12 of the Most Common Sales Objections (and How to Overcome Them)

Rahul Mathew on October 24, 2024

In a perfect world, every one of your sales interactions would go without a hitch. Your prospects would always be eager to move to the next stage of the sales process, and you’d never run into any sales objections.

But that’s not reality.

B2B buyers are more informed than ever. And often, they come into sales conversations with plenty of questions and sales objections in tow.

Sellers must become experts at overcoming sales objections to close more deals. The first step is to anticipate sales objections – and know which ones to expect.

In this post, we’ll explore:

  • What sales objections are
  • Why they matter
  • The different types of sales call objections
  • Examples of sales objections you’ll likely encounter in the field (and how to address them)
  • How AI-powered role-plays can ensure every seller knows how to overcome objections in sales

What is a sales objection and why is it important?

Later, we’ll examine the types and provide examples of each. But first, let’s lay the foundation by defining the phrase and exploring its role in the sales process.

Sales objections, defined

They are the reasons your prospect is hesitant to purchase your product. In other words, they’re the reasons a customer says “no” to taking the next step in the journey or making a purchase.

Of course, there may be any number of reasons why a prospect may have reservations about moving forward. Later on, we’ll take a closer look at some types of sales objections sellers are likely to encounter.

Why overcoming sales objections is critical

They’re inevitable. There’s no getting around that. Research tells us that 60% of customers say “no” four times before finally saying yes.

Customers say "no"

before saying "yes"
0 times

Sure, encountering B2B sales objections can feel discouraging. But those “nos” don’t necessarily mean a deal is dead in the water.

If a sales rep has the right skills, they can effectively overcome sales objections and, ultimately, guide the prospect across the finish line. The best sales reps see them as an opportunity.

Many sellers throw in the towel when they encounter sales objections. According to statistics, a mere 44% of sales reps follow up after receiving a single “no” from a prospect. When a sales rep is persistent, they stand out from the competition – and it can pay off.

of reps don't follow up after hearing "no" from a prospect
0 %

When a prospect raises objections, sales reps can ask the right questions to better understand their needs and motives. Then, sellers can use that intel to tailor how they present your solution’s value. Furthermore, while working to overcome them, sellers can build trust with the buyer, increasing their likelihood of purchasing.

It’s no wonder why 95% of companies say objection handling is a key competency for their customer-facing roles.

What are the types of sales objections?

There are endless reasons why a prospect isn’t ready to move forward in the purchase journey. But generally, they fall into one of a few different categories.

Let’s take a closer look at six of the most common types of sales objections.

Sales objection category #1: Pricing

Pricing is one of the biggest objections in sales. A prospect may say that your product is too expensive or they lack the budget.

It’s important to dig deeper into pricing-related sales call objections. Sometimes, a prospect truly can’t afford your product or service. In that case, they may not be a good fit.

However, these pricing objections often arise when a prospect struggles to see the value in your solution. This is an opportunity to reiterate the value the buyer will realize from your product. They’ll be more likely to purchase when they understand what they’ll get from the investment (for example, cost or time savings).

Sales objection category #2: Need

Prospects often raise sales objections because they don’t think they need the solution you’re offering. You might hear something like, “We don’t need that,” or “We’re already doing XYZ to address that.”

Overcoming these objections requires strong sales discovery skills. Sellers need to ask the right questions to understand the prospect’s challenges and determine if they have a solution to address them. If the prospect is a good fit, the seller must articulate why their solution fits the prospect’s needs.

Sales objection category #3: Timing

Prospects often raise sales objections related to timing. For example, they may say, “I’ll think about it” or “This isn’t a priority right now.”

Reps can overcome these B2B sales objections by digging deeper into the prospect’s priorities. There may be an opportunity to provide a solution to their more pressing priorities.

Timing-related sales objections also present an opportunity to create a sense of urgency. Sales reps can help prospects understand the cost of not moving forward, which may cause them to rethink their priorities and take action now.

At the very least, you can suggest scheduling a meeting in the future when they feel ready to move forward.

Sales objection category #4: Decision-making power

In some situations, a prospect will tell you they don’t have the power to decide on your solution. You may hear things like, “I’ll have to talk to my boss” or “I don’t make these kinds of decisions.”

You can use this as an opportunity to identify and contact the person who does have purchasing authority. However, continue building your relationship with the initial contact. If you earn their trust, they may end up championing your solution.

Sales objection category #5: Competition

A recent report found that 57% of all deals are competitive. So sellers should anticipate sales objections related to competitors and be prepared to overcome them.

For example, a prospect may ask why your solution lacks certain features and benefits, or why it’s priced higher than your competitors. Sales reps must become experts in their competitors’ offerings and how they stack up. It’s key to overcoming competitive sales objections.

Sales objection category #6: Lack of trust

Sometimes, sellers will encounter sales objections that indicate a lack of trust. For example, a prospect may say, “I’ve never heard of your company,” or “I don’t know anyone who uses your product.”

While the prospect may not say, “I don’t trust your company,” that’s the underlying meaning.

Sellers must work to build rapport and trust with prospects. This is important in every deal, but especially in those deals where prospects raise trust-related sales objections.

12 examples of sales objections (and how to respond)

Sales objections are extremely common. So sales reps should anticipate them and know how to overcome objections in sales.

A great starting point is to see some examples of sales objections and how to respond to them to maintain a healthy pipeline and close more deals.

Sales objection #1: “Your product is too expensive.”

How to respond: Empathize with the prospect by saying, “I understand you’re working within a budget. Then, remind the prospect how your solution solves their top challenges. By articulating value, you can convince your prospect that this investment is worth making.

Sales objection #2: “Your competitor is cheaper.”

How to respond: Acknowledge that your prospect is correct. Then, work to articulate how your product delivers more value than your competitors – thus worth the investment. Be sure to articulate that your solution is the better choice, but avoid criticizing the competition.

Sales objection #3: “We don’t have any more budget this year.”

How to respond: Say something like, “I understand. When do you expect funding to return? Let’s schedule a follow up meeting for then!”

Sales objection #4: “We’re already using your competitor.”

How to respond: Ask questions like, “What made you choose [company]?” and “How is [company’s solution] working out for you?”

This will help you understand what they like and dislike about your competitor. Then, you can use that information to communicate why your solution is better for addressing their key challenges.

Sales objection #5: “I’ve never heard of your company before.”

How to respond: Say something like, “I’m excited to introduce our company to you!” Then, provide a short and sweet overview of what your company does. You can also say, “Let’s chat more about your challenges and how we might be able to help.”

Offering to share testimonials and reviews from notable customers is also a great way to build trust.

Sales objection #6: “I don’t want to be locked into a year-long contract.”

How to respond: Empathize with them by saying, “I completely get it.” If there are other payment options, let the prospect know. Say something like, “We also offer some other payment terms. Let’s walk through them to see what would work better for you.”

Sales objection #7: “I’m already in a contract with your competitor.”

How to respond: Addressing this objection can be a great way to get insight into what a prospect likes and dislikes about the prospect and whether they’re willing to switch vendors. This information can help you tailor your approach.

In addition, consider offering a discount to offset the cost of switching. You can also convey how switching to your solution can deliver ROI that makes up for the cost of switching.

Sales objection #8: “I don’t have the authority to sign off on this.”

How to respond: Ask questions to get in touch with the right question. You can say something like, “Thanks for letting me know! Can you let me know who is authorized to make this decision and how I can get in contact with them?”

Keep in touch with your original point of contact. They may be able to make introductions and even serve as a champion for your company.

Sales objection #9: “This isn’t a priority right now.”

How to respond: Say something like, “Got it! What are your current priorities right now?”

If they’re unable to articulate those priorities, they’re likely just using it as an excuse to brush you off. This is an opportunity to articulate value and create a sense of urgency.

If they do share their current priorities, see if there are ways your solution can help. If not, set a follow-up meeting for when this is a priority. While you wait for the meeting, share helpful resources to keep the prospect engaged and earn their trust.

Sales objection #10: “Your product is too complicated.”

How to respond: Ask your prospect what features seem complicated. Then, work to provide clarity.

In addition, remind the prospect that they’ll have ongoing support to ensure they get the most value from your solution. You can say something like, “You’ll have a dedicated customer success manager who is an expert at helping businesses like yours solve [pain points] with our solution.”

Sales objection #11: “We don’t have the capacity to bring on a new product right now.”

How to respond: First, ensure your prospect has a clear idea of what it takes to implement your product and drive adoption. It may not be as complicated as they think.

In addition, ask questions like, “Can you tell me more about your day-to-day responsibilities?” Then, you can articulate how your solution will help streamline their day-to-day tasks so they can spend more time on strategic initiatives.

Sales objection #12: “I’m busy.”

How to respond: Let your prospect know you’re not looking to take up much of their time. You just want to have a quick chat to determine if it makes sense to have a longer discussion.

Say something like, “I hear you. I promise this won’t take up too much of your time. Can we have a five-minute chat now about [this challenge] and how I might be able to help?”

If they still say no, suggest scheduling a quick call for a better time.

How Mindtickle empowers sellers to overcome sales objections and close more deals

Sales call objections are inevitable. Every seller must master the art of overcoming B2B sales objections.

Delivering sales training and coaching focused on overcoming objections in sales is a great first step. Giving your sales reps plenty of opportunities to practice and perfect their skills is important before money is on the line.
Mindtickle now features AI-powered role-plays that enable sellers to practice their objection-handling skills as much as they’d like in a safe, scalable environment.

With Mindtickle, sales enablement teams can create realistic role-play scenarios and set the title of a realistic, artificial intelligence-powered bot. Enablement teams can even select levers to set the buyer’s personality – such as “budget conscious” or “extroverted.”

interactive role-play

Sales reps launch the role-play and have the opportunity to practice their key skills – including overcoming sales objections – in a dynamic, realistic scenario. The bot raises objections throughout the role-play, which the sales rep must work to overcome.

Throughout the role-play experience, AI delivers qualitative and quantitative feedback and suggestions for improvement around key factors, including objection handling. Sales reps can use this feedback to give it another go until they feel confident in their sales objection handling skills. Then, they can make real-life sales calls, confident in their ability to overcome different types of sales objections.

Practice objection handling

Pitch to Mindtickle Copilot in realistic selling scenarios to see if you can handle objections and seal the deal. 

 

Practice with Copilot

How to Analyze Sales Call Recordings to Uncover Valuable Customer Feedback

Rahul Mathew on October 7, 2024

In the past, a seller relied on their memory and their messily scrawled notes to recall what happened during a sales call and determine what steps to take next. Today, many organizations use conversation intelligence tools to record, analyze, and share sales calls.

Call recordings are an invaluable way to unlock insights from customers and prospects. Sharing these calls amongst the team encourages collaboration and promotes best practices.

Last year, nearly half a million sales calls were recorded using Mindtickle’s conversation intelligence feature. But how do winning revenue organizations use these sales calls to improve performance and close more deals?

Last year nearly

calls were recorded by Mindtickle customers
0

In this post, we’ll discuss why sales call recordings are important and how you can start analyzing them to uncover valuable customer feedback and maximize sales performance across your entire team.

Call recordings reveal the “why” behind customer decisions

Knowing the “why” behind the customer’s decision is critical. Did sellers fail to articulate the value of your solution? Did the messaging miss the mark? Was another vendor’s pricing more competitive? Did the seller lack the competitive intelligence to address the customer’s questions or objections adequately?

Not understanding the wants, needs, concerns, and expectations of buyers and lacking insight into the customer experience during sales calls can have dire consequences for your business, including:

  • Deals are lost to better-prepared competitors
  • Key business initiatives – competitive and market strategies, sales methodologies, etc. – fail too frequently
  • Best practices are difficult to identify, share, or replicate
  • Outdated messaging affects deal outcomes
  • Fewer reps make quota
  • Churn increases
  • Your company misses revenue targets

Sales organizations can automatically capture and transcribe live sales conversations using conversation intelligence and call recording tools to reveal the “why” behind wins and losses. Your sales managers get access to invaluable insights about your customers and their interactions with your sales teams so you can better understand:

  • How customers perceive your brand
  • What they think about your solution and its value
  • How they view the competition
  • What objections they have
  • Why a deal may be in jeopardy
  • What more they expect from your company

Call recordings uncover sales training and coaching opportunities

AI-driven analysis of sales call recordings can reveal a seller’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as trends such as the talk-to-listen ratio, the frequency of objections or how often customers mention a specific competitor across all calls. Your sales managers can identify areas for improvement by digging into high points or shortcomings during conversations. They can understand the topics and themes discussed and the overall impact of the interaction.

