While multiple factors contribute to a company’s ability to

successfully achieve their revenue goals – such as the right product,

market demand, a sound strategy – the key ingredient to sales

growth is the sales organization itself.

A survey by the Sales Executive Council of over 5,000 business

customers on customer loyalty drivers shared the following results -

19% for Company and Brand Impact, 19% for Product and Service

Delivery, 9% for value to price ratio and a whopping 53% for the

sales experience. This means that a company's productivity, and

ultimately, its profitability depends on its salespeople.

You could argue that every organization wants its salespeople to be

successful - that is, close more sales. Yet ask many salespeople and

they will tell you that their organization often makes it difficult for

them meet their quotas by requiring them to spend crucial time on

administrative tasks, complicated CRM systems or not providing

them with the right tools for success.

With all of today’s technology, sales teams can get bogged down

with the vast amount of information and tools they need to use to

do their jobs. Ironically, often sales tools put in place to increase

efficiency, actually hinder it.

It’s critical for organizations to implement the

right technology to streamline complicated

processes, simplify tasks, and support the sales

team so that they can focus on what is most

important – closing deals.

How does an organization go about finding the

right solutions and sales tools to support their

salespeople?

In this eBook we will cover:

The top 5 challenges that sales

organizations are facing

The new realities that are prompting

successful sales leaders to adapt to

customer and market forces while playing

by the new rules of engagement

A guide for choosing the right tools and

technology to accelerate sales performance

Why winning sales teams are using

performance support

1

The pressure to stay competitive in a world where every deal matters, and

where the pace seemingly speeds up by the hour, is forcing companies to

take a hard look at how they view, mobilize, and enable their sales teams.

To survive and succeed, sales leaders need to rethink the game and refine

their performance strategies. Just wanting to have higher performance is

not enough. They need to dig deep and inspect the inner workings of

their sales organization and determine which levers will truly improve

sales effectiveness.

36-47% OF SALES REPRESENTATIVES ARE STILL FAILING

TO REACH THEIR ANNUAL SALES QUOTA NUMBERS*

*According to Accenture's 2012 Sales Performance Optimization Study

Sales people have the world at their fingertips, with anytime, anywhere

access to information thanks to innovations in processes, CRM systems,

big data/sales analytics and ever-advancing technologies. However, with

increased power there are also higher expectations for better and better

results. Add the fact that the approaches to selling and sales training that

worked in the past are no longer as effective in getting the job done and

the challenge is further magnified.

Difficulty sustaining and enabling consistent

revenue growth

The return on investment in traditional sales

portals, sales methodologies, training and

CRM doesn't go as far as it once did

Sales agents suffer from “information

overload” and need a support system that

can help them to deliver the right

information at the critical time and place to

move a sales opportunity forward

Many sales performance initiatives are

plagued with false expectations and are

missing a holistic approach that addresses

people, process, technology and knowledge

Retaining customers and building long-term

customer loyalty

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If you are leading a sales organization today, then you know that it is far

from easy. In the blink of an eye, new competitors emerge, products similar

to yours are released, and before you know it, your sales goals are hanging

in the balance. To remain on top, you hire the best sales team and teach

them everything you know about selling. And that's not all - you also invest

in the best training tools, CRM, and technology guaranteed to improve your

organization's sales performance.

Despite all this – or in spite of it – your salespeople are still finding it difficult

to meet their sales quotas; what they learned in training is forgotten shortly

after, locating the information they need in the CRM takes too much time,

and they are ironically overwhelmed by the complexity of technology that is

supposed to make their jobs easier.

So now what? Let's take a look at the new rules of engagement:

Focus on creating value, not selling tactics

Focus on online application guidance, not sales training

Focus on simplifying complex processes

Focus on sustainable change management

3

Customers are more demanding and aware of the competitive landscape.

Broad, tactical sales pitches are no longer attractive or effective in closing

deals. The key to sales success is creating valuable conversations that

help customers advance through their sales process with as little friction

as possible. Sales enablement is about ensuring your salespeople have

the right knowledge, at the right time, in the right place, tailored to the

needs of the customer.

