The Top Crucial Sales Best Practices for 2023

Have you ever wondered how important sales are for companies? Considering that some companies dedicate up to 45% of their revenue toward sales, it is safe to say that they are invested. 

Part of that investment goes towards making sure that your company has good sales practices to maximize efficiency from your sales teams. 

What are the sales best practices that you can have in your company? This guide breaks it down.

Persistency 

One of the most important sales practices that your team can have is persistence. They need to be determined to win customers over or gain more business from the ones that you already have. 

It is safe to say that in the sales world, the last one standing typically wins. That is because most sales reps tend to give up on a potential customer after one or two attempts. 

Research shows that about 90% of salespeople give up by the fourth attempt. Diving further into this, 48% of those salespeople give up after the first attempt and another 24% of salespeople give up after the second attempt. 

What does this mean? It means that a lot of people in this industry give up too easily. 

While some may not think it is worth the effort and others may be afraid to waste time on a dead end, having persistence and drive can put you above your competition.

By the time that fifth attempt rolls around, you are theoretically only competing with one other sales rep compared to the other nine you may have faced on the first call. That should encourage you to believe that the odds are in your favor if you keep at it enough times.

Embracing Automation 

Another thing that can help a sales team is having some sort of automation with their sales system. This may not only help a company save time but also money. 

An example can be when your sales team has a list of leads that they need to call or email. This list can be hundreds of names long and they are likely reaching out to someone new every 30 seconds. 

What if one of these leads messages back while this sales rep is on the phone with somebody else? You can use automation to help fill that gap. 

In addition, you can also use automation to respond to some of the most common questions that a lead or a customer will have. Or, you can give that customer the option to ask the automated system a common question. This helps bridge the gap during their wait, allowing them to continue communicating with your company, even when they’re on hold. 

Studying Key Information

It might go without saying, but sales teams also need to be well-versed and comfortable talking about their entire product line. Expert knowledge builds trust and establishes your company as a thought leader in its field. 

Everyone on your team should know the answer to almost any question that gets thrown at them. During training, make sure you give a potential sales rep all of the information that they need to ace this important step. Having a knowledgeable sales rep can help reassure the customer of a purchase, eliminate any concerns that they have, and help you close more sales as a result. 

An example can be if someone is working at a car dealership and is trying to sell a car to a customer. That salesperson should know as much about the cars as possible that they are authorized to sell. 

Some things customers may want to know in that scenario are the gas mileage, how many people the car can fit, what add-ons are available, what kind of engine it has, what colors the car comes in, how much the car costs, and more. 

Make sure your salespeople are informed before sending them out to customers, and it becomes easier to establish long-term relationships with your buyers and prospects. 

Organizing Lead Data

Finally, you want to make sure that sales teams are keeping careful track of the progress that they make with leads. 

How many times have they contacted the leads? What is their name? Where are they from? Are there any notes about prior interactions?

A customer relationship management (CRM) platform can help them keep up with this data and organize it so it’s readily available to both in-house and on-site employees. This way, when someone calls with an inquiry, they can pull up their account in seconds and know exactly where they are in the sales funnel. 

All of these features can help a sales team become more efficient. For instance, knowing how many times a sales rep has contacted a lead could help protect them from making the same mistakes again. At the same time, knowing that lead’s name and where they’re from can help reps form a more personal relationship with them. 

Today’s customers crave personalized conversations and connections. If a sales team can offer that from the start, it becomes easier to secure their business down the road. 

Learn More About Sales Best Practices

These are only a few sales best practices you can use to help optimize your team’s efforts. Key strategies to keep in mind include leveraging automation, organizing data to manage leads, studying additional information about your product or service, and remaining persistent in your efforts. 

Do you need support to help your team reach this level?  If so, we can help. Message us here to learn more about our approach and the sales services we offer.