[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/10\/24\/tips-high-performance-sales-team\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/10\/24\/tips-high-performance-sales-team\/","headline":"Get a high-performance sales team: 3 essentials for success","name":"Get a high-performance sales team: 3 essentials for success","description":"It costs $29,000 to replace one member of your B2B sales org. Here's how to retain the ones you have and create a high-performance sales team.","datePublished":"2016-10-24","dateModified":"2021-09-07","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/shalini-mitha\/#Person","name":"Shalini Mitha","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/shalini-mitha\/","identifier":183,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a94791a5e961f531a4604567d0562610412b149622abc6d8e117f6b44159a79?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a94791a5e961f531a4604567d0562610412b149622abc6d8e117f6b44159a79?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/sales-team.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/sales-team.jpg","height":375,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/10\/24\/tips-high-performance-sales-team\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/sales\/crm\/","name":"CRM","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_relationship_management","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q485643"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/sales\/","name":"Sales","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sales","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q194189"]},"Sales Success"],"wordCount":638,"keywords":["CRM | Customer Relationship Management","Sales","Sales Tips"],"articleBody":"Today\u2019s B2B sales leaders are challenged with how to accelerate the performance of their sales teams. And, as sales productivity is on the decline, what support is in place to ensure salespeople aren\u2019t spending their day on administrative tasks versus out selling?Since, according to an Aberdeen research report, it costs more than $29,000 \u2013 and takes 7.2 months \u2013 to fully replace a typical B2B sales rep, those are reasons enough to retain your talent and keep them focused and productive.There are three building blocks that are essential to build a high-performance sales team \u2013 beginning with regaining sales productivity.How to create a high-performance sales teamThere are three steps to creating a high-performance sales team:Sharing knowledge via an activity advisor who helps members leverage lessons learnedNurturing leads by understanding the history of past deals with your orgContinually upskilling your team, and having a mindset of continual learningNo. 1:\u00a0Activities Advisor\u00a0All salespeople (including veterans) can learn from each other. In the past, gathering around the water cooler was instrumental in allowing organic conversations (OK, and some gossip, too) to occur \u2013 helping resolve issues, stimulate new ideas, enable quick decisions, and build the trust needed for productive work to happen.However, in today\u2019s global workforce \u2013 where most exchange of ideas is virtual and not as organic \u2013 there is a need for a more structured approach, especially when it comes to sales and knowing the best way to guide customers. Leveraging historical information on past deals (both won and lost), sales leaders can provide a set of activities to help nurture and progress opportunities based on the phase a customer is in his\/her buying journey. Leveraging best practices also allows you to measure the impact of those activities so those insights can be shared across your team.Activity Advisor:\u00a0Guide salespeople to perform activities based on the opportunity phase to accelerate the close.No. 2:\u00a0Leverage relationships to nurture your leadsKnowing the key influencers and decision makers is key to closing more deals. Even more helpful is knowing these contacts in the context of past deals within your organization \u2013 and the ability of your team to capitalize on those relationships. This organizational chart is dynamically built on those involved in won deals and eliminates the time it takes to research or track down influencers.By knowing who a first customer contact should be and who to include in future conversations can successfully help nurture an opportunity along. Not having the right people or key decision makers at a meeting is now a thing of the past.Buying Center:\u00a0Based on historical contact and opportunity information, see how your customer is organized and who is involved and influential in the buying process.No. 3: Train and re-train your sales teamsIn most B2B organizations, the list of products and solutions offered continually grows, expands, and becomes more and more complex. There are huge opportunities to sell and cross-sell within the same accounts. But this requires sales enablement \u2013 and a great place to start is with your marketing organization.As new solutions become available, marketing can help provide applicable content for the various industries, geographies, and buying personas your salespeople are likely to face. And marketing can help create personalized content so your sales team can have conversations in context and position solutions that are relevant to the customer. There are many ways sales can successfully collaborate with marketing.Building a high-performance sales team starts with productivity. It\u2019s a process that places technology around the art of selling\u00a0\u2013\u00a0relying not just on gut feel and native sales talent but also on information, analysis, coaching, and relationships to increase your sales team\u2019s productivity.  It’s not your father’s CRM.Boost customer relationships.Win loyalty.\u00a0Drive revenue.The future of business starts\u00a0HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2016","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/\/10\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"24","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/\/10\/\/24\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Get a high-performance sales team: 3 essentials for success","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2016\/10\/24\/tips-high-performance-sales-team\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]