March Madness is upon us, and across the nation – NCAA basketball fans are sitting on the edge of their seats anxiously waiting to see if their team will be one of the 68 that qualify for the tournament. The result of each game is unpredictable, and we’re excited to see underdogs upset perennial favorites. But while chaos may be exciting in sports, it’s not so in sales.

At your organization, don’t let your sales team be the next big upset that falls victim to prospect madness. Up your sales game and achieve championship status with these tips:

Speed Without Control Leads to Disaster

Organizations today are using CRM systems and dialers to speed up their sales processes. However, if you’re moving too fast, you might lose control of the ball and turn it over to the opposing team. A dialer drives more activity, but if it doesn’t follow coordinated processes, it won’t improve sales. Sales leaders need to stay focused on controlling the sales workflow to ensure that any increased activity will continue to produce the desired results. 

Know When to Pass the Ball, And to Whom

For Oklahoma, the ball goes to Buddy Hield; for UNC, it’s Brice Johnson. Just like in basketball, you will yield the best results by putting the right prospect in the right hands at the right time. To do so, set up your distribution rules to allocate high-quality leads to the reps that have historically produced the best results. Leverage their sales strategy as a standard and encourage other reps to adopt and follow the best practices that drive conversion. After all, data has found that a typical rep is able to double their lead conversion by working leads similar to those that they have seen conversion success with.

Data Is King

According to a recent McKinsey study, organizations effectively using big data and analytics to drive productivity are five to six percent more profitable than their competitors. Successful organizations generally aren’t the ones with the most data, but the ones that are able to use it best.  

With the right data set, sales managers are able to ensure the highest priority accounts get the right attention, the workflow is optimized, and the sales team is operating at maximum productivity. Organizations that count sales activity prioritization as a key performance driver can most effectively move through their queue. This means that when a salesperson arrives at work and goes down their prospect call list, they don’t waste time thinking about who to call next. The sales workflow rules and data will help determine this for them.

Be Conscious of the Clock and Scoreboard

When you’re on the court, and there are only a few seconds left on the clock, it’s important to know what the score is in order to adjust your approach in the moment – like how players often foul to lengthen the game. Sales can also be seen as a competitive sport, and your sales reps know that they’re up against a clock to close deals, outperform each other, and meet or exceed quota.

Help your sales reps keep an eye on the clock and the scoreboard throughout the day by adopting leaderboards. Leaderboards enable sales reps to know who’s ahead and who they’re up against anytime throughout the day. Knowing how you measure up can help reps focus on what needs to get done to reach daily and monthly goals.

Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

Everyone wants to win the championship. But it’s important to have different rewards. Amongst the Final Four, the most sought after individual recognition is the Most Outstanding Player Award. Sales is no different, and having a holistic approach to motivation that includes the carrot, the stick, and the race, will help drive success within your organization.

1. A good compensation plan, also known as “the carrot,” can serve as a powerful form of motivation. A recent study found that companies with better compensation plans reported improvements in morale and an increase in revenue from the previous year. Another effective, but less common carrot, is to provide better leads to high-performing reps based on real-time performance metrics.

2. Untouched, high-value prospects are missed opportunities and result in money left on the table. To prevent and reduce this type of behavior, explore implementing a redistribution program, otherwise known as “the stick,” that will automatically reallocate prospects if they have not been touched after a designated period of time.

3. Leverage tools to enable peer competition, otherwise known as “the race.” An example of this would be showing leaderboards on large screens in a common area to enable friendly competition and motivate sales teams throughout the day.

Don’t let your sales team fall victim to a March Madness upset! Make sure you have a well-considered game plan that incorporates these tips into the team’s routine and strategy and you’ll be well on your way to ringing in this year’s national championship status!