Progressive Distributor - Putting ideas into action

Putting ideas into action

by Robert Nadeau

How sales managers are getting more from their salespeople

Many sales managers know their salespeople don’t spend enough time selling. Some turn to financial incentives and technology to solve this problem. Others are going a step further and finding ways to give their salespeople more time to sell.

In November 2006, we released the results of a 14-month study that confirmed what many salespeople already knew and some sales managers suspected. On average, salespeople spend just eight percent of their time prospecting and qualifying new customers. Yet they spend 23 percent of their time dealing with problems and mistakes, searching for information and expediting orders.

Overall, they spend 62 percent of their time on “non-revenue-generating” activities and just 38 percent of their time selling.

Our study was widely discussed by trade associations and business media, including Progressive Distributor.

We expanded on our study findings in our popular report titled “The 5 Common Barriers to Peak Sales Performance.” We also used these insights to develop our Peak Sales Performance Work Session.

This work session uncovers ways to improve sales performance by tapping into the vast pool of knowledge and ideas contained within most companies. After all, nobody knows more about what’s going on than the people who face the challenges on a day-to-day basis.

More time = more sales
Our study strongly suggests that companies can grow sales by giving salespeople more time to sell. It’s a low-cost, low-risk way to quickly get a higher return on investment (ROI) from your salespeople. It’s also more cost-effective than hiring more salespeople, especially when qualified people are hard to find.

Many sales management teams questioned whether something as simple as giving salespeople more time to sell could possibly produce the sales results we were describing.

The proof is in the pudding. The information and ideas contained in our reports and articles like this are of little value until they result in action producing dollars-and-cents results.

Several companies have already realized this and have taken action to free up their salespeople so they have more time to sell. As you will see in the examples that follow, even small, inexpensive steps can bring big results.

Faster, simpler quoting
At one mid-sized manufacturer in the filtration industry, salespeople struggled with a time-consuming, inefficient quotation process. To get pricing as quickly as possible, salespeople sent the same request for proposal (RFP) to three different people in the company. Then they had to follow-up with multiple phone calls to keep the process moving. This cumbersome quotation process squandered time and kept salespeople from achieving their true sales potential.

When we held a Peak Sales Performance Work Session with this manufacturer, the company saw how serious this problem was. The company retooled its quotation process and put a central contact person in charge of getting pricing to the salespeople. This led to shorter turnaround times and a 20 percent reduction in departmental costs.

The company estimates this freed up three hours per week for each salesperson. Three hours per week for 40 salespeople means about 6,000 more hours of selling time each year. Would your company’s top line go up if you had 6,000 more hours of selling time?

At another manufacturer in the electronics industry, our Peak Sales Performance Work Session revealed that salespeople were battling with a difficult database for pricing information. Every time they prepared a quote, they had to update the database on their laptops. It was a very time-consuming process, even with a high-speed Internet connection.

The software was hard to use, and salespeople weren’t adequately trained to use it. Salespeople estimated they spent four to six hours a week searching for pricing information. They lost valuable selling time and also lost deals because quotes were inaccurate and, in some cases, late.

To solve this problem, the company developed a Web-based information system that’s easier to use and no longer requires downloading data.

Quicker customer information
At a manufacturer in the construction supply industry, management required salespeople to e-mail call reports back to headquarters after every sales call. Management needed this valuable customer information for forecasting and planning.

But many salespeople just weren’t finding time to compose and send the e-mails. Those who sent them spent an average of 2 1/2 hours a week on the task.

The company made a small adjustment: they asked salespeople to just call the information into a voice mail system. Clerical staff then transcribed the information for management.

Now management gets the information they need, and salespeople have more time to sell. The average time spent reporting this information fell to about 45 minutes a week. This may seem like a small improvement, but with roughly 30 salespeople, this freed up approximately 2,700 hours a year.

Fewer e-mails
Sales teams are bombarded with e-mails from headquarters, and this eats up valuable selling time. A Fortune 500 health care company noticed how district managers were swamped with company e-mails and voice mails. This prevented them from spending more time with their field salespeople.

To solve this problem, sales management appointed a “gatekeeper,” a staffer who condensed the e-mails into one easy-to-read weekly update. This improvement alone freed up as much as two hours per week for each district manager. This amounts to 22,500 additional hours a year they can spend with their salespeople and customers.

As you might expect, they’ve seen evidence that this extra time has led to an uptick in sales.

Easier proposals
Proposals are important, but many salespeople spend too much time on them and not enough time looking for new customers. To solve this problem, one media company has salespeople provide key proposal information to the marketing department, which then develops the proposals.

Now salespeople can concentrate on prospecting. The result: With more time to sell, at least one regional salesperson more than doubled annual revenue for her territory.

Boosting sales and profits
If you’re a salesperson, these stories may not be news to you. You probably know demands on your time keep you from selling more.

But some sales managers may still think salespeople just aren’t working hard enough – or that they need better incentives – or that hiring new salespeople is the answer.

However, our study, and the examples presented in this article, strongly suggest that freeing up time is a cost-effective way to grow revenue and profits.

How much could you gain?

We’ve created a sales calculator that will provide you with a realistic estimate of the additional revenue you could gain for each hour you free up for your salespeople.

To see the dollars-and-cents impact on your business, go to our Web site www.indusperfgrp.com and click on “Sales Calculator.”

Putting ideas into action
Selling is hard work and becoming more difficult due to customer consolidation and the ever-increasing power of purchasing departments.

Every day, you fight a battle to get the sales numbers. Your competition is fierce and shows no sign of letting up. Everyone knows that salespeople are working hard, but could they possibly be expected to do more?

As you can see from the examples in this article, the answer is YES. Salespeople can do more – a lot more - and they won’t even have to work longer or harder. Salespeople can all be peak performers if action is taken to free up their time so they have more time to sell.

Robert Nadeau, managing principal of The Industrial Performance Group, specializes in helping manufacturers, reps, and distributors increase sales volume and improve profitability by better managing the relationships, processes, and practices in supply chains and distribution channels. Reach him at (800) 867-2778 or online at www.indusperfgrp.com.