If there's one question that comes up frequently among sales teams, it's "How can we improve sales performance?"
Usually, this question arises when sales figures start to slip, or the quarter-end approaches with targets still unmet. But it shouldn’t be reserved for tough times alone.
With growing economic uncertainties and higher competition today, improving sales performance is a constant concern for forward-thinking businesses—as it should be.
To help you stay on top of things, this article breaks down eight strategies and three automation tools to drive exceptional sales performance. But first, let's get a refresher on what sales performance really means.
What is Sales Performance?
Sales performance is a measure of how well your sales team meets its goals. It reflects the overall effectiveness of both your sales reps and your team as a whole.
Think of this metric as a health check for your operations. It shows how you're doing in areas like lead generation, conversion rates, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth.
Good sales performance is not just about closing deals but about how your entire sales operations meet (and exceed) expectations. That means building relationships, keeping customers happy, and consistently hitting targets over time.
8 Proven Strategies to Improve Sales Performance
Whether you're going through a sales slump or riding high on success, improving sales performance is a never-ending endeavor.
Below, we cover eight practical strategies to help you squeeze out the best possible return on sales for your operations.
Nail Your Sales Hire
You’ve heard it before, but it’s worth repeating: your team is the foundation of your sales success. In other words, the caliber of your sales reps can make or break your sales performance.
So, what should you look for in candidates? You want go-getters with a track record of success. You want positive attitudes and cultural fit. And you want people who think freely but remain coachable.
Beyond personality traits, consider hard skills like lead generation, negotiation, and time management. And soft skills like communication, emotional intelligence, and collaboration.
Above all, choose candidates based on their sales skills—not their interview skills. An effective practice is to simulate common sales scenarios to see how they approach problems in practice.
Set Clear, Achievable Goals
Another big-time killer of sales performance is vague or unachievable goals. An HBR study tells us that when one or two out of 10 reps miss goals, it’s probably their fault. But when five or more miss the mark, the goals may be unrealistic.
Goals are your roadmap to success. They give your team direction and purpose. Even with the best salespeople money can buy, you need to have well-thought-out goals to give them any chance of success.
A helpful approach to goal-setting is to make it “SMART”: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
Using this framework, the goal: "Make more money" becomes "Increase quarterly sales revenue by 15% via 10 new client acquisitions and upselling to 20% of existing clients within the next three months."
Invest in Sales Enablement
Sales enablement means giving your sales team the instruments they need to succeed. It’s about equipping them with the right knowledge and relevant resources to hit your sales bull’s eye every time.
We’re talking:
- Comprehensive product training
- Robust CRM software (like Instantly)
- Market insights and competitor analysis
- Sales collateral like presentations, testimonials, and case studies
Long story short, the better equipped your team is, the more effective they'll be in driving higher sales performance.
Track the Right Sales Performance Metrics
What sales metrics do you keep tabs on? More importantly, are they relevant to your current sales goals? Misplaced effort is a common occurrence in the world of sales. And its effect can be damaging to your sales performance.
To help you avoid that, track the following KPIs to assess and improve your sales performance:
- Company-wide Indicators: Are you meeting your overarching sales goals? Consider high-level indicators like annual recurring revenue (ARR).
- Sales Department Benchmarks: Take stock of your sales funnel health with metrics like win rate, average deal size, customer acquisition costs, and sales cycle length.
- Individual and Team Metrics: Track individual and team effectiveness against quotas and personal goals.
With the resulting data, you can uncover room for improvement to inform your sales strategies going forward.
Smooth Out Your Sales Process
Often, poor sales performance can be attributed to a clunky sales process. To smooth things out, start by asking the right questions:
- At what stage in our sales funnel do leads often drop off?
- What tasks take the most time for sales reps?
- What does our sales velocity look like?
Once you know the friction points, you can implement appropriate solutions—whether that’s a better lead qualification process, hands-on follow-up strategy, or smoother handoff to customer success.
