winning strategies for optimal sales...

THE INSIDE SALES PROCESS REPORT

WINNING STRATEGIES FOR OPTIMAL SALES

PROCESSES

http://www.aa-isp.org/

http://velocify.com/

The Inside Sales Process Report | 2

SOME KEY FINDINGS INCLUDE:

• Technology can play a major role in the success of establishing, executing, and monitoring effective inside sales processes.

• Fast growing sales companies challenge salespeople in terms of lead and call volume, but they also enable them to be more productive by providing the right tools and technologies.

• Intelligent automation early in the sales cycle is crucial, from the generation and capturing of leads, through the distribution and prioritization of leads.

• Speed is a key component of inside sales success. How quickly a company reaches out to new leads via phone and email can play a critical role in increasing the likelihood of conversion and shortening the sales cycle.

• When it comes to persistence, balance is essential. Balance plays a significant role when it comes to choosing the number of calls to make, the length of time one should actively pursue an unresponsive lead, and the use of voicemail.

E X E C U T I V E SUMMARYAs more and more companies depend on inside sales to generate significant portions of their revenue1, establishing solid inside sales processes based on best practices has become more important than ever. Sales leaders can no longer rely on individual salespeople to define their own processes. Previous research has shown that well-defined, structured sales processes that are strictly enforced or automated lead to better performance2, but what should those processes look like?

Velocify and AA-ISP recently collaborated to discover exactly what inside sales practices and processes the fastest growing inside sales teams have implemented, and which ones work best. The results revealed substantial differences between the processes executed by high-growth companies and the processes of stagnant or shrinking companies.

1 The Trend Changing the Sales Landscape2 The Sales Organization Performance Gap



http://pages.velocify.com/SalesMigration.html

http://pages.velocify.com/SalesMigration.html

http://pages.velocify.com/sales-org-performance-gap.html?ls=Website&cmp=701i00000017FHE

http://pages.velocify.com/sales-org-performance-gap.html?ls=Website&cmp=701i00000017FHE


A B O U T THE SURVEYMore than 400 inside sales leaders and professionals completed a comprehensive, 30-question survey. The results helped us better understand the sales practices and perspectives of inside sales organizations with different levels of success. The companies in our study represented a wide variety of industries, including companies selling to other businesses (B2B), companies selling directly to consumers (B2C), and some companies selling to both businesses and consumers.

OUR STUDY FOCUSED ON KEY ASPECTS OF THE INSIDES SALES PROCESS, INCLUDING:

• Technology

• Metrics Tracking

• Lead Volume

• Productivity

• Sales Models

• Lead Source Mix

• Lead Capture

• Lead Distribution

• Lead Prioritization

• Automation

• Speed-to-Call

• Pre-Call Research

• Email

• Length of Sales Cycle

• Persistence

• Voicemail

Survey Participants

B2B63%

Mostly B2Cwith some B2B7%

B2C12%

Mostly B2Bwith some B2C18%

Survey Participants




U S E O F TECHNOLOGYCustomer Relationship Management systems (CRM) are usually at the heart of most organizations’ sales operations. It is hard to imagine running a successful sales team without a customer management tool, yet almost 10 percent of the companies in our study indicated they still do not use a CRM.

Most CRM solutions are broad platforms that handle different aspects of the sales process to varying degrees. While their primary purpose and function might be the management of existing clients and customers, most CRM systems help manage the entire lifecycle of a customer, including moving new prospects through the initial stages of the sales process. With the numerous CRM options available today, we were interested in measuring the levels of success companies might experience with some of the most commonly used CRMs.

The results were not surprising. Almost 80 percent of the companies that use Salesforce grew their revenue at least five percent from 2013 to 2014.

Salesforce users are 34% more likely to experience revenue growth than

those not using a CRM system

CRMs and Revenue Growth

Salesforce Oracle/Siebel CRM

Homegrown CRM

Other CRM

Microsoft Dynamics

CRM

Sugar CRM

None

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

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34%

CRMs and Revenue Growth




U S E O F TECHNOLOGYWhile a CRM system can be an essential technology tool for a sales team, it shouldn’t be the only technology used, especially since most CRMs have limited functionality when it comes to the high volume of inbound and outbound opportunities inside sales teams are typically tasked with managing. Sales acceleration tools are usually paired with CRM systems to fill some of the gaps, but in some cases, they are even used in place of CRM systems and help sales organizations perform some of the activities generally managed through a CRM. Sales acceleration tools include solutions such as automated dialers, prospecting solutions, lead management, gamification, analytics, etc. By name, you might recognize solutions such as Velocify, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Five9, SalesLoft, and many others. These solutions, when used in tandem, can greatly enhance the effectiveness of a CRM system and a sales team.

