These recent turbulences have significantly impacted buying behaviors. Research by McKinsey<\/a> and Company found <\/u>that over 70% of B2B decision-makers prefer remote human interactions or digital self-service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But, sellers are responding to today’s ever-changing sales world by making more calls, more emails, and more pitches. They make the same calls, and send the same emails to everybody, hoping against hope to book a meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, they find themselves booking fewer and fewer meetings. Their sales cycles<\/a> become longer and longer as they struggle to close deals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why has it come to this? In this arms race as to who sends the most aggressive outreach, many salespeople have become blind to the prospects\u2019 buyer journey<\/u><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some prospects are already looking for a solution. All you need to do is reach out with a personalized message, and you have your meeting. But, there are others who are not so further along in the buying journey. Some experience the problem you solve, but not intensely enough to make them active solution-seekers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, most sales reps don\u2019t consider where the buyer is in their journey. This creates a mismatch between what sales teams do and what prospects want at every step. Reps execute the same set of activities for all the prospects, without realizing that prospects only engage with them if the outreach is relevant to them. They keep amping up their outreach efforts, only to see the results dwindle day after day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not changing the sales process according to your buyer\u2019s journey is sales rigidity. And its result? Fatigued prospects, frustrated salespeople, and floundering pipelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under this sales rigidity, desperate reps work under fear of not knowing where their next meeting is coming from. They feel exhausted after seeing little to no results for their hard work. No wonder 89% of sales reps feel burned out, according to a Gartner survey<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, is there a light at the end of this tunnel called sales rigidity? Yes, there is, and it is called sales agility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAgile\u201d means<\/u> <\/a>to have a \u201cquick, resourceful, and adaptable character.\u201d So, agile selling means understanding your buyers and changing your approaches quickly based on their behavior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To put it another way, the agile approach involves contacting prospects on the right channel, reaching out to them at the right time, and tailoring sequences with the right message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With agile selling, sales professionals can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For outreach, SDRs usually take a reactive approach: They take the list of prospects, add them to a sales cadence and start the various tasks (emails, calls, etc.) mechanically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But, no two prospects are the same, as they might be in two different stages of the buyer\u2019s journey. Having a single cadence that resonates with prospects at different stages of intent\u2014whether it\u2019s low, medium, or high\u2014might make your sales process rigid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To convert rigidity into agility, sales reps must be proactive instead of reactive. The proactive approach has 2 aspects: Gauging the prospect\u2019s intent through their activities, and reaching out to prospects using different channels based on where they are in their buying journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Within a cadence, a prospect shows intent by opening emails, replying, clicking links, or accepting LinkedIn requests. For example, a prospect who has opened 8 out of your 9 follow-ups and clicked a couple of links has higher buying intent than someone who has opened only 6 emails and doesn\u2019t reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, based on the activity metrics like opens, clicks, and replies, as well as the frequency of these activities, the SDRs must drive prospects with high buying intent into one cadence, the moderate intent group into a different cadence, and those with shallow intent to the third cadence. <\/p>\n\n\n –<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of solely depending on one particular channel and carrying out blind follow-ups, sales reps can choose the channel which has the best chance to get a reply based on the buying interest of the prospect, and the channel that prospects prefer to engage with them (some may prefer email, while others may prefer calls or LinkedIn or WhatsApp, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n This way, your sales team can hold the hands of prospects wherever they might be in their buying journey, and direct them to the next step in their respective cadences. Sales agility is all about your sales team executing the right <\/em>activities and not more <\/em>activities.<\/p>\n\n\n Sales playbooks tell SDRs the best practices for the different stages of the sales cycle, what the buyer personas are, the possible pain points of prospects, and map out the buyer\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A tool is only as good as its user. You may have the best sales playbook that\u2019s out there. But if your sales teams are repeating the same steps with scant regard for where the prospect is in their buyer\u2019s journey, your playbook is bound to go outdated, and sales success would elude you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, sales teams need to plan, execute, measure, and optimize interactions with prospects according to where they are in the buyer\u2019s journey. This will allow reps to have more meaningful conversations with prospects, and ultimately, help win more deals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what will help you turn playbooks into processes. A sales engagement platform that seamlessly integrates with your CRM will help you track the results better, and make you an agile seller.