4 Practices to Double Your Outbound Sales Results
It was 2010. America was just coming out of the Great Recession. The credit union outbound sales team I was leading had just doubled its sales results for the second time that year. My team and I were confident and optimistic about the future. However, that wasn’t the case just fifteen months prior.The previous year, the sales team had gone through a major restructuring. The manager and half of the sales agents had been let go. While those who remained were relieved to still be employed during this very difficult time, it was bitter sweet relief. Those coworkers who were let go were all good friends and we felt for them and their families.
One of the main reasons the team had been restructured was a steep drop in sales to levels well below what was acceptable.
Sales numbers had fallen nearly 80% from previous highs despite having a talented and experienced staff.
After the restructuring, I was offered the opportunity to lead the team with a very clear expectation to get the sales results back on track and up to previous levels. I was given a mere 6 months in which to accomplish this and fewer outbound sales agents on the phones.
Luckily for me, the foundation for success was in place to reach these goals. Before being let go, the previous manager had invested time developing a new direction and new lead opportunities to meet the changes the recession had brought. In fact, these new lead sources provided the team with more sales opportunities than ever before. The problem was that the approaches which had brought success in the past didn’t work effectively with the new opportunity and the team lacked the direction to change their approach. Faced with what felt at first like an impossible task, I knew we needed to retrain and quickly motivate the team if we were going to hit our six-month deadline. I, with the support of my boss and insight from the outbound team, got right to work creating and implementing a new strategy which ultimately led to a 300% increase in agent production over the next twelve months. This new strategy required some changes, and as they helped our team succeed, I’d like to share them with you.Here are four things we changed as a team, which not only helped us blow past the outbound team’s previous sales levels, but ultimately enabled us to double our performance within a year.
- Clearly Communicate the Expectations
One of the first challenges my boss and I tackled was to establish clear expectations for the team. Clear expectations are critical for the success of any team, but they need to be smart expectations and there must be accountability to those expectations.
My outbound sales team had been given a goal to return sales results back to previous levels within six months. To accomplish this goal, individual agent production would need to increase to twice what it had been. That concerned us. However, as we reviewed past performance and the opportunity the new and improved lead sources provided my boss and I felt confident that each agent was more than capable of reaching the new expectations. The new number became the minimum expectation for the role.
To help clearly communicate the importance of reaching this expectation, a procedure for corrective action was developed for addressing situations when agents were unable to meet the minimum expectations of the position. If agents were unable to meet the threshold three months in a row, or any three months in a six-month timeframe, corrective action would take place including possible termination. However, we did not immediately enforce the corrective action. Agents were given six months to bring their sales production up before these procedures kicked in. And as long as they were progressing towards the new expectation, they were recognized as performing.
2. Establish a Process to Capture the Opportunity
The new lead sources from which the outbound agents would be calling provided a challenge. This new opportunity required a better sales approach in order to achieve the desired level....-->
It was 2010. America was just coming out of the Great Recession. The credit union outbound sales team I was leading had just doubled its sales results for the second time that year. My team and I were confident and optimistic about the future. However, that wasn’t the case just fifteen months prior.The previous year, the sales team had gone through a major restructuring. The manager a...