ClearSlide’s driving mission is to empower salespeople to be more effective. It’s why we were founded and it is what we strive for everyday. Needless to say, we spend a lot of time thinking about how to help salespeople perform at their peak. While there are countless books, articles and talks out there that promise to reveal the “secrets” to sales success, the fact is that there are no “secrets.” However, there are certain behaviors and factors that consistently yield impressive results. Harvard Business Review recently highlighted learnings from a study by VoloMetrix, which boils down the “secret” to three key things: customer engagement, internal networks and energy.

Customer engagement

Customer engagement includes metrics like overall time spent with customers, accounts touched and time spent with each account, frequency of interaction, and breadth/depth of relationships. The study found that top performers spend up to 33% more time with customers per week, which translates to 2-4 additional hours. The more time a salesperson spends with customers, the more likely it is that they will succeed.

However, raw face-time is not the whole story. The study also found that degree of focus matters as much as total time. Top performers tend to spend more time with customers per week and interact with fewer accounts. In short, depth matters more than breadth. The most successful salespeople prioritize deep relationships over shallow ones.

Internal network

Salespeople need support to succeed. Top salespeople generally have large networks within their own organization of people who they interact with regularly. They also have regular interactions with leadership.

Why? Because these internal relationships enable salespeople to get the information they need when they need it. They can quickly access expertise and have their finger on the pulse of what is happening throughout their organization. By maintaining strong connections with people across many departments– whether they are developers, HR workers, or marketers — salespeople are exposed to a diverse array of ideas and ways of thinking about their company’s product. This sense of context ultimately gets passed on to prospective customers.

As with customers, building meaningful internal relationships take time. The study found that top performers typically spend anywhere from 10-15 hours per week interacting with small groups inside their companies. This not only includes people from different departments, but also senior leadership and sales support staff.

Energy

Every salesperson knows that sales is hard work. It requires a lot of time to do right. The article highlights that top performers’ weeks are about four hours longer than lower-performing salespeople, spending up to 40% more time working outside of normal hours. That’s a lot of energy and dedication, and every moment counts. This makes it extremely important that salespeople learn how to optimize their time and be as productive as possible. Enthusiasm is also key. The best salespeople are passionate about the products that they sell and approach every customer meeting with excitement and positivity.

ClearSlide’s solutions are built with every one of these factors in mind. Our technology enables salespeople to easily and consistently maintain connections with their customers, and to optimize the time they have with them. We help salespeople deliver seamless, snafu-free presentations and react to where customers are in the moment with the right content easily at their fingertips, as well as manage and understand the impact of their content. We also help reps learn best practices from each other with insight into what content is being used and is working. All of these capabilities are possible on mobile, allowing salespeople to stay connected to their customers, content, and pipeline from anywhere. Because the other thing that helps salespeople to do their best? Great tools.