The most successful sales teams are made up of reps who feel like they are always supported, prepared, and empowered to do their best. One of the quickest ways for a sales manager to negate those feelings is to micro-manage their team. It is no doubt that managing a sales team effectively can be tough, especially if you have reps working from different locations.
But, in the ever-growing world of digital sales technology, there is an answer that can help — sales management software. Sales management tools will eliminate the need to micromanage your team and optimize your management effectiveness. This is because you’ll be able to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening through a real-time, big picture view of all of your reps, from the minute they are hired.
Armed with all of this information, you’ll then be able to give your reps what they need to feel both supported and empowered. Plus, you’ll be able to make data-backed business decisions to help optimize processes and grow revenue.
As you’ll soon see, the best way to manage your reps in today’s business environment (and into the future) is through utilizing the power and ease-of-use of sales management software. In this article, we’ll explain exactly what sales management is, why you should be using it, and some of the best sales management tools you can try out today.
What Is Sales Management?
While the exact definition will vary from one company to the next, in general, sales management is the process of developing, overseeing, and leading sales representatives to achieve sales goals and grow revenue. This is done by creating and implementing objectives, processes, and strategies to help your sales team be as effective as possible.
There are several different aspects of sales management but they all revolve around four core components:
- People – Leading the hiring, training, and onboarding of new reps, as well as on-going coaching and morale boosting
- Strategy – Setting the vision and strategy of the sales team through developing and adapting the sales process, establishing a sales pipeline, setting and tracking sales goals, and separating sales territories
- Activities – Overseeing the daily activities of your sales reps through each phase of the sales process. This also means addressing issues where necessary, helping to steer the team in the right direction, and celebrating wins
- Analysis/Reporting – Using in-depth analytics and reporting on all aspects of sales activity to evaluate and communicate to the sales team progress towards sales goals, what needs to be improved, what is working, and where new opportunities may lie. Sales managers will also use this data to put together quantitative sales forecasting to predict future sales revenue and update team sales goals as necessary
In practice, sales management can positively affect everyone that is involved in the sales cycle. The more seasoned your sales process is and the more you as the manager improve it over time, the easier it will be for your team to consistently achieve top performance.
The Benefits of Sales Management Software
To truly be successful at sales management today and have a top-performing sales team, you have to utilize the tools that are available to you. The benefits of employing sales management software will allow you to optimize not only your effectiveness when it comes to managing a sales team but also your reps’ effectiveness in closing deals. These benefits include:
A Comprehensive Big Picture View
You can only improve upon what you can keep track of. So, when you have a comprehensive view of everything that is happening with your reps, customers, and sales numbers in real-time you can make strategic, informed decisions to help propel growth. This is one of the biggest advantages of sales management software.
In many of the sales management systems, at the click of a button you have access to all of your reps’ activities in real-time, as well as the current progress towards sales goals, your sales pipeline, and more. With this birds-eye-view of everything you need to know, you can manage your team without having to constantly micro-manage reps to find out what is happening and provide direction. You will be more effective as a manager and your reps will be empowered to focus on selling.
Enhanced Team Collaboration
Alongside that big-picture view from a managerial perspective, it also means your team will all be on the same page as well. Sales management software can summarize everything that is being done by your sales team, as well as current sales numbers, and present that data in a way that allows everyone to clearly understand what and how the team is doing as a whole.
Easy access to this information in a centralized location diminishes the need for time-consuming meetings, while also bringing in an enhanced sense of collaboration across your company. This type of transparency and collaboration will not only be informative but also inspirational for every member of your team and even throughout the rest of the company.
More Effective Account Management
Your sales management system can serve as an invaluable database that not only houses all of your customer and account information but organizes and helps manage it as well, even with a large number of accounts. This will enable you to effectively assign accounts and prospects to your reps, separate territories, and pinpoint new opportunities in less time and without worrying about anything falling through the cracks.
Strategically managing your accounts through sales management software will also help you and your team identify and prioritize customers and prospects that will result in the most revenue. You can also more effectively match leads with certain reps who would be best suited to handle that particular account. Thus allowing you to convert more leads and help propel even further sales growth.
Improved Analytics & Reporting
In-depth analytics is essential for improved sales management. Sales management systems will empower you with the ability to easily assess the sales cycle, customer profiles, sales activity, the effectiveness of sales processes and tools, and much more.
Then, you can easily break the information down further and separate it by rep, territory, or other factors so that attention can be diverted only where it needs to be. You can also easily share pertinent information with your team when needed to further keep everyone on the same page and motivated for success.
Plus, the improved analytics and reporting you’ll get also mean improved accuracy in your sales forecasting. When your data is easily managed, up-to-date, and easily accessible, you can confidently create sales forecasts that are based on factual sales data.
Improved Sales Performance
Sales management software will not only save you and other sales managers time and improve your effectiveness, but also that of your sales reps. This is because many of the sales management processes will become automated. This means your reps will be able to focus more on selling and less on time-consuming repetitive tasks like updating customer data, sending follow-ups, scheduling reminders, etc.
You and your team can utilize sales management tools to automatically schedule tasks needed for the sales process, create follow-up reminders, and delegate tasks to relevant team members. Thus significantly improving both sales performance and company revenue.
Saving Money
Even though implementing sales management software may be an added company expense in the beginning, it will actually end up saving your company money in the long run. This is because, with sales management tools, all of the processes will be streamlined, everything will be much more organized, and everyone will be on the same page and focused on increasing sales. This means a reduction in manual errors, time spent on administrative tasks, and time spent on leads that are not going to yield the most return.
