5 Ways to unlock your sales team’s productivity using revenue intelligence

“See results, attached. It’s pretty straightforward: The client’s team reports a large gap given the time they spent selling, but nothing out of the ordinary. I think there’s a lot of overlap from the last study we ran, but let me know if you have any questions.” 

At my previous organization, I sent that type of email to colleagues time and time again. 

I worked with nearly 200 B2B sales leaders to measure their reps’ activities and identify inefficiencies in their systems, tools, and processes. This gave them a data-driven way to decide where to focus their sales organization’s efforts so they could free up reps’ time to actually sell.

When it comes to productivity sinks, a handful of usual suspects plague B2B revenue organizations. Your sales team’s activities all have distinct workflows, but overlaps in systems, processes, and data mean there are areas where you can make far-reaching improvements. 

The issue is that most software isn’t targeted enough to really give you the insights you need to move your coaching and alignment efforts forward.  

That’s why I was so amazed by Revenue Intelligence from Gong.

Beyond being a great way to measure your reps’ activities in real time and connect cross-functionally, revenue intelligence can completely transform a seller’s typical workweek so they have time for more wins. 

(Plus, if you now find yourself in a largely — or fully — remote selling environment, this technology can play an even bigger role in increasing your sales productivity.)

Below are five ways that revenue intelligence carves more time out in reps’ and sales leaders’ days. Efficiency for the win. 

End manual data entry

Every sales leader knows that their reps don’t enjoy updating the CRM, but that they spend hours each week on this activity. Helping sales reps automate internal reporting and CRM entry saves swaths of time for your reps, and ensures that your data (the info you use for forecasting, etc.) is timely, accurate, and comprehensive.  

Plus, revenue intelligence uses automated recordings and AI gives you a reality check on your deals — one that’s backed by solid data. This means you no longer lose up to 97% of the information in customer and buyer interactions. You can streamline and optimize the time you spend managing your pipeline. And you can  forecast with greater accuracy. 

Cut internal meetings in half

“I wish I could spend more time in internal meetings,” said no sales rep or manager ever. 

Don’t spend your 1:1s answering questions for which you should already have the answers. Instead, engage in focused conversations that improve reps’ skills so they can close more deals. 

Revenue intelligence gives sales leaders visibility into every sales conversation their reps have, and it leverages AI to deliver specific insights you can address during coaching conversations. This means managers can enter 1:1s already up to speed, which makes meetings more productive and shorter. It can even provide feedback (and alerts!) on calls as they occur. 

For individual contributors, it means that deal strategy sessions and follow-up calls across teams are more streamlined because all the stakeholders have access to the same conversations — the same customer reality. 

Want to see how Genesys cut their time spent prepping for calls from double-digit hours to an hour or two? Read their case study.

Send fewer internal emails 

“Why am I CC’d on this?” 

The world’s most common ‘inside-our-heads’ phrase? Possibly. And reps think it too. 

Email and chats are essential tools for any team, but if they’re abused, they can be a real productivity drag for sales. Revenue intelligence lets you collaborate without being intrusive. Team members can comment, tag, and ask questions all within recorded conversations between reps and customers. 

It can also reduce the effort you put into creating internal communications. How? Well, if certain topics (like a new competitor or product) are top of mind for the team, users can send automated notifications that include calls or call snippets to others at whatever cadence is appropriate. 

Align teams around your customer

A lack of visibility and not fully understanding customers’ needs can create friction and unnecessary strain on your sellers. Reps are often tasked with escalated support services, customer onboarding challenges, and coordinating other team members during and after the purchasing process. That reduces the time they spend selling. 

How do you get adjacent teams to ease up on taking your reps’ time?

The first step is to make sure that each team’s responsibilities and handoff points during the customer lifecycle are clearly defined. That means every stakeholder needs transparency into customer interactions. They need access to a searchable library of customer calls and email interactions so they can reference every touchpoint across that process whenever it’s needed, without contacting your reps. 

Only when that happens can you hold stakeholders accountable for any infringement on your sellers’ time. Bonus! This also yields a more customer-centric experience from start to finish. 

This visibility means other teams aren’t dependent on your reps to bring them up to speed. Time is once again available to spend in more productive ways. (Yes, selling.) 

Focus on real leads

Last but not least, there’s a common pain point that impacts an organization’s entire revenue engine: low-quality leads. 

Whether it happens because of duplicates in the CRM, inaccurate or outdated contact information, or poor qualification, reps find this essential part of the sales process burdensome. 

You already know that half the battle is ensuring that contact data within your CRM is accurate and trustworthy. The other half is lead quality. Rather than relying on your reps’ intuition or opinions, take a more data-driven approach to qualification. It ensures that your sales team only spends time on the best opportunities. 

Revenue intelligence creates precisely this culture of evidence-based decision making. It helps you adhere to SLAs and ensure that reps act only on leads that meet your criteria. And they’ll be able to do so in a more timely manner. 

Keep in mind that when it comes to activity, quantity does not always denote quality. True sales productivity is a measure of both efficiency and effectiveness. Maximizing the amount of time your reps spend with customers is often the first step to unlocking high performance for more of your reps and growing your sales organization.

Already thinking about the activities taking time away from your team? Good!

Reach out today to see how Gong and its revenue intelligence platform can maximize the time your reps spend engaging with customers. It’s a major play in transforming your sales organization.