Scale Your Efforts With Technology & Automation
Using technology and automation helps handle routine activities that take up the time and focus of your sales team. That said, technology is meant to enhance the human touch in sales—not replace it.
With the right tech stack, you can multiply your team's efforts and knock your sales target out of the park. We’ll explore the specifics in the coming section.
Provide Ongoing Training and Coaching
Successful sales teams never stop learning. But it just so happens that most teams today approach sales training from a reactive mindset rather than a proactive one.
In other words, they train reps when issues arise. That’s like waiting for your car to break down before changing the oil. It's not a mindful approach.
A better way is to invest in ongoing training and coaching programs to keep your team sharp. This could include regular knowledge-sharing meetings, personal coaching sessions, or industry insights from external sales experts.
Whatever your approach, make it consistent to keep your team at their best and improve your sales performance.
Foster a Positive Sales Culture
In the words of renowned management consultant Peter Drucker, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Translation? Poor company culture undermines even the best strategies.
Sales is an inherently competitive environment, but that doesn't mean it can't be supportive—and fun. A few key ways to create such an environment:
- Celebrate team wins and successes
- Promote work-life balance to prevent burnout
- Organize team-building activities to strengthen bonds
- Foster open communication where ideas and feedback flow freely
Done right, these practices foster a sense of camaraderie among your sales team. The outcome? Higher morale, lower turnover, and of course better sales performance.
How Technology Helps Improve Sales Performance
As mentioned, technology is an integral part of sales. And the right tech stack can mean the difference between hitting your sales targets or watching them fly by.
To give your sales performance a serious boost, consider adding the following to your arsenal (if you haven’t already):
CRM System
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is the backbone of any high-performing sales team. It's like having a photographic memory for every client interaction.
With a CRM like Instantly, tracking leads, managing relationships, and closing deals becomes a breeze.
Our CRM doesn't just store data—it helps you act on it. And thanks to features like real-time updates and smart analytics, Instantly is the perfect partner to help you get the most out of your customer interactions.
Email Marketing Software
Email marketing software is another indispensable tool in the modern sales rep’s arsenal. It remains one of the most effective methods to generate leads, nurture prospects, and keep your sales pipeline full. In fact, 87% of brands say email marketing is critical to their business success.
Using an email marketing platform like Instantly, you can segment your audience, craft targeted campaigns, automate email sequences, and track email marketing metrics—all in one place. This keeps your efforts focused and consistent.
The best part? Instantly’s email marketing software integrates seamlessly with its CRM. This way, you can send personalized emails and follow-ups at the perfect moment in your sales cycle.
Sales Analytics Tools
Numbers don't lie, and in sales, they tell a powerful story. Sales analytics tools are like a crystal ball for your sales operations. They crunch the numbers to help you figure out what's working and what's not.
Among their many use cases, sales analytics tools help you:
- Predict Trends: Forecast sales based on historical data and current trends for better planning and strategy.
- Spot Bottlenecks: Find and fix issues in your sales funnel to drive better sales performance.
- Track KPIs: Visualize and monitor key metrics like conversion rates, sales cycles, and revenue trends in real time.
- Reporting Tools: Generate detailed reports on various aspects of sales performance to inform your strategies and decisions.
- Understand Customers Better: Analyze customer behavior and preferences to tailor your approach for higher sales performance.
Key Takeaways
Your sales performance is a direct reflection of your team’s success (or failure) at meeting its goals. Of course, every sales manager and sales team wants better sales performance.
To recap, here are the key points to keep in mind when it comes to sales performance:
- Sales performance is the measure of a sales team or salesperson's ability to consistently hit sales targets over time.
- You can improve your sales performance in several ways, including nailing your sales hire, tracking the right metrics, and investing in sales enablement—to mention a few.
- Having the right tech stack is invaluable in helping scale your sales performance for sustainable business growth.
Ready to stop chasing your tail and start driving results? Instantly has you covered. Our CRM and email marketing software are designed to step up your sales operation like no other. Sign up for a free trial today!
