10 Mistakes That Could Kill Your Sales Results

It can be difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint what's holding your sales team back from an increase in sales revenue and improved long-term growth potential. Real-time insight, data analytics, and the right sales performance metrics may identify problematic areas, but they don't always get to the root of sales troubles.

Being able to quickly diagnose major issues can keep you on track to hit your quarterly and annual sales goals. In addition to having systems in place to focus on lead qualification and opportunity creation, you also need powerful sales analytics and business intelligence tools that help with data-driven sales coaching. And even if you have the aforementioned devices in place, there is always room for improvement—avoid killing your results with these 10 common sales team mistakes.

1. Ineffective or inconsistent use of CRM. Customer relationship management (CRM) tools can be incredibly useful for sales reps and managers. But if you fail to customize the software for your own company, or use the tools wrong, you're wasting a powerful tool and resources.
2. Not enough sales coaching. With so much to do and little time to do it, coaching outside of initial sales onboarding is often put on the back burner. Without consistent one-on-one coaching, it's impossible to develop your reps' sales skills and actually improve your bottom line.
3. Too much shake-up in senior management. Any drastic shake-up in management can have a severe, lasting impact on your sales team's results. Often unintentionally, new managers walk in the door with different expectations and subtle changes in sales strategy based on their personal experiences. Changes at the top trickle down and can impact even the most tenured sales reps. Be as open as possible if changes in senior management are made.
4. Unclear insight into wins and losses. If you don't know what winning deals look like, or don't understand why you're losing deals, there is no clear-cut method to avoiding the same mistakes in the future. In our most recent benchmarking report, a few secrets of fast-growth companies were revealed. We found, for example, that high-growth teams are more selective in the opportunities they pursue, closing deals that are 2.8 times larger on average than those of slow-growth sales teams. By having powerful analytics and business intelligence in place, you gain a clearer insight into the nuances of your own sales wins and losses, and can implement the appropriate changes to support sales growth accordingly.
5. Hiring the wrong sales reps. You might have hired people who are smart, passionate, and "coachable," but as time has gone on, they aren't as savvy or on fire for your company as they were at first. Don't be afraid to retool your hiring process 
   

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