How to assess the gaps in your sales team

Success in sales doesn’t happen without hard work. But even with your team at full capacity in terms of effort, sometimes the results just aren’t there. Whether you’ve hit a stumbling block in one of your markets, performance overall has plateaued or the team has dropped behind on its KPI’s, you may need to assess for gaps in the team to address the problem head on.

Pareto sales manager Andrew Wood stresses the importance of assessing gaps and providing a hard-working team with everything they need to hit those targets. He says, “Everyone wants to feel they’re succeeding. When all the work is going in and the results aren’t coming out, it can become very frustrating for a sales team. Providing training and the opportunity to upskill gives everyone the support and resources they need to thrive and succeed.”

To help get you and your team back on track, or take their performance to the next level, we’ve outlined a few ways you can get to know your sales processes and past to see where opportunities to transform your team may lie.

Look at the numbers:

Analysing sales data from your team and reassessing key performance indicators (KPIs) can help to identify trends and patterns that could lead to opportunity.

Whether it’s seasonal tendencies you’re missing or identifying an area that needs a little more attention from your team, by spending some time looking at the numbers you can often find a solution. Simply focusing your efforts or upskilling your team can make a real difference. If money is being lost on the phones, check out a live prospecting course. If losses are made when you’re settling a deal, a negotiation skills training course could be perfect.

Look at your processes:

No sales process is perfect, and in fact a flexible approach can often be your best friend, but if the team is repeatedly dropping the ball in one area, it may be time for a different approach. Re-familiarise yourself with your sales processes and start to analyse the different stages. Are there places where money is being lost or a bottleneck where deals are being left by the wayside? Scope out each individual part of the process and figure out where it’s working and where changes can be made. You might spot a lot of general mistakes and missed up-selling opportunities. If so, an account management training course could transform your bottom line and benefit your clients.

Look at your losses:

The pitches and deals you’ve lost can reveal a lot about the pitfalls in your sales team. Go over the path you took and the decisions you made to pull out where any mistakes have been made. If you identify any patterns in your losses, you may also identify areas where upskilling or hiring can change the trajectory of your bottom line. For example, you may find your team just needs to brush up on those all-important essentials. If so, selling skills training could really make a difference.

How to tackle the gaps in your sales team

Plugging the holes can be achieved in a number of ways. Whether you’re at maximum head count and need to upskill your team or you could do with more bodies on the ground, there are solutions that can fill in those gaps and boost revenue.  

If you’re at capacity in terms of staff, yet the numbers seem to be slipping, it might be time to explore your training options. Not only can additional training upskill an individual or a whole team, it can also motivate and re-energise your sales department. Whether you need your team to brush up on the fundamentals, learn how to create impact at the presentation stage or bring some finesse to their negotiation skills, all of these areas can be improved with the right training.

A great way to assess your sales team is to call in the experts. Pareto offer bespoke sales training solutions, completely tailored to your company’s needs. From reviewing your sales operation to building you a results-focused solution and delivering the results you’re after, we can streamline the process and help you create a first class team.

You may find that your problem is actually rooted in a lack of sales people to handle the deals or man the phones. When it comes to this you may think about growing your team. Whether that means introducing a strong manager to steer the team to success or a fresh-faced graduate to boost that ROI, new energy may be just what your sales department needs. Pareto are the leading sales recruitment and training company in the UK, offering both graduate and executive level sales professionals.

Whatever issues your sales team may be facing, by utilising these methods to assess the successes and losses in your team, you can take action and plug those troublesome gaps. Whatever it is your team needs to improve your bottom line, Pareto has solutions that can put you back on track.