5 Things that Sales Closers Should Never Do!

If I had a dollar for every time a company has fired an amazing salesperson because he or she wasn’t good at prospecting for new leads, I’d be sipping margaritas in my mansion in Cabo right now. According to the TAS Group, more than two thirds of account executives (AEs) fail to hit quota. Now does this mean that only one third of account executives are competent salespeople? Not at all. Sure, there are a number of people in sales who might be better suited for another career path. But more often than not, when account executives fail, it’s because they are being asked to do too much.

Here are 5 tasks that a lot of AEs are asked to do that they should, in reality, almost never do. By delegating these tasks to less experienced reps you can ensure that your account executives have the sales time necessary to crush quota.

Prospect for New Leads

Most great salespeople are not good at prospecting for one reason: they don’t like prospecting! They want to spend time closing deals. When AEs have to split their time between prospecting for new leads and closing opportunities they tend to run out of gas before hitting their revenue goals. Instead, hire dedicated sales development reps (SDRs) who can prospect for new leads and supply your AEs with a steady stream of sales-qualified opportunities to work.

Answer Inbound Phone Calls from New Leads

If you’re like most companies, you’re investing in a wide range of marketing efforts just to make the phone ring. However, no matter how great your Google AdWords, TV ads, social media, or inbound marketing efforts are, not all leads are going to be qualified to buy. When leads call in, they should be screened by less experienced reps before being handed over to account executives.

Follow Up with Leads that Fill Out Forms/Download Content

As with leads who call after viewing an ad, leads that fill out forms and download content may turn out to be hot customers, but they need to be properly vetted before being handed over to an account executive. A lot of successful companies have lead response reps who are in charge of answering inbound phone calls as well as following up with leads that download content, fill out forms, or demonstrate interest in other ways.

Offer Support to Current Customers

The moment that a deal closes, and an opportunity is converted into a customer, that customer should be immediately introduced to a rep in charge of customer success. If your account executive is spending too much time trying to make existing customers successful, they may not succeed in hitting their own revenue numbers.

Log Call Data in Salesforce Manually

When account executives have to spend too much time on administration tasks in their CRM, it can really prohibit them from spending enough time selling. One of the best ways that you can help your AEs hit their marks is to invest in tools that can automatically capture call data in Salesforce. That way, account executives can spend more time closing deals and less time handling tedious data entry tasks. Our Intelligent Dialer for Salesforce can automatically log call metrics and even entire recordings in Salesforce. This gives AEs more time than ever to crush quota.

Check out our latest eBook Closing Power: 10 Key Takeaways for Maximizing Your Sales Win Percentage for more tips on how to help your AEs crush quota.