Your sales message is irrelevant. Today's customers are better informed and more connected than ever before and to sell effectively, your message needs to be tailored. And your sales team--as well as your entire organization--needs to be plugged into what matters most to your customer.

According to CEB, “Today’s business buyers do not contact suppliers directly until 57 percent of the purchase process is complete.That means for nearly two thirds of the buying process, your customers are out in the ether: Forming opinions, learning technical specifications, building requirements lists.”

Today’s informed customer presents greater challenges, as well as exciting opportunities.

Traditionally, salespeople have relied on call scripts and data sheets. In today’s world, the empowered customer demands a tailored message as relevant to their needs as the results of a Google search.   

But to improve sales performance, your salespeople must understand their prospects and customers including what they know, and provide them with the best customer experience during the buying process--it’s a tall order! 

The demands of the customer experience require tools that allow your reps to be in tune with the market, your customer’s buying profile, and the tactics to win.  

So how do you improve performance across your sales team? Start by answering these key questions. 

1. Relevant data stimulates sales: Do your reps understand individual buyers and markets? 

If you’re relevant, you matter. Your rep finally got his foot in the door, and needs to make his pitch resonate because he has one shot. Give him access to all of your customer’s information in one place on the go. This includes company updates, winning tactics, and up to date account and contact information. Effective sales forces meet these challenges. 

2. Targeted messaging quickens sales: How do you connect customer insights to your sales reps?

Using that relevant data, cut to the chase. Show the customer what is important to their business at that moment. Build customer trust faster to sell faster. How can you help your reps do this? Arm them! Instant access to internal approvals, legal, and product teams will remove internal barriers. In the moment feedback from managers, access to real time contact changes, and insights from prospect’s social channels will have them ready for any surprises.   

3. Make employees resources: What are you doing to enrich the skills mix amongst your employees to build a foundation of human capital each rep can tap into? 

You have more bandwidth than you know. Your employees in product, marketing, and engineering have expertise and information that make your message more relevant. Empower your sales force with this resource–get them the insights, answers, and tactics to beat the competition–in real time. Connecting your reps: sharing notes, sharing documents, and collaborating with experts in your company to overcome that objection, is a must. 

4. Start reps faster: Which tools and processes are you investing in to ramp new reps to better respond to the new empowered customer?

The sink or swim strategy–think Glengarry Glen Ross– is not a recipe for success in today's connected world. When starting new reps, give them clear alignment with measurable milestones, and easy ways to borrow and mimic winning behaviors. Setting 30:60:90 day goals is key, but the value comes from tracking the progress in real time to ensure reps are on track, and coaching them to achieve their goals along the way.

5. In what ways are you personally investing to broaden your capabilities?

Become connected. Be connected to your organization. Be connected to your customer’s perspective. How they think, research, and evaluate. Find processes and tools that make you relevant to the prospects sales process and be their trusted advisor.

Download the free ebook below to learn more about better sales performance and closing deals.