The Sales Capacity Challenge and Excess Lead Volume
The Sales Capacity Challenge and Excess Lead Volume
Overbooking our to-do list is a pain we’ve all felt. We intend to complete ten, fifteen, or even twenty chores in a single day, but only complete one or two. It’s not that we don’t want to or aren’t capable of doing so. It’s just that each day is limited to a certain number of hours.
When Marketing delivers hundreds or thousands of leads for Sales to pursue, there is a similar misalignment of expectations. Organizations face the dreaded sales capacity dilemma when the amount of leads vastly outnumbers the Sales team’s ability to follow up with each one.
71% of participants claimed they have difficulty with sales capacity. While this poll is limited to those in attendance, many businesses face this problem without even realizing it. Excessive lead volume and overworked sales teams are, after all, rather common.
We’ll look at the sales capacity problem, its effects, and potential solutions in the sections below.
Faced with a Problem
While scheduling meetings and increasing engagement are critical for any Sales team, the ultimate goal is to create revenue. However, if you have dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of Marketing Generated Leads (MQLs) sitting around, it’s probable you’re missing out on Sales-ready chances.
To alleviate this burden, the most obvious solution is to hire additional people. For many firms wanting to cut costs, however, this is just not a viable choice. Similarly, some businesses only get a lot of leads at specific times of the year or after trade exhibits or other events. Hiring more employees isn’t a practical option in these circumstances of temporarily changing lead quantities.
This raises the challenge of how to efficiently contact the largest number of leads.
How Can You Effectively Contact the Largest Number of Leads?
Recognize that not all leads are created equal. Some incoming leads are “Sales-ready,” which means they are likely to contact your sales staff. Other leads are “nurture-ready,” which means they are interested in learning more about your organization and products but aren’t ready to speak with Sales just yet.
What distinguishes the two? Predictive scoring has traditionally been used by Marketing and Sales to qualify leads. The formula is simple: greater lead scores are given to incoming leads that fit your selected buyer profile. Prospects who download marketing information like a buyers guide are treated similarly. This method has a place in the big picture, but it’s just an estimate. All you have to do is ask to find out which prospects are Sales-ready.
This, of course, brings us back to the problem of sales capacity. It takes a lot of time and effort to ask each and every incoming lead whether they would like to talk with a Salesperson. It’s a tedious operation that will certainly yield a few “yeses” and a slew of “nos” and “not yets.” Rather than having your workers track down each and every lead, why not use an Intelligent Virtual Assistant to ask at scale, “Are you interested?”
Using an Intelligent Virtual Assistant to Solve the Sales Capacity Challenge
IVAs (Intelligent Virtual Assistants) assist people in doing what they are greatest at. IVAs allow employees to focus on what they enjoy doing, like as thinking creatively, creating relationships, and completing transactions, while automating many of the repetitious and boring duties that they don’t like to do.
“Do you think an AI Assistant can help ease your sales capacity challenge?” the question was posed. “Yes” was answered by 93 percent of webinar attendees.
Inside Sales only touch leads zero to two times on average, which is one of the reasons why a Sales AI Assistant is so beneficial. However, between seven and ten touches are ideal. Salespeople don’t have the time (or, to be honest, the inclination) to engage in this level of outreach. Fortunately, until purpose is confirmed, a Sales AI Assistant can handle the golden number of touches in a persistent, consistent, and pleasant manner.
A Sales AI Assistant also generates revenue. IVAs elevate Sales-ready leads the instant they exhibit interest in scheduling a meeting, it contacts incoming leads within minutes (rather than hours or days later), and it detects handraisers among low-qualifying leads that your team doesn’t have time to touch. All of these elements work together to ensure that no opportunity is overlooked.
Recommendations for Additional Reading
While an Intelligent Virtual Assistant can help you discover new possibilities, it can’t do everything. Teams must still collaborate to achieve a common objective. The alignment of Marketing and Sales is one such example. Prospects will experience a messaging disconnect if these two teams use distinct terminology in their communications. Because it is created that way, SimpSocial in a consistent manner. Your teams must also be based on the same messaging.
Brett Blackney of HackerRank also advises aligning Marketing and Sales before trade fairs, conferences, and major media pushes. This prepares the Inside Sales team for a surge in leads and ensures that the outreach process runs well.
Another suggestion is to figure out how to divide responsibilities between salespeople and IVAs properly. In the majority of cases, businesses employ a “start small and grow” approach. For example, a Sales AI Assistant could focus on re-engaging previous leads for a company. The company may broaden its use cases if the technique proves to be successful.
The Quick Fix
Expecting your Sales team to chase down every single lead is simply unrealistic. However, an Intelligent Virtual Assistant can help your staff focus on closing business by supplementing their efforts. It’s time to give individuals the freedom to do what they do best while technology does what it does best.
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