Getting A Picture of How To Improve B2B Sales Productivity

It's easy to underestimate the compelixity of improving B2B sales productivity. Those who do, typically look for a combination of sales training, CRM tools, and process compliance to do the trick. In today's circumstances, it won't suffice. It's getting harder and harder to acquire new Business-to-Business sales. Just ask any seasoned Sales Rep, or their Sales Manager. If you don't believe them, check out the industry reports summarized in our recently released whitepaper on improving B2B sales productivity.

Wordle word maps of the content of our whitepaper and this blog show that we're taking a broader approach to the problem. We're designing tools, systems, metrics, and processes that help prospects and Reps engage in conversation more often and have more conversations that are helpful + timely from the prospects' perspective.





It's a paradigm shift. Instead of a Sales Manager pointing a gun to the Rep's head saying "use this tool and stick with this process", Reps get fresh evidence that if they don't use tool X and stick with process Y then they're shooting themselves in the head. It's a shift away from compliance-based models of productivity improvement. It equips Reps with new information + feedback that gives them more time for selling and feedback on how wisely they're using their time. Our experience is that these kinds of tools don't need a compliance push. Such tools are so informative + valuable to Reps that Reps use them every day.

Improving Sales Productivity Intelligently

A client recently shared with other CEO's his latest impressions of Amacus: in June, his sales team hit their numbers for December.

It's an example of what happens when there's a paradigm shift in enabling sales productivity towards a model where databases feed info to Reps (rather than the other way around). In this new model, Reps get more time to sell plus new information that helps them invest their time and effort wisely.

I recently spoke on this topic at the Internet Marketing Conference. My remarks outlined the importance of this paradigm shift to internet marketers. A copy of my presentation's now available online.

Why Sales Productivity Matters

Selling business-to-business is time consuming and effort laden. It's increasingly taking more time and more effort. String together the findings of several industry studies and it becomes clear that something isn't working. As noted in our just released whitepaper:

• win rates are declining
• sales reps are working harder
• ramp times for new hires are increasing
• over 50% of all Reps aren't making quota
• sales forecast reliability is at an all time low
• more effort's required than ever before to get buying decisions
• involuntary turnover rates for Sales Reps in the US are at an all time high

Little wonder sales productivity is now the top issue for CEOs. In response, companies are asking Reps to work even harder (by raising their sales quotas). Trying harder at something that's not working is highly unlikely to produce better results. Perhaps its time for a more intelligent approach to the problem.