Sales Managers are keen on integrating sales acceleration strategies to advance their performance. However, it’s the company’s best interest to consider sales efficiency and sales effectiveness in your sales acceleration program. Sales effectiveness refers to the particular tasks performed to generate revenue, while sales efficiency refers to how those tasks are achieved. In other words, effectiveness is the quality of the actions, while efficiency is the speed of the actions. Sales productivity brings the two terms together. This is the ratio of the outputs obtained (effectiveness) vs the inputs invested (efficiency). In a sales scenario, your output could be the number of calls you make in a day, whereas inputs could be the time spent in making the calls. So based on this definition, if you can do more with less effort, then your productivity level increases. Furthermore, the more productive you are, the faster you can close sales. If you are interested in learning more, then continue reading to discover amazing insights.

How To Improve Sales Efficiency and Sales Effectiveness?

1. Determining the right sales process

First thing you need to do is to improve effectiveness. To do this, sales leaders have to plan a consistent sales process and set sales goals around those activities or related to specific sales objectives. It has been proven that organizations that follow a defined workflow are 33% more likely to be top performers.

2. Provide sales agents with the right training

According to research, less than 45% of businesses have a formal sales training program. Yet, when there is continuous training, it can result in a 50% higher net sales per sales agent. As a sales manager, you may know what is required, but your sales team may not know what to do. Studies show that 87% of training information is forgotten within a few weeks. That is why ongoing training and coaching should be implemented. Use tools that enable sales managers to provide their sales force with prompt coaching and best practices so that they have the information needed to further the deals. Relevant data such as training materials, kill sheets, persona-based selling techniques, and talk tracks can be instantly available to agents in any given sales scenario. You may have the best sales acceleration tech, but if your sales team doesn't know how to use it properly then it’s useless.

3. Optimizing these activities.

Once you have identified which processes are effective, you can then improve efficiency by enhancing these activities. Based on research, companies that utilize sales analytics increase team quota attainment four times faster than non-users. Take note that using metrics and KPI’s to identify what works, what doesn’t work, and areas for improvement in terms of accuracy, quality, and speed is essential. Study metrics such as call rate, win rate, pipeline conversion rates, sales cycle length, and the average number of touches until conversion. This can be very tedious and time-consuming but it will reap benefits in the end.

A successful selling strategy needs modern sales tools such as sales acceleration tools. A sales acceleration tool can align sales processes and marketing goals. Furthermore, it equips your sales team with the tools and data to develop sales methods and increase revenue. However, you also need to have a more efficient and effective sales force to achieve your goals effectively.