The effectiveness of sales acceleration tools can be seen in their widespread adoption by companies with growing revenues. Almost two-thirds of companies with significant revenue growth indicated they use at least one sales acceleration tool, compared to fewer than half of all companies with flat or declining revenues.

Companies with significant revenue growth are 66% more likely to use

two or more sales acceleration tools than companies with stagnant or

declining revenues

Flat or declining revenue

0% 20% 60%40% 100%

Number of Sales Acceleration Tools

2+10

Slight revenue growth (5% to 20% increase)

Significant revenue growth (more than

20% increase)

80%

Number of Sales Acceleration Tools




Technology does not only help to better execute sales processes, it also helps track and monitor key metrics for continuous process improvement and general management of a sales organization. When asked about the accuracy of their inside sales process metrics, companies with higher revenue growth were almost three times more likely to indicate that their metrics were very accurate and well-tracked, and they were much less likely to indicate that their metrics were not very accurate or tracked. This suggests that the better companies are able to track and monitor key metrics, the more likely they are to experience more revenue growth.

U S E O F TECHNOLOGY

Revenue and Accuracy of Sales Process Metrics

Significant revenue growth (more than 20% increase)



Not very accurate Very accurate

0%

2%

6%

8%

4%

12%

10%

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Revenue and Accuracy of Sales Process Metrics




L E A D V O L U M E AND PRODUCTIVITYSales leaders often struggle with staffing and workload decisions. Do they have the right number of inside salespeople given the number of inbound leads they generate or receive? What is the optimal number of leads that should be assigned to each salesperson each day so that they are most productive without wasting potentially good leads? The answers to these questions inevitably vary depending on a number of factors that are unique to each company. However, this study found that companies with the greatest revenue growth tend to give each salesperson significantly more new leads per day, which is consistent with a finding from previous research3.

Companies with significant revenue growth provide 78% more new leads

to each salesperson per day

3 Optimizing Your Leads-to-Rep Ratio

Average Number of New Leads per Salesperson per Day

0

2

6

8

4

14

12

10


20% increase)



Average Number of New Leads per Salesperson per Day



http://pages.velocify.com/OptimizingLeadstoRepRatio.html

http://pages.velocify.com/OptimizingLeadstoRepRatio.html


L E A D V O L U M E AND PRODUCTIVITYWhen challenged with more new leads to call upon, companies with significant revenue growth made 50 percent more calls per salesperson. However, sales leaders need to be mindful not to set expectations too high without arming sales teams with the right tools, technologies, and processes to enable salespeople to achieve the needed higher volumes.

L E A D V O L U M E AND PRODUCTIVITY

Average Number of Calls per Salesperson

0

10

30

40

20

60

50


20% increase)



Average Number of Calls per Salesperson




Another important choice sales leaders must make is the model and structure that should be used for their sales teams. Four common models include:

• Team Model - Inside and field sales teams work together

• Discrete Model - Inside sales teams sell on their own and carry their own quota

• Hybrid Model - Sales teams work primarily inside, but can travel as needed to meet with customers

• Channel/Distribution Model - Inside sales sell through re-sellers or distributors

Although many companies use a combination of these models for different products or different parts of their business, our study found that companies that use a team model as their primary or secondary model were noticeably more likely to experience increasing revenues.

L E A D C A P T U R E AND DISTRIBUTION

65%

74%

73%

72%

71%

70%

69%

68%

67%

66%

Inside Sales Models and Growing Revenues

Team Hybrid Channel Discrete

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Inside Sales Models and Growing Revenues




High-growth companies also differed in the sources they used to generate their leads. They relied less on traditional lead sources, such as self-generated, direct mail, and traditional media leads, and more on newer, more progressive methods, such as leads generated from social channels and online advertising.


Higher-performing companies are 52% more likely to generate leads

from social channels

Lead Sources

0%

2%

1%

3%

6%

7%

4%

5%

10%

9%

8%

32%

34%

33%

35%

36%

37%

Perc

enta

ge o

f lea

ds c

omin

g fr

om o

ther

sou

rces


20% increase)



Perc

enta

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f sel

f-gen

erat

ed le

ads

Online Advertising Leads

Traditional Media Leads

Social Channels Leads

Direct Mail LeadsSelf-Generated Leads

35.9% 34.2% 33.3%

Lead Sources




Once leads are generated, their information needs to be captured in the data management system of record as quickly, accurately, and efficiently as possible. Minimizing the errors and delays that can be introduced through manual data entry or mass data uploads proved to be correlated with a company’s potential for higher revenues. In fact, companies with the highest revenue gains were more than twice more likely to have more than 80 percent of their total prospects automatically entered into their data management systems.


