Difficult sales targets? 7 reasons and solutions

For the past few days, a statistic has been shaking up the world of sales. Have you seen it?

If you haven't read the latest report published by Salesforce, here's a quick (and terrifying) teaser: 87% of salespeople expect not to reach their quota in 2023.

That's a huge and, let's face it, frustrating statistic.

Why?

First of all, because missing your targets isn't pleasant for anyone.

Secondly, because low commissions are never fun either.

So we've compiled a non-exhaustive list of the problems faced by salespeople and the reasons why they might not be achieving their objectives. But above all, how to overcome them.

Ready to blow up the Q4 counters? Let's go. 🚀

1. Product training

One of the most common mistakes is to focus solely on the product when integrating new recruits and during ongoing training.

Even today, far too many offers go unnoticed by salespeople, who take a product-centric rather than a customer-centric approach.

Obviously, we have to learn the company's processes, such as the sales process, how to submit quotations and all the rest.

#Sell the benefits of your prospects

To succeed, you need to know more about your customers, their problems and their challenges. The aim is to become a trusted partner for them.

The idea here is to develop messages that resonate with our potential customers. Above all, don't focus on yourself, your product, your company or your service.

Make sure you speak their language and understand the indicators and KPIs that really matter to them. Understand the business impact of the issues or challenges you address.

In short, we don't present a product because we don't care about the means. You present the result.

It's all about results, so that prospects see the value of what you're selling right from the start.

The result: fewer refusals, higher response rates, more loyal customers!

2. A lack of coaching

Yet, according to the Salesforce State of Sales Report 2023, only 26% of B2B salespeople receive regular coaching, i.e. individual coaching at least once a week.

And these 26% are mainly the top performers.

Coincidence? No, it's just that hard work pays off.

Solid integration and sales support processes/tools are therefore necessary, but not sufficient.

#More Regular, personalized coaching

At the same time, it's important to continue this regular reinforcement work to help your sales reps achieve their objectives.

Think of your salespeople as athletes who meet their daily performance targets (quotas) and strive to exceed them.

They have to train. And that means regular coaching. In this case, team coaching and individual coaching. If you'd like to find out more, take a look at this article, and use the template for a successful one-to-one. Not to be missed.

3. Poorly managed time allocation

Sales staff spend only 28% of their time on sales: prospecting, organizing meetings with customers, preparing proposals, etc.

72% of their working time is actually devoted to other activities: updating the CRM, internal training, forecasting meetings...

So how can they achieve their objectives under these conditions?

#Adopt an 80/20 time management system to define priorities.

The solution: we owe it to Pareto.

Pareto's law states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your activities.

How can they apply this law in their daily lives?

⏱️ Time inventory

For a week, they take note of how they use their time.

They can use a stopwatch, fill in a spreadsheet and categorize activities.

The aim is to create transparency and awareness when it comes to time management.

Spoiler alert: note-taking is the star of this inventory.

As we all know, this is one of the biggest challenges facing sales managers: helping teams to take notes as efficiently as possible during meetings, and thus simplifying the process of recording information in the CRM.

The Modjo extension has been developed to meet this challenge. It's the equivalent of note-taking, but a hundred times better, because it saves your teams time by allowing them to spend more time on what really matters: your customers. A true personal assistant for every member of your team. To find out more, click here.

✂️ Separation of activities

They decide which activities have a direct impact on revenues, and which do not.

Create a table with two columns: income-generating activities and non-income-generating activities.

📆 Time blocking

Now it's time to plan for the following week.

Allow sufficient time for income-generating activities.

It's recommended to aim for 50% (about 20 hours) per week, or more if they can.

🎨 Color code

The idea is to use different colors to mark income-generating and non-income-generating activities in their schedules.

This will give them a clearer idea of how their time is allocated and enable them to budget effectively.

Finally, don't forget that time management is a constant process. There will always be disruptive elements seeking to capture their attention. However, by following this Pareto-based approach, you can help them maximize their efficiency and focus their time on the activities that have the greatest impact on results.

