- As a manager, your number one goal
is to make sure your team is on the right track
but you also don't want to micro manage them.
So how do you balance
these seemingly conflicting goals?
Technology.
With the right set of technologies
you can analyze your team's performance
to gain actionable insights.
On average, high performing sales teams
use three times the amount of sales technology
than under-performing teams.
These teams end up saving a ton of time
by delegating their administrative tasks
to the right software.
Here's a list of the technologies I use
to analyze my sales team's activity
and boost their productivity
with some recommendations of my favorite tools to date.
And I'd love to hear about your recommendations.
First, digital calendars and appointment setting tools.
These are perfect to keep reps' days and weeks organized
as well as coordinate with other people's schedules.
It's great for managers to oversee their rep's calendars
and make sure their team is staying active.
Google and Outlook calendars are my personal favorites here
and with them I also use a calendar tool called Calendly
to allows prospects to schedule meetings with my reps
based on when they have the time.
It's seamless and eliminates a lot of back and forth.
In the world of prospecting tools,
right now LinkedIn Sales Navigator is king.
It's great for finding ideal potential customers.
Because people put their information
into LinkedIn themselves
it also tends to be up to date.
It also lets reps prepare for their meetings and calls
by uncovering relevant information about their prospects
that's otherwise difficult to find.
Communication is key to leading a successful team,
especially for sales when you're not always in the office.
I personally use Slack
for staying up to date with team members,
enabling them to stay connected, ask questions,
share files,
and receive feedback at a moment's notice.
Of course there are many similar tools
like Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, et cetera.
They're all better
than just letting your team use text messages.
Having a CRM like Salesforce or Dynamics
that your reps are actually using
is a must for sales teams
to keep their data organized.
There are over 100 CRMs on the market,
so make sure you choose one that best fits your industry,
company size, go-to-market strategy,
and unique team's requirements.
I don't recommend just picking the one
that you heard of another company using
because it might not be the right one for you.
Do your research first.
If you have a field sales team
you need a field sales management app like Badger Maps
which allows managers to track and analyze
their team's field activity
with weekly automated reports.
It allows sales people
to focus on their best opportunities in an area
and optimize their routes.
Plus, companies can have all the info from the field
synced back to their CRM automatically.
The right technology will help you detect problem areas
within your team's activities
and will help your reps streamline their performance.
So now, keeping your own team's needs in mind,
write down three technologies
that could help you improve your team's performance.
These new resources
will not only make your team more efficient,
they'll also make you a better manager.