8 Sales Productivity Pitfalls (and Steps to Avoid Them)
Get easy-to-use worksheets and tips from sales experts to start driving productivity gains today.
June 15, 2023 | Time to read: 11 minutes
Seventy-two percent of sellers’ time is wasted on non-selling tasks, according to our Trends in Sales Ops report, a survey of more than 7,700 sales professionals. The good news? There are straightforward ways to refocus reps on the things that matter the most.
Start here. We share how to avoid eight common productivity pitfalls that eat into revenue and hold sellers back — along with worksheets and resources to help.
Common Sales Pitfalls:
- The sales team spends too much time in tools.
- Sellers don’t know when to advance customers to the next stage in the pipeline.
- Sellers aren’t tapping the full potential of their territories.
- It takes reps too long to get quotes approved.
- Sellers need team support to close, but can’t get alignment.
- Sales managers have limited time for coaching.
- The team doesn’t know if the enablement program is working.
- Mental health issues hurt seller focus.
Pitfall: 1. The sales team spends too much time in tools.
Sales teams use an average of 10 tools — from reporting to contact management to forecasting — according to our State of Sales report. Many of these tools come on different platforms, creating a disjointed patchwork of different data, fields, and dashboards.
Sellers are feeling the pain. Two thirds said they feel overwhelmed. It’s hard to be productive when you’re toggling back and forth between point solutions to get the job done, and all that time spent in tools means less time spent with customers.
Solution:
Consolidate your tools to lower your costs and give your reps time back to spend with customers.
You’ll be joining the 94% of sales ops teams who plan to simplify their tech stack in the next 12 months.
Here’s how to do it:
- Inventory your tools. You may find that functionality overlaps between some tools, and that you’re not fully using others.
- Prioritize your multifunction tools over single-function tools. Make the most of tools with multiple features, so reps don’t have to switch so often.
- Where possible, remove point solutions and seldom-used tools. Eliminate multiple platforms to reduce time-wasting tasks like redundant data reentry, driving productivity for the team.
Dain Rasmussen
SVP, Sales, Inspirato
SVP, Sales, Inspirato
Pro tip:
Don’t be afraid to pull the plug on a tool, even when you’ve invested a lot of time and money in it. Reps shouldn’t have to constantly change systems to work the same record. The simpler we make selling, the bigger our gains.
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Boosting productivity is more straightforward than you might think. Watch the demo and discover how to assess territory coverage, model possible scenarios, and deploy with ease.
Use these free worksheets to discover how:
- Streamline your tech stack by consolidating your sales tools without losing features.
- Boost sales efficiency by defining the right exit criteria for your pipeline stages.
- Speed up quoting by eliminating redundant approvers and auto-approving more terms.
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