All else being equal, closing more deals is directly related to the quality of your sales process. The result being a more efficient, better managed system that results in more active selling time. A time management study of 721 B2B sales reps conducted by Forbes highlighted why sales reps spend so little time selling. It showed that 14% of a sales rep’s time is spent on research, 18% in their CRM tool and a further 10% of a sales rep’s time is spent in spreadsheets to help them accomplish what they wish they could do in CRM.
These are not necessarily bad things, but these and other activities have salespeople reporting that only 35.2% of their time is spent actively selling. It isn’t difficult to understand that the more selling time they have, the better chance they’ll have of hitting their number and reaching their target. Conversely, when sales spend 64.8% of their time actively NOT selling, this is a big concern.
B2B Sales professionals are employed to sell. Bottom line. They are highly skilled and highly paid. When assigned tasks that distract from revenue generating activities sales reps are diverted from their primary objective, and this can be costly.
The typical company spends $68,352 per rep per year to pay him or her for tasks they were not hired to do. (Forbes)
More selling time
CRM tools are a fundamental part of sales management for general administrative purposes and reporting, but even when done diligently follow-up and lead nurturing activities can still be overlooked. Research and prospecting takes time. Advances in technology have made it possible to speed up the process, but a human eye cannot be replaced when it comes to much of the grunt work.
At its core, these types of activities are considered the sales rep’s domain. But it needn’t be that way. Just because prospecting, research and outbound activities are integral to a healthy sales process and salespeople “can” do those tasks, that doesn’t mean they absolutely “need” to be the ones doing them.
How can companies help improve their pre-sales process?
Companies already see the value in allocating parts of the sales process elsewhere without disruption to the natural flow of the sales pipeline. Sales development Reps, or telemarketers are commonplace. However, doing this internally puts pressure on managers and can negatively impact cash flow quite quickly.
With the advent of social media, CRM and communication technologies prospecting and follow-ups have become easier. Or so it seems. There are added layers of technical complexity that detract from selling time and when done well and accurately still take a lot of time.
Are we asking high priced sales people to become experts in too many areas?
This is why companies are leveraging the benefits of outsourcing significant chunks of their sales process to specialized service providers. Not just telemarketing or other small pre-sales activities, but significant chunks of the sales funnel under one umbrella.
In the past, this would have been almost impossible, but with advances in technology: collaboration tools, communication devices and apps, and the ability to work remotely, their contribution can be so well integrated that it feels like a natural extension of your organization.
Close more deals
It isn’t too difficult to quickly estimate the increase in revenue for any company if sales reps had more sales opportunities from a small percentage increase in active selling time. Outsourcing non revenue generating activities is a great way to do just that. Many specialist providers are springing up to capitalize on the benefits of providing such services and the businesses who are using them are experiencing higher revenue as a result. Having these services supplied by providers who focus solely on pipeline activities at a lower cost leads to better results. More new appointments for a focussed sales rep leads to more deals.
Pipeline Factory has a proven process that is especially effective for Tech and SaaS companies with lengthy sales cycles; keeping time management simple, which is what salespeople want and what will ultimately allow them to achieve their full potential and reach their highest revenue goals.
Learn more about outsourcing pipeline activities at pipelinefactory.io