Falling short of your organization’s sales goals can feel discouraging or even downright panic inducing, especially given that losing out on opportunities essentially means letting cash slip through your fingers.

It may be easy to blame economic or industry challenges for any low conversion rates, but if you put your sales team under the microscope, you may spot significant obstacles to success rooted within your own organization. Here are three of the most common hurdles you may be facing along with tactics for helping your employees overcome them.

Insufficient training

The problem: Your salespeople may not be properly equipped to sell, struggling with either poor technique or a lack of information. Therefore, they face an uphill battle to convert leads, even highly qualified ones.

The solutions: One of the most essential sales strategies is pitching your brand’s value proposition—that is, demonstrating to prospects why they should buy from you. However, your sellers can only do this successfully when they fully understand who your target audience is, what their pain points are, and how your offerings can provide a solution to make their lives healthier, happier, or more convenient.

Schedule retraining on these details to ensure that they’re clear, whether in individual sessions for poor performers or in group meetings if there’s a generally low sales rate across your team. Update your sales playbook as well for quick and easy reference, including answers to basic consumer questions like “How long does it take to install the product?” and positive reviews that can be shared as testimonials. The more resources your salespeople possess, the more confidence they will have during a pitch.

Additionally, hold periodic refreshers on vital sales skills, such as making a good first impression, rebutting prospects’ most frequent objections, and requesting a close. Consider asking your sales managers or top performers to share proven strategies, detailing how they handle specific situations and concerns. Even for those with minimal struggles, there are always ways to improve and refine their sales approach to maximize their chances of landing the deal.

Lack of qualified leads

The problem: Sellers can only succeed when they connect with your target audience, but if your organization doesn’t present good leads to them, they will be essentially limited to making cold calls, hoping they eventually encounter a qualified person or business.

The solutions: To start, enhance your marketing efforts to better identify relevant prospects. Have your marketers refer to data and trends in your CRM database to create buyer personas, which will detail your ideal customer’s lifestyle and demographics. As an example, an art gallery owner might aim to attract wealthy tourists and local homeowners. You can also utilize a tool like LinkedIn Sales Navigator to filter prospects by specific demographics or publish lead magnets like blogs and white papers to discover who expresses interest in your offerings—even before you reach out.

Just as important as getting leads, though, is using them effectively. Sellers should always customize their pitch to each person’s progress toward conversion, and they can only do that when your marketing and sales employees alike perform lead tracking in your CRM. That way, everyone will know exactly where a contact came from, if they are an existing customer, and how many touchpoints they have experienced. Further, running sales reports can help identify when people are more likely to make purchases, indicating the ideal timing for a pitch. For instance, a pool-installation company may find that consumers are more interested in breaking ground in early spring so they are ready to swim come summertime.

Sticker shock

The problem: Consumers could find the prices of your products or services off-putting. In turn, they may end sales interactions once they receive a quote or even complain after conversion that your prices are too high to warrant conducting future business.

The solutions: Such a glaring problem requires a multipoint solution. First, emphasize to your sellers the importance of leveraging your value proposition, asserting that the value to be gained from your products or services surpasses the price. Second, rely on social proof. Strong testimonials can outweigh virtually any pricing concerns, so request that your satisfied customers review your business on Google and social media. To capitalize on these positive endorsements, post statistics and quotes across your website, socials, and sales playbook.

Third, listen to your prospects’ needs. Should you find that closures are more difficult toward the end of the month when customers’ budgets are less flexible, for example, don’t just pressure them into exceeding their limitations. Instead, initiate end-of-month discounts or promote free gifts with a purchase, which may better motivate your target consumers to invest in your offerings. Based on universal feedback, you may even find it necessary to decrease your prices where possible. And, no matter what, always remember to communicate pricing clearly and transparently to foster customer satisfaction and loyalty.

On your mettle

While the above represent some common obstacles to converting leads, there are many other issues that could plague your salespeople, including an inadequate head count, a struggle to differentiate your organization from competitors, and excessive administrative work like processing orders.

To weather these and other storms, stay abreast of challenges to achieving sales. You can identify them by sending occasional surveys to potential and existing clients, reviewing KPIs periodically to identify trends, and engaging in regular sales performance evaluations and feedback sessions. Upon identifying a snag, engage in a battle strategy to eliminate it, keeping your sales and marketing teams looped in so you can brainstorm solutions collectively. Above all, maintain a resilient mindset, understanding that any obstacles are not set in stone but rather merely symptoms of a problem that you and your salespeople can work to overcome together.

TAKE ACTION:
Review your sales data, determine which obstacles may be limiting your revenue potential, and then write down a list of steps for addressing them head-on.