Then, using these data-driven insights, your managers can diagnose conversations, identify personalized sales coaching opportunities, implement best practices across your teams, and ensure sales methodologies and training align with the needs and expectations of the buyers in your market.

How to create a customer feedback loop to improve your go-to-market strategy

Analyzing call recordings can deliver actionable insights that extend across the organization. To ensure ongoing alignment and to optimize your organization’s go-to-market strategy, you can use call recordings to establish a strong feedback loop across sales, customer success, and marketing.

Most sellers want feedback on their performance but are hesitant to ask for it. On top of that, most feedback from sales managers is anecdotal and not based on any objective assessment. An effective feedback loop incorporates insights from call recordings and enables managers to identify and close gaps in knowledge and skills.

Managers can provide direct feedback to individual sellers by commenting on specific recording snippets – offering critiques, comments, or advice. Using insights gleaned from call recordings, managers can recommend or request specific coaching and sales training opportunities to address competency or skill gaps and then continue to analyze future customer calls to gauge performance improvements. 

The majority of sellers want to know your top rep’s secret sauce. They’re seeking inspiration and guidance on creative ways to position and address questions. Using call recordings, managers can share best practices from key snippets to motivate sellers and inform ongoing training. For example, during sales onboarding, new hires can review recordings and snippets from the best sales conversations and then practice through role-play so managers or other team members can offer qualitative and quantitative feedback submitted by new sales reps.

Call recordings can ensure nothing gets lost in translation between sellers and customer success teams. Sellers can share account history, information, and updates to execute a seamless handoff. Customer success teams can share recordings, snippets, and information with sellers if they identify new issues or opportunities within an account.

Call recordings give marketing direct insight into the voice of the customer, providing an insider’s view of buyer pain points and challenges. Marketing teams can team create, campaigns and messaging that speak directly to customer needs. Call recordings may uncover that current positioning is not resonating with customers or differentiated enough from the competition.

Customers are telling you what they think; you just need to listen

Some leaders might be unsure about call recordings because they don’t want to come across as intrusive. The value of analyzing call recordings isn’t to spy on buyers or sellers, but to reveal direct, actionable insights into the buyers in your market – their wants, needs, perceptions, and objections.

It’s also important to remember that the most successful reps have a growth mindset. They don’t let embarrassment or insecurity get in the way of their professional growth. Call recordings help identify sellers’ strengths and weaknesses so managers can give them advice, feedback, training, and tools to help them succeed. 

Call recordings help pinpoint what’s working and what’s not, establishing a continuous feedback loop between sales, customer success, and marketing to ensure ongoing visibility and continuous improvement. Using insights gleaned from the voice of your customers gives your organization a significant competitive edge:

  • Sellers are empowered to win against more poorly prepared competitors
  • Key business initiatives are far more likely to succeed because they’re informed by critical field-based evidence
  • Best practices are easy to identify, share, and replicate
  • Marketing can craft messaging that aligns with buyer needs
  • More sellers will make or exceed quota
  • Your organization will meet or exceed revenue targets

Best practices for analyzing and using sales call recordings

Recording and analyzing sales calls can help teams uncover insights that can be used to improve customer experiences and sales performance. There are a few best practices to keep in mind.

Choose the right call recording tool

Several software solutions are available that offer the ability to record sales calls. Be sure to define your goals for recording sales calls – and then find a solution offering features and functionality to help you achieve those goals. Reading peer reviews on a site like G2 can provide insight into what customers like (and don’t like) about any solutions you’re considering.

Leverage AI to analyze sales calls

Recording your sales calls doesn’t provide much value if you don’t do anything with the recordings. But analyzing sales calls requires a lot of time and effort.

Look for ways to leverage AI like Mindtickle’s Copilot to effectively and efficiently analyze your sales calls. For example, AI can summarize call recordings and help you pinpoint key moments in a call. A sales rep can use AI to ask a question like, “Which competitors did my customer bring up on this call?” Then, the sales reps can use these insights to tailor their follow-up and combat objections.

Deliver instant feedback to sellers

Today, some conversation intelligence tools provide a score and feedback immediately after each sales call. For example, the tool might provide feedback on things like use of filler words, longest monologue, sentiment, and number of questions asked and answered. Sellers can use this real-time feedback to sharpen their skills and improve the outcome of a deal.

Share insights cross-functionally

Per our 2024 State of Revenue Productivity Report, 25% of calls are shared across the organization. That makes sense, as sales call insights can benefit many teams.

For example, sales managers can use call insights to understand where their sellers are (and aren’t) excelling. This can inform training and sales coaching opportunities. Marketing teams can use call recordings to access voice of the customer insights, which can help them develop more effective campaigns.

Be sure your call recording or conversation intelligence tools make it easy to share calls so different individuals and teams can benefit from the insights.

Provide proper training

When rolling out any new tool or technology, providing proper training is important. Rolling out a call recording tool is no exception.

Be sure your revenue teams know how you use your conversation intelligence tool and how to access and use insights to improve skills and sales outcomes.

Tap into your sales call recordings and start closing more deals

Sales call recordings provide insights for improving customer experiences and sales performance. But simply recording your sales calls isn’t enough.

Instead, you must analyze your sales calls to understand what’s really happening in the field and turn those insights into action. The right conversation intelligence tool is a must.

Conversation Intelligence in Mindtickle

Learn more about conversation intelligence and how Mindtickle's Call AI is helping other organizations get actionable data from customer calls.

Request a Demo

This post was originally published in May 2021, updated in July 2023, January 2024, and again in October 2024. 

15 Sales Discovery Questions to Help You Fill Your Sales Pipeline 

Rahul Mathew on October 2, 2024

Discovery calls are a critical part of the sales cycle. They allow you to build rapport with prospects, learn more about their challenges and priorities, and determine whether you have the right solution to address their problems.

When a sales discovery call goes well, you can guide a qualified prospect further down the funnel. But the deal may be doomed when a discovery call goes off the rails. No pressure, right?

The good news is that with plenty of preparation and the right sales discovery questions at the ready, you can knock your sales discovery calls out of the park every time.

But what sales discovery questions do you need to ask, and is there a certain discovery call template to follow?

In this post, we’ll discuss:

  • What sales discovery calls are
  • Why they’re important
  • 15 must-ask sales discovery questions
  • Best practices for more productive sales calls

What is a discovery call?

Every sales rep is responsible for conducting sales discovery calls. But what is a discovery call?

A sales discovery call is the initial conversation a B2B seller has with a buyer who has expressed interest in their offerings. During the call, the seller asks a series of sales discovery questions to quickly uncover the prospects’ pain points and determine whether the prospect is a good fit for the products or services the rep is offering.

Why are discovery calls important?

Discovery calls – when they’re done well – can help sellers achieve the following objectives:

This is foundational to delivering a solution that fits their needs. Recent research found 86% of B2B buyers are more likely to buy when their goals are understood.

It’s important to ensure you’re spending time with prospects that are a good fit for your products or services. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time.

You can do this by delivering value and fresh insight right from the start.

Discovery calls are an opportunity to build trust and pique prospects’ interest so they take the next step. Great sales discovery calls help build and maintain a healthy sales pipeline and accelerate deals.

What are the different types of sales discovery questions?

Productive sales calls are all about asking the right questions. Sales reps ask a wide variety of sales discovery questions. However, they typically fall into one of three categories:

  • Closed-ended questions: These are questions that elicit a quick, straightforward answer. For example, a seller may ask, “This is a problem many in your industry face. Does this challenge sound familiar?”
  • Open-ended questions: Typically, these sales discovery questions yield more detailed responses. These detailed responses are rich with insights you can use to guide your sales approach.
  • Probing questions: These are questions that invite a prospect to tell you more about something. For example, you might ask, “What else can you tell me about that?”

So, which of these three types of sales discovery questions is the best? The truth is, there’s no single type of sales discovery question that’s better than the others. The best approach is to combine the three types of questions to make the conversation natural, interactive, and engaging.

What is the sales discovery process?

Sales discovery calls are a key component of the larger sales discovery process. What exactly is the sales discovery process?

The sales discovery process describes all the steps involved in discovering all you can about a prospective customer. Some of those steps include:

  • Researching potential prospects. Modern sellers have plenty of information at their fingertips to learn as much as they can about a prospect before they’ve even made contact.
  • Prospect outreach. This could involve making a cold call or reaching out to a prospect who has signaled interest in your offerings.
  • Asking sales discovery questions. The right discovery questions for sales enable you to quickly understand a prospect’s needs and pain points and whether your products and services are a good fit for them.
  • Answering prospects’ questions. The discovery process is a time for both parties to determine whether it makes sense to move forward. So be ready for your prospects to ask questions.
  • Following up. If a prospect is a good fit, it’s important to follow up with them promptly to move the deal forward.

15 sales discovery questions to nail your next call

Asking the right sales discovery questions is key to maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of your discovery calls.

But what discovery questions for sales do you need to ask?

The truth is, it depends. Your list of sales discovery questions must be personalized to each prospect. However, the following are some of the best sales discovery questions, so they’re a great place to start.

#1 Tell me more about your role at [company name].

The answer to this question can give you insight into what a “day in the life” of your prospect looks like. You’ll understand their day-to-day responsibilities, what types of decisions they make, and where they fit iton the larger organization. They may also share some of their job frustrations – which you may be able to help solve.

All of these insights can help you tailor your sales pitch.

#2 What challenges are you currently experiencing?

You can’t offer a solution if you’re unsure of your prospect’s problems. Your prospect’s response to this question can help you determine if they’re a good fit for your products or services. It can also help you start formulating a customized solution.

#3 Why is this challenge or pain point important to you?

You know your prospect’s challenges. This question can help you understand why this challenge matters.

For example, is there a directive from higher management to solve this challenge because it greatly impacts the entire business? Or is it something that personally impacts your point of contact?

#4 What solution or process are you currently using to address this challenge?

Your prospect may be using a competitor’s solution and looking to make a switch. Or, they may be doing nothing at all to address their problem. It’s important to know so you can adapt your pitch accordingly.

#5 What do you like/not like about your current solution?

Knowing what your prospect likes about their current solution can help you anticipate objections. For example, let’s say there’s a particular feature your prospect loves about their current solution – but your solution doesn’t offer it. This allows you to anticipate their objection and be prepared to overcome it.

On the other hand, understanding the downfalls of your prospects’ current solution can help you position your company as a better option.

#6 What would happen if you did nothing to address this challenge?

Asking this question forces your prospect to really consider the costs of maintaining the status quo. For example, if they don’t find a solution to a problem, they might lose time or money or slip behind the competition.

This question can also help you start to build urgency. In other words, it can help your prospect understand why now is the time to take action.

#7 Where does this rank on your list of priorities?

Is this a problem your prospect needs to address ASAP? Or is it something they can live with for a while – and they’re just starting to casually explore their options? Asking this question can help you understand where your prospect’s head is at in terms of timing and urgency.

#8 What would solving this problem mean for you?

This question can help you understand what success looks like for your prospect. Would solving this problem free up their teams’ time, allowing them to focus on more strategic work? Or would it help their brand stand out in a crowded marketplace—and therefore generate more revenue?

Or perhaps success is more personal. For example, solving this problem may elevate your prospects’ exposure within the company or score them a promotion.

Knowing what success looks like can help you understand how to frame your solution’s value.

#9 Who else wants to solve this problem?

According to Gartner, the typical B2B buying group includes six to 10 stakeholders. This question can shed light on who these stakeholders are and the roles they play in the buying group.

The typical B2B buying group includes up to

stakeholders
0

For example, you can determine who has the authority to make purchasing decisions and who will influence them.

