Why Everyone in Your Organization Should Create Sales Opportunities

Many businesses save the selling for the sales team. In theory, it makes sense. But in reality, non-sales team members have just as much power as the sales team to create sales opportunities.

Why set up everyone to create sales opportunities?

When everyone in your company is a salesperson, it doesn’t mean that your receptionist will now be making cold calls. Nor will the customer service team meet with marketing to research qualified leads. Not at all. In an effective sales culture, everyone works toward a unified sales goal because contracts are rarely won by a single person or one team.

For a receptionist that means learning to out listen for opportunities to upsell. For the account management team, who pass on referrals to the sales team that means getting to know existing customers on a personal level. Here’s what a sales culture where everyone is a salesperson can do for you:

• Earns referrals from customer service agents and company drivers. At every stop of their route, drivers interact with customers and key decision-makers. Every inbound call represents a sales opportunity for customer service reps. Both professionals share a unique “in” to upsell products, hear buyer feedback, understand their pain points, earn referrals, and gain trust and loyalty.
• Creates sales opportunities with valuable connections through employees’ network. According a Financial Times article, “people buy from people.” And people have family, friends and other connections may benefit from your product – it’s up to your employees to let them know. Encourage them to do so, and the sales team enjoys warmer sales and less time transitioning in the funnel.
• Support will hyper-motivate salespeople. Sales cultures that holds everyone accountable for their weight cultivates a sales-friendly environment. Sales reps thrive when the entire organization pitches in, simply because everyone can be a solution (in their own way) to current sales bottlenecks.
• Develops a more motivated company culture overall. Establish clear cut standards and accountability simply by aligning every department within your organization to the corporate revenue goal. Anchoring employees to a single objective, empowers them to take ownership of their role. Positive accountability boosts engagement, morale and retention.
• Increases channel sales. Distributors are well-equipped to boost revenue by not only cutting your costs to take products to market, but by broadcasting the product’s value proposition to end-users. Teach them your company sales strategy through your channel partner training program.

Why can’t everyone help create sales opportunities?

One common thread among workers in any company is that they see themselves as separate from the sales team. It’s a mindset as old as time, and takes some work from the upper level of your organization to change it. There are three reasons why everyone can’t increase sales:

Some companies leave selling to the sales team, opting out of lucrative sales opportunities. This is a step in the wrong direction. Instead, everyone from the administrative assistant to the highest executive should be knowledgeable about the company’s sales goals, and they affect it as a salesperson in their own right.

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