Sales management is important because it helps to guide a company’s sales force in achieving its goals. Sales managers are responsible for ensuring that the sales team is properly trained and equipped, as well as tracking progress and motivating employees. They also help to create a culture of success within the organization, which can be crucial to retaining top talent. Sales management is an important part of a business’s success because salespeople are the point of contact between a company and its customers.
Retail sales in the US reached a value of $7 trillion in 2022 from $5.58 trillion in 2020. This was only possible because retail goods had tremendous demand in the market, and businesses were able to cater to those demands. This wouldn’t have been possible without efficient sales management. With similar or better efforts in the coming years, retail sales will reach a value of $8 trillion.
While sales management is a vital aspect of sales, it’s a very tedious task. However, thanks to sales management software, managing sales has now become much easier.
What is Sales Management Software?
Sales management software helps businesses manage the entire sales process, from lead generation to closing. It provides a complete view of your sales pipeline, allowing you to track performance by territory and representative so you can make informed decisions about your team’s performance.
Sales management applications offer a range of benefits, including:
- Improved sales forecast accuracy
- Improved sales pipeline visibility
- Increased productivity
These applications or software also allow you to manage lead qualification and management, account management, sales forecasting, and performance reporting.
While sales management systems or software can be used in all types of industries, they’re particularly beneficial for B2B companies.
How B2B Companies Can Benefit From Using Sales Management Software
B2B companies are always selling their products in bulk. That allows them to deliver larger volumes of their products while maintaining a low or steady price. However, profiting from such sales can be difficult and often risky.
Brisk, the Swedish software company, survived only four years on the market since its entry. The company failed because of its salesforce and lack of focus. B2B companies often make these mistakes which is why sales management software is so important for them.
Here’s how B2B companies can benefit from using sales management software.
Establishing an Organized Database
It takes more than a month for 90% of B2B sales to be completed, while the remaining percentage takes more than a year. It’s a lengthy process, but it tends to get more tedious due to a lack of organized data, which further prevents them from ensuring efficient lead generation.
Sales management software allows you to create a database in which all of your contacts, leads, and customers are stored. This makes it easier for you to keep track of your sales team’s performance and see what kinds of approaches have worked best for them in the past. That, in turn, allows you to seal the deals much faster and with more efficiency.
It also allows you to pull up information quickly when necessary. For example, if a customer calls in with a complaint or concern, you can pull up their contact information right away so that you can address their need immediately.
Better Lead Generation
Did you know that almost 90% of B2B companies can’t unlock the full potential of their buyer intent data? These are shocking numbers, which mean that efficient lead generation in this industry is almost non-existent. Even with an organized database, you can’t make profitable sales unless you have good leads.
Better lead generation is one of the main benefits of sales management software for B2B companies.
As a business owner, you know that one of the most important tasks you have is to generate leads that turn into paying customers. The best way to do this is by using sales management software to track your leads and make sure they are all properly qualified before reaching out to them. This will allow you to focus on high-quality prospects instead of wasting time on bad leads.
You will also be able to use the data from your sales pipeline report to find out which deals are moving along quickly and which ones need more attention for them not to fall through the cracks.
Efficient Sales Team Performance
A report from a SiriusDecisions survey shows that 71% of B2B sales reps say they fail to close deals due to a lack of sufficient knowledge. This is a harsh reality for many businesses, but it’s true. Sales reps do know their way around a sale, but they can’t know everything.
However, as a sales manager, you can do that for them with sales management software.
From tracking their performance to seeing what the team is struggling with, sales management software can fill in the gaps your sales team might have when trying to land a new client. At the same time, thanks to real-time progress tracking, you can ensure constant efficiency within the sales team.
In conclusion, it’s evident that sales management software is vital to B2B companies for several reasons. So, the sooner these companies start adopting such systems, the sooner they’ll see their sales doing better.