2022 was the year of overwhelm

Constantly behind on work and grinding more for diminishing results. That’s where real-time call coaching tools come in.

That’s the nice thing about a new year, isn’t it? It’s a clean break from the past and an opportunity to sweep out the old for the new.

But there are different ways to think about change. There’s the old way – that is, pushing harder just to get incremental results… and then there’s the new way of using leverage to multiply your results.

That distinction will make all the difference between a massively productive 2023 versus one filled with more pain and suffering. Read on to see what I mean.

The problem with old-school productivity

For the longest time, productivity has been about doing “physically” more.

If you’re an SDR, an easy example is making more dials. If you’re a sales manager, an example is trying to squeeze a few more call reviews into your day (even if it means listening to them during a commute or your break). You get the picture.

But productivity isn’t limited to posting bigger numbers or putting in more reps. It’s also about playing the game smarter.

Source: https://www.leadersharp.com/publications/avoiding-job-burnout-where-are-you-on-the-stress-curve/

For example, let’s say you wanted to increase your qualified opportunities (which leads to increased closes and revenue). You could:

If your team is already pounding the pavement, the first option might yield marginal gains, if any. In other words, if your team is already working at capacity, there might not be a lot of room to add “more.” 

That’s the problem with old-school productivity thinking. 

It’s linear.

In 2023, it’s time to change that mentality. Instead of thinking “linear,” it’s time to think “exponential.”

How do you do that? Well, by continuing to play hard, of course, but with the addition of a killer element that lets you achieve scale like never before: real-time call coaching tools. 

Transform your team’s productivity

1) Cut down on call reviews

In a perfect world, you’d be able to clone yourself and review every one of your SDRs or AEs calls. Your team would improve insanely fast, right?

Unfortunately, the reality is you’re only one person, and you’ve got a million different things to do.

On top of that, while you realize call reviews are beneficial to your reps, your backlog of calls to review is way… too… long. And if you’re lucky, you get to review a few of them daily – if that.

How do you scale yourself? Use real-time call coaching tools. 

Leveraging real-time call coaching tools is like giving feedback to your team on literally every call. No longer does your team get targeted feedback only once every blue moon, far after the calls happened. They get accurate feedback right away, while they’re on the phone.

Plus you can even dive deeper into calls and utilize coaching opportunities when you see your SDRs or AEs struggling with the same issues.

This means you can cut down on your call-review responsibilities while increasing coaching velocity and getting better conversions across the board. Now that’s leverage.

2) Improve accuracy for higher conversions

Through lots of trial and error, you’ve developed sales motions and talk tracks that work like a charm. Now, all your SDRs have to do is follow the path you’ve laid out for them.

The problem is, your team isn’t a carbon copy of you. They come with different skills, personalities, and experience levels.

Not only that but there’s the simple concept of human error — SDRs can forget to ask certain qualifying questions or how to answer specific objections. 

You know very well what unpredictability in sales motions means, it means unpredictable sales and revenue. 

Scale yourself with real-time call coaching software. Let the software be an extension of you.

3) Take team motivation through the roof

Effort has a direct effect on success in sales, which is why every sales manager constantly worries about their team’s level of motivation.

You’ve probably heard of the two types of motivation: extrinsic and intrinsic. The former means using external rewards, such as money or praise, to motivate. Because it relies on a constant stream of external rewards, it’s been found to be of limited effectiveness.

Intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, is far more powerful. It arises when someone is motivated by internal rewards and engages in an activity simply because they enjoy it. 

How do you bring about intrinsic motivation? By trusting your team. By letting them act independently and self-improve, rather than constantly being told what to do.

That’s the intangible element you’ll get from real-time call coaching tools. Your SDRs can see on calls how they’re doing by immediately getting precise post-call data to see how they performed.

This allows each sales rep to become an expert, diagnosing what they could have done better. And it leads to the rapid, measurable improvement that sales managers dream of. 

Why? 

Because reps aren’t being lectured at anymore. Now, they have an internal fire to see just how good they can get.

If every single person on your team were constantly improving because they wanted to, what would that do for your results?

It’s the start of a new year. The perfect time to sweep away rote, tedious processes and introduce tech that will multiply your team’s productivity. 

More Dials Doesn’t Equal More Opportunities

Wrapping this up, there are three main things you can do to help your sales team’s productivity in 2023.

1. Get out of the old school thinking that more “work” means more results. 
2. Utilize real-time call coaching tools to boost SDR performance, cut down on call reviews, and give live feedback to your team between calls.
3. Convert the opportunities that come your way as the B2B SaaS world is transforming and you need to take advantage of anything that comes your way.

If you’re interested in checking out our real-time call coaching tool that is configurable to you and your team. That’s great! If not, take a look at the market and see what your competitors are doing when it comes to technology advancements in their tech stack.

Resources:

1. https://www.leadersharp.com/publications/avoiding-job-burnout-where-are-you-on-the-stress-curve/