Best Sales Management Tools Available Now
If you are looking for the best software for sales management, the number of options available today can be overwhelming. But, we’ve done the digging for you and put together a list of the best sales management tools available. Check out the use cases for each to help you determine which tool might be a good fit for you and your team.
Here are some of the top sales management tools to choose from:
Map My Customers
Best for a sales manager with reps working in different locations
Ideally, for a sales management tool, you want one that will help with all components of sales management within one platform. On top of that, if you have a team of reps working from different locations, you need a tool that can easily summarize everything your reps are doing and work on the go as well. Map My Customers ticks all the boxes.
This mobile-first, all-in-one software maximizes your sales management efforts and your team’s effectiveness, no matter if it’s being used on a desktop or mobile device. The purpose-built sales tool creates a more intuitive workflow for everyone, making it easy for you to make data-backed decisions and equip your reps with what they need to capitalize on opportunities.
Map My Customers provides you with a real-time, birds-eye-view of everything going on. This in-depth data, all housed in a centralized location, will give you a complete understanding of your reps’ activities, your team’s progress towards sales goals, and even visualization of your pipeline without you having to be overbearing. Leaving your reps undistracted and focused on effective selling. With the click of a button directly from within the tool, your reps can email, call, or route to customers quickly and easily. In just a few taps, reps can also Check-In with an account, and, based on their location, the app will then pre-fill and timestamp information. You and your reps can also automate follow-ups and reminders to ensure no customers or prospects fall through the cracks.
The Map My Customers Weekly Scorecard feature updates leaders on their team’s sales performance in their inbox. Every Monday, leaders receive a weekly email with their teams’ key sales stats. The Scorecard can be customized to see activities completed, companies added, pipeline created, and more. The Team Leaderboard shows who is the MVP and who needs more coaching.
The easy-to-use platform can stand on its own as your sales CRM and main software tool or it also integrates with many of the leading CRM options. Map My Customers enables you to reap all of the benefits of optimized sales management and empowers your reps to focus on maximizing sales.
Start your 14-day free trial with Map My Customers
HubSpot Sales Hub
Best for a sales manager looking for native integration with Hubspot CRM
With native integration with the Hubspot CRM, HubSpot Sales Hub is another multi-faceted sales management resource to empower you and your team. The platform acts as an all-encompassing database (where all of your team’s prospect and deal information can easily be input and tracked), saves you and your reps precious time, helps you manage your team more effectively, and helps your reps close more deals faster.
As a sales manager, with HubSpot Sales Hub you’ll have real-time data at your fingertips and the ability to get full visibility into the health of your company’s sales efforts. With in-depth analytics and reporting, visual pipeline management, sales management playbooks, and more, you’ll have everything you need to optimize your management and your team’s performance.
Your sales reps will have the tools they need to start more conversations, deepen relationships, and increase their sales effectiveness.
Pipedrive
Best for a sales manager who is wanting to increase focus on the sales pipeline
To provide a clear view of your sales processes and where opportunities may lie, you need a well-managed sales pipeline. So, for those who are wanting a sales CRM with powerful sales pipeline management, Pipedrive is your answer. The software helps boost your sales process with powerful pipeline management made easy, as well as deal tracking, in-depth reporting, and sales forecasting. You and your team can manage leads and deals and track them along every step of the sales funnel all while automating administrative tasks and tracking sales communications.
Pipedrive helps you visually organize your business, make data-backed management decisions to improve sales processes, capitalize on opportunities, and easily measure performance.
Workbooks CRM
Best for a sales manager looking for a software solution for cross-department teams
Workbooks CRM provides a cloud-based sales management solution for companies who are looking for a powerful, synergistic platform that can be used across the sales, marketing, order processing, and customer service teams. The sales management functionality includes the ability to track sales rep activity, record customer interactions, and sync email with Microsoft Outlook.
The software platform will help you capture the knowledge you need to effectively manage opportunities, improve sales prospecting, optimize conversion rates, and promote best practices throughout your team. Workbooks CRM improves your insight into your team’s sales performance and pipeline, enabling you to refine the sales process and optimize each sales cycle.
Pair these sales management features with a robust marketing automation engine and you have an ideal solution for cross-department teams.
Close.io
Best for a sales manager looking to optimize sales activity management
The Close.io CRM is another powerful sales management tool to help you keep your finger on the pulse of sales activities and make proactive, data-backed management decisions to help propel your sales team to meet their goals. No matter if they are inbound, outbound, or remote.
Through visually detailed reporting features you can view both the performance and activity of individual reps and your overall sales team, as well as monitor progress towards sales goals over time. You can easily analyze sales data to uncover insights that matter and pinpoint opportunities to capitalize on.
Close.io also brings all of your team’s sales communications together in one central location, helping your team increase productivity. This robust software includes built-in capabilities for calling, emailing, and SMS communications. With powerful search and filter functions, it also makes it easy for you and your reps to focus on the right leads at the right time. Automate and connect Close.io with other sales apps in your stack with Close.io’s built-in API.
Optimize Your Sales Management With Powerful Technology
Businesses that thrive today have mastered sales management. A big part of that is utilizing powerful technology that can make it much easier. Sales management software, like the ones we have covered above, will enable you to monitor and optimize everything that is happening within your sales team and the sales cycle itself.
Take some of the tools we mentioned above for a test drive and see what works for you and your team. Help your company stay ahead of the competition and unlock unlimited opportunities for growth and success by implementing sales management software today!