#10 Why do these stakeholders care about this problem?

Each stakeholder in the buying group will have different needs, opinions, and requirements. This question can help you understand who cares about what. You can use this intel to deliver personalized experiences that resonate with every buying group member.

#11 Can you tell me about a time you faced a similar challenge and successfully addressed it?

This can give you an idea of your prospect’s thought process and their path to solving problems and making decisions. They may also mention roadblocks, which will help you anticipate them.

#12 If I propose a solution and you are on board, what would we need to do to make this happen?

Every business follows its own process for choosing and onboarding a new vendor. A prospect’s answer to this sales discovery question can give you an idea of the steps you can expect to take to get this deal across the finish line. Their answer can also help you anticipate any roadblocks you might encounter along the way.

#13 What is your budget?

Sometimes, there’s some wiggle room when it comes to pricing. But if your prospect’s budget is significantly lower than your solution’s price, it doesn’t make sense to move forward. You’re better off spending time on prospects who can afford your solutions.

#14 What else can you tell me about that?

Sometimes, a prospect will give a short answer to a question, but you want to dig deeper. A probing sales discovery question like this can encourage them to dig deeper.

#15 What questions do you have for me?

Ideally, a discovery call should be a two-way street. You and your prospect should both ask questions to explore whether it makes sense to move forward. If you find your prospect reluctant to ask questions, this prompt can help.

Top sales discovery call best practices

Now, you’ve got a good list of sales discovery questions to use in your next call. Let’s explore some additional best practices to help you nail your next sales discovery call.

Show up prepared to every discovery call

Research shows that 82% of B2B buyers feel sales reps are unprepared. Attending sales discovery calls is a great way to stand out from the crowd.

of B2B buyers feel reps are unprepared
0 %

You can use the internet and prospecting tools to do your research beforehand. That way, you can demonstrate your knowledge and deliver your prospect a new insight or perspective. In addition, you can use the discovery call to ask questions that yield answers beyond what you could uncover on your own.

Schedule enough time for your sales discovery calls

A recent Mindtickle analysis found that the average length of a discovery call is 36 minutes. Consider scheduling your sales discovery calls for 45 minutes. That way, you don’t have to worry about running over. If the call runs short, you can give some time back to the prospect.

The average discovery call is

minutes long
0

Ask the right number of sales discovery questions

If you don’t ask enough questions, you won’t walk away with the information you need to qualify the prospect and move the deal forward. If you ask too many discovery questions for sales, you risk overwhelming the prospect.

It’s important to strike the right balance. Our analysis found that on average, sales reps ask 20 questions during discovery calls. If you ask significantly more or less sales discovery questions, you may want to rethink your approach.

Answer prospects’ questions

Sales discovery calls should be a dialog, rather than a monologue. After all, your prospect is also deciding if it makes sense to move forward with learning more about your solution.

Be sure to give your prospects plenty of opportunities to ask their own questions. On average, sales reps answer 12 questions from prospects during sales discovery calls.

Limit yes/no questions

When a prospect answers a question with a simple “yes” or “no,” it can feel like you’re hitting a wall. Try to keep your yes/no sales discovery questions to a minimum. If a prospect does give a quick answer, use a probing sales discovery question like, “Tell me more about that,” to get them to talk more.

Leverage conversation intelligence

Often, sales reps are so focused on taking notes during sales discovery calls that they’re not truly present. This can be a big turnoff to prospects, and it makes it easy for a sales rep to miss an important insight.

Instead, use a conversation intelligence solution to record and analyze your sales discovery calls. That way, you can focus on the meeting itself, rather than taking notes.

Conversation intelligence software and AI make it easy to uncover insights you may have missed during a sales discovery call. For example, with Mindtickle Copilot (Mindtickle’s AI productivity assistant) you can ask a question like, “What competitors did my prospect mention on this call?” Then, you can use the insights to prepare for your next interaction.

A conversation intelligence solution also provides a score for each call with real-time feedback on tone, sentiment, and use of filler words. Sales reps can use this feedback to improve their sales discovery call skills, and managers can look for trends to inform sales coaching opportunities.

Follow up swiftly

Be sure to follow up with your prospects shortly after your sales discovery calls. Conversation intelligence software and AI can help you identify insights that can allow you to personalize your follow up. By following up quickly, you’re more likely to keep prospects engaged.

Deliver proper sales discovery training

Your sellers need to master certain skills to excel at sales discovery calls. Be sure to provide personalized sales discovery training and enablement so your entire sales team can master the necessary skills.

Certification

Provide sellers with AI role-plays

Role-plays are a great way for sales reps to practice their sales discovery questions before money is on the line. However, traditional role-plays often require sellers to wait for feedback from their sales managers.

Today, innovative revenue organizations leverage artificial intelligence to provide sellers with realistic, interactive role-play experiences that don’t require a sales manager’s time. With AI role-plays, sales enablement teams can easily spin up different sales scenarios. Then, sales reps can practice with an AI bot in realistic scenarios.

Take your sales discovery calls to the next level with Mindtickle

A sales discovery call can make or break a deal. It’s important to nail every sales discovery call, every time.

Mindtickle is an integrated revenue enablement platform that ensures your sellers have what it takes to lead engaging sales discovery calls that illuminate challenges and entice buyers to take the next step in the purchase journey.

With Mindtickle, you can provide personalized sales discovery training and enablement so your sellers can master the right skills. Mindtickle also features AI role plays, which empower your sales reps to practice their sales discovery skills with an AI-powered bot in realistic sales scenarios. These AI role plays deliver ongoing feedback so sellers can improve their skills before they take them into the field.

Mindtickle also integrates conversation intelligence, which records and analyzes every sales discovery call. Sales reps get immediate feedback they can use to improve outcomes. With Mindtickle Copilot, reps can easily identify insights they can use to appropriately follow up with prospects.

Better Sales Discovery With Mindtickle

Ready to see how Mindtickle can empower you to create an entire team of sales reps who are ready to master any sales discovery call that comes their way?

Request a Demo

Sales Operations (Sales Ops): The Definitive Guide 

Rahul Mathew on September 12, 2024

Sales reps are responsible for engaging buyers and closing deals every day. Meanwhile, the sales operations team works behind the scenes to ensure that those sellers can be as effective and efficient as possible.

While sales operations teams were once the unsung heroes of the sales organization, they’re finally getting the recognition they deserve. A recent report found that 82% of sales professionals feel “sales ops plays a critical role in growing the business.”

Salesforce research found that

of reps feel sales ops plays a critical role in growing the business
0 %

That’s not surprising, as research shows that companies that strategically invest in sales operations can significantly impact sales productivity and performance.

But if you’re still not sure what sales operations is, you’re not alone. In this guide, we’ll explore everything you need to know about sales operations, including:

  • What it is and why it’s important
  • What sales ops teams do and how they measure success
  • How sales operations differ from sales enablement
  • Best practices for developing a winning sales ops strategy
  • The role technology plays in a winning sales operations strategy

What is sales operations (Sales Ops)?

First things first: what is sales operations?

As the name suggests, optimized sales operations (or sales ops, for short) ensure the sales team can work faster and smarter.

But what exactly does this mean?

It’s a term that describes the activities and processes that support the sales organization. Sales operations teams handle the myriad “behind the scenes” administrative tasks to ensure the sales organization runs smoothly. We’ll take a closer look at some of the specific tasks the sales operations team handles later on.

Why is sales operations (Sales Ops) important?

Sales reps only have so many hours in a day. Yet, they often spend the bulk of their time on tasks that don’t drive revenue. The same Salesforce report cited earlier found that during the average week, sales reps spend a mere 28% of their time on selling activities, such as:

  • In-person meetings with prospective customers
  • Virtual meetings with prospective customer
  • Prospecting

Sales reps spend just

of their time each week selling
0 %

Sales operations frees up these reps from a lot of the non-selling tasks that take up so much of their time. That means sales reps have more time to do what they do best: engage with sellers and close deals.

It also drives efficiency for sales managers. With optimized sales operations, sales managers can focus less time on administrative tasks – and more time coaching their reps to improve individual and team performance.

Optimized sales operations mean sales reps can close more deals – faster. It empowers sales managers to devote more time to ensuring sellers have what it takes to be successful.

What are sales operations responsibilities?

The ultimate goal of the sales operations team is to support the success of the sales team. The team handles the “behind the scenes” work so sales reps effectively and efficiently sell and sales managers can spend their time coaching and improving team performance.

But what exactly does the sales operations team do daily?

Responsibilities look different at every organization. However, some common responsibilities include:

  • Creating sales forecasts
  • Contributing to revenue strategies
  • Developing and continuously evaluating sales rep compensation plans and sales incentives
  • Collaborating with other teams on go-to-market plans
  • Developing pricing structure for products and services
  • Optimizing the sales process and lead generation initiatives
  • Analyzing sales metrics on an ongoing basis

Another key sales operations responsibility is to implement and administer tools and technology that make sellers’ lives easier. Some such technologies might include:

  • Customer relationship management (CRM) platform
  • Sales enablement platform
  • Revenue productivity platform
  • Business intelligence platform
  • Content management system

Sales enablement vs. sales operations

In the world of sales, sales enablement and sales operations are two terms that are used often. Both of these teams are focused on supporting the sales team. In addition, both sales enablement and operations teams typically report up to the head of sales.

However, they’re not the same thing.

Sales enablement teams are focused on ensuring sales reps have what it takes to be successful in the field. First, sales enablement teams work with sales leadership to determine what a great rep looks like. Some sales organizations develop an ideal rep profile (IRP) to define the skills and competencies needed for sales success. Then, sales enablement teams create and deliver onboarding, sales training, sales content, sales coaching, and other programs to ensure each seller can master the skills and competencies they need to close more deals.

Ideal rep profile competencies

On the other hand, sales operations planning is focused on ensuring the right tools and processes are in place to support the sales cycle. That way, sellers can more easily close deals – faster.

Both these teams are focused on improving the productivity of the sales organization. As such, sales operations and sales enablement need to be aligned.

Best practices for building an effective sales operations strategy

A solid strategy helps boost the effectiveness and efficiency of sellers. If you haven’t already, now’s the time to develop a sales operation strategy.

But what exactly does a good strategy look like?

It depends on a number of factors, including size, market, and maturity – among others. A sales operations strategy that works well for one organization may fall flat for another.

That said, there are certain best practices any sales organization can leverage to guide their planning.

Before developing a strategy, it’s important to take a step back to determine the mission of your team. In other words, spell out the reason the sales operations team exists. The mission of the sales ops team should be in alignment with the goals of the sales team as a whole.

Socialize this mission statement throughout the organization to ensure teams understand the role of sales operations.

Without goals, it’s impossible to know whether or not you’ve been successful. Be sure to set goals that are clear, specific, and based on data, rather than hunches. Sales ops goals should be challenging, yet achievable.

The sales ops strategy shouldn’t be created in a vacuum. Instead, it should be a collaborative effort with input from teams including sales leadership, sales enablement, and marketing. After all, each of these teams brings important insight into the sales process.

Once the sales ops strategy has been created, it’s important to maintain alignment with key teams. This ensures priorities are aligned and everyone is working towards the same goals.

Consider scheduling recurring meetings (for example, weekly) with representatives from each team. Representatives can share progress on initiatives and share challenges. This is an important way to ensure the sales ops strategy continues to meet the needs and goals of the sales organization.

As we’ve already covered, sales operations teams need to collaborate with the marketing team when developing the sales ops strategy. These teams must also maintain close alignment to develop an effective funnel structure.

Marketing teams can leverage the data collected by sales ops teams to understand better the quality of the leads generated by their efforts. Then, they can optimize their efforts accordingly.

In addition, tight alignment between marketing and sales ops teams helps maintain the quality of account data and lead management. High-quality data is key to an effective sales ops strategy.

A solid sales ops strategy can improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the sales team. The right technology is an essential component of a sales ops strategy.

Sales ops teams are often charged with building and maintaining a tech stack that increases sales productivity. There are a number of different sales operations tools that may be part of the tech stack.

