A Little History
Back in the day, sales was very much about going out and traveling to sales. We all know the stereotype of the enthusiastic, relentless door-to-door salesman. However, in recent years, sales has shifted from this outside sales method towards inside sales, in which the sales reps contact and connect with customers from within the office. In fact, a study by InsideSales.com shows that inside sales is growing 300% faster than field sales. This is greatly attributed to the continual improvement of the internet, and that buyers are becoming increasingly comfortable with using the internet to connect with salespeople especially because of the development of webinars, screen sharing, and video conferencing.
Time to Modernize
Since we are talking about sales management in the internet age, it would be ideal for sales managers to be using the tools that the internet provides. Sales performance management is a much more metrics-focused method of managing sales teams and is becoming the dominant management strategy. It relies on the use of advanced internet tools. These software products help managers better track performance and align their teams for success. Using a CRM (Salesforce), or email campaign and analytics software (ToutApp), or prospecting tools (Salesloft) is the new norm, and these tools are crucial to remaining competitive in the modern day sales arena.
Cutthroat Competition
One of the major aspects of Sales Performance Management is the extreme focus on competition. More than ever before, the sales arena has become one of cutthroat competition. This a phenomenon that is inherent of an inside sales organization in which sales reps are working alongside one another, rather than being on the road. A study by business advisory firm CEB showed that most major B2B organizations “particularly emphasize individual performance, nurturing a competitive atmosphere characterized by frequent contests, campaigns, and the regular updating of leaderboards.” Live sales leaderboards (what we do at Rivalry) are actually an increasingly popular way to track metrics and use them to encourage better sales performance.
Putting In Work
In order to facilitate the increased competition that we are seeing, modern sales organizations are very focused on productivity. While productivity has always been important in sales, the increased tracking and use of metrics has caused this focus on productivity to increase tenfold. Sales organizations now put massive effort into lead generation. From there its all about efficiency and trying to keep the lead conversion rate as high as possible. CRMs allow managers to see metrics and other sales data in a way that could never be done before For example, it is said that 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect. However, with the advent of Sales Process Management, sales people can no longer get away with that because of the visibility now available. The increase in transparency puts pressure on sales people to produce results.
To enter the modern world of Sales Performance Management, look into Rivalry’s live leaderboards and other sales performance software.
For personalized sales metrics reports, try out The Crown Report for free.
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