Until recently, most performance management approaches consisted

primarily of classroom training programs and eLearning. With both

approaches, valuable time is spent NOT selling. To add insult to injury,

research has shown 80–90% of learning is lost one month after training.

Modern real-time sales enablement tools support the user within the

work environment so that employees do not have to stop for training

every time something is new or changed or forgotten.

Increasing organizational complexity, information overload and a 24/7

work environment are contributing factors that overwhelm employees,

undermining productivity and contributing to low employee

engagement. Recognizing that changes are imminent, organizations are

looking for ways to simplify complex or inefficient work practices and

systems so that employees can focus on getting the job done, instead of

sifting through the details to find what they need. Read more on how to

simplify the way we work here.

Savvy sales leaders realize that what happens after change is just as

important as the change itself. A great deal of effort goes into planning

and facilitating organizational change, but the problem is thinking that

it's all over once the application has been deployed and training is

delivered. Change and adaption is an ongoing process. Companies that

pair their change management process with sales enablement can feel

confident that their workforce will continue to perform at the level they

expect in order to achieve their business goals.

Create value, not selling tactics Simplify complex processes

Online application guidance, not sales training Sustainable change management

4

With companies spending billions of dollars each year

on enterprise applications, it is critical that these huge

investments generate the desired ROI and facilitate

the business results they were purchased to deliver.

Over the past two decades, companies have invested

in traditional sales performance systems such as sales

portals, training tools and knowledge management

systems to support sales enablement. They have also

invested in CRM systems to document buyer

engagements, gain pipeline visibility, and provide

better customer service. More recently, they have

invested in sales automation services to build

awareness, score leads, and drive higher quality

engagements.

However, these solutions simply do not meet the

requirements of today’s sales environment. Sales

productivity is suffering as reps waste valuable time

searching for information.

1 The platform needs to accommodate and support a user who is constantly "on",

has little time to spare, and typically needs things in the moment

2 Be able to support (not get in the way of) existing sales processes, CRM system

and/or business applications

3 Give access to the exact information or tools sales agents need in the very moment

they need it, anticipating sales needs based on where they are in the sales process

4 The ability to drive the sales process forward

5 Increase the overall quality of the sale, i.e., reduce errors, faster deal times,

improved customer service

5

Almost 72% of employees said

they can't find the information

they need within their company’s

information systems.

Sales reps waste 10-20 hours per

week on unproductive tasks

related to information retrieval.

In a 1,000-person company this

leads to $50M in lost revenue

opportunities and a waste of more

than $5 million in annual salary

costs.

Time spent searching for

information averages 8.8 hours per

week, at a cost of $14,209

per knowledge worker per year.

Source: SAVO 2012 Sales Enablement Benchmark Survey Source: IDC Source: IDC and McKinsey

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Performance support is a new generation of sales enablement tools which was

designed for performance. These systems create a quick and lean solution to

address day-to-day performance challenges.

Like a GPS helps drivers get from point A to point B, performance support

helps your employees navigate enterprise applications while providing support

in real time. And similar to a GPS system where the driver doesn’t need to know

where every street and turn is, the sales person doesn’t need to know the

details for every process - the system does it for him/her.

Here’s how it works

Guides users through each step of an application (within

the application) to successfully complete online tasks –

like a GPS for business applications.

Understands user behavior and performs the actions/

steps for the user by moving/clicking the mouse,

stopping only for the user to enter variable information.

Sees the information on the screen, identifies errors in

real-time based on pre-defined rules, guides the user

through the correct task completion.

Applies business rules and logic according to the

situation in which the user is engaged.

Understand business rules to build sales processes that

work for each organization

Verifies that user input is in accordance with corporate

policies and/or regulations.

Some solutions, such as Leo, do not require any

integration or programming skills to deploy and can be

implemented faster (not by an IT user but by a business

user)

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Prevent costly errors

Even your "A" team is going to make errors. After all, we are only human. Unfortunately, these

errors can sometimes come at a high price, especially if you consistently notice similar errors by

multiple users. Performance support systems identify errors in real-time, based on pre-defined

rules. It alerts the user and then guides them through the correct task completion, preventing

costly errors. Simple mistakes can harm a relationship with a customer and even cause them to

leave. Fewer errors translate to happier customers and happier sales teams.

