Your sales team is struggling to meet targets. What are the best management tools to get them back on track?

Over the last 25 yrs of my work experience what I have seen is that the following work very well to enhance sales productivity - Sales Coaching (mentoring the sales manager and walking the talk - go on sales calls with the sales manager to show how to win business. - Sales Collaboration (buddy system - attaching a sales mgr with another successful sales mgr - this is also known as shadowing). - Sales Training - depending on the development needs assign appropriate training courses.

In my experience, start with the numbers…are the G&Os realistic. Then go to the team…their input is crucial, what are their roadblocks, are their inefficiencies you can remove or efficiencies like a CRM, or more travel budget, etc…you can enact. Product, are you designing and selling what the customer wants? Or are you designing for yourself? Is the messaging clear, concise and to the point. Lastly is a look at the personnel…are they qualified, is retraining required, “bad actors” involved, etc… Every situation is different, listening to your people and accurately interpreting the data is crucial to a turnaround.

Sales targets can be tricky and reasons could be multiple view multiple stakeholders involved. While tools and trainings help but listening to the customer, their expectations, and pain points you intend to solve through your product should be paramount. Eventually, your product has to add value to the customer and this value will derive customer's willingness to engage and pay. So listening and engaging with the customer is the key.

Identifying the right problem is most important, and it cannot only be team, lack of product knowledge, customer success, retention, Unrealistic targets, Internal breakdowns are some key internal problems. 1.Invest in coaching, training, and performance management to unlock your team's full potential. 2.Start small: Pilot new tools before deploying them widely, and gather feedback from your team to ensure user adoption and success. 3.Data-driven strategy: Utilize data from these tools to analyze performance, identify roadblocks, and make informed adjustments to your sales strategy. 4.Curate your approach: Understand your team's specific needs and challenges to select the most suitable tools/training and implement them. effectively.

Sales analytics will provide facts and figure. Then, a brainstorming with key team members (inclusive leadership) arround the root cause Analysis (RCA) will provide an adequate action plan. CRM, sales coaching and/or sales gamification could be part of the final action plan

It's crucial to regularly assess and evaluate our team's process and performance. Identifying issues first allows us to choose the right management tools to steer the sales team back on track to meet targets. Consistent check-ins enable us to support skill enhancement and explore ways to improve individual processes, ensuring effective lead conversion. It's all about continuous improvement and tailored support for success.

The sales pitch and script is important, but this need not be just product (s) and price(s). Customers sub-consciously look for elements which will enable them to TRUST YOU as a Sales Person and hence TRUST YOUR BRAND. This trust can come from anything - timely delivery, always instock, Hassel Free return policy etc and not just confined to the ever dropping prices .... Hence the sales pitch is important and the PERSONALITY of the sales person adds or erodes a lot of trust as well.

Motivation and recognition play crucial roles in sales coaching for several reasons. Firstly, sales can be a demanding and competitive field, and maintaining a high level of motivation is essential to keep sales teams engaged and driven. Recognizing and celebrating achievements, whether big or small, serves as positive reinforcement, boosting morale and fostering a sense of accomplishment. Sales coaching that incorporates motivation and recognition acknowledges the efforts of individuals, instills a sense of pride, and helps build a cohesive and motivated sales team. Ultimately, motivated and recognized sales teams are more likely to achieve and exceed their targets, contributing to the overall success of the organization.

I think coaching is very important. However the one doing the coaching (presumably the manager in this case) has to be trained in delivering quality coaching as well. With effective and regular coaching, the salesperson is able to fine tune his craft and become more effective in his sales pitch/presentation as well as being motivated to perform. Sometimes people just need to be reminded of why they are doing this job in the first place.

One of the Crucial Step for your organization to provide a proper training and coaching, Proper SWOT analysis. Tools help you to get accurate results and on track.

The most important factor in sales is proper follow up! I used to tell my team members that if you don’t take care of your customers someone else will. We all agree that achieving sales target varies from month to month, therefore proper follow up with the customer by creating a conflict to sell him the solution will definitely assist in achieving the target. CRM will also assist especially in case you have a big Data to contact; however, Human Touch remains the most important factor to close those sales deals.

Sales gamification will help the team to be on task. Now a days, many of the people felt that robust review mechanism and sharp governance is the only way to drive sales but now in a smart world, sales gamification is the key element to get the sales numbers on board. In this way, sales members easily find the Gap areas, competition strategies and solutions to get results on board

Sales gamification introduces game elements into the sales environment to enhance engagement and performance. Integrating gamification into sales coaching can significantly improve the coaching process. By incorporating elements such as leaderboards, badges, and rewards tied to specific achievements, sales teams are motivated to reach and exceed their targets. This competitive yet fun approach taps into the intrinsic motivation of individuals, fostering a sense of accomplishment and friendly rivalry. Overall, sales gamification makes coaching more interactive, enjoyable, and effective, driving enhanced performance and results within the sales team.

