A strong sales workflow will give you a steady stream of business… unless these 7 things are getting in the way.
Your sales workflow is vital to keeping business steady. With a solid strategy and execution, a good workflow can help you avoid the stressful ups and downs of uncertainty.
Think of it like an assembly line. Section by section, parts are added, one item building upon the previous to create a whole. The most well-known assembly lines are likely automotive. When everything is in good working order, and tasks are streamlined, you can build a new car in minutes. But as we’ve seen with supply chain issues over the past few years, any problems within that workflow multiply and cause problems that ripple through the entire system.
It’s not so different with your sales workflow. And when that workflow gets interrupted, so does your close rate, which leads to cycles of boom and bust. However, you don’t have to sit idly by and let these interruptions happen.
Call Logic’s auto-dialer and call management software offers dozens of helpful tools to increase your success and simplify your daily tasks. Call for your free consultation today to learn more!
Watch out! Your sales workflow could be a victim of these 7 issues.
1. Losing focus on your sales pipeline. This is a large sales workflow issue, probably because a full sales pipeline makes it easy to forget about the effort it takes to keep it full. When you have plenty of sales and inquiries coming in, it’s easy to neglect the beginning of your pipeline. This may look like a reduction in marketing efforts, spending less time on your social media endeavors, dropping your referral program, or cutting back on your newsletters. While it might seem fine at the time, since you have a full sales pipeline, the beginning of that pipeline will start to dry up, and you might not even realize it until you’re left scrambling for customers.
2. Focusing on the wrong leads. Through prospecting and qualifying your leads, you should have a reasonable idea of whether or not a person or company is part of your audience. For example, if you run an insurance agency that specializes in business insurance for companies with under 100 employees, reaching out to Fortune 500 companies probably won’t yield the results you’re hoping for.
3. You don’t know who your audience is. This is similar to focusing on the wrong leads, but it’s even more futile. You have a product or service that meets the needs of a specific audience. And to be successful, you have to know who that audience is.
4. Limited information. When your sales team talks to a customer or prospect, they should be well-versed in the product or service they’re selling. There’s a lot to be said for admitting you don’t know the answer to a question (as long as you get the answer quickly), but these should be few and far between. Taking time to continually search for answers isn’t just a sales workflow issue, it’s also a customer service issue. Your customers expect a knowledgeable salesperson. That’s how they develop confidence in your offer.
5. Poor communication among departments. Your product team, sales team, and marketing team all need to be working in conjunction with one another. Otherwise, you risk doing work that’s already done or, worse, contradicting each other. When you work as a team, your marketing efforts can boost sales and give you a bigger ROI.
6. Duplicating efforts. While it’s possible to duplicate efforts among departments, you can also duplicate efforts within departments. For example, if don’t keep notes about customers, every call can feel like a new call. They have to repeat information, you have to ask the same questions again and again, and you may not recall where you were in the sales process. This is another example of a sales workflow issue that’s also a customer service issue. Your customers want to feel important to you, and if you can’t remember simple things about previous conversations with them, that diminishes that feeling. Call Logic is a good resource here, since your notes from previous calls come up on a pop-out screen when you dial the customer’s number.
7. No metrics or KPIs. Certainly, there’s a lot more to sales than metrics or key performance indicators. Even so, these are important aspects to understanding where you are, what kind of progress you’re making, and setting goals for the future. As just one example, your call frequency in relation to closed deals might help you determine how often to call a prospect before putting them on the back burner.
Pay attention to these workflow barriers and keep things running smoothly. Remember, that workflow is the key to boosting sales and keeping your company profitable.
Make more calls in less time with Call Logic. From automated voicemails to built-in compliance, we’ve got you covered in every aspect of your business. Call for your free consultation today to learn more!