Tag Archive for: Sales Rep

How To Reduce The Stress Of Your Salespeople

There is a long list of stress triggering factors in the life of a salesperson. Everyday your salespeople may be under a lot of pressure to meet quotas, convert quickly, and keep approval rankings high. In short, your salespeople may be put into many situations that create a highly stressful environment. According to Fairleigh Dickenson University, 75% of people report being stressed on the job.

So, what can you do to lower the amount of stress of your salespeople? Here are a few simple and effective techniques you can use.

Empower Your Salespeople

What efforts are you making to empower your salespeople? The amount of energy you put  towards empowering your salespeople will determine the level of commitment you have. For instance, you can empower your salespeople by using positive messaging. According to Total Wellness, if you impart positivity in your words and communications, “you’ll be able to foster positive emotions from your employees in regards to wellness. Positive messaging provides the groundwork for a positive outlook on any health journey.” So, giving a kind and positive word or a compliment, you can help in assisting someone struggling with stress to develop a more positive mindset, and provide a small bright spot in the midst of their stress.

Invest In Cloud-Based Technologies

If you haven’t invested in cloud-based technologies yet, we highly recommend you invest now. Cloud-based technologies like Commercient SYNC and IoT Pulse allow salespeople to do their jobs effectively without being tied to a desk, office, or specific device. Kendra Von Esh,  executive strategic advisor at Coupa, a cloud-based spend management software company, says companies should “outsource the stressful parts of IT because hosting hardware, managed services and SaaS solutions can help take the stress off of you and your staff and put it somewhere better, faster and cheaper.” She says that you should focus instead on “revenue generating activities and how you can turn your organization into a profit center rather than a cost center.”

Allow Flexible Work Schedules

When you allow your employees to set their own schedules, you’ll make their lives much easier. According to Simon Slade of CMSWire, “in regular feedback from staff, employees describe the freedom to set their own hours as an important factor in their overall job satisfaction. They can achieve a better work-life balance with their personal schedule, and also feel more respected and trusted by the company.”

Make the technology of the cloud your best ally. With apps like Commercient SYNC, your salespeople won’t have to be in front of their desktop computer to access critical data from leads and clients; instead, they’ll be able to see that info from their mobile devices. This helps them to increase efficiency, feel more productive, close more deals, and provide better customer experience.

Create A Fun And Social Environment

Every company has extra-stressful deadline days, and one of the best ways to reduce the office stress and boost employee morale is by creating a fun and social environment. For example, you can help your salespeople get to know each other in a non-stressful capacity by offering an occasional company outing, or by trying some team-building exercises. Ultimately, this will help to re-energize the team, improve communication, and create a lasting bond among team members – they will feel like they have someone to go to when feeling stressed out or overwhelmed.

Want to reduce the stress of your salespeople by integrating your CRM and ERP, or connecting your ERP to the Internet? Then, Commercient SYNC and IoT Pulse are waiting for you. Contact us at Commercient today.

Cómo reducir el estrés de tu equipo de ventas

Hay una lista larga de factores desencadenantes del estrés en quienes se dedican a las ventas. Cada día, tu equipo de ventas podría estar expuesto a la presión de: cumplir con metas de ventas, cerrar el trato rápidamente y mantener altos los porcentajes de aprobación de presupuestos. En resumen, todo esto contribuye a crear un ambiente altamente estresante para ellos. Según Fairleigh Dickenson University, 75% de personas reportan sentirse estresadas en el trabajo.

¿Qué puedes hacer para bajar la carga de estrés de tu equipo de ventas? Aquí hay algunas técnicas sencillas y efectivas que puedes usar.

Empodera a tu equipo de ventas

¿Qué esfuerzos estás haciendo para lograr esto? La cantidad de energía que pongas en empoderar a tu equipo determinará el compromiso que demuestren con su trabajo para alcanzar las metas. Por ejemplo, puedes lograrlo utilizando mensajes positivos. Según Total Wellness, tus palabras y tu comunicación reflejan optimismo “podrás fomentar emociones positivas en tus empleados. Mensajes positivos preparan el terreno para resultados positivos”. Por eso, elogiar a los miembros de tu equipo les ayudará a desarrollar un mindset más positivo y un refugio en medio del estrés del día a día.

