Nine key sales enablement strategies for wholesale and distribution businesses

How to optimise your field team’s sales performance

As a sales leader you have different levers to achieve your numbers, one of them being empowering your sales team to operate more efficiently. This concept of ‘sales enablement’ is the strategies and tactics that organisations use to empower sales teams to work smarter and be more productive. That means empowering your sales team with the tools, training, and resources they need to sell effectively, increase sales productivity and drive long-term growth.

In an environment like wholesale distribution, where there can be large volumes of products and highly distributed sales teams, sales enablement strategies can have a huge impact. The right approach with the right technology can enable your teams to provide a tailored approach to every account.

Let’s take a closer look.

Nine key sales enablement strategies for national sales managers in New Zealand and Australia

Wholesale and distribution businesses that invest in sales enablement strategies will increase sales, improve customer satisfaction, and gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

When your sales team is aligned, it means everyone is working towards the same goals and using consistent processes, techniques, and tools to achieve them. Not only that, but the activities of sales and marketing teams will also align, working together to drive sales and build customer relationships. This can help to optimise the sales process and to increase the effectiveness of sales and marketing initiatives.

Aligning sales team goals with the overall business strategy will help wholesale and distribution businesses to increase focus and accountability, improve efficiency, enhance the customer experience, increase motivation and engagement, and use data and insights to drive growth and success.

One of the key techniques to achieving sales team alignment is by having agreed processes and investing in purpose-built sales technology to drive and monitor them. Provide your team with the tools and systems that are most effective for their needs.

A streamlined sales process is crucial to ensure that you can efficiently and effectively manage your large-scale operations. You deal with a high volume of sales transactions and interactions, making it all the more important to have a system in place that is efficient and effective. With the right sales technology, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software or order management systems, you can automate tasks and streamline the sales process. This allows your sales team to focus on building relationships with customers and providing a consistent buying experience at every stage. By meeting the needs and expectations of customers, wholesale and distribution companies can drive loyalty and foster collaboration and teamwork among their sales team, ultimately leading to business growth and success.

‍3: Sales training and development

In the fast-paced world of wholesale and distribution, sales teams must continually strive to improve their skills and knowledge to stay ahead of the competition. As new technologies and sales strategies emerge within the industry, it's essential for sales reps to stay up to date with the latest trends and tools. By investing in sales rep development, you'll equip your sales team with the skills and knowledge necessary to tackle complex sales situations and close deals more effectively. This boosts customer engagement and sales. With digital transformation driving change in the wholesale distribution landscape, sales reps who are able to adapt to new technologies and leverage them effectively will be best positioned to succeed in what is a highly competitive industry.

4: Sales content and collateral

Your sales team needs easy, online access to a comprehensive library of sales collateral. It means they have the information they need to engage with customers, address their needs and objections, and close more deals. It also means that everyone on the team is delivering consistent messaging, regardless of the specific salesperson or customer. This can help to build trust and establish a strong relationship with customers, increasing the likelihood of repeat business and customer loyalty.

Sales content should be aligned with the customer buying journey, so that the sales team is addressing customer needs and pain points at every stage of the process. It's important to make use of use data-driven insights to inform the creation and use of sales content, gaining a better understanding of customer behaviour.

5: Sales analytics and metrics

For wholesale and distribution companies, tracking sales performance is crucial to gaining insights into how your sales team is performing and identifying areas for improvement. By monitoring metrics such as conversion rates, win-loss rates, and sales pipeline velocity, you'll gain a better understanding of how well the sales team is performing and where to focus their efforts to drive improvements. In addition, metrics such as sales rep performance, lead response time, and customer satisfaction are critical to ensuring that the sales team is meeting the needs of customers and providing a positive experience. By tracking and analysing these metrics, sales leaders can make informed decisions and report to management on the progress of the sales team. This can help to drive growth, increase revenue, and maintain a competitive edge.‍

6: Sales performance incentives

Providing your sales team with incentives is critical for any sales enablement strategy. Offer a mix of short-term incentives, such as bonuses for hitting specific sales targets, and long-term incentives, such as stock options or sales incentives tied to company performance. Consider offering non-monetary incentives, such as recognition, training opportunities, or time off. It's also a good idea to offer customised incentives that are tailored to the individual sales rep and their performance. This will help to ensure that incentives are relevant and meaningful, and that sales reps are motivated to perform at their best.

7: Adoption of sales technology

In this fast-moving digital age, having the right tech on board is essential for sales enablement. Purpose-built, mobile-oriented sales tech will help your team to work more efficiently and effectively, allowing them to spend more time selling and building customer relationships, and less time on administrative tasks. By leveraging industry-specific tech, sales reps are able to quickly access key information such as buying habits, previous transaction history, call notes and more. This enables you to provide a tailored experience for your customers, while at the same time focusing on increasing key metrics such as average basket size, product penetration, and ultimately any new offerings the customer may wish to purchase.

8: Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A CRM provides your sales team with a centralised view of customer interactions. It enables them to better understand customer needs and preferences, and to make informed decisions about how best to engage with customers. The better you know your customers, the better you can personalise messaging and tailor offers - ensure that you're 'speaking their language'.

Retail channels are getting smarter and smarter about how they meet their customer’s needs, so your sales teams need to be able to customise their approach at each account they call on. A CRM is a key to empowering them to do this in a smart and organised way.

9: Sales management and coaching

It's essential to communicate goals and expectations to sales reps, and provide ongoing support and guidance to help them achieve those goals. Provide access to training and development opportunities, coaching sessions, and other resources that can help sales reps to continuously improve. Make use of data and analytics to track sales rep performance and to identify areas for improvement. This can help sales managers to provide targeted coaching and support to sales reps.

By effectively managing and coaching your sales team, you'll ensure they have the skills, knowledge, and motivation they need to achieve their goals. Ultimately, this means you'll win more business and build stronger, more successful relationships with your customers.

Sales enablement strategies are crucial for wholesale and distribution businesses to remain competitive and drive better results. It means their sales team is equipped with the skills, knowledge, and tools they need to create and strengthen customer relationships. By investing in sales technology and adopting best practices for sales enablement, businesses can increase competitiveness, streamline the sales process, improve sales performance, and deliver a top-notch customer experience.

Here at Opmetrix, we provide national sales managers in New Zealand and Australia with a platform that will drive your sales team forward. It's easy to use, simple to learn, and has been designed with sales enablement in mind.