One key tool is the customer relationship management (CRM) platform. A CRM enables the sales team to more effectively manage their relationships with customers and prospects.

Another key tool is the revenue enablement platform. A revenue productivity platform like Mindtickle empowers revenue organizations to improve team performance with sales training, sales enablement, and call insights.

Other common sales ops technologies include:

  • Business intelligence platform
  • Marketing automation platform
  • Sales intelligence platform
  • Content management system
  • Performance management platform
  • Contract management platform

The right technology is key to sales ops success. However, more tools isn’t always better. The key is to find the right software for the needs and goals of your organization.

In addition, look for opportunities to streamline and consolidate your sales ops tech stack. Often, organizations purchase myriad tools – each of which addresses a single challenge. The result is an unnecessarily bloated tech stack. 

Instead, look for integrated solutions that address multiple areas. For example, Mindtickle’s revenue enablement solution incorporates training, content management, conversation intelligence, sales analytics and dashboards, and sales forecasting – all into a single, comprehensive platform.

Ongoing measurement is key. Otherwise, it’s impossible to know whether or not the sales operations team is achieving its goals.

Continuous measurement allows sales operations teams to understand where things are going well – and where there are opportunities to improve. Then, sales optimization teams can optimize their strategies and tactics accordingly to improve results.

 

In the next section, we’ll cover some of the key sales operations metrics teams should measure regularly.

What are the key metrics for sales operations to track for success?

It’s important to set clear metrics right from the start. But what should they include?

Of course, sales operations teams should track the performance of the sales team. However, they should also track sales team efficiency. In other words, how efficiently are sellers able to shepherd a deal from initial contact to close?

There’s not a “one-size-fits-all” set of metrics. Instead, these metrics vary from organization to organization. However, there are some common, core sales operations metrics tracked by most organizations. Here are a few.

The percentage of sales reps that hit their quota during a given time period. Sales operations teams can measure quota attainment across the entire sales organization, as well as quota attainment for certain teams, territories, or regions.

The percentage of deals that were won – as well as the portion that were lost – in a given time period.

The dollar value of deals closed, on average

How close a forecast was to what was actually achieved in a given period of time.

How long it takes sales reps to close deals.

How much of a rep’s time is actually spent on revenue-generating activities, as opposed to administrative tasks and meetings.

The number of meetings a seller has set up with prospects in relation to their prospecting activity.

 

It’s important to measure your chosen sales operations metrics on a regular basis. At the very minimum, these metrics should be tracked quarterly. Ideally, these metrics should be tracked more regularly so challenges can be identified early on – and then addressed accordingly.

Typically, sales operations teams own the systems where this key data lives. As such, sales operations can create user-friendly dashboards and reports that can easily be accessed. That way, teams can track performance regularly and adjust their strategies as needed – rather than waiting until the end of the quarter when it’s probably too late.

Improve sales productivity and streamline your tech stack with Mindtickle

The sales operations team plays a pivotal role in the sales team’s success. Their work ensures sellers have more time to engage with buyers and close deals – and managers have more time to deliver personalized coaching that addresses the needs of each seller.

A key responsibility of sales ops is to ensure sellers have the tools they need to be as productive as possible. But adding more tools isn’t always the answer. A recent survey found 70% of revenue organizations have 10 or more tools in their tech stack. Yet, 66% of sales reps are overwhelmed by the number of tools they’re expected to use.

Sales ops teams must manage the tech stack while ensuring sellers have the necessary tools. Many teams are striking the right balance by trading point solutions for an integrated revenue enablement platform that delivers multiple solutions.

Today, leading sales ops teams depend on Mindtickle’s integrated platform to boost sales productivity and drive better outcomes. Mindtickle incorporates key functionality, including sales enablement, conversation intelligence, content management, and coaching – all in a single, integrated platform. Your sellers have everything they need to be successful – right in one spot. That means they can spend less time switching between tools, hunting down what they need, and more time engaging buyers and closing deals.

See Mindtickle in Action

Ready to see how Mindtickle empowers sales ops teams to streamline their tech stack while empowering sales reps with the tools, content, and information they need for success in the field?

Request a Demo

This post was originally published in December 2023 and was updated in September 2024. 

Sales Cadence 101: Why You Need One and How to Build One

Rahul Mathew on September 5, 2024

Let’s face it: B2B buyers are a tough bunch. Day in and day out, these buyers get calls and emails from sales reps. But they’ll only engage with those who meet (or exceed) their high expectations.

If a sales rep expects to get a buyer’s attention (and hold it), they must consistently engage with them at the right time through the right channels. A sales cadence is an important tool that helps sellers do just that.

In fact, with a solid sales cadence (and the right sales enablement to support it), sales reps can improve their outreach, engage more buyers, and ultimately, close more deals.

But what is it?

In this post, we’ll explore everything you need to know on the topic, including:

  • What it is, and why it’s important to have one
  • How to create one
  • Sales cadence examples
  • Best practices for driving great results

What is a sales cadence?

One of a sales rep’s primary responsibilities is engaging with prospective customers. However, determining how best to engage with each prospect can be difficult and time-consuming. That’s where a sales cadence comes in.

A sales cadence is a defined series of touchpoints a sales rep uses when engaging with a prospect. With the right one, a sales rep knows when and how to reach out to a prospect. It’s like a roadmap for effective sales engagement and outreach.

Typically, it includes a variety of different types of touchpoints, including:

  • Emails
  • Phone calls
  • Videos
  • Social media engagement
  • In-person meetings

Sales cadences vary based on several different factors, including industry, product or service offering, and company size – among others. Developing one that fits your business’s unique needs and yields the best results is important. Later on, we’ll share some tips for developing your own sales cadence and an example to get the ideas flowing.

Why is a sales cadence important?

Engaging with customers and delivering great experiences is key to closing more deals. But many sellers don’t have the time to do so effectively. Consider the fact that, on average, sellers spend less than 30% of their time selling.

Sellers spend less than

of their time selling
0 %

A sales cadence gives reps a framework for effective sales engagement. Sellers don’t have to sink time into reinventing the wheel for each prospect that comes their way. Instead, they can use a cadence to understand how and when to engage with prospective customers.

When sellers use a data-driven cadence, they’re better able to move prospects through the funnel – and eventually convert them to customers. Sales reps can spend less time developing outreach strategies and more time engaging with buyers.

In addition, it can help new sales reps get ramped up faster. Sales reps don’t have to figure out what type of outreach to use (and when). Instead, they can leverage a sales cadence – and close their first deal faster.

Finally, it helps ensure a consistent customer experience. Every prospect gets the same level of attention, regardless of who their sales rep is.

How to build an effective sales cadence

There’s no one-size-fits-all cadence that works for every organization. Instead, you must develop one that works for your organization and yields great results.

But great sales cadences don’t happen by chance. Instead, there are certain steps any organization must take to build an effective one that empowers sellers to improve sales engagement and close more deals.

Understand your target audience

Before determining how to engage with your audience, you must take a step back to understand who your audience is. After all, different people have different needs and preferences. You wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) engage with the founder of a startup in the same way you’d engage with a marketing manager at a Fortune 100 company.

Consult your buyer personas to ensure you understand key things about your target audience, including (but not limited to):

  • Industry
  • Company size
  • Job title
  • Opportunities
  • Pain points
  • Communication preferences

If you haven’t already created buyer personas, now’s a good time. They’re foundational for any sales and marketing strategy.

Develop a schedule of touchpoints

Once you understand who you’re trying to reach, it’s time to develop a list of outreach touchpoints. This will include initial contact and a series of follow-up touchpoints.

Use what you know about your target audience when creating this schedule. In addition, be sure to leverage data. For example, analyze the touchpoints in closed won deals to see what works. In addition, look at what your top sales reps are doing differently regarding outreach.

Be sure to incorporate a mix of different channels to increase your chances of getting the prospect’s attention. Some channels might include email, phone, LinkedIn messages, and videos.

Determine timing and frequency

If you reach out too often, you risk overwhelming prospects. If you don’t reach out enough, buyers may forget about you and take their search elsewhere.

What’s the best frequency for your sales cadence? There’s no easy answer.

Start with best practices for your industry. In addition, leverage data to understand the timing and frequency of touchpoints that led to closed won deals.

Develop consistent messaging

Prospects should experience consistent, on-brand experiences and messaging, no matter which sales rep they engage with.

Be sure to develop messaging sales reps can use throughout the sales cycle. This might include:

  • Email templates
  • Phone and voicemail scripts
  • LinkedIn message templates

However, it’s important to empower sellers to personalize messaging as appropriate. After all, modern B2B buyers have come to expect tailored communication and experiences.

Measure sales cadence performance and optimize accordingly

It’s not enough to create a sales cadence and hope for the best. Instead, you must continuously measure your sales cadence to determine what’s working and what isn’t.

Be sure to track key metrics related to sales cadence performance and engagement. Some examples include:

This includes metrics like email opens, click-through rates, and response rates. If a touchpoint is generating low sales engagement, you may want to replace it, change the timing, or eliminate it altogether.

 This measures how many leads take the desired action at each step of the sales cadence. Examples of these actions might be booking a call, watching a video, or purchasing. If the conversion rate is particularly low on one sales cadence touchpoint, there may be an opportunity to optimize it.

Churn rate can help you understand where you’re losing prospects during the sales cadence. For example, they might unsubscribe to your email or ask that you stop reaching out.

This is the average amount of time it takes for a buyer to complete the entire sales process—from initial contact to closed deal. If you notice customers stalling at a specific point in the sales cycle, there may be an opportunity to optimize the sales cadence.

 ROI is calculated by comparing the costs of running the sales cadence with its revenue. The goal is to ensure revenue far exceeds costs.

Be sure to examine these metrics across the entire sales team – as well as for specific teams and even individual sales reps. For example, if a particular metric for one sales rep is far lower than average, there may be an opportunity to provide additional training and coaching.

Also, be open to feedback from your sales reps. They’re engaging with prospects and have good insight into what’s working and what isn’t.

You can use metrics and feedback to optimize your cadence for better results.

Sales cadence example

As we’ve mentioned before, there’s no single sales cadence that’ll work for every business. Instead, it’s important to analyze what works (and doesn’t) for your company and what resonates with your target audience. Then, you can build one that works for your revenue organization.

But creating a cadence from scratch can feel overwhelming. Starting with a template or seeing some examples can be helpful.

With that in mind, let’s look at an example:

In today’s world, many ways exist to engage with prospects. But phone calls are still a great way to reach people.

Kick off your sales cadence by picking up the phone to briefly introduce yourself and your business. If there’s no answer, leave a brief voicemail.

 

You may not receive a response to your initial call. If that’s the case, follow up with a personalized email.

Don’t go hard on your sales pitch. Instead, use this as an opportunity to introduce yourself and gauge your prospect’s interest in continuing the conversation.

LinkedIn is a popular social media channel for professionals. At this point in the cadence, contact your prospect via LinkedIn. Send a personalized connection request if you’re not already connected to them.

Make another attempt to get your prospect on the phone. If they answer, you can use this as an opportunity to discover. If they don’t answer, leave them a message telling them you plan to follow up via email.

Send a follow-up email to the prospect. Consider including a resource relevant to their company or industry, such as a video, report, article, or guide.

If they answer, you can use this to do more discovery. If they don’t answer, leave a personalized voicemail that speaks to their needs and challenges.

Send a direct message via LinkedIn and/or engage with the prospect’s content on LinkedIn.

Try one more time to get the prospect on the phone.

If there has been little to no sales engagement up to this point, it’s time to end the sales cadence. Thank the prospect for their time, and let them know you’ll no longer be following up. However, leave the door open for the prospect to reach out to you in the future should their needs and priorities change.

Sales cadence best practices

A sales cadence can be a great tool to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your sales reps. But creating one doesn’t mean it’ll generate great results.

Read on to explore some best practices to help your sellers engage prospects and convert more of them to customers.

