There are nearly 150,000 ‘sales related’ open positions on LinkedIn right now.
This indicates that a lot of companies are gunning for some more productivity on the sales front.
Hiring a new sales rep is often the first thing companies want to do to boost their sales output.
The question is, is another sales rep the best way to boost your sales productivity?
This seems logical enough – but in COVID times, you need to think twice about hiring a rep as a starting point.
Continue reading to avoid making a critical sales & marketing hiring error in the virtual sales era.
Here’s why: right now, your sales reps have…
- Less access to buyers
- Less interaction with buyers
- Less time with buyers
90%+ of interactions have moved to a virtual format.
Buyers are researching online more than ever before, instead of waiting on sales reps to have a meeting.
This is a fundamental shift to the traditional sales approach where reps were more involved throughout the sales cycle.
With that in mind, increasingly the answer to sales problems is better marketing, not more reps.
If you really want to maximize your investment in a new rep, as well as increase their productivity, it literally pays to improve your current sales & marketing process with buyer-centric content.
Can marketing solve your low sales output and turnover problems?
Hint – these are all problems the right marketing can solve for you in less-than 30 days!
Click here to check out the explainer video.
1.) Is this you? Good opportunities are not converting into customers because you cost too much.
Then you may… need to shift your messaging away from product-centric to problem-centric messaging.
Customers won’t pay any attention to you if they can’t connect your product attributes to solving their problems. This is not achieved by droning on and on about various features… you have to attack their problems first to sell it in.
2.) Is this you? Your sales cycle is long, uncertain, often ends in ‘no decision.’
Then you may… need to clarify and standardize your sales & marketing process.
I want to emphasize “sales & marketing” together. There’s no longer one or the other. Sales cycles are lengthened when there isn’t enough clarity for your buyers as to how you solve their problems. Buyers buy from problem solvers, not product sellers.
3.) Is this you? Sales reps spend too much time answering the same questions over and over again, and waiting on marketing to create one-off materials.
Then you may… need to start creating purposeful buyer-focused content to educate your buyers researching online.
Now, you’ll often hear marketers drone on about content. We’re not just talking about creating content for content’s sake. We’re talking about creating better information geared toward your buyer’s hesitations to purchasing; driving more value within your proposals to justify your pricing;
Here’s What You Should Do First
To determine the extent to which marketing would directly support your sales efforts, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is your website generating revenue?
- Are you losing deals because you cost too much?
- Do your sales reps have educational content to use throughout the sales process that answers key buyer questions?
If the answer to any of these is not positive, marketing can directly help your sales efforts.