Invierte en tecnologías en la nube

Si aún no has invertido en tecnologías basadas en la nube, te recomendamos hacerlo ahora. Estas tecnologías, como por ejemplo  Commercient SYNC y IoT Pulse, ayudan a los ejecutivos de ventas a ser más eficientes en su trabajo sin necesidad de que estén todo el tiempo frente a una computadora de escritorio, oficina o un dispositivo en específico. Kendra Von Esh, asesora estratégica en Coupa, una compañía de gestión de inversión en software en la nube, dice: “las compañías deberían delegar las partes estresantes de IT porque el hardware de hosting, servicios gestionados y soluciones SaaS pueden ayudarte a ti y a tu equipo a quitar el estrés y ponerlo en otro lugar donde los procesos sean mejores, más rápidos y menos costosos”. Ella dice que deberías enfocarte en actividades “que generen ganancias y cómo puedes volver a tu organización un centro de ganancias y no un centro de costos.”

Permite horas de trabajo flexibles

Cuando permites flexibilidad de horarios para tus empleados, harás sus vidas más fáciles. Según Simon Slade de CMSWire: “los empleados describen la libertad de hacer sus propios horarios como un factor importante en su satisfacción en el trabajo. Ellos pueden obtener un mejor balance entre su vida laboral y personal, lo que les ayuda a sentir que la compañía confía más en ellos.”

Además, haz de la tecnología en la nube tu mejor aliado. Con apps como SYNC de Commercient, tu equipo de ventas no tendrá que estar todo el tiempo frente a la computadora de escritorio para acceder a información importante de prospectos y clientes. En vez de eso, podrán ver esa información desde, por ejemplo, sus teléfonos móviles u otros dispositivos. Esto les ayuda a sentirse más eficientes, productivos, cerrar más tratos y proveer una mejor experiencia a los clientes y cuentas que tienen a cargo.

Crea un ambiente de trabajo agradable

Cada compañía tiene momentos estresantes como fechas límite, cierres contables, etc. Y la mejor forma de reducir el estrés de la oficina y aumentar la motivación del equipo es un ambiente de trabajo tranquilo y agradable. Por ejemplo, puedes ayudar a que tu equipo se conozca en un ambiente no estresante, a través de actividades team-building o convivios fuera de la oficina. Esto ayudará a re-energizar a los miembros del equipo, mejorar la comunicación y crear vínculos entre ellos que duren largo tiempo. Así, sentirán que tienen a alguien con quién contar en esos momentos de estrés.

¿Quieres reducir el estrés en tu equipo de ventas integrando tu CRM y ERP, o conectando tu ERP a Internet y más de 800 apps? Entonces, Commercient SYNC y IoT Pulse te esperan. Contáctanos hoy.

How To Make Your Salespeople Fall In Love With Your CRM System

When asked how they feel about a company’s CRM system, some salespeople respond with, “It’s too complex, it’s time-consuming, it’s not user-friendly, it’s frustrating, and it’s designed specifically for management.” This is how many salespeople view CRM today – they view it as an unhelpful tool.

So, how do your salespeople view your CRM system? You want them to love it, right? In this post, we’ll show you just how you can make your salespeople fall in love with your CRM system.

 

Involve Your Salespeople With Choosing The CRM System

In addition to choosing a CRM solution that is easy to use, easy to train, and easy to set-up and maintain, you should also consider involving your salespeople in the entire CRM selection process to get their buy-in. This will help them be more optimistic about your new system. In fact, the more ownership your salespeople have in selecting your new CRM system, the more likely they will be to adopt and come to love it.

 

Training, Training, Training

Your CRM system will only help to improve sales performance if your company adopts a smart approach to training and development. Without proper training, your salespeople might become frustrated and lose interest in their work altogether.

Geoffrey James of Inc.com recommends using managers as trainers. He says, “When sales managers are responsible for training the reps, it not only guarantees that the managers learn the system, but it also makes the managers into the sales team’s first line of support. A ‘train the trainers’ approach thus helps everyone work to more closely to ensure that the system becomes integral to the sales effort.”

