ThoughtSpot - The Digittori Blog

Cost efficiency is one of the top priorities of revenue leaders. 

We live in an era in which an uncertain economic climate plagues one or another part of the world—and as enterprises are increasingly targeting several geographies across the world—exporting products and services across the world, this uncertainty is almost always a factor in business decisions.

The sales function is critical for growth-phase companies. Any inefficiency is a waste of time and cost for a business enterprise, but sales team inefficiency can hit at a particularly soft spot—growth.

While most revenue leaders carefully review the upfront costs of recruiting and managing their sales teams. Many of them miss the hidden costs that lurk just beneath the surface. In highly competitive markets, it's the small stuff that ultimately gives you the extra edge to get ahead!

In this article, we'll look at some tell-tale signs that point to hidden inefficiencies in your sales process. Digittori helps businesses streamline sales processes using HubSpot's CRM and sales enablement tools and position your organization for long-term, sustainable growth.

Inaccurate sales or customer data
Research shows that inaccurate data directly impacts the bottom line of 88% of companies, with the average company losing 12% of its revenue due to this reason. (Source: Experian Data Quality)
There is a cost you incur when your sales reps use outdated information to take actions that don't effectively progress their sales pipelines. You may have tons of data floating around, accumulated by sales reps over the years—but if you can't trust the data, it's as good as useless—maybe even worse! A wrong data point can send a sales rep on a wild goose chase! That's why you need good, clean data...

KEY TAKEWAY: A reliable CRM is a central repository for accurate and up-to-date customer information. It minimizes the risk of errors associated with manual data input. It not only enhances the credibility of sales data but also ensures that representatives make informed decisions based on accurate customer insights.

Lack of structure when initiating new reps
Adding sales reps to your team is great for growth. Assuming every sales rep achieves even 80-90% of their revenue target, you're positioning yourself for growth with every addition.
If only life were as simple as that!
But onboarding a new sales rep is serious business. It's not just the upfront compensation the company pays out—there are hidden costs, too. As per Allego, on average, onboarding one sales rep costs $9,589 and takes 38 days.

No matter how experienced your new hire is, you'll need to get them up to speed with your company's processes quickly. Onboarding involves briefing them about your company's products or services, sales targets, prior achievements, and upcoming targets. 
Leave the onboarding process to intuitive orientations or unstructured handovers, and you're in for a hit-or-miss. According to one study, only 12% of employees believe that their organization needs to do a better job of onboarding recruits. (Source: Gallup) That implies most organizations still need to improve their onboarding efficiency and employee experience.

KEY TAKEWAY: A CRM system provides a structured onboarding process by centralizing sales data and documentation. Sales and marketing material, sales playbooks, past data and insights and even best practices are consistently accessible to every new recruit, ensuring that new team members are well-equipped from the word go and have access to the knowledge and tools they need for a successful start.

High attrition or employee turnover
High turnover can negatively affect the morale and motivation of the remaining team members, leading to decreased overall team performance.
The effects of high attrition in a sales team go beyond the obvious costs of new recruitment. The intangible costs are probably more damaging or at least have more long-term negative effects.
When a sales rep leaves, it disrupts the normal working of the sales team. New hires may take time to get up to speed, putting more pressure on the other reps. As per Mellon Financial Corp., the average time for new hires to achieve productivity is about 20 weeks for sales professionals.
Existing clients may feel insecure and need reassurance from senior management. Frequent exits also lower the team's morale and confidence in the organization. It hurts productivity and the team's ability to meet stiff targets.

KEY TAKEWAY: Does a CRM help stem attrition? Well, it certainly fosters a positive working environment for the sales team. 
A CRM brings in streamlined sales processes, access to detailed sales playbooks, and accurate customer records. It eliminates tacitly understood rules or loosely defined processes and minimizes friction between reps and managers. Indirectly, a CRM helps fight attrition by providing sales teams with a better work experience, reducing errors, and improving the chances of sales deal closure. 
Addressing employee turnover is not just about reducing recruitment costs; it's also about preserving institutional knowledge, maintaining client satisfaction, and sustaining a high-performing sales team.

Productivity lost on non-revenue-generating tasks
Mundane tasks take the focus away from revenue-generating activities like closing sales. 
As per McKinsey's Global Institute report, sales professionals spend a fair amount of time (up to 42%) on administrative work. This holds for all "interaction workers," which it defines as professionals, managers, and consultative salespeople. As per the report, the average 9-5 worker logs more than 2000 hours annually on emails, meetings, calls and more. The survey reports that 28% of their time is spent answering emails and 14% on internal communications. 

KEY TAKEWAY: A comprehensive CRM platform with integrated sales enablement tools automates routine inter and intra-departmental tasks such as data entry, follow-up reminders, and report generation. Automation handles everyday activities and frees sales teams to concentrate on high-value tasks like building relationships, closing deals, and strategic planning. The CRM platform not only improves overall productivity but also ensures that every minute spent by the sales team contributes to the bottom line. 

Opportunity costs
Does your sales team have a well-defined sales strategy? Have they set up structured processes so each rep knows what to target and how to approach a sales situation so the team cohesively hits their sales targets?

One has to admit that in a sales-centric scenario, it is a challenging task to quantify opportunity costs.
Often, a trial-and-error approach to developing a sales strategy at the organizational level can result in spiraling opportunity costs. 
Similarly, hiring the wrong candidate has high opportunity costs.
Picture the cascaded effect on your books when you hire a sales professional, find that he is unfit for the job, fire him and re-hire. The entire exercise can not only prove expensive, but it can also cause your company to lose potential sales opportunities and damage the prospect of existing leads. 

KEY TAKEWAY: A CRM platform structures and streamlines your sales processes, improves productivity, and helps sales teams capitalize on every potential revenue stream. It is a strategic investment that helps organizations avoid missing opportunities and maximize their return on investment. 

Partner with Digittori for HubSpot CRM & Sales Enablement
HubSpot's CRM and sales enablement tools eliminate the need for multiple disparate systems for customer records and productivity tools. An integrated CRM and Sales platform not only simplifies your tech stack but also reduces associated costs. Additionally, since it is a cloud-based solution, it minimizes hardware requirements and offers a cost-effective and scalable solution for businesses of all sizes.
It gives sales teams access to actionable, real-time data and insights that optimize lead management and prompt them to prioritize opportunities with the highest potential for conversion. 

Move to HubSpot CRM. It's a strategic shift that will improve overall efficiency and effectiveness in reaching sales targets.
By streamlining processes, enhancing productivity, and fostering a positive work environment, you can maximize the potential of your existing sales team and minimize the impact of hidden costs on the bottom line.

Digittori works with revenue leaders to evaluate their existing sales workflows, estimate the cost-and-time-saving opportunities that sales automation can produce, and implement a comprehensive CRM system complemented by sales enablement tools from the world's leading CRM provider—HubSpot.
We're a HubSpot Solutions Provider with deep experience in niche domains ranging from manufacturing, energy, to technology, and more.

Connect with us for a no-obligation consultation call to evaluate the hidden costs your sales team incurs and how you can make better-informed decisions and ensure the long-term success of your sales operations by being aware of these potential pitfalls.