{"id":20084,"date":"2021-06-28T09:50:59","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T09:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/?p=20084"},"modified":"2021-06-25T19:41:07","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T19:41:07","slug":"5-ways-to-drive-sales-productivity-through-learning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.liquid-themes.com\/hownow\/blog\/5-ways-to-drive-sales-productivity-through-learning\/","title":{"rendered":"5 ways to drive sales productivity through learning"},"content":{"rendered":"

You might be sick of the sight of productivity! For a while, there seemed to be an avalanche of content about how to do more in shorter periods, while using your time and energy smarter and not working yourself into the ground. Especially around the start of 2020 when most of our lives were flipped on their heads!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Right now, we\u2019re in a bit of a \u2018productivity lull\u2019, and we\u2019re using that as a moment to focus on an often-neglected topic of productivity content – sales.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why sales reps need a helping hand on the productivity front<\/b><\/h2>\n

Well, firstly, not actually that much of their time is spent selling! 65% of a rep\u2019s time<\/a> is spent on \u201cnon revenue-generating activities\u201d. That leaves roughly a third of their week for the actual selling part of a sales role. That window has to encompass lining up meetings with prospects, nurturing leads and closing deals – which is a lot!<\/span><\/p>\n

Now imagine that a chunk of that time is taken up by searching for information, trying to find the sales playbook or details a lead might need and working out what\u2019s new in the product. That\u2019s where learning and a learning platform can be a crucial tool in a sales reps\u2019 productivity arsenal. Here\u2019s a few how\u2019s and why\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Drive a culture of continuous learning<\/b><\/h2>\n

It seems like a fairly obvious thing to say, but the landscape for a sales rep changes all the time. The product they\u2019re selling evolves, the target audience gets tweaked over time, pricing increases, targets move, and the salespeople themselves grow too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So it\u2019s not really enough to send them on a training course every year to explain how all these things have shifted. That could be a productivity and progress blocker for months and months. Creating a culture where resources are updated and available as they change, where people are kept in the loop about those while being encouraged to keep up, and in which people feel empowered to get out there and learn independently – that\u2019s how you help the sales team keep pace with change.<\/span><\/p>\n

The big question is where you store all of that information so that it\u2019s easy to find…<\/span><\/p>\n

Create one front door for sales resources<\/b><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s pretty hard to be productive when all your resources are scattered across different platforms and systems. The sales playbook might live in a shared drive, while the prospect FAQs are stored somewhere else, and you can\u2019t access either in the platforms where you\u2019re actually engaging with leads. That\u2019s not only discouraging or demoralising for a rep with limited time, it really eats into their day and ability to be productive.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why we created HowNow, to become one front door for all of your learning! Somewhere you can not only bring scattered sales resources together<\/a> but integrate with the tools your sales team already uses as they\u2019re hunting down prospects and closing deals. Imagine your playbook living in the same place that internal experts can share knowledge and that integrates with your CRM or sales tools – suddenly you\u2019re giving people back time by cutting down the route to the information they need.<\/span><\/p>\n

Share knowledge and learn socially within sales teams<\/b><\/h2>\n

Experts exist at every level in your teams, it\u2019s why we\u2019ve seen a decline in top-down learning\u2019s popularity and a growing affection for sharing knowledge. A rep who\u2019s closed considerably more deals for a particular product or service would have a wealth of insights to share with their colleagues. If somebody figured out a new method for pitching to prospects and drove a huge uplift in meetings, you\u2019d want them to impart that wisdom with others.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why? It\u2019s contextual! It\u2019s far more relevant to your business and customers than any generic training course could be. Which isn\u2019t to say that those methods of learning don\u2019t have a place, it\u2019s more an argument that it allows us to create content that can be applied in the moments that reps find problems to overcome.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In HowNow, we created the Nugget to allow everyone to share knowledge! If I\u2019m one of those savvy sales reps from our examples, in a matter of clicks I can create a resource that outlines my expertise. Whether I chose to write it out, upload a video or record a short audio resource – the power is in my hands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Onboard new sales reps more effectively<\/b><\/h2>\n

How quickly your sales reps are firing on all cylinders comes down to the onboarding experience you\u2019ve got in place! For most companies, the onboarding process<\/a> looks fairly similar regardless of which team you\u2019re in. In forward-thinking companies, it\u2019s tailored to that department and individual – that\u2019s how you ramp up faster.<\/span><\/p>\n

A good rule of thumb is to sit down and work out what that new starter needs to know now and what can wait for a later date. It\u2019s about structuring the process to provide the information they need to settle into the sales role sooner – whether it\u2019s the playbook, advice from an internal expert or a tour through the product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Use data to drive your sales strategy<\/b><\/h2>\n

Without the numbers, it\u2019s hard to know what is and isn\u2019t working! Which makes it even harder to deliver effective learning and development strategies. For example, which stage of the funnel are your team losing leads? At what moments are individual reps failing to move that prospect along? These are not only questions you can answer through analysis but they\u2019re ways to shape learning initiatives that have impact!<\/span><\/p>\n

Once you work out where the pain points are, you can create resources and courses that enable people to overcome those hurdles and close skill gaps that might be slowing you down. That\u2019s the power of a data-driven learning strategy<\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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