Percentage of Prospects Automatically Captured


0% 20% 60%40% 100%

Prospects Automatically Entered into Data Management System

41-60% 61-80% 81-90% 91-100%21-40%0-20%



20% increase)

80%

Prospects Automatically Entered into Data Management System




The next step in a sales process is the distribution of leads to individual salespeople. This is another area where sales leaders have many choices. How they choose to distribute leads and to which salesperson is important. While most distribute based on pre-determined criteria, some companies distribute leads randomly. Sometimes, distribution criteria are based on characteristics of the lead or on characteristics of the salesperson, and other times, both are taken into account. Our study found that companies that consider qualities and characteristics of their salespeople in their distribution criteria (such as social proximity to a lead and sales performance with those types of leads) are more likely to have increasing revenues.


Winning Distribution Criteria

Social Proximity

Rep Performance

Other Lead Attributes

Company Size Manager’s Discretion

None (Random

Distribution)

70%

72%

74%

76%

84%

80%

78%

82%

90%

88%

86%

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Winning Distribution Criteria




L E A D C A P T U R E AND DISTRIBUTIONEven after distribution criteria have been applied, sales leaders still have some choices to make on how eligible salespeople will have a specific lead assigned to them. Some common methods include:

• Automatic - System automatically pushes leads into salespeople’s queues based on pre-defined criteria and rules.

• Blind - Salespeople request lead assignments without the ability to see the leads first.

• Cherry-Pick - Salespeople see a list of eligible leads and choose the one they feel they have the best chance of converting.

• First Available - The first salesperson to claim a new lead receives it.

• Manager - A manager manually assigns leads based on pre-defined criteria or at own discretion.

There is no specific method that works best under all conditions. The various distribution methods each have their advantages and disadvantages under different circumstances, but this study did find that using multiple distribution methods can be advantageous, as discovered through previous research4. Companies with significantly increasing revenues were almost 20 percent more likely to employ two or more distribution methods than companies with flat or declining revenues.

4 Best Lead Distribution Methods

Use of Multiple Distribution Methods (2+)

18%

19%

21%

22%

20%

24%

23%

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20% increase)



Use of Multiple Distribution Methods (2+)



http://pages.velocify.com/BestLeadDistributionMethodsC.html?wp=108

http://pages.velocify.com/BestLeadDistributionMethodsC.html?wp=108


Prioritization Criteria

Lead Score Scheduled actions and

appointments

Stage in the sales cycle (lead status)

Individual lead attributes

(revenue, industry, number of

employees, etc.)

Time elapsed since last activity

No specific criteria used

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

Perc

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38%

Salespeople are almost never working only one lead at a time. They are continually assigned new leads, and leads previously assigned to them regularly need follow-up activities. Most salespeople and sales companies use specific criteria to prioritize leads and sales activities around those leads to work most efficiently. Those that do not use any specific prioritization criteria aren’t as likely to experience growing revenues.

L E A D PRIORITIZATION

When companies use lead scoring to prioritize leads they are

38% more likely to experience growing revenues

Prioritization Criteria




Similar to the use of multiple distribution methods, multiple prioritization criteria can be used at the same time to help ensure that salespeople are engaged in the right activity with the most appropriate leads. Companies using multiple prioritization criteria also improve their likelihood of growing revenues. Generally, the more prioritization criteria companies use, the more likely they are to experience growing revenues. In fact, companies with significant revenue growth are 46 percent more likely to use two or more prioritization criteria than companies with flat or declining revenues.



0% 20% 60%40% 100%

Use of Multiple Prioritization Criteria



20% increase)

80%

2 3+10

Use of Multiple Prioritization Criteria




The method by which companies and salespeople apply prioritization criteria to their leads and sales activities is also highly relevant. Prioritization criteria can be applied automatically by an automated system or manually by a salesperson or sales manager. Companies with faster growing revenues are almost twice as likely to use automatic prioritization and about half as likely to use manual prioritization.


