Sales Team in a Slump: Ways To Boost Suffering Sales

Sales are incredibly competitive regardless of what industry a company is involved in. In fact, sales jobs are so competitive that many companies will find the competition within the office to close the most sales quite intense. People tend to get more intense when they can control how much income they take home at the end of the month.

Sales slumps are real and can impact an entire department as well as the company. The management of a company has to be proactive about giving the sales department all they need to be successful including market research and quality leads.

Boosting sales can be done by doing the below things to help the sales team recuperate from a less than stellar month or quarter.

Do The Proper Research

Market research can be one of the most tedious things that can be done but it is also one of the most important. Creating an entire marketing campaign which targets the wrong demographic can lead to a few things:

  • Less leads coming in overall.
  • Leads coming in that are not quality or a lead that simply cannot afford a product or service.
  • Impacting the brand negatively as the target demographic feels alienate.
  • Wasting marketing budget and killing the marketing team’s ROI.

Research is not just for targeting the right type of consumers but it also has to do with the competitors of a company. Knowing what competitors are doing will allow a company and salesperson to differentiate the company from another very similar company. Being able to let a customer know what the company does better than their competitors can help close a sale on the spot.

Sales and Marketing Need To Be On The Same Page

Sales and marketing often times have tension if sales numbers or lead numbers are done. Proper communication is important as the sales team can let the marketing team know about the quality of leads they are bringing in. Far too often the teams point fingers at each other when sales take a dip. The marketing team believes a lead is a lead while the sales team knows better.

The marketing team is far more likely to blame the sales team’s tactics and lack of ability to close than their campaign missing the mark. Compromise between these departments needs to be done as sales is not the only goal of the marketing team as they have to maintain and build a brand as well.

Add Extra Incentive

Commission is what drives sales as all of those who have been in sales for years know that an extra sale per week can lead to a nice boost in yearly income. A few extra percent commission on each deal can help incentivize the sales team and won’t impact the bottom line very much if profit margins are healthy.

Capping commission is asking for trouble as well as there is lack of motivation for a sales professional if they have reached their limit for the month. Another thing that can happen is the person holding off deals until the next month to reduce their workload once they have reached the cap. 

These incentives do not always have to be monetary as things like allowing a work from home day or two per week for those salespeople hitting quotas is better than a raise for some employees.

Empower The Salesperson With Discounts

All of the sales team should understand what margins are on a specific product or service. Getting permission from the sales team manager to provide a specific discount to close a deal can empower the entire sales team. Discounts for long term contracts tend to be the most popular for prospects to sign.

The sales professional will know if the only thing holding the prospect back is price, allow them to lower it to a point! Large corporations are not built by almost getting a prospect to sign a deal but rather working with prospects for a mutually beneficial business relationship.

Sales Decks Increase Productivity

When going through a pitch questions in the middle of a slide can throw off the presenter. Emailing the sales deck before a meeting allows a customer to get all of their questions together. Once these questions are written down the customer can cross these out if the presenter answers their question.

Allowing a customer to see the sales deck might just lead them to be interested in a certain service or product being offered. The customer can allow opt out of the meeting if they are not interested in anything mentioned in the deck. Efficiency helps increase productivity and this is exactly what a pitch deck does.

Slumps happen to even the most proficient sales teams but the way they are reacted to will be most important. Proactive approaches to improving sales processes during the slow times of the year can help optimize sales once they pick back up. Don’t settle for mediocre sales during any time of the year and watch the company grow!