Insights
Setting your sales team up for success
Strike the perfect balance between planning for the upcoming year and closing out this year with a bang
With the end of summer quickly approaching, the 4thquarter looms and businesses should be starting to shift their focus toward planning for 2024. The problem is that most companies struggle to find the right balance between planning for next year and closing this year with a bang. Here's a glimpse into five ways that Candela collaborates with our clients top reserve capacity for Q4 and prepare them for success right out of the gate in January:
Good sales teams know how to leverage their segmentation models to align the right resources against the right opportunities. The best sales teams treat their segmentation model as a living and breathing tool that needs to be regularly updated. By harnessing insights from both historical performance, account potential and firmographics we ensure that your sales team can prioritize and convert the biggest and most profitable opportunities.
For instance, we recently helped a multi-billion-dollar industrial manufacturing company identify 1% of prospects that account for ~20% of potential. As part of this engagement, we provided them with a preliminary plan to create the right messaging and use the best marketing channels and sales resources to win these deals.
Knowing where the potential is in the market is only the first step in the process. The best sales teams know how to create fair and balanced territories that allow sales people to shine.
Our approach factors in various dynamics – from account potential to geographical considerations and customer/prospect firmographics. This results in sales teams that align the right resources with the right opportunities, boosting sales team confidence and delivering tailored solutions to clients.
While comp alone can’t fix a struggling sales team we know that the best compensation plans have 5 things going for them:
We design compensation plans with input from frontline sales and sales managers to build early buy in and more often than not, stick around for implementation.
Recently we helped a $100M software company redesign their plans to focus more on cross sell, driving $5M of incremental bookings in the first year.
No goal-based compensation plan can succeed without the right quota build process to support it. Quotas that inspire and drive performance are at the heart of every successful sales team but can’t just be a peanut butter spread of top line numbers from next year’s budget.
Our approach is rooted in merging historical data, input from front line sales, and future potential to establish quotas that push boundaries while maintaining achievability. The result? A motivated sales force that consistently exceeds targets, backed by a solid sense of purpose.
Go into next year knowing that your sales force is spending its time wisely. The guiding principle for any sales operation should be to maximize the time for selling and relationship building. And yet, most sales reps spend less than half of their time actually selling.
Often, when companies scrutinize how sales teams are really spending their time, they discover that the sales teams are spending most of their time researching billing issues, internal communications, internal reporting and chasing down answer to customers’ questions, and generally fighting fires, vs. interacting directly with customers. Continuous analysis of CRM activities often reveals significant opportunities to improve productivity for both sales managers and their teams.
As the 2023 calendar year wraps up, don't let this essential work pile up. We offer more than just consulting; we provide the incremental capacity your team needs to thrive. By collaborating with us, you free up your resources to focus on closing out the year strong, while we work with you to fine-tune your sales deployment for a stellar start to the new year. With a wealth of experience across industries, we bring fresh perspectives and proven methodologies to the table.
If you are looking to set your sales team up for success in the coming year, Candela Partners can help. Message us on LinkedIn or click the “Get In Touch” button at the top of our website for more information.
Ignite growth.
