24. Tales from the road

Welcome to another insightful episode of the Field Sales Leadership Guide Podcast. In this episode, JT exchanges key findings with Mary on his recent series of ride-alongs. These ride-alongs provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by outside sales reps and how sales leaders can address them.

The overarching themes discovered during the ride-alongs include:

• Poor KPIs for Outside Sales Reps: Some sales leaders may be giving ineffective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to their outside sales reps, leading to wasted time, expenses, and missed opportunities.
• Difficulty Acquiring New Business: Outside sales reps often face challenges when tasked with acquiring new business in their territories, especially in industries with steady, established customer bases. The difficulty lies in finding new prospects and converting them into customers.
• Underutilization of Systems: Many reps are not effectively using the systems in place, such as CRMs or sales enablement tools. This may be due to the tools not being perceived as valuable or easy to use.

The effects of these challenges are significant, including a lack of valuable data needed for better decision-making at the rep, manager, and leadership levels.

JT shares examples from his ride-alongs, emphasizing the importance of strategic coaching, efficient use of time, and the need for valuable data to drive revenue. Mary and JT discuss how the absence of a robust tracking system can hinder the sales process, drawing parallels with a manufacturing line that lacks stages for improvement.

The episode concludes with the analogy of practicing golf swings, highlighting the importance of practicing the right things at the right time and using data to guide effective coaching and strategic management.

If you're a sales leader looking to optimize your team's performance and address these challenges head-on, this episode provides valuable insights and actionable strategies. Tune in and take your field sales leadership to the next level!

LISTEN IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN…

• Celebrate DIS-Qualifying as much as Qualifying new accounts  [9:00]
• Stop making your reps drive through haystacks to find needles [18:00]
• When sales output starts failing - how are you diagnosing the problem? [25:30]

Connect with the hosts

• Mary Keough
• JT Rimbley 

Connect With Map My Customers

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• On LinkedIn 

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