Automatic vs. Manual Prioritization

0%

15%

20%

25%

30%

5%

10%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Perc

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sing

prio

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atio

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etho

d



Significant revenue growth (more than 20% increase)

Manager prioritizes leads and sales activities manually for all salespeople

Software automatically prioritizes leads and sales activities based on pre-defined criteria

Automatic vs. Manual Prioritization




SPEED

Several previous research studies have shown the importance of speed in the sales process5, and this study once again confirms that speed is an essential component at various stages. Primarily, speed in first calling new leads is vital to improving conversion rates and closing new sales. Companies with significant revenue growth were much more likely to report calling a greater percentage of their leads in five minutes or less.

Companies with significantly growing revenues were 2x more likely to

report calling most of their leads in under five minutes

5 The Ultimate Contact Strategy


0% 20% 60%40% 100%

Leads Called in Less than 5 Minutes



20% increase)

80%

11-20% 21-30% 31-50% More than 50%6-10%Fewer than 5%

Leads Called in Less than 5 Minutes



http://pages.velocify.com/rs/leads360/images/Ultimate-Contact-Strategy.pdf



SPEED

An important part of the sales process that sometimes conflicts with the ability to call a new prospect quickly is initial, pre-call research on a prospect. Many companies, especially B2B companies, encourage or even require their sales reps to research brand new leads prior to calling them. While this is generally considered a good practice, and may even be necessary in certain industries, our study found that speed-to-call is so important that too much research may be detrimental, especially if it prevents a company from being the first to contact a prospect or from being able to contact the prospect at all. Companies with the fastest growing revenues were 28 percent more likely to spend only 1-5 minutes doing pre-call research and 31 percent less likely to do more than 15 minutes of research prior to calling a new lead.


0% 20% 60%40% 100%

Pre-Call Research



20% increase)

80%

6-15 minutes More than 15 minutes1-5 minutesNone

Pre-Call Research




SPEED

Companies with significantly growing revenues are 3x more likely to

redistribute leads if they are left unattended for 15 minutes

What happens when a new lead is assigned to a salesperson and that salesperson isn’t able to call quickly? Most companies redistribute leads when prospects are left unattended for too long, in hopes that a different salesperson will follow-up faster. Companies with significant revenue growth were the most likely to practice redistribution of leads, with 70 percent of those companies indicating they redistribute. We also found that, among companies that do redistribute, the fastest growing companies also had the strictest rules around the amount of time they wait before unattended leads are redistributed. They are the most likely to redistribute a lead if it is left unattended for 15 minutes, and they are the least likely to wait more than two days before redistributing unattended leads.


0% 20% 60%40% 100%

Time Elapsed Before Redistribution of Unattended Leads



20% increase)

80%

1-2 hours 2-8 hours15-60 minutes 1-2 days 2-7 days8-24 hoursLess than 15 minutes

Time Elapsed Before Redistribution of Unattended Leads





0% 20% 60%40% 100%

Email Practices in Inside Sales



20% increase)

80%

Manual - as soon as posible AutomaticManual - but timing varies widelyEmail communication is not a normal part of the sales process for new prospects

SPEED

Speed in responding to new leads isn’t only important when it comes to phone calls - responding quickly via email also seems to make a difference. More than 85 percent of the fastest growing companies respond to new leads automatically or manually as soon as possible via email, compared to only about half of all companies with flat or declining revenues. Nonetheless, it is a bit surprising that in this day and age, with the number of email automation tools available, less than half of even the fastest growing companies use automated emails as part of their standard sales process.

One of the benefits of contacting leads as quickly as possible is that the sales cycle itself can be shortened. By routing leads to salespeople more quickly, calling them faster, and using a multi-channel approach that includes email to reach new leads, companies can improve their chances of engaging with prospects sooner so that they can move through the sales cycle quicker. Companies with the fastest revenue growth were more likely to have sales cycles that were shorter than 90 days in length, and they were the least likely to have sales cycles that were longer than one year.


0% 20% 60%40% 100%

Length of Sales Cycle



20% increase)

80%

3-6 months 6 months to 1 year 1-2 years31-90 daysLess than 30 days

Email Practices in Inside Sales

Length of Sales Cycle




B A L A N C E IN PERSISTENCEEven if a company is extremely fast, not all leads will be contacted on the first call. This is where persistence can pay off. Previous research has shown that calling multiple times can be beneficial, but there also comes a point when the cost of making additional calls outweighs the potential benefit of converting that hard to reach lead6. This study found that for fast growing companies that balance was reached at between five and eight calls. Companies with the fastest growing revenues were most likely to attempt calling unresponsive leads five to eight times before moving them to a nurture status, and they were the least likely to give up prior to attempting at least four calls.