Training is the best way to give your employees the level of understanding needed to make your CRM system perform well. And, when you provide the right training program, they will be more inclined to use the system.

 

Integrate Your CRM And ERP Systems

When your ERP and CRM systems are not connected, it leaves you with multiple databases that can result in a cluttered view of business processes and disjointed operations. And, if your CRM system is filled with duplicate and incorrect data, your salespeople will cringe at the thought of using it. However, if you integrate your sales CRM and accounting ERP systems, everyone in your organization will be able to use the same data. CRM and ERP integration removes the duplicate data and provides the same rules for each system.

Commercient’s SYNC, an industry leading ERP and CRM data integration app, is unique in that it installs quickly, works right out of the box, and costs 60 to 80% less than traditional ETL tool sets. SYNC establishes a “heartbeat” synchronization of data between your EPR and CRM. As each system’s data changes, the changes will automatically SYNC between the two.

For example, our SYNC app makes it possible to see your accounting data in your sales system, which keeps you and your team up-to-date with changes made to your ERP and CRM simultaneously. This allows your sales team to do what they love, and do it well – sell!

 

Get Regular Feedback

Getting regular feedback from your salespeople – that is, listening to their needs and issues, then acting on their feedback – is a great way to encourage the adoption of your CRM system.

Sean McPheat, MD, of MTD Sales Training says: “Ask [the sales team] for their input in designing the system from the outset if you can and make it as simple for them to use as possible. The system should be molded around your sales process so at any stage your sales people know and understand where each of their prospects and clients are in the sales cycle. The people that are going to use it should be the ones to help shape what it looks like and to have an important say in what it should and could do.”

Need more help with your new CRM or want to know more about our SYNC data integration app? Reach out to us today!

5 Mobile Apps To Enable Your Sales Rep

Everybody relies pretty heavily on their smartphones these days, but for salespeople, their mobile devices are their lifelines. Nowadays, closing deals would be practically impossible without them. Smartphones help salespeople organize meetings and trips, push reminders to send follow-ups, route them through traffic, and dozens of other crucial tasks that replace the briefcases, maps, and card files of your dad’s day.

Because mobile engagement is so big and important today, a pretty big pool of productivity apps has started filling up our App and Play stores. We asked our reps to share some of their favorite mobile apps for this post. Here are five in particular that really stood out:

 

  1. Tripit. Salespeople travel a lot and that’s one reason why they should consider using Tripit. This application makes traveling so much easier via push notifications with flight updates, driving directions, and it will even monitor fluctuating airline prices. There’s a free and paid version of the app available. Everything mentioned here is available in the free version of Tripit.
  2. Evernote. If you haven’t heard of Evernote yet, you’ve been living under a rock. Evernote is a virtual notebook that allows you to organize notes, photos, ideas, checklists, and anything else you’d put in your notebook, all in the cloud. With all your notes conveniently located in the cloud you never have to worry about forgetting your trusty old college-ruled notepad again.
  3. GoToMeeting. GoToMeeting Mobile makes it simple to join or start meetings, webinars, and classes from anywhere. This is particularly useful when a prospective client requests a demo in say, Australia, and you’re located in the southeastern United States.
  4. LinkedIn Sales Navigator. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is just one of many insanely useful LinkedIn mobile apps you should consider downloading. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is on this list though because it’s an app that makes it easy for sales reps to create highly targeted lists and take part in some crafty networking.
  5. Salesforce Chatter. Chatter has come a long way since it’s debut in 2009. The app is marketed as a communication platform but users soon discover it can be used for so much more. You can update records, monitor discussions, access files, and even create your own custom apps all from within the Salesforce1 platform. This can be an especially useful app for keeping sales teams on-the-go connected. All you need is the smartphone that’s already in your pocket.

All of the apps in this post are compatible with both Apple and Android devices. Evernote and GoToMeeting are also available for download on Windows Phones.

 

Resources

Tripit

Evernote

GoToMeeting

LinkedIn

Salesforce Chatter