You have a sales team that's struggling to close deals. What can you do to help them succeed?

Sales teams that are struggling to hit their number have a couple common root causes: Pipeline volume: Ideally pipeline is over 3x (and many orgs have increased that multiple). Teams that struggle to achieve this may not be using the right automations/ spending too much time on non-rev generating activities, they may not be utilizing the right combination of channels, or messaging might be off Pipeline quality: If the volume is there but deals are not progressing to later stages. This could be because the deals aren’t multi-threaded, the rep isn’t actually at power, or there wasn’t enough pain uncovered in discovery Deal size: Deals are closing but they are smaller than expected. This challenge is usually related to account targeting.

In my experience, 3 main problems cause a poor closing ability. 1. Not speaking to the right people. Yes, I know, this is basic advice but stick with me. To have the best chance of success, you want to know before hoping on a call that whomever you're speaking with is a decision-maker, has sufficient funds and is suffering from the problem you're solving. If they don't, closing will be exponentially harder. Qualify them using a simple form. 2. Not encouraging fast action. If there's no point for a prospect to act now, they won't. So give them a reason to. Offer a strong discount/bonus for taking immediate action. 3. Talking instead of asking. The prospect is the sales rep, and only they can sell themselves. All you can do is guide them.

Take the time to assess both successful and unsuccessful deals. Analyze the reasons behind wins and losses to identify patterns and learn from them. This can help your sales team improve their approach and increase their success rate.

To boost your struggling sales team, start with targeted training sessions addressing their specific challenges. Provide ongoing coaching and constructive feedback. Foster a positive and collaborative team environment to enhance morale. Analyze successful sales strategies and share best practices within the team. Implement performance metrics to track progress and identify areas for improvement. Encourage open communication to address concerns and foster a growth mindset. Ultimately, a well-supported and motivated sales team is better positioned for success.

The diagnostic approach I would take to uncover the root causes involves revisiting the numbers and examining the team statistics. Depending on the manager's level of experience, they may develop multiple interpretations and hypotheses regarding the possible causes. For example, we may observe a high number of dials but a connect rate of less than 10%. This could be attributed to poor contact quality, calling at inappropriate times, unstable calling software, etc. Another scenario is when the number of dials and connected calls are relatively consistent, yet the booking percentage or deal close-won percentage is low. In this case, I would listen to recordings of each sales call and analyse what actually occurred during those interactions.

A method that helped me early in my career was to go with my boss to sales meetings with prospects. While I was always in charge of the meeting, I could always have him/her aboard ready to help me with some specific question. And at the end, the feedback sessions were brutal, very useful for formation sales and to forge grit

For sales training to succeed, consider the following: By Me, With Me and Without Me. First, demonstrate how you do that, hence done by you. Then, do together with them alongside, hence with you. Then, empower them to do without you and you are there to supervise, support or provide feedback.

Be present, be available, and be a coach. You don’t need to direct your team on what to do. You need to be there to support them in finding a better way that works best for them. You might be the top closer in your organization and you may think that you need your team to be just like you to be successful. This is the mistake of most new leaders and some old ones too. The best thing you can do to help your team succeed is offer them support. Find out where they are struggling in the process, then support them on what they feel like they need to get better. You might offer a program, a training, or a seminar, a class, or even a book that supports what they feel that they need to get to the next level. This type of support inspires teams.

Yes, it is also inevitable to provide hands on training to scale up the skill and confidence level of the sales team. Providing coaching, mentorship and training helps the sales team a lot to understand the situation and make a better decision which then brings expected outcome at the end. Also, it's good to share case studies and ask the sales team to respond in different real life situations.

Training and coaching both play crucial roles in enhancing a sales team's effectiveness. Team webinars are excellent for learning and sharing knowledge. For coaching, focusing on individuals and identifying personal obstacles to success is key.

I fully agree on setting up SMART goals for the sales team as well as individual team members. The goal or target must be incremental compared to the previous year or period and must be realistic to achieve. It's also essential to review the team or individual progress over the period and see what corrections are needed to keep the sales team well motivated. I worked for Samsung back in 2013 to 2015 and we used to present our progress report before the supervising senior once in every week. It used to help us a lot in achieving the target.

