3 vital questions telco sales leaders need to ask in 2023

With recession and inflation being key themes of 2023, the average business needs to ensure that revenue is grown, costs streamlined, and inefficiencies reduced. 

In order to tackle inefficiencies and suboptimal processes, you first need to find them. That means posing tough questions across the full sweep of your operations, from the top of the sales pipeline to your digital transformation plans.

Here are some key questions telco sales leaders need to ask. 

Why do we lose prospects?

The success rate of selling to new customers is only 5-20%, and even though 74% of sales people blame losing a sale on the price, price isn’t the only reason prospects are lost.

According to LinkedIn, prospects are 5 times more likely to engage with sales reps that provide new insights about their business. Sales leaders need to ensure their teams have a 360-degree view of their customers, tailoring products to specific pain points.

With 77% of respondents struggling in the early stages of the sales cycle, complex sales processes clearly contribute to the loss in prospects; 60% of sales reps feel the need to bolster their in-house sales intelligence tools. Sales leaders need to ensure that sales enablement tools are efficient.

How do we maximize value in our pipeline?

Executives are under more pressure than ever to understand the pulse of their business - and at the heart of that is the sales pipeline. 1 in 3 sales managers rank optimizing their sales process as a top sales management priority.

27% of sales reps say that a long sales cycle is one of the biggest barriers to sales effectiveness, with studies showing that it takes an average of 4 months for a prospect to go down the entire sales pipeline. 

Having access to centralized insights allows for high-level decision-making. Harnessing the power of technology allows sales teams to streamline their pipelines, gain full visibility across stages and close deals faster. 

Is our sales team set up for success?

With turnover rates of reps hitting 34% in the last 12 months and onboarding new sales reps costing up to $115,000, Sales Directors are in dire need for their teams, systems and processes to operate at maximum efficiency. 

63% of sales reps’ time spent on tasks other than selling. Time needs to be dedicated to prospects, and actually selling. 

Gartner found that 20% of deals were lost or stalled due to complex internal policies and procedures. Sales leaders are drowned by the amount of sales intelligence at their disposal. Reluctant to invest their time to use these tools, information ends up being inaccurate.