A growth of a business wholly depends on the sales team of a startup, because they are the one who draw necessary customers and make an effort to tie the customer/ client with the business, in a deal.

Customers play a vital role in the survival of the business and so are the salesperson’s from the sales team. As a team, it is very important that every individual contribute their best to accomplish the ultimate goal of the concern, but if any one of the salesperson of the team is not putting in the desired effort then the team is considered to be under-performing.

The below listed six points would help you identify the reasons why a sales team of a startup may be under-performing, and would help you deal with the sales figures:

1. Lack of potential people skills: People skills in an individual who desire’s who have a career in sales are highly important  because they have to deal with the customer with good enthusiasm such that they get attracted or persuaded. One bad move by selecting an incompetent member may ruin your team. If recruited, make sure you pair them with a potential sales member and analyze soon if he is productive to the team.

2. Technology becomes a challenge: Today’s business environment expects every individual to go along with the technology. The team is asked to work on software to maintain and link with the customers. But when this becomes a hurdle, the sales capabilities, and tech skills on the other hand, goes out of control. So the company should make an effort to train their employees with the requisite technology, which is required, according to the nature of work Eg. Zoho CRM, Salesforce.

3. Follow- ups left behind: According to the standards and goals set, a team member would have to visit a certain number of prospects in a month to convert them to a customer. But many teams actually do not do follow- up visits, which could help them get deals. A salesperson on an average successful follow- ups up to 17 percent. Make sure to follow- up is put on the front space.

4. Focusing on the wrong approach: The biggest mistakes happen when a salesperson fails to identify how their product or service would benefit the customer and how it could be a solution to pain. So in such instance, a salesperson should be a problem solver by not focusing on what he sells, instead determine the product resolves and benefiting points. The customer would respond only when he feels his needs being considered.

5. Poor product performance: The inefficient and poor performance of the products may have a greater impact on the sales team of startup, as they are the one who sell that to the ultimate customers. A defect in the product or poor customer service would directly affect the morale of the sales team. So it would be a better option to invest in good customer service and product development to improve your team’s performance and build member’s confidence in the product.

6. Lack of sufficient leads: Though these days it has become easier to draw leads from a variety of sources. With the help of certain tools, you can verify whether they fit a certain profile or not. But the business should also make it a practice to check if the necessary leads are actually captured or not. Leaders investment in sourcing the leads would help the sales team to a greater extent to perform their job’s easily.