Sales gamification is a powerful tool for boosting sales performance. By incorporating game elements like points, badges, leaderboards, and rewards, you can motivate and engage your sales reps in a fun and competitive environment. This fosters collaboration, recognizes achievements, and encourages continuous learning. Ultimately, sales gamification improves morale, motivation, and performance, leading to a more dynamic and successful sales team.

Reward and recognition play an important part in creating a competitive and challenging environment that helps increase individual productivity and results in performance enhancement.

Team assesment. Maybe it's not the fault of any individual or the team. Let's revaluate the last year's timeline thouroghly. Maybe the market has changed its requirements,try to undestand the current need,compare it with your product basket.go to existing clients,a good relationship brings good leads. Lay aside blame game, make it a team game.

One thing I have found helpful is analyzing sales data to gain insights into performance and identify areas for improvement. Benefits are Informed decision-making, a better understanding of customer behavior, and optimized strategies.

Firstly, getting your team to understand the importance of sales analytics is crucial. Without them being convinced, they will not be motivated to contribute to the necessary data input which may sometimes be required to produce such analytics. Secondly, meticulous and regular tracking of such data is important in order to find out areas of deficiency in your sales team. Different people will have different weaknesses and areas of improvement needed.

Sales analytics / reporting need to be regular and timely for your business. This will provide you with an understanding of your performance as it relates to incremental and overall goals.

Only Analysis doesn't give results. Only if proper actionable is derived ( To do Task), downloaded, ensure understanding of the task and driven well on ground, it can give amazing results...

Over 17 year a of my sales experience , I can say that sales is passion and not a pressure! Every sales individual is different than others & it’s important to understand the root cause of Failure and then creat action plan to address the same ,the biggest challenge of every sales manager is to break the mindset of sales individual who is working with him if that’s is changed towards positivity and passion with appropriate support of learning,coaching and handholding time to time well-I am sure any sales numbers can be achievable!

Sales Training around the below 3 aspects can be a Force Multiplier. 1- thorough understanding of the product, other related items, and how your product fares vis-a-vis other choices in the same segment. What sets your product apart. Even if your product is same as everyone else's, how is your brand better.....never demean the other's, customers get immediately high on alertness to say no to you.... 2. what makes the "consumer's decision tree" for the segment in which you operate....is Price the No 1 element ALONE, or are there other elements as well, which share the No 1 slot along with Price. 3. What will inspire the trust of the consumer in YOU and YOUR BRAND.....is it your lineage or your background in the market or your DNA..

I have seen so many people going through sales training but still not able to perform. I always tell senior leadership to train their sales team on storytelling skills. When your sales team learn to craft stories around their products and services, their confidence increases manifold. When they sell with story , they connect with audience at emotional level. This helps customer to understand how they can become citizens of a new world by using your product or services ! I have transformed many sales teams performance using stories . Go “sell with stories” that are authentic and real!

One thing I have found helpful is enhancing sales skills and product knowledge among the team by way of training. Benefits are improved competence, increased confidence, and better sales outcomes.

Sales training is one the most effective ways to enhance sales and performance of the team. Team will learn how to communicate effectively (the most important part of sales), sell with confidence, overcome obstacles, build up rapport, focus up & much more. It will also help them build their skills to network which goes a long way to create the goals.

Collaboration is best tool for aligned and motivate to team...keep doing. It will impact very nicely. It is result oriented test.

In my experience, facilitating teamwork and communication among sales team members can boost sales performance. Benefits are enhanced information sharing, improved collaboration, and a unified approach to sales.

Collaborative sales is something you need to consider to manage situations related to sales downturn. Engage and collaborate with resellers, service providers and sales influencers in the segment and consider the commissions as marketing costs and go aggressively into market and make an impact. Single stick is easy to break, but a bundle of sticks are very string and can't be broken.

Only work to find out 4 to 5 lead parameters leading to performance. Build a weekly execution rhythm to deep dive on the identified lead parameters to help team to work on them. Output will happen when right inputs is given. Chasing right things defines the success.

The tools and data will always be there providing analytics etc. What in my opinion needs to be done is having honest conversation within the team. All of us know what is happening and what needs to be done. Having open discussions and getting out of denials quickly is the key to come back on track.

Sales Leadership is the beginning of a strong selling engine. The leader uses external/internal insights and data analytics to identify market gaps. The right leader will build the strategic goals, get the right talent & sales structure, rally the team and monitor field execution.

I can share my own experience. When I got the country sales role, we began by identifying our target customers, determining the target segment, and selecting the tools required to achieve our goals in that segment with in the team. When the team can contribute to the solution, then they could not only mind but also hearts will beat foe success.

I believe that sales is primarily an art, and this art, in fact, involves not selling. In my opinion, the best way to excel in sales is not to be perceived as a salesperson, but rather as an advisor.