Three Resolutions for a Record Year of Sales

Enrique Ortegon, SVP SMB Sales at Salesforce

When you lead the sales team for a small business, everything you do feels big and important. And that’s because it is. But when everything you do can make a big difference, how do you know where to focus your greatest efforts? Your opportunities may be unlimited, but your time and resources certainly aren’t.

The trick is to keep your eye on the end game rather than individual victories. Cancel out the noise, set big goals, and stick to them. Not sure what your goals should be? Not to worry. Here are my top resolutions to put your sales team on track for the best year ever.

1. Make the customer the center of your universe.

The numbers back up this resolution in spades, and one statistic is particularly eye-opening. 80% of today’s customers say the customer experience is as important as a company’s products and services. On top of that, 67% say their standard for a good experience is higher than ever. I have said this many times over in several forums: It’s not enough to make someone feel like your most important customer — they want to feel like your only customer. And to make that happen, you need a good customer relationship management (CRM) system that gives your sales team — and everybody else in your company — a complete 360-degree picture of each customer in one place.

Another great way to create an excellent experience is to make it easy for customers to answer their own questions. A good CRM will let you share your company knowledge via an online FAQ or knowledge base, and busy customers will be ecstatic when they can quickly solve issues by themselves.

2. Constantly strive to be more productive.

Did you know the average sales rep spends 64% of their time on non-selling tasks? The more you chip away at that wasted time, the more revenue you can generate without adding new salespeople. And when you’re a small business, the quickest and most cost-effective way to get it done is usually with a CRM tool.

A CRM system can give your sales team a huge productivity boost because it automates many of your most repetitive and time-consuming tasks. Remember that 360-degree view of the customer we were talking about? Imagine if your CRM automatically pulled data from your email, calendar, spreadsheets, and support channels to create that view. You’d not only save your sales team from hours and hours of busy work, you’d also give them a picture of every customer that’s more complete, accurate, and up-to-date than they’ve ever had before.

To read the complete article, Three Resolutions for a Record Year of Sales, visit Quotable.com.