Seven Suggestions for Improving Sales Productivity in the Hybrid Sales Environment in 2022
By Michael J Griffin
6 minute read
How are you preparing your sales team for a better, more successful 2022? Pressure is on to increase revenue after two years of Covid. Salespeople are adapting to the hybrid selling model. B2B customers are reducing time spent with salespeople, yet buying committees are growing in size. The younger B2B customers are tech savvy and acting more like B2C customers by employing technology to research, source and buy solutions, limiting salesperson influence. Is your organization losing its productive salespeople through the “Great Resignation?” How is your sales team adapting to these changes? How are you the sales coach adapting to lead your sales team to excel through these changes?
Here are some of my observations and seven suggestions for improving the productivity and success of your sales team in the hybrid environment of 2022. They are not in priority but you can identify the ones that will help you in ’22!
The hybrid working from home and office environment can be a stressor for your salespeople. This may cause them to be less than productive or even quit. The first step to assess the “health” of your salespeople and managers. Do this by having all employees complete a confidential “Employee Engagement or Climate Survey.” This gives the leaders an overview of what is working and not working in your organizational culture and changes can then be made.
Research by McKinsey indicates your number one defense to grow revenue is to protect and nurture your existing clients. Do a Client Survey of their perception of your company, salespeople and solutions. Then make adjustments based on what your customers tell you. Develop strategies to increase buyer enablement using your solutions.
Salesforce research indicates just 32% of salespeople think they have the training and coaching necessary to compete in the new hybrid sales environment. Suggestions: time to refresh and upgrade your salespeople’s B2B selling and communication skills for face to face and virtual selling. Don’t fall for the fallacy that one time sales skill training is enough! Secondly, identify what “technology training” your sales reps may need to sell higher, wider, deeper and faster than before Covid.
Buying committee size is growing. Korn Ferry says the average committee now has 6.8 people. This requires your salespeople to communicate and persuade a number of different personalities and positions to close the sale. Suggestion: train your salespeople in DISC or EQ communication Skills to so they can build more trusting relationships. Trusted salespeople are a competitive advantage!
Consider this sales coaching research by the Center for Sales Strategy:
a. Companies with dynamic sales coaching programs achieve a 28% higher win rate.
b. Companies that provide quality coaching can reach 7% greater annual revenue growth.
c. As much as 60% of sales say they're more likely to leave their job if their manager is a poor coach. More than two thirds of employees reporting to a manager who is not a good coach are considering quitting their jobs.
The suggestion is simple: spend your training dollars on improving the coaching skills of sales managers to be motivated and skilful to effectively coach. Sales coaching needs to drive and motivate salespeople to achieve revenue and enhanced customer loyalty.
Your sales KPI’s may need realignment with more demanding the hybrid sales environment. Suggestion: reassess your sales team KPI’s and determine the necessary leading and lagging KPI’s to drive sales performance. Creating a sales team “balanced scorecard” greatly improves measuring the KPI’s that really matter.
According to Chally Research, the top three competencies for successful key account managers of larger accounts are
a. Maximizes results by systematically managing an account plan.
b. Driven to increase sales by cross selling in a key account
c. Collaboratively works relationships and the internal systems of customer and his/her organization.
The suggestions are obvious: train your salespeople who manage your larger client accounts in Key Account Strategies training and using the key account planner. The not so obvious is the train and ensure sales managers are fluent in coaching reps in key account strategies.
Each of the hybrid sales issues and the suggested solutions are concrete actions your organization can implement to drive sales productivity and competitive advantage in 2022.
ELAvate and my 30 years’ sales consulting across these seven areas can cut your learning curve and shorten your ramp up to greater sales success in 2022. Please email for a no obligation call on how I may serve you and your success in 2022.
Helping sales leaders coach sales teams is my passion! michael.griffin@elavateglobal.com
Have a Merry Christmas and an even more successful 2022!
Michael J Griffin
ELAvate Founder
Sales Productivity Coach
John Maxwell Team Founder and Coach