Setting goals with sales reps individually is crucial. This approach ensures their active contribution and agreement on the goals. The distinction is clear: having a goal set for you versus setting a goal together makes a big difference in motivation and achievement. Including reps in setting deadlines further increases their commitment to meeting those goals.

Sales can be a challenging and high-pressure profession. Offer ongoing support and motivation to your sales team to keep them engaged and focused. Recognize and reward their achievements to boost morale and encourage continued success.

Revitalize struggling sales teams with fresh strategies from team sales training, uncovering reasons behind lost deals. Motivate with competitors’ figures, providing a reality check against the misconception that slow sales are industry-wide. Change is essential—embrace it to reignite the team’s drive to succeed.

There is no reason to put counter initiatives against the reward system since it encourages the entire sales team or individual team members to take more bold actions. According to my experience working with ViewSonic, I felt really excited to have the reward once in every quarter based on my KPI/Target achievement.

The real drive in sales is personal growth alongside professional skill enhancement. When sales reps grasp this, staying motivated becomes much simpler. Material rewards like bonuses and commissions then naturally follow as byproducts of their improvement.

Motivated and friendly with ur sales team do marketing regularly and focus ur products why sale ur closing you can use different types of marketing strategies

It's my job to find the best tools and information to help my team. Yet, each sales rep might need different resources to improve their sales skills

Las dificultades para cerrar ventas suelen originarse en dos aspectos clave del proceso: La falta de acuerdos previos y explícitos con el cliente. Sin definir claramente los siguientes pasos, como la fecha para la próxima conversación, el vendedor avanza sin dirección, lo que complica el proceso de cierre. Un seguimiento ineficaz. Un vendedor novato puede convertirse en un perseguidor molesto en lugar de ser un asesor útil. Durante esta etapa, es crucial ofrecer contenido de valor al cliente, ayudando a esclarecer cualquier duda pendiente y facilitando el cierre. Este contenido puede ser educativo, informativo o enfocado en fortalecer la relación, entre otros.

Tools and resources will be of great help to enable them perform better and improve on existing systems. Make them customer friendly, seamless service. Good product knowledge, sound understanding of what the customers will benefit from the product will go a long way .

"If your sales team is struggling to close deals, it's time to provide support and guidance. Offer targeted training to improve sales skills and product knowledge. Foster a collaborative environment where team members can share insights and strategies. Analyze past performance to identify common obstacles and develop tailored solutions. Provide ongoing motivation and recognition to boost morale. Remember, success is a team effort, and investing in your sales team's development is key to achieving results. #SalesSuccess #TeamDevelopment #SupportAndGuidance"

After identifying the root cause, employ the following guide- skill vs will. If it is due to Will (willingness), consider motivating them with rewards, enquiring about their limiting beliefs/assumption or encouraging a positive competitive growth environment. If it is due to Skill, provide teaching and training to do skills transfer via formal learning, on job training, peer to peer support and template.

Where are the sales team reaching in the sales process before the sale is lost? Keep a record of each sales conversation and the actions taken at the different stages and this will quickly indcate where the work to improve sales results needs to be focused. Are they stopped in the Introduction Stage, o they get to the Questioning or Qualifying Stage? Maybe it's during or after presenting the proposal or providing a quote. Or, when trying to cloe the deal based on the presented solutions. Where in the sales process the objections and obstacles occur is important and means you can quickly deliver training or coaching that target the specific section of the sales process and prevents or overcomes them.

Is it the product or sales team? If your product is gaining attention and bookings top of the funnel but is not translating to revenue at the end of the funnel, then something is off with the product. Go back to the problem you solve and through the eyes of your prospect, solve the problem with your solution- be honest with yourself. Where is the sticking point in the workflow? How could this be simplified? How could the value be better organized & displayed? What have I gained from this (time, money, etc.)? Is that ROI obvious and spelled out? A great product that solves a real problem doesn't need much selling. Your product must solve a real problem and translate to real ROI. If that's not clear, go back to square one.

Also identify if promotions and offers are competitive? Review if its a foot traffic and awareness issues and mitigate with stakeholders