If your reps aren’t hitting their sales quotas, you are not alone.
Timetrade report[1] that since 2007 sales quota have risen by 33% while the percentage of reps hitting their quotas has fallen by 25%. And according to Aberdeen[2], two-thirds of sales reps fail to meet their annual sales quota goal.
The problem could be that they have too many tasks keeping them from actually engaging their prospects.
The Alexander Group[3] estimate that the average sales rep only spends 15% of his or her time engaging with prospects. The rest is spent doing admin such as logging sales activities, as well as prioritizing leads and opportunities and finding news or data relevant to their customers, among other factors.
It’s no surprise then, that The Bridge Group[4] report sales productivity is the top challenge for almost two-thirds of B2B organizations.
[1] http://web.timetrade.com/files/content_feature/TimeTrade_Inside_Sales_Report.pdf
[2] https://www.aberdeen.com/
[3] https://www.alexandergroup.com/blog/sales-analytics/are-your-sales-people-getting-enough-quality-sales-time/
[4] https://www.bridgegroupinc.com/
How Could AI Improve These Kinds of Numbers to Increase Productivity?
As sales processes continue to get more sophisticated, reps will need to leverage solutions that are equally sophisticated to keep up with the growing complexity. Simple automation is OK for basic admin tasks, but many of the most important and time consuming steps require deeper insight.
With Artificial Intelligence, it is now possible to efficiently and accurately perform these vital tasks without the labor-intensive effort most reps have to currently endure.
Automated logging of sales calls
Turning this function over to AI not only frees up time, it can cut down on human error.
Target customer identification
Find people sales can reach out to isn’t difficult. Finding the right people for sales to reach to is much harder. The data is out there to identify your ideal target, but you need to dig, sort and verify, often from several sources. Those are exactly the sort of things AI is designed to do.
Target customer prioritization
Given the limited time reps have to interact with prospects, knowing who to target first is an important factor. Even the best prospect won’t convert if your reps try to close then at the wrong time.
Using AI, you can prioritize around behavioral triggers, messages delivered or just about any other lead scoring criteria you may use.
Content personalization for the individual customer (as well as automated discovery of relevant content)
A one size fits all approach doesn’t work in pharma sales. Customers don’t have the time to sit through generic content. They need communications that speak to their unique needs, no matter what the situation may be.
That’s a big challenge when you try to scale your efforts. And it’s exactly the sort of thing AI is designed for.
Make predictions about results based on best actions
As the AI takes over more of the customer experience based on the customer insights and dynamic changing needs with each interaction and data point available, it becomes more and more relevant and personalized.
Automate natural language conversations with a virtual MSL or virtual sales rep 24/7
Now we have moved into serious conversational AI designed for pharma so that the MSL or sales rep can be in the doctors pocket essentially 24/7 without having to have an army of sales reps sitting around waiting for a physician to reach out. This can all be automated with conversational AI that is human level quality. And, the new generation of these actually have Adverse Event (AE) reporting built in, and are HIPPA and privacy compliant. If you want to hear about these and see them in action, check them out in the Eularis membership.
Conclusion
As you can see, using AI puts all the pieces in place to deliver the right message to the right person and the right time – 24/7 . Freeing up the time needed to plan who, when, and what to focus on, your sales reps can focus on what they do best – developing relationships with their customers and making sales.
Found this article interesting?
If you are looking for a solution such as any of these, and want to hear from a company who solved it and how they did it, join the Eularis Membership as we find the best in breed solutions, and find people who have had these challenges and solved it and interview them to know:
- which vendors are best in breed for the solution
- how the on-boarding went
- how long it took
- how much it cost
Then check out our membership as these interviews are all available in the membership.
ps. We are not paid to endorse any of these companies. We have integrity, and only feature solutions from companies that we have investigated and firmly believe are the best for the challenge. Our duty is to our members, and to find them the best solution for their needs, not to the companies we feature. We believe that these are companies that do a great job for their specialization.
To learn more about how Eularis can help you find the best solutions to the challenges faced by healthcare teams, please drop us a note or email the author at abates@eularis.com.