Financial Services State of Sales

Empower Financial Services teams to work faster and smarter with a simpler tech stack

From account managers to team leaders, technology is a great enabler for sales organisations in the financial services sector. But system overload is preventing companies and individuals from making the most of these benefits – and it’s putting performance and productivity on the line.

According to the fifth edition of the State of Sales report, sales organisations in financial services use an average of 10 technologies. This fragmented approach is making selling harder rather than easier, with more than 80% of reps saying they are overwhelmed with too many sales tools. But change is coming: 94% of sales organisations are planning to consolidate their technology stack in the next 12 months. ¹

Prioritising multi-function solutions, such as CRM, above standalone tools and spreadsheets will be critical to tackling the sales system sprawl. Around half of financial services sales organisations already use CRM systems and another third are planning implementations in the next two years².

In this blog, we look at the critical steps that can help increase productivity in the financial services industry and why investing in the right technologies is key to unlocking greater efficiency.

Build relationships for life with a single view of the customer

To be successful, your teams need quick and easy access to customer information – and that means unifying as many datasets, processes, and tools as possible. A single view of the customer is essential for creating stronger connections: 81% of sales pros believe building long-term relationships is particularly important given the current economic conditions.

Salesforce’s Customer 360 puts the customer at the centre of everything. It brings the entire sales organisation together on a secure platform that evolves with the needs of the team. With a single flexible CRM platform, financial services companies can not only deliver richer customer experiences but also unlock efficiency gains.

Connect at the right time on the right channel

The financial services industry is built on relationships – and these relationships must be nurtured on more channels than ever before. To build stronger customer connections and achieve better results, financial services teams need to engage at the right time – and in real time.

Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, part of Customer 360, provides centralised access to omnichannel collaboration tools that help sales professionals nurture prospects, convert leads, and grow trusted customer relationships. Richer collaboration tools are also key to team selling, which 79% of sales professionals say makes closing deals more likely.

Boost productivity and performance with a richer seller experience

Selling in the financial services industry is getting harder. But instead of spending their time on prospecting and connecting with customers, sales professionals are stuck on an administration treadmill. Sales reps spend an average of 70% of their time on non-selling activities, such as generating proposals, gaining approvals, and manually entering customer information.

With the right technologies, these and other tasks can be simplified and automated. The result? Less complexity and more efficiency. Salesforce Financial Services Cloud transforms the user experience with personalised dashboards, optimised workflows, and intelligent customer insights.

Accelerate change with flexible foundations

Customer expectations, world events, and regulations: all have the potential to impact the financial services landscape. To stay competitive, companies need to be able to adapt their processes, platforms, and priorities rapidly and regularly – with minimal risk and cost.

Salesforce Financial Services Cloud helps sales organisations react faster and smarter to change. The solution comes with industry-specific workflows, templates, and interfaces that can be quickly customised to reflect evolving market trends, business goals, and customer needs without the need for expensive development.

Achieve stronger outcomes with better coaching

To maximise the adoption of new processes and tools, it’s important to ensure your teams have access to the right training. This can help not only increase colleague satisfaction and retention but also time to value. Improving training on tools and technologies was cited as the number one growth driver, according to the State of Sales report, which features insights from 800+ financial services sales professionals.

Upskilling is already a big focus for the sector: 82% of sales pros say they receive valuable coaching from their manager. Salesforce makes sales enablement easy with personalised learning trails that can be accessed anytime, anywhere. Team leaders can tap into performance insights that help identify individual coaching needs and ensure mandatory training modules are completed on key topics, such as new industry regulations.

Secure customers for life with smarter processes and richer insights

By consolidating and transforming the tech stack, financial services organisations can free up their teams to focus on what they do best: strengthening customer relationships and winning new business. And more time spent on selling means more time spent securing customers for life.