To remain successful, sales teams have to become experts at only managing their time but maximizing it. Here are some simple “hacks” that you and your sales team can use to maximize your selling time.
1. Simplify your CRM data
As a sales manager, look for ways to streamline the amount of data you require your reps to enter in their CRM. It is tempting to want to track every single piece of information about your sales reps’ deals, but the reality is, that will only steal valuable time from your salespeople. Excessive data entry bogs down your team, and rarely provides any additional insight that will revolutionize your sales organization.
2. Automate as many activities as you can
Sales automation continues to become more sophisticated, but it can still feel like a gamble when it comes to data fidelity. Identify sales activities that can be automated, which aren’t heavily tied to artificial intelligence. For example, if you use a separate tool to create proposals to send to clients, make sure you are leveraging an integration to automatically pull data from your CRM into your proposal. (Hint: The PandaDoc Nutshell integration makes this super easy.) Automating this task means reduced errors and high-quality proposals that will save you countless hours over time.
It’s hard to believe, but 60-70% of content created by B2B marketing teams isn’t used by sales. Here’s a fix: Instead of sales reps losing time by searching for content, leverage a smart folder structure that encourages discoverability. Also, if your company uses Slack, create a dedicated content channel and share assets there.
4. Avoid the back-and-forth scheduling
There are many tools on the market these days that allow you or your sales reps to schedule meetings by sharing a link to your calendar instead of sending multiple emails or messages checking each other’s availability and suggesting a time to meet. It is a huge time suck that is easily avoidable. Check out tools like Calendly and Chili Piper for get started.
5. Use data to your advantage
Leveraging PandaDoc for document management and automation provides extremely useful data like document views, forwards, and eSignature notifications that give a sales rep the power to know exactly when to follow up. Having access to this type of data eliminates the question of whether or not a proposal or contract has been received or reviewed. It also arms a sales rep with the insight they need to communicate with a prospect effectively instead of blindly, not only saving time but increasing the likelihood of that deal reaching the finish line.
6. Get prospect research delivered right to your inbox
Another thing that eats up sales reps’ time is research on prospects. While you can’t eliminate this step completely because it is critical to success, there is a tool that is helpful in cutting down the time spent on this activity. Charlie plugs into your reps’ calendars and finds relevant info about the prospect from the web and delivers it to their inbox an hour before the meeting. The tool helps build rapport with your prospect by giving you their latest company news, announcements, links to their social media accounts, and recent posts—even sports interests and hobbies.
Whether you are a team of one or 20, it is always smart to dedicate some time and energy into improving your sales operations and sales enablement functions. You’ll be able to dramatically reduce the time spent on “busy” work, so you or your team will have more time to sell.
To learn more time-saving tips, download PandaDoc’s latest eBook “Leveraging Technology to Maximize Sales Activities: How to Get the Most Out of Your Time in the Field and in the Office” today.
********** Bethany Fagan is the Partner Marketing Manager at PandaDoc. When she’s not promoting one of our integrations or amazing partners, her time is spent exploring her new Brooklyn neighborhood with her husband and two French Bulldogs, Tater Tot and Pork Chop.
