All it takes is opening your inbox to realize we are living in a world of information overload.
This affects all teams, in every industry, but this reality is particularly apparent when trying to get valuable information in front of sales teams.
Sales is constantly bombarded with information from well-meaning marketing departments and sales managers attempting to help them close more deals. But there’s a difference between providing information that leads to overload, and actual sales intelligence that leads to results. Here are three things to consider when trying to provide useful--and actionable--information to sales.
Communication Avoidance
Sales teams are notorious for not reading emails, unless they come from a prospect. To a sales pro, time is money and if they don’t see a direct connection between your information and more money in their pockets, you’ll never get their attention. But no response from your sales team doesn’t necessarily mean they didn’t read the information you sent them. There is the possibility that they have read it, found it useful, and are actively using your sales intelligence to close more deals. Either way, waiting for them to come to you with feedback will likely result in no feedback at all. An easy way around this is to simply ask, via phone or face to face, what they found helpful. You will know, based off their response, whether or not they even read your information, and some may openly admit they “didn’t get a chance to read it yet.” Keep an open dialog with your sales team so you can gauge whether or not you are providing anything of value.
Disinterested Body Language
If you have an opportunity to interact with your sales team face-to-face, you can learn a lot from their body language and what they don’t say. Wandering eyes, playing with cell phones, or team members sharing knowing glances are all indicative of a team that doesn’t find your information valuable. One the other hand, teams that are fully engaged, listen and ask questions, indicating that you have earned their respect, the right to their attention, and that they find your information valuable.
Sales Buzz
A sales team that is active, excited and engaged will have an enthusiastic buzz that you will be able to both see and hear. If you are providing valuable intelligence to your sales team, it will drive the energy level up within your organization they will be enthusiastic and eager to start trying it out on their prospects.
Sales teams want to be successful, but they can burn out easily if they are not supplied with the proper tools, resources, and sales intelligence to help them succeed. By keeping your pulse on the subtle comments and movements of your sales team, you’ll have a better idea whether the tools you provide are considered sales intelligence or merely information overload.
For a visual example of what true sales intelligence looks like view our sample profiles by clicking on the link below.
Share Your Thoughts