Categories: Sales Transformation | Sales Leadership | Sales Planning
A new quarter is upon us, and it’s time to strategize on how you can make this one even better than the last. Often, sales leaders know where their sales team falls short – but it can be a challenge to identify the root of these problems and determine what action will have the greatest impact in solving them.
Whether you’ve had a challenging year or are just looking to accelerate revenue by removing obstacles to growth, it’s never too late to pivot and finish the year strong by addressing where your sales team is struggling. Let’s dig in to some of the most common sales challenges we see organizations dealing with and explore the underlying problems that cause them.
Deal Size Too Small
Your growth and revenue goals rely upon sellers’ ability to consistently close high value deals. It’s possible that budget concerns due to the economy are leaving your sellers vulnerable to discounting. Or, like many sales organizations, your sales team struggles to consistently execute at the level of a few A players.
If you’re experiencing challenges with increasing deal size, you may have a messaging problem. Without a strong value message and a framework to apply it with, sellers are unable to reach higher-level budget controllers – or when they do, they don’t have the tools to attach your solution to the most urgent business issues and validate a premium price. This can result in your reps doing a whole lot of work for too little revenue, which means lower overall productivity across your organization.
To address these concerns, consider establishing a value messaging framework. A messaging framework enables all sellers, not just top performers, to perform consistently in every deal by equipping them to translate value to whatever their buyer’s biggest needs are. You can help sellers establish a direct link between your solution and specific buyer ROI by developing proof points that prove the value outlined in your framework. By facilitating more ROI-driven conversations, you’ll enable sellers to have a greater impact with buyers to drive greater commitment and bigger deals.
Increase Your Average Deal Size with Messaging
Long Sales Cycles
Long sales cycles can throw off your forecast and make it nearly impossible to predict revenue. Sellers are tied up deals that drag on, with no time to chase new pipeline and greater revenue for your organization. If this sounds familiar, you may benefit from additional tools to aid in the discovery process.
Recent changes in the B2B buying process call for a deeper and more methodical approach to discovery. Buyers are more hesitant with budget, and the average buying committee is larger than ever, leaving sellers to satisfy an ever-expanding list of solution requirements and concerns.
For sellers to overcome these new challenges, it’s key that they’re able to identify all influential buyer voices and future objections from the early stages of a deal. Relationship mapping is a valuable skill to gain a clear picture of all stakeholders and access points early in the discovery process. With this foundation to build off of, it’s much easier for sellers to execute a deep discovery that uncovers all priorities and requirements - before they create stalls in the deal.
Sales leaders can enable relationship mapping and deeper discovery with technology like Opportunity Manager. As a Salesforce-integrated tool, Opportunity Manager captures deal data and provides guided assessments that help managers and sellers identify gaps in knowledge. The Relationship Mapper feature gives sellers a structured and visual way to chart the buyer landscape and strategize actions that will drive their deal forward, resulting in shorter deal cycles and more predictable revenue for your organization.
Reduce Your Average Sales Cycle with Deeper Discovery
Inaccurate Forecasting
Predictable revenue is the key to unlocking sustainable growth. If you’re struggling with a forecast that changes throughout the quarter or consistently missing forecast, you may be left unable to strategize the hires or investments that can take your organization to the next level.
The key to a more predictable forecast is greater visibility into the true status and quality of deals. That means reassessing your qualification process. Maybe you’re already using a qualification process like MEDDICC, but it’s not driving the results you need. The key to driving revenue predictability with MEDDICC is customization and consistency. If your qualification steps aren’t customized to your customer’s buying journey and your company’s goals, they’re not likely to be relevant to sellers.
Start by ensuring your qualification markers are aligned with the way your customers buy, then train managers on administering them - so nothing makes it in the forecast without truly meeting your criteria. Create a cadence for communication of deal status within the MEDDICC framework standards so you know without question where deals are in the pipeline throughout the quarter and have the flexibility to compensate when things change.
Improve Forecast Accuracy with Qualification
Too Many Discounts
If your sellers often resort to discounting to save a deal in the late stages, they’re either battling against an undercutting competitor or losing out to procurement. It’s a common issue, particularly during times of economic stress, and it ends up diminishing the value of your solution. While you win the deal today, you’ll end up with major issues down the line when it comes to renewals and recurring revenue.
Sellers find themselves in the position of discounting when they don’t consistently negotiate early and often. You’ll always lose out if you leave negotiation to the procurement end of the deal. Great negotiation is especially critical right now, when buyers have price on the brain and will try to steer the conversation there to gain leverage wherever possible.
To reduce discounting, it’s crucial to establish a defined cross-functional negotiation process. That means communicating what a great deal looks like and creating alignment on the role each department plays. With a clear process around negotiation, sellers know exactly what they’re negotiating for and are able to reinforce value at every stage of the deal.
Reduce Sales Discounting in Your Organization
The Right Focus for Next Quarter
Regardless of your assessment of last quarter's performance, a new quarter is always an opportunity to recalibrate and set your sights on surpassing benchamarks. To ensure your team is staying limber and responsive to your customer’s needs, identify where they’re struggling the most and invest in the transformation needed to align in those areas. We created a visual guide to help you identify a high-impact sales intiative that's tailored to suit your team's needs. Access it now and start getting your team ready to tackle whatever comes next.