Personalize each touchpoint

A report from Adobe found that 66% of B2B buyers expect fully or mostly personalized content when buying a product or service. Generic touchpoints and experiences simply won’t cut it.

of buyers expect personalized content
0 %

Templates and scripts are key to a sales cadence. But be sure your sellers understand the importance of personalizing their outreach based on what they know about a prospect. After all, tailored, relevant communication is more likely to capture your prospects’ attention.

Provide a flexible framework

A cadence helps reps understand what types of outreach to do and when. But it’s important to note that a sales cadence isn’t set in stone. Sometimes, a sales rep can (and should) adjust the sales cadence based on the prospect’s behaviors, responses (or lack thereof), and preferences.

For example, let’s say your cadence includes three phone calls. However a prospect indicates they only want to be contacted via email. In this case, the rep should adapt the cadence accordingly.

In addition, you can use revenue intelligence to understand which deals are most likely to go through. This information can be used to make adjustments to the cadence.

Provide proper training and coaching

Whether it’s a sales battlecard or a cadence or something else – it’s important to ensure your sellers know how to use the tools and resources available to them.

Let’s say you spend a ton of time and resources developing a winning sales cadence. But if your sales reps don’t know how to use it, it won’t have an impact.

Ensure your entire sales team knows your cadence and how to use this tool. Of course, you’ll want to cover it as part of sales onboarding. However, it’s also important to provide ongoing training, coaching, and sales enablement so sales reps can hone their skills.

Be sure to measure KPIs related to sales cadence regularly. That way, you can understand each sales rep’s performance and determine when they might need additional training, coaching, and enablement.

Revisit your sales cadence often

As we’ve already mentioned, it’s important to track cadence performance and optimize accordingly regularly.

But there are also other times you should revisit your cadence. Some examples include:

  • When you’re releasing a new product
  • When you’re breaking in to a new market
  • When there’s increased competition

Leverage the right sales cadence tools

A sales cadence has several moving pieces. Multiply that by several prospects, which can be difficult for a sales rep to manage.

Look for opportunities to leverage sales cadence tools and technology. These tools can help you streamline and automate your sales cadence and improve outcomes.

For example, you can use an AI sales assistant tool to automate follow-up emails. Or, you can use an AI-powered tool like Mindtickle Copilot to draft personalized, contextual emails to accompany a piece of sales collateral you’re sharing with a prospect.

With the right sales cadence tools and technology, sales reps can spend less time on tedious, time-consuming tasks and more time building customer relationships and closing deals.

Set your sellers up for success with a winning sales cadence

Modern B2B buyers are busy, and they have high expectations. A proper, data-driven sales cadence ensures your reps know how to reach out to these busy prospects at the rights times and in the right ways. With this framework, sales reps can move more prospects through the funnel – faster.

With Mindtickle’s integrated revenue enablement platform, your sales reps have the training, coaching, and tools to master the sales cadence – develop all the other skills they need to crush quota.

Close Deals Faster with Mindtickle

Curious why winning revenue organizations choose Mindtickle?

Get Your Demo

5 Essential Sales Productivity Tools to Boost Sales Team Performance 

Rahul Mathew on August 21, 2024

Even the best sales teams have room for improvement. According to Salesforce research, 84% of sales reps missed quota in 2023, and 67% don’t expect to meet their targets this year.

According to research

of reps don't expect to make quota this year
0 %

It’s no wonder why so many revenue teams invest in tools and technology to boost sales productivity and performance. Around 70% of sales leaders report 10 or more tools in their tech stacks.

There’s certainly no shortage of solutions to your sales productivity challenges. But investing in a sales productivity tool doesn’t guarantee it’ll impact team performance.

Instead, it’s important to determine which sales productivity tools will drive a return – and then invest accordingly.

Read on as we explore:

  • The advantages the right sales productivity tools can provide to your company
  • The essential solutions and features to look out for when improving sales productivity at your company
  • The top five sales productivity tool “must haves”
  • Our recommendations and best practices

What is sales productivity?

Simply put, sales productivity is how efficient and effective your sales executives are at hitting various revenue milestones and goals. Of course, just because reps make more calls and send more emails does not necessarily mean they are progressing sales or generating revenue.

So what is a sales productivity tool? 

At Mindtickle, we define a sales productivity tool as anything that improves and measures reps’ skills, will, and in-field behaviors.

That might include tools that hold reps accountable, such as email and call activity tracking; those that empower reps to better prepare for meetings and follow-up, such as Content Management Systems (CMS); and solutions that arm reps with insights that help them drive specific deals and accounts forward more effectively.

After reading this post, you’ll be able to understand:

  • The advantages the right sales productivity tools can provide to your company
  • The essential solutions and features to look out for when improving sales productivity at your company
  • The top five sales productivity tool “must haves”
  • Our recommendations and best practices

Why are sales productivity tools important for your business?

The most powerful benefit of sales productivity tools is that they help reps win more business by holding reps accountable, saving them time, and helping them deliver a better, faster customer experience.

This has a butterfly effect that improves revenue metrics like quota attainment, pipeline coverage, number of at bats, average contract value, average cycle time, and even customer lifetime value.

At the same time, these tools align cross-functional members of revenue teams by providing a high degree of transparency and visibility while centralizing access to things like content, training, and insights.

With sales productivity tools, your team can do things like:

  • Search for potential buyers to set meetings with them
  • Grow, develop, and convert sales opportunities throughout the sales cycle
  • Understand areas of opportunity to improve their performance
  • Do more with less time and facilitate better hand-offs or deal collaboration
  • Access content and insights that can help move deals forward faster and personalize the customer experience
  • Learn from the winning attitudes and skills of top peers
  • Keep up-to-date on new strategies, product launches, competitors, and market approaches
  • Keep track of activity, pipeline, and progress toward goals

Modern sales productivity tools make your entire sales process more simple, measurable, and effective. This can result in benefits like:

  • Faster onboarding and revenue contribution
  • More opportunities in the pipeline
  • Higher conversion and win rates
  • Improved performance against competitors
  • Better understanding of winning playbook
  • Increased renewal rates
  • Improved rep performance and retention
  • Improved forecasting
  • Tighter alignment around customer needs

What are the top benefits of sales productivity tools?

Now that we know what sales productivity tools are and why they’re important for your business, let’s look at the top five benefits these tools deliver.

1. Manual data entry & note-taking is eliminated

In 2024, the days of manually inputting deal data into Salesforce and trusting it’s correct are over. This method wastes a lot of time and often results in a complete, inaccurate view of your sales pipeline. It also gravely reduces your organization’s ability to compete by limiting access to voice of customer insights.

Investing in tools like revenue and conversation intelligence that automatically transcribe every call, email, and meeting while scoring deal health is critical.  After all, teams that use conversation intelligence have lower churn rates and close more deals.

These tools also help reps self-coach by proactively flagging any deal risks, issues with buyer sentiment, or competitor mentions that must be addressed to move deals forward faster. As reps move into new roles or leave the company, it’s much easier to ensure no deal or account falls through the cracks by facilitating best-in-class hand-offs.

2. Personalized customer experience

To improve sales productivity, it’s critical that reps can quickly find relevant content to nurture leads, follow up with prospects promptly, and convince important decision-makers of the value your products provide.

Today, half of all customer engagement comes from only 10% of content created. That’s why investing in a sales content management system, or CMS, that helps reps know what content is new, suggested, and preferred by peers is key to boosting customer engagement and wins. The ideal content management system to improve sales productivity helps reps know what content they can use to drive a deal forward without even thinking.

Ideally, it will be integrated with your conversation and revenue intelligence solutions so that the system can suggest valuable assets to reps based on what was said in previous emails and calls, such as a competitor mention.

At the same time, your CMS should include a feature like Digital Sales Rooms to help reps personalize the buyer experience and understand which assets buyers viewed or shared. Since improving pipeline is critical to sales productivity, DSRs automatically identify new potential leads who visit and automatically upload them to your CRM so they can be nurtured through marketing programs.

3. Valuable voice of the market and financial insights

Since it’s a given that today’s inside sales teams must use a tool to email and call prospects en masse, such as Outreach.IO, we’re not going to put that on our list of must-haves. But sending generic emails and making calls is not enough. Every interaction must provide value and be highly personalized.

There are many ways to do this at scale. The first is to use a tool like Databook to uncover market and financial insights that will help your reps prioritize accounts and determine what business challenges your solution will need to solve. These insights can also help you write emails that inspire urgency, build better proposals, and make ROI-driven business cases.

When paired with tools like conversation and revenue intelligence that summarize key themes discussed in calls and emails that you can reference in follow-ups and suggest next steps or action items, reps can quickly ensure they’re doing the right things to drive deals home.

Insights on buyer engagement, such as whether reps have the right volume and title of prospects accepting their meetings and responding to emails, are also crucial to ensuring reps focus on truly winnable deals and don’t waste time.

4. Opportunities to practice and self-coach

A traditional approach to enablement does not drive sales productivity on its own. Reps need to quickly learn best practices from peers, practice, and improve independently.

Another way conversation intelligence solutions can improve sales productivity is by providing reps with access to call snippets and playlists of best practice calls. Organizations can build playlists around key competencies such as discovery calls, objection handling, how to lead the perfect demo, competitor smackdowns, pricing/negotiation, and more. They also share examples of what top reps do and say on calls about new products and services.

enablement-certification-white

At the same time, these tools provide immediate feedback to reps on how they compare to peers. Some of the best conversation intelligence insights reps can use to self-coach include understanding if they’re driving a customer monologue of a minute or more, measuring if they’re getting customers to ask or answer 12-14 questions, and trying to maintain a balanced talk time where reps speak 60% of the time or less.

5. Scale and measure coaching

Last but certainly not least, it’s critical that you not only provide sales productivity tools for reps but also for your front-line managers. One of their biggest challenges is they cannot find the time to coach and get pulled into too many different directions. When they have time to show up for 1-to-1s and offer coaching, they do not often have valuable, highly relevant data on how to help each rep and simply resort to doing deal reviews on the fly.

This is not productive, and it does not scale.

Instead, managers need sales productivity tools to run an end-to-end coaching workflow and measure performance improvement over time.

At Mindtickle, our coaching workflow starts with conversation and revenue intelligence. Every day, our managers can see exactly which deals are healthy and a detailed snapshot of all the calls, emails, and meetings associated with them. They can then show up to 1-to-1s more prepared to discuss how healthy a rep’s pipeline is and where they might be able to offer deal-specific support.

At the same time, our enablement team provides managers with a detailed report on which skills and competencies their team and individual reps need to develop each quarter. This data is provided via our Sales Readiness Index, a comprehensive way to benchmark which reps have the skills, will, and demonstrated in-field behaviors they need to drive deals home – or not.

Based on data like the Sales Readiness Index, managers can see how reps compare to their peers on various competencies, such as buyer engagement, outreach activity, objection handling, competitor win rates, and more. By comparing how reps perform on various competencies to the ideal rep profile created for each role on the revenue team, managers can know exactly who to coach on what topics without much thinking.

Managers can then immediately create and track the coaching as complete. Or, they can sort and filter through a list of recent calls to provide more comprehensive feedback on specific interactions with call scorecards.

At the same time, managers can collaborate closely with enablement and revenue operations teams by helping them understand which reps are ready to hit quota and where they can provide cross-functional support.

What are some of the best sales productivity tools?

Sales productivity tools can deliver significant benefits to both sellers and sales managers. With the right tools, your entire sales team can be more effective and efficient. In other words, sellers can close more deals—and do so faster.

Today, many tools are available that promise to boost sales productivity. But every sales productivity tool is different.

Which sales productivity tools are the best for your business? There’s no easy answer. It’s important to determine your goals and challenges when it comes to sales productivity. Then, you must find the sales productivity tools that best suit your unique needs and goals.

The truth is, there’s no “one-size-fits-all” sales productivity tool. However, the following are some of the most popular sales productivity tools on the market.

Mindtickle

Often, organizations purchase myriad solutions that address a single challenge related to sales productivity. However, a better approach is to adopt an integrated solution that addresses several common sales productivity challenges. Integrated tools like Mindtickle drive sales productivity in several ways – without requiring sellers to switch between different, disparate tools.