4. No response to their cold calls

Times are tough. It's hard to book meetings, it's hard to get answers.

Their portfolio of prospects may be limited, as may the commissions they generate.

This can create a sense of hopelessness, forcing salespeople to cling to their current business as best they can. Unfortunately, this desperate attitude is also felt by prospects, which can compromise their chances of success.

So how do you avoid hitting the wall (or being alone on the swing like Pablo)?

#Consistency (not our account manager... but...)

The solution to this challenge lies in setting up a solid prospecting system.

We'll leave you in the hands of our full-cycle Account Manager, Constance, for just a minute. An expert in prospecting, she offers her valuable advice on our LinkedIn page every week. Don't hesitate to sign up!

The year 2023 also sees the emergence of technological tools such as GPT chat and other artificial intelligence solutions. Take advantage of these technologies to improve your prospecting efficiency.

5. Drowned in objections

"I'm not the right person to talk to."

"We don't have the budget, call back in 6 months."

"Send me an e-mail."

These are very common objections that we've all heard from our prospects, whether on the phone or by e-mail. Faced with this type of reaction, human nature often tends to simply stop in order to avoid conflict.

However, in sales, it's essential to overcome this natural tendency and turn objections into opportunities, isn't it?

#Turnobjectionsto opportunities.

You have to treat the conversation with the prospect like an onion.

Yes, yes, an onion we could take on a pilgrimage.

The prospect objects. Let's see how to react.

"Don't worry if you're not interested, can you help me understand? Is it because you already have a supplier in place or because you're not the best person to talk about it?"

Here's what I do: I take this objection, make two guesses and give the prospect the choice of telling me what they are.

If the prospect replies "we already have a supplier", the idea is to find out whether he's 100% satisfied, and to highlight any drawbacks of the existing solution.

"It's going very well, we're very happy because..., whatever happens...".

This way, you peel more and more onion. Layer by layer. Question by question.

At some point, you notice the small imperfections. We find them breadcrumbs that may reveal larger problems.

In this way, by starting from an objection rather than an interest, we move into discovery mode.

6. Difficulty creating urgency for prospects to make decisions

This is an important point, usually during the discovery phase, when it can be difficult to access the decision-maker, the prospect begins to issue a rejection after the demonstration.

Sales cycles can be very long. Some potential customers even say they won't make a decision this year.

"We have other priority projects.

All these elements indicate that the prospect perceives the salesperson and his product as an asset rather than a necessity.

So it's possible, of course, that we could try again in six months' time, but we don't have much time, do we?

We have quotas to fill.

#Focus on the cost of inaction.

In other words, quantify the gap between the prospect's current state and his future state.

The idea is to take stock:

• status quo: pain, challenges, technical problems, lost time, bad data...

• future state: technical solutions, smoother processes, automation, productivity, quality...

And if we do it right, we can put a figure on that gap. The gap is in fact the cost of action, the opportunity cost of the prospect not making a decision on the established problem.

The aim is to show the customer how much it's costing him every week, every month, every year, because he's not making a decision.

And in times of recession, it's the only way to close deals.

It won't be about your prices or discounts.

It's the driving force, the cost of doing business, and the only way to get the CFO to sign contracts.

7. Unidentified value

Prospects don't see the value of the product/service.

They compare apples with apples and choose the cheapest, you see?

The problem is huge, because it's a race to the bottom.

You're simply competing on price, and your potential customers see you as a commodity.

Value #Sell.

Salespeople therefore need to demonstrate the technical value of their product. This is the only way to stand out from the competition.

Present a solid business case and return on investment for CFO approval.

And themain characterInall this, there's the salesman. And above all, his business acumen. His ability to understand prospects' challenges, propose tailor-made solutions and build a vision of a better future for them.

Here, it's not your solution they're buying. It's your vendor.

It's time to put these tips into practice for a successful end to the year. 🚀

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