis to determine where the most buyers really are. Are you focusing on consumer sales when there are really untapped sources of enterprise sales? Are there new applications for your product that could be explored with some sales efforts?

“Let’s say your sales data shows that while ordering in several market segments are down, one or two sectors show a slight increase,” wrote Business.com. “Such analysis might call for shifting marketing efforts to the sectors where there has been growth. At the same time, a survey to the other segments could provide a better picture of why they aren’t buying — is it a general issue, or is it something related to specific market conditions and needs?”

If you can’t answer these questions, it’s time for some sales analysis.

Telemarketing software. Are you making the best use of your time? If you engage in outbound calling, maybe it’s time to speed things up … literally. Dialer technology, once an expensive prospect, particularly for smaller sales organizations, is now cloud-based, easy to use and flexible with pricing. In fact, many of today’s inside sales lead management solutions also have dialer modules that can help inside sales teams make more and better connections.

All of these improvements start with an evaluation of existing procedures and goals. If you haven’t taken stock in your sales operations recently, now is the time to do so. You may find acres of room for improvement, and easy ways to make big gains.