Mindtickle incorporates conversation and revenue intelligence, recording and transcribing calls while scoring deal health. This means sellers don’t have to take notes during calls; they can pay attention to the meeting. In addition, sales managers can leverage analysis of call recordings to determine where a sales rep might need additional training and coaching.

Mindtickle also incorporates sales content management. Sellers can easily find the content they need for any selling scenario, spending less time searching and more time actually selling.

Mindtickle’s integrated sales productivity platform includes many other features and functionalities that boost sales productivity. For example, sales reps can use Mindtickle to practice skills and unlock self-coaching opportunities on their own time. Sales managers can also leverage Mindtickle to deliver personalized coaching to sales reps and measure how (or whether) their efforts improve seller productivity and sales performance.

Other sales productivity tools

A few additional top sales productivity platforms include:

Salesforce is one of the most popular CRMs in the world. The platform incorporates myriad features that empower teams to increase sales productivity and performance. Salesforce unifies data across multiple sources to provide teams with a single source of truth for all customer information. Salesforce also leverages AI to drive sales productivity and enable better customer experiences.

This is an AI-powered workflow platform. Sellers that use it are better equipped to delight customers throughout the customer journey and close deals. Salesloft also equips sales managers with data and insights that enable them to more effectively coach and lead their teams. In addition, Salesloft provides features and functionality that allow for more accurate forecasting.

Calls and emails aren’t always the most productive forms of outreach. With LinkedIn Sales Navigator, sales reps can tap into LinkedIn to engage buyers and increase sales productivity. LinkedIn Sales Navigator also provides insights to help sellers understand which accounts they should prioritize. That way, they can spend their time on the deals they will most likely win.

Outreach is a sales productivity platform that enables SDRs and other sales team members to engage prospects throughout the sales cycle. With Outreach, sellers can automate their outreach processes – which means they can achieve more in less time. Outreach also gives sales leaders a complete picture of the sales cycle to increase deal velocity and sales rep productivity more effectively.

Databook is a Strategic Relationship Management Platform (SRM). This tool illuminates market and financial insights that help reps prioritize accounts and understand their business challenges. As a result, sales reps can spend less time researching and more time creating and articulating solutions.

Our recommendations and best practices

Now that we’ve covered five benefits of sales productivity tools and some of the top tools in the market, we’ve got a few recommendations and best practices to share.

Centralize tools & simplify the rep experience

Not all tools are created equal, but you must simplify the sales rep experience in mind.

That’s why we believe centralizing and consolidating as many tools as possible is the best way to help drive sales rep productivity, as well as get more out of your tool investments. That means everything related to onboarding, training, ongoing coaching, content, and access to voice of customer or performance insights should ideally be in one place.

Doing so also provides you with a single data model to understand revenue enablement and performance and a single model for compliance and security.

Increase cross-functional collaboration

Driving sales productivity is the responsibility of every division at your company – not just sales. That means teams like product and marketing need frontline access to the valuable insights gauged from your sales interactions, such as competitor mentions or product feedback requests.

At the same time, in modern-day sales, you must ensure that your entire revenue team, including BDRs, sales, SEs, and CSMs are working together to understand deal or account health and drive those opportunities home.

Ensure that whatever solution you are using is standardized across your revenue org, focusing on providing the utmost transparency into what’s going on with key accounts and deals.

Improve visibility into what top performance looks like

Sales productivity is simply impossible if all of the roles on your team aren’t crystal clear about what success looks like in their role. How can I improve if I cannot know if I’m saying, showing, and doing the right things? If I don’t understand how my emails, calls, and how I engage prospects and customers compare to my peers, how will I even know what to do better next time?

That’s why your sales productivity tools must clarify best-in-class performance during every interaction and stage of your sales process.

Sales Productivity Tools FAQs

What is sales productivity?

Sales productivity measures how effective and efficient your reps are at meeting their sales goals. You can measure sales productivity across the entire organization, as well as at the team and individual rep levels.

Why is sales productivity important?

Simply put, unproductive sellers are ill-equipped to engage buyers and close deals. In today’s competitive market, that simply won’t cut it.

When seller productivity increases, so too does revenue generation. Productive sales reps can effectively and efficiently engage buyers and close deals. In other words, they can close more deals, faster, which leads to revenue growth.

What are KPIs used to measure sales productivity?

Ongoing measurement is key to assessing and improving sales productivity. However, there’s no single metric you can use to determine sales productivity. Instead, you must measure it by tracking a variety of metrics, including:

  • Quota attainment
  • Sales cycle length
  • Conversion rates
  • Annual recurring revenue
  • Sales rep habits, such as number of calls made and emails sent

What is a sales productivity tool?

A sales productivity tool is any solution that improves the effectiveness and efficiency of sales reps. In other words, it’s a tool that increases the productivity of sellers.

Reps only have so many hours in the day. A sales productivity tools helps ensure they make the most of that limited time.

What are some of the best sales productivity tools?

There is no single sales productivity tool that’ll solve all challenges for all businesses. Instead, the right sales productivity tools depend on the needs and goals of your organization.

However, some sales productivity tools are particularly popular today. Those include:

  • Mindtickle
  • Salesforce
  • Salesloft
  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator
  • Outreach
  • Databook

Sales Productivity in action

Learn more about how to consolidate your sales tech stack while driving more revenue per rep.

Get a Mindtickle Demo

This post was originally published in January 2023, updated in February 2024, and again in August 2024. 

4 Jaw-Dropping Stats That’ll Change Your Approach to Sales Discovery Calls

Rahul Mathew on August 8, 2024

In many ways, sales discovery calls are the heart of the sales process. Much like a first date, they allow reps and prospects to decide whether moving the relationship forward makes sense.

But discovery calls are like dates in another way, too: They’re your reps’ first — and sometimes only — chance to make a great first impression. If the call is unnecessarily long, one-sided, or confusing to the prospect, there likely won’t be a second date.

So what’s the difference between a great discovery call that leads to a closed deal and a bad one that leads nowhere?

We looked at thousands of discovery calls recorded and included the findings in our 2024 State of Sales Productivity Report to identify the ingredients of a great discovery call. Here are four of our most important findings — and why they should make you rethink your entire approach to the sales discovery call.

What is the sales discovery process?

Let’s get one question out of the way right up front: What is a discovery call?

It may be the first impression — a chance for reps to touch base with prospects, share your value proposition, and address early concerns — but it’s not the first step. A sales discovery call occurs well into the overall sales discovery process.

Before a rep ever reaches for that phone, they’ll likely need to:

  • Perform preliminary lead qualification or scoring
  • Capture valuable information from forms, demo requests, or other interactions
  • Perform research on the lead — including goals, pain points, company background, and more
  • Identify vital points or topics to mention during the call
  • Create a plan, including discovery questions and call duration
  • Request the call in a way that outlines goals and respects the lead’s time

These tasks lay the groundwork for a successful discovery call. They also help ensure that both the rep and the prospect get their questions answered, achieve certain goals, and use the available time well.

Perhaps most importantly, they create an environment that supports sales acceleration and revenue intelligence solutions by setting up your reps to gather the right information at the right time.

Key sales discovery stats

With the basics out of the way, it’s time to discover what a great discovery call looks like. Here’s what our research says:

The average discovery call is

minutes long
0

A successful sales discovery call can’t be too long, or prospects may feel it drags and lacks focus. Of course, the opposite is also true; spending too little time on a discovery call leaves unanswered questions and creates frustration.

You should do some digging if your reps’ sales discovery calls are significantly over or under 38 minutes. Consider monitoring the calls to find out:

  • What questions are being asked
  • Who is talking most — the rep or the prospect
  • How the call is structured
  • What the outcomes are

On average, reps talk for

of discovery calls
0 %

That means prospects speak less than half (43%) of the time.

The best reps develop rapport and relationships with their prospects, but ensuring a sales discovery call doesn’t feel one-sided is also important.

If your reps are talking markedly more or less than this 57%, review call recordings or talk to your team to see:

  • How they’re using their talking time
  • What word choices they’re making and whether they’re using too many filler words or unnecessary questions
  • Whether they’re “making up for” a less engaged or talkative prospect by talking more themselves
  • Whether they’re having trouble “breaking in” if a prospect is talkative
  • How they manage the flow of the conversation

The average rep monologue is just over

minutes
0

On average, a rep’s longest monologue should last about 2 minutes and 15 seconds. That gives the rep plenty of time to address the important points and topics identified in their preliminary research, but it also prevents them from dominating the conversation or causing prospects to get bored and disengage.

What if your reps aren’t following this pattern? Uncover details on:

  • An individual rep’s longest monologue time
  • How much a rep is talking overall
  • Which topics take longer to explain (which may indicate a need for sales coaching)

During discovery calls, there are

questions asked
0
questions answered
0

Keep in mind that a great discovery call is always a two-way conversation. Both the rep and the prospect should ask and answer questions, and when things are really going well, these questions will flow naturally into one another rather than feeling like part of a script.

This year, the number of sales call discovery questions from both parties has decreased significantly. This isn’t surprising, as the overall length of discovery calls has also decreased. If you notice your data doesn’t match, find out:

  • Who is asking the most questions
  • What kinds of questions are being asked
  • Whether each question has a complete, accurate answer

Sales call discovery questions

When planning a sales call, reps know it’s important to ask the right kinds of questions. This isn’t the time to ask for answers that are readily available elsewhere — like on the prospect’s company website.

The most productive sales reps ask these four types of discovery questions:

Determine if an opportunity is worth pursuing.

 Identify a prospect’s needs and uncover a hole that only your solution can fill.

Uncover insights that move deals forward, such as who the key decision-makers and influencers are.

Demonstrate an understanding of a company’s business model and industry-specific challenges.

Here are a few example questions:

Qualification

  • What does your budget look like?
  • What are the main hurdles in choosing and implementing a solution?
  • What is your timeline?

Problem area

  • What are your goals, and what’s keeping you from reaching them right now?
  • How satisfied are you with your existing solution?
  • What are you looking for in a new solution?

Methodology

  • Who are the key decision-makers in your organization?
  • What is the size and structure of your team?
  • What does your current tech stack look like?

Credibility

  • How does [industry trend or event] impact your company right now?
  • Why do customers come to you for [product or service]?
  • How do you beat competition such as [competitor] in [key performance metric]?

Reps should always listen for opportunities to up- and cross-sell. However, their main goal should be laying the groundwork for a successful relationship by obtaining sufficient information, having helpful conversations, and presenting your company as the best possible solution to a given problem. They should also quickly lay out the next steps to indicate interest in continuing to support the prospect.

Nail your next sales discovery call

No one goes into a first date without a little preparation. Your reps need support, tools, and strategies for lead research, scoring, question development, call strategy, and more — and that’s where Mindtickle comes in.

Mindtickle is a revenue enablement platform that integrates all your data, processes, training, and prospect or customer conversations. With all this information in one place, you can better prepare your reps for their next sales discovery call. Better yet, you can track sales performance and other key metrics to see what’s working (and what isn’t). 

Better Sales Discovery Calls with Mindtickle

Want to learn more about ensuring every seller is ready to lead discovery calls that clinch that second meeting?

Get Your Demo

This post was originally published in July 2021, updated in May 2023, and again in August 2024.

The Ultimate Guide to Revenue Operations

Rahul Mathew on June 20, 2024

Too many organizations struggle with disjointed strategies and siloed departments across their sales, marketing, and customer success teams. 

And those same organizations are all working toward closing deals faster, launching targeted and effective marketing campaigns, and satisfying their customers. 

Revenue operations is often the missing link between go-to-market teams and a key driver of alignment and success. 

According to research from the Boston Consulting Group, companies that invest in revenue operations report a 10-20% increase in seller productivity. 

According to the Boston Consulting Group

of orgs that invest in revenue operations report a 10-20% increase in productivity
0 %

Many teams, tasks, and processes are involved in generating revenue — and that’s why every company needs a solid revenue operations strategy.

Also called RevOps, this function unites different parts of a business to ensure that everyone and everything is pushing in the same direction. That direction, naturally, is wherever the revenue is.

Here’s the ultimate guide to RevOps strategies and how to leverage them.

What is revenue operations (RevOps)?