<\/p>\n\n\n Isn\u2019t it absurd that salespeople spend<\/u><\/a> over 66% of their time on activities that don\u2019t generate revenue? Unfortunately, that\u2019s the reality we live in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With SDRs spending most of their time updating CRMs and on other administrative activities, they hardly have time left to do what they\u2019re supposed to do\u2014selling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To boost the productivity of reps, automate all their mundane tasks. Use tools that eliminate activities like copy-pasting details from the CRM, schedule pending tasks effectively, allow prospects to automatically book meetings on the rep\u2019s calendars, and allow SDRs to personalize emails at scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Using a sales engagement platform <\/a>will help you simplify your quest to automate and make your reps full-fledged agile sellers. An effective SEP will automate routine tasks, make the CRM workflow hassle-free to do away with manually entering data, and allow personalization across all channels at scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n –<\/p>\n\n\n\n For a sales team, fostering a culture of accountability is essential, as it\u2019ll allow every salesperson in the team to take ownership of their tasks and give their best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Accountability first needs the setting of clear goals<\/a> for the sales team. This will allow managers to align their expectations with the team and the salespeople can plan their course of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are 2 aspects to goal setting: output goals and input goals. The output goal is the overarching objective for the sales team (like doubling revenue in a year), while the input goals are incremental objectives to be achieved daily, weekly, and monthly (like prospects contacted and meetings booked). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sales managers need to set the output goal first and plan the input goals to measure the progress towards the goal. Keeping these goals transparent so that each salesperson knows what\u2019s exactly expected of them will help them stay on track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While planning the input goals, managers need to remember to focus on short-cycle plans, such as daily and weekly goals, rather than solely relying on quotas. Daily and weekly plans create a sense of urgency and keeps the team motivated, while also making it easier to track the progress toward the output goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After setting your output and input goals, next comes constant measuring and reviewing of performances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Break big tasks into sprints<\/u><\/a> for the last 1-2 weeks. The short time frame of these sprints will help the teams focus more and narrow their attention down to specific input goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, hold daily standups with your team members to take stock of what each salesperson is working on, what they\u2019ve accomplished since the last meeting, and what obstacles they are facing. This would also help in measuring your team\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This way, the sales manager will have their ears constantly on the ground. Frequent reviews will provide flexibility in your sales strategy, allowing you to quickly adjust your goals and define new metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the economic downturn and looming recession, sales cycles are bound to get longer and longer. As spending tightens, many buyers will keep finding more reasons to say no to you. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat Is Agile Selling?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Make Your Sales Team Agile With These 5 Steps<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Have a Flexible Sales Process by Following Buyer\u2019s Journey<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Infographic](\"https:\/\/www.klenty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/using-prospects-intent-clients.webp\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"Infographic](\"https:\/\/www.klenty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/using-different-channels-client-reaching.webp\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n2. Actively Turn Playbooks Into Processes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"infographic](\"https:\/\/www.klenty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/book-more-meetings-by-converting-playbooks-into-processes.webp\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n3. Automate Mundane Tasks To Boost Your Rep\u2019s Productivity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Encourage Accountability By Setting Clear Goals<\/h3>\n\n\n
![\"visual](\"https:\/\/www.klenty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/visual-representation-input-output-goals-agile-selling.webp\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n5. Measure and Review Performance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Top 4 Benefits of Implementing Agile Selling for Your Business<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Visual](\"https:\/\/www.klenty.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/4-benefits-of-agile-selling-sales-teams.webp\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1. Optimize Buying Experience for Economic Downturn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n