Accelerate productivity

Performance support offers context relevant support. This means that it applies business rules and

logic according to the situation in which the sales agent is engaged and then provides them with

the relevant information at the moment of need, thus reducing deal time. Getting information to

the customer faster, means the deal time is shortened along with an increased likelihood of a

successful closing.

Increase revenue (up sell/cross sell)

Performance support provides sales agents with next-best-action sales recommendations. It

identifies sales opportunities by analyzing the customer profile and eligibility for possible

promotions or sales campaigns while the call takes place. This helps find the high quality deals

faster, shorten deal time, and allows the sales team to focus on high value leads first.

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Simplify complex systems

Needless complexity can cause the best sales team to perform below their potential. Performance

support guides users through each step of the business process (within the application) towards its

successful completion. Think of it like a GPS for business applications, as long as you know the

destination it will get you there. This provides your sales team with both the peace of mind and

confidence they need to focus on the customer and follow through with the task at hand.

Focus on the customer

Performance support allows your sales agents to concentrate on the conversation with the

customer. Task automation performs the actions/steps for the user when they don't know what to

do. This not only helps seal the deal faster, but also the customer is thrilled not to have to repeat

their information over and over again.

Focus on the customer. Again.

Getting customers is hard. Keeping them should be easier. A successful company typically sees 80

percent of its business come from 20 percent of its customers. Add to this the fact that the cost of

attracting new customers is significantly higher than that of maintaining a relationship with existing

ones, and you have a powerful incentive to keep that core group of customers happy. Performance

support helps build and maintain customer loyalty by providing the scenario for easier

communications, great customer service and the attention for detail that will keep customers

coming back for more.

Sales organizations are endlessly challenged to perform better,

make more deals, keep their customers happier, and work

smarter. Thousands if not millions of dollars are spent each

year on enterprise applications that pledge to improve

productivity, efficiency and process quality, towards positively

affecting the business bottom line. Therefore, it is vital that

these huge investments generate the desired ROI and facilitate

the business results they were purchased to deliver. Continual

change, industry compliance and the requirement to increase

revenue compounds the challenge.

Performance support is a new breed of best-in-class sales

enablement tools which applies the right support at the right

time across the end-to-end business process. The result is a

supercharged sales team that performs better, feels that they

are well supported, has the potential to sell more and retain

more customers, and is generally happier and, most

importantly, lays the groundwork for a healthier bottom line.

HELP THEM SELL MORE

The best sales managers seek to inspire their team to

success and ensure they are supplied with the tools they

need to do their job. When selecting the right sales

performance tools, keep in mind these 3 E’s:

Efficiency

Your most valuable asset is your sales organization and

their most valuable resource is their time. Any time spent

searching for information is time that is not used to engage

with customers and close deals.

Effectiveness

At the end of the day, all sales organizations are measured

in the simplest of terms – "Did we meet our numbers?" The

answer to this question boils down to sales effectiveness

and will ultimately play the biggest role in deciding whether

a sales organization is successful.

Engagement

The way in which sales professionals interact and engage

will help shape the way a prospect or customer thinks about

an organization – and whether they choose to do business

with them.

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At Kryon Systems, we take a 360o approach to performance

support insofar that we don’t view performance support simply

as the deployment of a software application, but rather as the

implementation of an enterprise performance methodology

focused on facilitating the achievement of business results.

Our flagship product, Leo, provides performance support to

enterprises through online application guidance and/or process

automation on any business application. The purpose of

deploying Leo is to facilitate the successful completion of tasks

in the most efficient and accurate manner possible.

For more information, please visit www.kryonsystems.com or

visit our LinkedIn page or blog.

With performance support solutions in place, you can feel

confident that your sales people are able to successfully

perform their job in the timeliest, most efficient, and most

accurate manner possible.

Learn More >