Sales collaboration involves bringing together your team members or other departments to sell. It’s about having everyone on board to make sure your customers get the best experience possible and you maximize sales performance.
In this article, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about sales collaboration.
What is Sales Collaboration?
Sales collaboration is a process where two or more sales teams work together to achieve a common goal. This can be done in person or through technology such as email, chat, or video conferencing. By working together, the teams can share leads, close deals faster, and create a more efficient sales process.
Why Is Sales Collaboration Important?
Sales collaboration can be a very effective way to boost your sales numbers. But it also offers other benefits, as shown below:
1. Sales collaboration helps you identify opportunities and manage your sales pipeline. When multiple people are looking at the same data, they can share information about how they use it and what they find. One person might notice something others missed — which can be helpful when trying to figure out how to move forward with a deal.
2. Sales collaboration helps you get more done by working with others instead of just doing it yourself. This can reduce the time and effort it takes to complete tasks, freeing up more time for other things and increasing the overall productivity of your sales teams.
3. Sales collaboration can facilitate sharing information and experiences between sales reps. Thanks to that, they can learn from each other’s successes and mistakes as well as develop new skills and selling techniques.
4. Sales collaboration can help you deal with difficult situations, such as when a customer has questions about a product or service. In those cases, you can use tools like video conferencing or messaging apps to connect your team members with customers directly and provide quick responses. This can increase your chance of closing the deal.
Types of sales collaboration
There are two main sales collaboration types: vertical and horizontal.
Vertical Collaboration
This involves collaboration among members of the same team. For example, a salesperson in charge of selling an enterprise-level solution may collaborate with an account manager who specializes in selling enterprise solutions. They can also connect with a technical sales representative who has deep knowledge of product features and technical aspects.
Horizontal Collaboration
This involves collaborating with other teams within your company or with other companies altogether.
For example, if you’re selling an enterprise solution, you might need to collaborate with engineers who know how to build it or designers who can create a user interface that makes it easy for customers to use.
You may also want to collaborate with salespeople at other companies, such as those who specialize in selling something complementary (but not competitive), like support services (i.e., maintenance contracts).
Sales Collaboration Levels
Sales collaboration can take place on three levels: planning, execution, and resources.
1. Planning
Collaboration is a key component of planning. When creating a plan, it’s important to get input from others who understand the industry, market conditions, and competitors’ strategies. This will help ensure that your selling strategy is solid and well-informed.
2. Execution
Collaboration is also critical during execution. At this level, you should ensure everyone is on board with what needs to be done. Each member needs to understand their roles and responsibilities as well as those of others.
3. Resources
Resources are all the things your team needs to achieve the plan’s goals. It can be technology, documents, or online sources.
Also, keep track of all resources used during this process so that you can accurately report these figures at the end of your project (or whenever necessary).
How to Boost Sales Collaboration
Here are our top tips for strengthening sales collaboration:
1. Encourage Your Teams to Speak Up
Everyone has ideas and suggestions for how to improve your product or service. You want them to feel comfortable sharing their insights with each other so they can all work together toward making the best decisions possible for your customers.
2. Keep Communication Channels Open
Make sure everyone on your team knows who else is working on what projects so they can reach out if they need help or advice. This will help foster vertical and horizontal collaboration and ensure everything runs smoothly.
3. Centralize Data into One Place
If you want your team to be able to collaborate effectively and drive sales, then you need to make sure they have accurate, consistent and complete data. This means each team should have access to all relevant data and can easily share it with others without having to go through a lengthy approval process.
To that end, you can adopt a CRM and sales intelligence platform like Revenue Grid, which enables you to collect data from all channels and make it accessible to everyone in your company. By using Revenue Grid, you can also be sure that all sales data will be automatically updated and synced seamlessly between Gmail, Outlook, and Salesforce.
4. Set Common KPIs
When you’re working collaboratively, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of what success looks like. Set common metrics that align with the company’s overall goals and communicate those priorities to your team. This will help everyone stay on the same page and be accountable for the final outcomes.
5. Set Up Regular Alignment Meetings
Organizing regular meetings between your sales team and other departments is essential to stay on track with activities and ensure everyone is working together towards a common goal. This will also help you identify any problems or concerns early on, so you can address them before they become bigger issues.
As you can see, the benefits of sales collaboration include improved productivity, increased revenue, and enhanced employee satisfaction and retention. If you haven’t taken advantage of sales collaboration yet, now is the time to take action.
Read also:
What’s all the fuss about revenue leakage?
Revenue operations: what is it and why do you need RevOps
Improve sales collaboration with Revenue Grid
