10 Mistakes That Could Kill Your Sales Results

to find the right long-term employees. While in-house motivation techniques can light an initial spark, finding long-term sales reps who are inherently driven and self-motivated is the key to supporting continued growth.

• No visibility into your sales pipeline. The minute you lose touch with your sales pipeline, you lose control of your sales team. To increase visibility, use analytics to track the right sales pipeline metrics, such as how long a specific opportunity has been in that sales pipeline stage, or the average size of all opportunities scheduled to close over a specific period.
• No system for properly qualifying leads. When the handoff of leads from your marketing to sales team isn't smooth, or each team's respective goals aren't aligned, you will see it in your sales numbers. Perhaps your marketing team has changed gears without keeping you in the loop, or maybe they're waiting until the end of the quarter to bring a fair number of qualifying leads to the table. Get to the root of the problem and create a system that will work long-term for both parties.
• Poor time management. Sales reps who aren't motivated—either intrinsically or extrinsically—will not be as efficient as they could be. Try tracking daily activities to see if any reps are falling behind or wasting time.
• No role specialization. Successful inside sales reps and successful outside sales reps require two very different sets of skills. To amplify these distinct skill sets, emphasize the difference between the two when you hire, train, and support reps. Treat each sales team differently based on their roles, skill set, and personality.
• Your team is too complacent. If you see your numbers plateau, it could be because your sales team is stagnant. When sale reps get comfortable, zero growth occurs. Each month, push them to reach a high sales quota, stretch their skills, and feel challenged in their jobs.

Achieving a high-growth sales model won't occur overnight. It requires constant tweaking, a major time investment, and long-term consistency. Avoiding major hurdles known to slow down a sales team will spur you on to bigger growth. It's time to get to the root of why you may be struggling, and get on the path to success by avoiding the most common sales team pitfalls.

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Zorian Rotenberg is a vice president at InsightSquared.

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