6 The Ultimate Contact Strategy


0% 20% 60%40% 100%

Number of Calls to Unresponsive Leads



20% increase)

80%

More than 85-80-4

Number of Calls to Unresponsive Leads






B A L A N C E IN PERSISTENCESimilarly, there should be a balance in the length of time an unresponsive lead should be actively pursued. Giving up too soon or placing all call attempts within a short period of time is likely to leave some strong potential revenue on the table. However, dragging out the time salespeople spend chasing unresponsive leads is likely to result in wasted resources and many fruitless efforts. The fastest growing companies were the most likely to indicate that the appropriate time to attempt contact with unresponsive leads prior to moving them to a nurture status is one to four weeks. They were the least likely to give up after only a week and also the least likely to continue attempting to contact unresponsive leads for more than one month.

Time to Attempt Contact Prior to Moving to Nurture

Significant revenue growth (more than 20% increase)Slight revenue growth (5% to 20% increase)Flat or declining revenue

Less than 1 week 1-2 weeks 3-4 weeks 1-2 months 3 months or longer

0%

10%

20%

25%

15%

35%

30%

5%

Perc

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Time to Attempt Contact Prior to Moving to Nurture




B A L A N C E IN PERSISTENCEWhen it comes to voicemail, leaving more isn’t necessarily better. In fact, the fastest growing companies are the least likely to leave voicemails on every missed call or even on most missed calls. High-growth companies are the most likely to leave voicemails on about half of all missed calls. Again, balance is key - leaving only one voicemail or none at all does not seem to be the most effective, but neither does leaving too many voicemails.

Leaving Voicemails

Never or only once

Less than half the time On about half of all missed calls

On most missed calls On every missed call

0%

10%

20%

25%

15%

35%

30%

5%

Significant revenue growth (more than 20% increase)Slight revenue growth (5% to 20% increase)Flat or declining revenue

Perc

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Leaving Voicemails




SUMMARY

This study highlights the differences in a number of aspects of the inside sales process that exist between companies with increasing revenues and those that have flat or declining revenues. Obviously, there isn’t just one set of processes or solutions that will work for every sales organization, but it is important to consider and evaluate the options available and determine the best ones to implement. Once decisions have been made about the best practices for one’s own company, steps should be taken to ensure that salespeople have the right tools and resources available to follow these best practices.

Implementing a well-thought-out strategy consistently across an entire organization will inevitably yield better results than the sum of the individual strategies that each salesperson may come up with on his or her own, even if that strategy isn’t perfect and needs fine tuning. The self-reported practices of the most successful companies uncovered in this study are very much in alignment with the best practices previously uncovered by studying actual practices implemented across millions of leads and the outcome of those practices. However, previous research has also shown that what sales leaders think their teams are doing isn’t always reality. Knowing what to do doesn’t get results unless that knowledge is actually put to practice and monitored.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Evaluate and implement the technology solutions (including CRM and sales acceleration tools) that will best enable you to administer and monitor your chosen, optimal process.

2. Sales automation tools are an effective way to ensure inside sales processes and best practices are followed. Automation software also saves valuable time and resources and ultimately leads to higher conversion rates.

3. Working smarter rather than harder will enable your salespeople to become more productive and will help your sales team achieve the speed and balance required for success.

4. An effective inside sales process can have as much, if not more, of an impact on generating revenue than lead quality or an individual salesperson’s skills and abilities.



Velocify is a market-leading provider of cloud-based intelligent sales software, designed for high-velocity sales environments. Velocify helps sales teams keep pace with the speed of opportunity and increase revenue by driving rapid lead response, increased selling discipline, improved productivity, and actionable selling insights. The company has helped more than 1,500 companies across a variety of industries improve customer acquisition practices and sales performance. Velocify was recently recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in North America by Deloitte and a Best Place to Work by the Los Angeles Business Journal. For more information, please visit velocify.com or follow the company on Twitter @Velocify.

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The AA-ISP is an international association dedicated exclusively to advancing the profession of Inside Sales. The association engages in research studies, organizational benchmarking, and leadership round tables to better understand and analyze the trends, challenges, and key components of the growth and development of the Inside Sales industry. The association’s mission is to help inside sales representatives and leaders to leverage information and resources through published content, local community chapters, national conferences, career development, and an Inside Sales accreditation program. For more information, please visit aa-isp.org

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