If you want a revenue operations definition, be prepared to find some differing data. Although RevOps is basically a process for driving revenue productivity by uniting marketing, sales and customer service teams, every business does it a little differently.

Fortunately, there’s no single “right” way to build a revenue operations model. It just has to check a few key boxes:

Align go-to-market teams

Improve data visibility

Streamline processes

Grow predictably

If your RevOps implementation does all these things, it can have significant benefits. In fact, with revenue operations and intelligence solutions at their fingertips, surveyed companies achieved:

  • 65% more accurate forecasts.
  • 59% improvement in win/loss rates.
  • 69% higher revenue growth.
  • 53% increase in net-dollar retention.

Need one more reason to consider a RevOps strategy? How about this one: 93% of surveyed companies are either already leveraging a revenue operations model or plan to by 2024.

of orgs already leverage a revenue operations model
0 %

What problems does a RevOps strategy solve?

RevOps implementation isn’t just about revenue enablement. No — this process can go much deeper to create stronger procedures, collaboration, and visibility across departments.

Here are just a few problems solved by RevOps strategies:

What happens if your marketing, sales and customer teams never see eye-to-eye? You could miss certain revenue opportunities and make others far harder to reach. RevOps helps unite these teams by clarifying their relationships with one another and empowering them to play their parts more effectively. That doesn’t just boost morale; it also increases agility, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and more.

Disorganized or inefficient sales cycles can cause chaos across teams. With a RevOps strategy, you can streamline individual processes, see how they all fit together and identify their role in creating revenue. With this information, it’s easier to elevate vital tasks and eliminate redundancies, bottlenecks or other frustrations.

Inaccurate revenue intelligence can lead to flawed forecasting — which, in turn, creates misaligned teams, ineffective strategies, and wasted effort. One of the goals of a revenue operations model is to identify these gaps and address them with real-time data informed by multiple teams. That means you’ll have a more accurate view of opportunities and growth — a single source of truth.

When your teams don’t work well together and your approaches are jumbled, customers feel the impact. With the right RevOps best practices, you can streamline internal processes to ensure that every task, solution, and team is supporting the overall buyer experience. That boosts revenue and customer satisfaction.

When you aren’t focused exclusively on your audience, your GTM costs skyrocket as you scramble to decipher what works and what doesn’t. RevOps tools don’t just help you organize your approach — they also ensure you’re looking in all the right places when making decisions and planning GTM strategies.

What are the key metrics for revenue operations?

Like just about everything else in business, RevOps strategies need consistent tracking and analysis. That’s the only way to ensure your efforts are paying off and that you’ve chosen all the proper approaches for your needs.

As you build your own revenue operations definition, keep these key metrics in mind:

  • Customer acquisition cost: This is the cost of acquiring each customer. With this information, you can compare cost vs. revenue and pursue the most lucrative opportunities.
  • Sales cycle length: The more time it takes to close a deal, the longer your sales cycle length. RevOps strategies will generally help you reduce this number.
  • Deal win/loss rate: To find your win/loss ratio, take your wins and divide them by total sales opportunities. This helps you identify where problems may be occurring and what RevOps solution could help.
  • Sales forecasting: This metric goes far beyond any single department to help you see how much potential revenue you’re actually capturing.
  • CLV (customer lifetime value): CLV is a measurement of how much money a customer brings to your business throughout the relationship. You can use CLV to help identify the best sales opportunities and bolster your RevOps implementation.
  • Customer churn: If you have a high churn rate, that means lots of customers are leaving your business. RevOps strategies can help you catch these issues, determine where they’re coming from and put fitting solutions in place.
  • Annual recurring revenue (ARR): ARR is all about measuring the revenue you can count on over time, such as subscriptions or regular billing cycles. It’s helpful to compare this metric with others such as sales forecasting and customer acquisition cost.
  • Sales pipeline conversion rate: Find out how many leads are being converted and what parts of your sales pipeline are most important in this process.

Almost all revenue operations best practices require data from these areas. To make the most of this information, you’ll need RevOps software that can accurately capture data from multiple sources and present it to all relevant stakeholders. (Tip: Automatic data capture is key.)

How does revenue operations work and what are the roles of RevOps team members?

Although every revenue operations responsibility should fall to a specific team member, companies distribute these tasks differently. Various titles include:

Revenue Operations Manager

Chief Revenue Officer

VP of Revenue Operations

Director of Revenue Cycle

Job descriptions for any revenue operations role typically include accountability, collaboration and a solid understanding of the revenue operations model. High-level employees are responsible for connecting processes across departments, interpreting key metrics, driving growth and supporting all the interconnected parts of the larger RevOps team.

The work is data-driven and collaborative, so RevOps leaders generally draw on experience in revenue-focused fields to empathetically respond to sales, marketing and customer success teams simultaneously.

Although the roles and responsibilities differ, the goal is always the same: to help the whole company drive revenue. That means anyone involved in RevOps implementation should have skills such as:

  • Strategic planning
  • Negotiation
  • Communication
  • Data management
  • Process optimization

How is RevOps different from sales operations and marketing operations?

Although part of a revenue operations solution is to bring sales and marketing together, RevOps is greater than — and much different from — the sum of its parts. Here’s a closer look:

Revenue operations vs. sales operations

Unsurprisingly, sales operations are focused on sales. This is great news for your reps, who benefit from processes dedicated to their needs, challenges, and success. However, sales operations are somewhat limited in this regard.

Revenue operations, on the other hand, tells the whole story of the customer journey. Instead of focusing on sales exclusively, RevOps looks at how sales operations connect to other revenue-driving parts of your business.

Revenue operations vs. marketing operations

Although marketing and sales are closely related, marketing operations is built around tasks exclusive to the former. Essentially, this is the marketing team’s chance to be the star of the show, emphasizing processes and interactions other teams may not have to worry about.

RevOps doesn’t replace marketing operations. It just unites this approach with sales operations and other parts of the business to create a more comprehensive view of revenue activity.

Revenue operations vs. customer success operations

Customer success operations is all about answering questions, addressing complaints and delivering top-notch service. Although these processes are highly influenced by marketing and sales, customer success operations is focused specifically on anything the service team is responsible for.

Just like in the other two examples, revenue operations takes these processes and weaves them into other revenue-driven operations. RevOps maintains service and support priorities but puts them in a larger, more comprehensive context to better understand and respond to the customer experience.

Your RevOps strategy

Simply put, RevOps is what happens when you look at all the other operations and see how they fit together, somewhat like assembling a puzzle. It creates something entirely new, but the original pieces are still there and continue to be important.

9 benefits of implementing a revenue operations strategy

A RevOps strategy requires alignment and buy-in from across your go-to-market organization. When done well, you’ll start to see:

  1. Better alignment: Your go-to-market teams work toward common goals, improving collaboration and efficiency.
  2. Data-driven decisions: Data is shared across teams and tools, enabling more informed and strategic decision-making.
  3. Improved customer experiences: Your customers are ensured a consistent and personalized experience at every touchpoint with your org.
  4. Revenue growth: The entire go-to-market process is optimized, leading to increased revenue generation and growth.
  5. Operational efficiency: Silos are eliminated and processes streamlined, reducing redundancies and improving overall productivity.
  6. Accurate forecasting: More reliable forecasting leads to better planning and resource allocation.
  7. Scalability: Your processes and tools are standardized, allowing for smoother growth and expansion.
  8. Performance metrics: Clear metrics and KPIs measure performance, ensuring continuous improvement and accountability.
  9. Competitive advantage: Better adaption to market changes and staying ahead of the competition.

How Mindtickle helps you get started with revenue operations

RevOps may solve a lot of problems, but it has a lot of moving parts, too — from differing roles and responsibilities to a long list of important metrics. How do you ensure all these things come together to create a single revenue operations strategy?

The key is to use the right RevOps software — and that’s where Mindtickle comes in.

Salesforce - Revenue Intelligence

Although Mindtickle can be called a RevOps platform, it’s a whole lot more than that. Combining revenue intelligence, data capture, sales training, forecasting, and more, this software acts as your hub for anything and everything revenue-related. That means all your processes will happen in one place, enabling teams to collaborate more effectively and data to flow more naturally. You’ll have:

When every revenue operations responsibility, task, and solution exists under a single umbrella, it’s easier to ensure that customers get a cohesive, connected experience. 

Better RevOps with Mindtickle

See what Mindtickle can do for your sales enablement and revenue operations.

Get a Demo

This post was originally published in June 2023, was updated in December 2023, and again in June 2024. 

What Is Sales Intelligence and How Does It Impact Revenue?

Rahul Mathew on June 17, 2024

The global sales intelligence market was estimated at $3B in 2023 and is predicted to reach around $8.25B by 2033.

The sales intelligence market is predicted to be

by 2033
0

With the explosion of generative AI and sales tools, it’s no surprise that the market is expected to grow exponentially. But, it can also be more difficult to sift through the tools and identify which ones best suit your needs.

In this post, we share some sales intelligence basics, including:

  • How these tools enable sales reps to make more informed decisions, foster stronger connections with potential customers, and ultimately close deals more effectively.
  • How sales and business intelligence focus on gathering and utilizing data, but serve different purposes and functions.
  • How implementing sales intelligence involves several critical steps, such as monitoring market trends, identifying opportunities and threats, improving sales forecasting, ensuring data accuracy, strengthening sales cycles, and tracking competitors’ strategies.

Here’s everything you need to know.

What is sales intelligence?

“Sales intelligence” is a term that broadly refers to the tools, processes, and systems used to gather information about sales — including potential customers, pipeline health, sales rep best practices, and more.

All these intelligence solutions are designed to help you better use key data. Their benefits can be summarized in two ways:

Sales effectiveness

This is the overall success of each interaction — not measured by dollars or minutes, but by real human connections. If a sale is effective, it’s hitting all the right emotional and logical notes.

A sales intelligence platform helps boost sales effectiveness by helping reps make more informed decisions. With the right data at the right times, your teams always know just what to say to build rapport and develop trust with potential customers.

Sales efficiency

This is the more quantitative measurement of sales. It’s based on speed and accuracy.

Fortunately, sales intelligence solutions help boost efficiency, too. These tools make it easier for reps to boost sales performance by learning from their own habits and comparing them to best practices across the business.

Sales intelligence vs. business intelligence

Although sales data tools might sound a lot like business intelligence, there are actually some key differences. Check it out:

Sales intelligence Business intelligence
Focuses on “why did this happen” data Focuses on “what happened” data
Helps inform sales-related decisions Helps inform decisions across the business
Often looks outward Often looks inward
May be built around immediate action May be built on slower, longer-term growth and planning

Keep in mind that both kinds of intelligence are about gathering and using data in smarter ways — the main differences are:

  • The type of data gathered.
  • The way that data is analyzed and used.
  • The teams that gather insight from that data.

Key components of sales intelligence

Want to jump into the world of data intelligence solutions for sales? You’ll need to take these important steps:

Use real-time data to learn what your potential customers want, why they want it, and when.

Keep a close eye on ups and downs in your industry and maneuver your sales team accordingly.

Use analytics software and other sales enablement tools to get the information you need about the future.

Gather the right statistics from the right sources. (Hint: Automated data entry helps eliminate redundancy, minimize human error, and save valuable time for your teams.)

Review the nuts and bolts of your sales cycle to see where you can make improvements based on evolving customer and employee needs.

Learn from other businesses’ successes and mistakes — and recognize that they’ll do the same to you, particularly if you leverage sales intelligence in all the smartest ways.

Best sales intelligence tools

If you want sales intelligence data, you need software. Here are a few of the best options on the market in 2023:

Mindtickle helps you rethink revenue enablement.

Our conversation intelligence highlights best practices from real interactions, while revenue intelligence delivers actionable insights on deal health, buyer sentiment, and more. Our revenue enablement platform enables sales teams to make informed decisions, personalize messaging, and foster a data-driven culture. Tracking key performance indicators and leveraging advanced analytics ensures your sales strategies are effective and efficient.

Salesforce - Revenue Intelligence
Zoominfo vector logo

Zoominfo provides a platform for recruiting and operations, prospecting, data management, and more. It also helps analyze conversation data for rich sales intelligence insights.

