8 tips that will skyrocket your high-end sales performance (and commission)
Working in high-end sales and wondering how to improve your performance? Glad to hear it! Sales can be a wonderfully lucrative industry, especially in those markets where commission is uncapped (yes please!).
But many sales consultants miss the mark - they have bags of potential and all the right characteristics, but need to tweak a few crucial things in their strategy to take them from average to A-grade commissions.
After decades of working in sales and hiring the hottest sales talent, we’re sharing exactly how to dramatically boost your sales performance and productivity!
1. Save admin for the slower parts of the day
Admin: every sales consultant’s most hated word. BUT an essential part of your role. The question is, how do you incorporate it cleverly into your work day?
The key to admin is to save it for the slower parts of your day. That will likely be the last hour of your day, or perhaps you can find other pockets of time where your clients aren’t coming in hot and heavy.
Admin should definitely not be a part of your morning routine. Mornings are prime time for getting on the phones ahead of your competition - and you can’t afford to lose any precious minutes to admin in the mornings.
2. Create lists the night before
You want to be able to start your day hitting the ground running, leaving your competition behind in the dust as they fumble about trying to pull a plan together.
Create your plan the evening before so you know exactly who you’re going to be calling - no need to start typing up lists and collating numbers first thing in the morning. All that’s left for you to do is get on the blower.
3. Level up with power hours
Power hours are a god-send in sales. This is when you allocate one hour of time a day where you crush your revenue-generating activity. A power hour isn’t to be used for your admin work - it’s to be used for activities that really drive results.
You can achieve more in 1 hour of concerted effort than in 4 hours of half-hearted attempts. Schedule an hour into each day where you turn off all your distractions, silence your emails, set aside any admin work, and get to unadulterated business.
4. Create templates for common emails
Emails are an important part of your job, but let’s face it - you can waste endless hours writing up emails that essentially say the same thing.
Create customizable templates for your most common and basic email queries. That way, all you need to do is copy and paste, and alter a few of the details.
Template ideas:
- Book a call / meeting
- Cold outreach
- Pricing
- Product / service information
- Meeting / sale confirmation
This doesn’t mean templates need to take over your emails entirely - just the basic and common stuff. For people asking more detailed questions, always opt for a personalised email.
5. Clean your data / CRM
Ever wonder what it would be like if you could just open your database and pull up a list of exactly the type of person you’re looking for?
In reality, most sales consultants spend little to no time categorising their database. It’s more of an afterthought. But dedicating some time to fixing up your data can be a pivotal move. It might be a time-consuming task, but it’s a one-off and will impact your sales for years to come!
Stop delaying - clean up your mess!
6. Use a calendar link to schedule calls
One of the most painfully time-consuming tasks in sales is arranging times for calls. It can be a clunky process of going back and forth, and missing each other’s calls, and forgetting to get back to one another.
Take the bull by the horns and use an online appointment scheduling software. We personally recommend using Calendly, but there are plenty out there to choose from.
Benefits of using an online appointment scheduling software:
- Clients can book straight in
- Pick up leads quicker
- Saves time going back and forth over email
- Your calendar link can be attached to all emails
- Clients can view your availability without you having to tell them
- Clients are automatically sent a confirmation email
7. Set daily / weekly / monthly / quarterly goals
If you’re going to excel in sales, you really need to get organised. If you don’t, you’ll end up flapping about all day getting nothing done.
When it comes to goal-setting, start with the long-term aims and work your way back:
- On a quarterly basis, set a big goal for yourself in terms of revenue / commission.
- On a monthly basis, work out how much revenue you’ll need to rack up in order to hit that quarterly commission goal.
- On a weekly basis, work out the activities you’ll need to do to reach your monthly goal.
- On a daily basis, set out your tasks both morning and afternoon to hit those weekly targets.
8. Follow up
What kind of article would this be if we didn’t mention the follow-up? It’s true what they say: the fortune is in the follow-up.
With all your leads and conversations, make sure you’re scheduling a follow-up into your calendar. For your hot leads, you want to follow up within 24-48 hours.
Even with your ice cold leads that sounded like an out and out ‘no’, schedule a follow up for 3-6 months time. If you write off every ‘no’ based on your hunch that they won’t change their mind, you WILL miss out on thousands of pounds worth of revenue. People change and so do their circumstances.
Always follow up.
Are you a sales superstar looking for your next career move? We’re always on the hunt for top sales talent. Give us a call today to discuss your career 01204 589 555