If you want lead generation, Apollo is a great option. Enriched with decision-maker data and automatic alerts when a change occurs, this platform keeps you ready for anything.

Clearbit is all about timing. It helps your teams tailor individual decisions and entire campaigns based on lead scoring, a huge range of data points, and more.

How to increase revenue with sales intelligence

How can sales intelligence help you boost revenue, increase sales, and empower your team? Here are just a few ways to leverage this approach:

#1: Improve your sales forecasting

Don’t rely on guesswork. The best tools give you data and insights that inform decisions in the immediate future and help you build more effective long-term strategies.

#2: Personalize messaging

No B2B solution is complete without a little personalization. Use the data you uncover to make messages more meaningful, powerful, and memorable to different audiences.

#3: Foster a culture of data-driven sales decision-making

Build your sales decisions around real-time insights and data that provide an in-depth, comprehensive view of your market, your customers, and even your sales reps.

#4: Track performance with the right KPIs

Key performance indicators (KPIs) tell a lot of different stories when they’re on their own. Use sales intelligence software to track these KPIs and combine them into a clear, cohesive view of your entire sales department.

What’s next?

Leveraging sales intelligence tools is critical for boosting your team’s performance and driving revenue growth. To get started, follow these action items:

  • Choose the right software to gather the right sales data and analyze it.
  • Stay informed about industry dynamics to identify opportunities and threats.
  • Use analytics to make data-driven predictions and strategies.
  • Tailor your communication based on insights to build stronger customer relationships.
  • Regularly measure key performance indicators to ensure continuous improvement.

Sales intelligence at your fingertips

Ready to see how Mindtickle's revenue productivity platform gives you actionable intelligence to make sure every seller is productive? 

Get a Demo

This post was originally published in 2023 and was updated in June 2024. 

5 Scientific Tips to Measure Sales Productivity 

Rahul Mathew on June 6, 2024

In ongoing economic uncertainty, many sales orgs struggle to meet their goals. According to Forrester, more than half of B2B sales reps aren’t achieving quota.

But even in these trying times, it is possible to grow a team of top sellers that are equipped to overcome challenges, deliver winning experiences, and close more deals.

All sales leaders understand that improving sales productivity is key to improving sales outcomes. After all, sales productivity measures how effective and efficient your sales reps are. When a sales rep improves their effectiveness and efficiency, they’ll close more deals – faster.

But many sales leaders aren’t quite sure how to best measure sales productivity. We’re here to help solve the mystery.

In this post, we’ll explore everything you need to know about measuring sales productivity – the scientific way. We’ll cover:

  • How Mindtickle measures sales productivity
  • The problem with how sales organizations often measure sales productivity
  • How Mindtickle tracks sales productivity KPIs
  • 5 scientific tips for measuring your team’s sales productivity

How Mindtickle measures sales productivity

At Mindtickle, we define sales productivity as the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales executives in hitting a variety of revenue milestones and goals. Of course, just because reps make more calls and send more emails does not necessarily mean they are progressing sales or generating revenue.

That’s why, in addition to accountability around activity tracking, measuring preparation and improving effectiveness is key.

Here, we use our Sales Readiness Index to measure which reps demonstrate the right skills, will, and in-field behaviors. With our readiness index, we cross-reference who is hitting quota with who is doing all of the other activities that make a rep successful, such as:

  • Conducting effective outreach
  • Engaging buyers
  • Sending educational content
  • Completing new product and competitor training
  • Practicing via AI video role-plays
  • Achieving high call scores
Screenshot of Mindtickle Sales Readiness Index

At the same time, we use revenue intelligence and AI forecasting software through our technical partner BoostUp to help our sellers call their numbers with higher accuracy and confidence.

Deal risk analytics give detailed signals that help reps know exactly what action they need to take when they follow up, such as better multi-threading with a higher number of senior-level contacts.

Salesforce - Revenue Intelligence

Our sales enablement function moved from a traditional approach, where most time was spent creating content and delivering training, to focusing on call and deal reviews. We call this revenue enablement and have rallied our entire organization to ensure sellers focus on closing more deals confidently.

The problem with how sales organizations measure sales productivity today

Many organizations use Salesforce to track revenue metrics and sales productivity. Yet, not long ago, sales professionals started to game the system to hit their numbers. Maybe they exaggerated prospecting or sandbagged their forecast so they could sweep in as the hero at the end of the quarter or got overly optimistic about pricing and happy ears.

Here at Mindtickle, our revenue intelligence and forecasting solution is built into our readiness platform, so our sales managers use a new workflow to gain deeper transparency into deals, calls, and buyer engagement.

You can see that workflow in our interactive sales manager product tour here.

Instead of looking at lagging indicators of success, such as who has the most pipeline or who has historically hit their numbers, we look at what our reps do holistically to prepare for the future climate. We better understand where our reps put their time and calories and have implemented accountability systems to help them uncover risks and focus on truly winnable deals.

This means our executives have real-time visibility into every call, email, and meeting, and they spend more time helping reps uncover deal blockers so they forecast more accurately and help reps deliver faster, better wins.

How Mindtickle tracks sales productivity KPIs

Sales productivity can be tracked in many ways. Here are some metrics we use to keep our sellers and BDRs on track.

With our revenue intelligence solution,every deal is scored and labeled red, yellow, or green so reps know exactly why a deal is at risk, and how to address it.

With our Call AI solution, we score every call against the winning behaviors from top reps on every team, including BDRs, account executives, sales engineers, and customer success executives

We look at not only the number of emails and dials our reps make but also the percent of those connected touchpoints that convert. This helps us understand quantity and quality.

We look at not only the number of meetings that are scheduled but also those that were completed and deemed sales-qualified or not by our reps.

By analyzing all of the calls, emails, and meetings that take place, we are able to uncover keywords associated with deal risks or positive/negative buyer sentiment. Increasingly, buyer engagement and sentiment are a really important metric for us as we look to forecast more accurately and truly assess deal health.

Our sales content management solution tracks metrics beyond just asset views and also looks at content adoption. This includes the number of times each asset has been used in the sales process, the percentage of sellers who have used each asset, and the number of times each asset has been shared in deals progressing in stages including closed/won.

This includes onboarding and ramp-up metrics for new hires like time to onboarding completion, time to first deal/revenue, average ramp time, annual number of new hires, and yearly rep attrition.

We also look at everboarding or ongoing readiness metrics like seconds of training videos watched, pages of documents read, correct answers on assessments and questions asked over time, scores on video role-plays, overall team performance on programs, certification completions, rep feedback on program efficacy, and overall engagement.

We look at whether reps, teams, and regions have enough pipeline coverage to hit their numbers.

5 scientific tips to measure sales productivity

So, how do we measure all of this vast data and make sense of it without creating a ton of work for our operations team, which is in charge of measuring sales productivity and forecasting?

1. End manual data entry

The days of relying on manually entered Salesforce data and trusting it’s correct are long dead. We implemented revenue intelligence and forecasting through our BoostUp integration to track the activities that meaningfully move deals forward (or stall them).

To do this, we started by tracking buyer engagement across every call, email, and meeting – all of which we transcribe and tag when we uncover an important voice of customer insight, such as a competitor or product mention, next step, or strong instance of buyer hesitation.

We use this information to score every deal and proactively uncover risks. At the same time, we improved the way we manage opportunities by pulling together a rich visualization of all of the activity that has taken place—including what emails buyers and sellers have sent, what calls have taken place, what meaningful sales themes have been mentioned, and even whether or not our sellers have created a Digital Sales Room to engage customers with educational content.

This helps us offer reps self-coaching by nudging them with activities we know will move a deal forward, such as follow-up content they might want to send or battle cards they should review before their next call.

Our enterprise team takes a more account-based approach. We track the number and percentage of accounts in each rep’s territory that haven’t had activity logged in the last 30 days.

To ensure our enterprise and commercial teams are multi-threaded, we track the number of personas engaged in an opportunity and whether we’ve reached the VP+ level.

Content analytics are also important to us. This year, we launched our Digital Sales Rooms, a digital buyer experience that helps reps share content, understand what content customers and prospects are engaging with, link to call recordings, and manage the next steps.

Digital sales rooms have helped our sellers better multi-thread and improve engagement with our content by 300%.

2. Cut meetings in half, and reserve more time for practice & coaching

One invaluable tool for sales productivity is Call AI – our conversation intelligence technology that records, transcribes, and analyzes every call while making calls easily shareable with other departments, such as product or marketing.

Now that our sellers can listen to calls on 2X that they weren’t a part of and don’t have to spend time on internal updates calls and hand-offs, it’s faster and easier for every relevant person here at Mindtickle, such as our CSMs, to get the deep details on every deal or account while attending fewer but more valuable meetings.

Where did we reinvest those hours of precious extra time each week?

Into practicing via AI video role-plays and data-driven call coaching.

3. Create better buyer experiences

Sales productivity has never been about drowning customers in emails and cold calls. It’s been about connecting with the right person, at the right time, with meaningful information that helps them solve significant business challenges.

That’s why we started using Databook to provide our sales reps with better information on how their accounts are doing financially and their “big bets.”. This enables reps to provide hyper-personalized outreach and follow-ups.

At the same time, we regularly share call recordings with our customers so that they can include others who may have missed a meeting without slowing the sales cycle down.

4. Leverage AI for more accurate pipeline & sales forecasting

Earlier in this blog, we discussed how sales productivity is a better leading indicator to drive scalable, repeatable sales and enable fact-based forecasting.

Perhaps no group in our organization is better at reaping the rewards of our newfound focus on sales productivity than our operations organization.

Whereas before, reps and regional vice presidents would manually call their number, we now use revenue intelligence and forecasting software to analyze that number and how realistic it is with AI. Then, we uncover pipeline trends and risks that may prevent us from hitting it.

We can also examine week-over-week and month-over-month waterfall charts to analyze where our pipeline is growing and decreasing and better address issues with enablement programs.

This saves our revenue operations more than 30 hours previously spent on manual reporting a week.

5. Consolidate redundant sales technologies

In this economic moment, it’s common for sales teams to be asked to reduce their sales technology budgets by 30-50%, or even more. That’s a lofty challenge, but it’s also a painful reminder that too many teams are using bloated, expensive sales tech stacks that aren’t helping improve their ability to hit their number.

Our 2024-2025 Chief Revenue Officer + Sales Leader Outlook Report found that 66% of respondents indicate there are 10 or more tools to support their tech stack.

of orgs have 10 or more tools in their tech stacks
0 %

However, investing in a sales tool doesn’t necessarily mean the sales team will use it. The same analysis found a consistent pattern: the percentage of tools in the tech stack is often higher than the percentage of tools used daily.

Here are some solutions we use at Mindtickle:

  • Our platform, through which we run enablement, manage content, and operate all of our conversation intelligence, revenue intelligence, and forecasting solutions, including enabling our reps to update Salesforce
  • Outreach.IO for BDR prospecting
  • Databook to uncover personalized account-based insights
  • LinkedIn Navigator & ZoomInfo to find prospects and contacts across our accounts

Supercharge your sales productivity with Mindtickle

Every sales leader out there wants to boost quota attainment. However, focusing solely on what number will or won’t be hit has never helped sales leaders hit quota. Often, numbers are settled well before you enter the quarter. And in this economy, even deals that once looked highly winnable may be lost.

Instead, focus on leading indicators – like sales productivity. Doing so provides a better way to understand how prepared your reps are to sell and how quickly your team is improving. By using the tips we shared in this blog, you can start measuring sales productivity – in a scientific way.

Increasing sales productivity doesn’t happen by chance. Instead, you must equip your sales reps with the right tools, training, information, and sales content they need to be effective, efficient sellers.

Better sales productivity with Mindtickle

The world’s best revenue organizations depend on Mindtickle to ensure their teams have everything they need to increase sales productivity – all in one platform.

Request a Demo

This post was originally published in December 2022 and was updated in June 2024. 

Get free access to the best sales-readiness content.

© 2024 Mindtickle Inc. All rights reserved.