What Exactly is Sales Coordination?
As a manufacturer, your sales process is likely fairly complex — and lengthy. That means your core sales team is dealing with a variety of tasks that span a full gamut of responsibility, from early-stage marketing efforts (70% of companies report a blurring of responsibility between sales and marketing teams) and active nurturing and prospecting, to implementing technologies and processes and, of course, supporting the sales process itself with prospects. All of this comprises what is typically referred to as sales coordination. It seeks to support the success of the sales process itself.
It’s a lot of work to handle, and all the while, your team is still responsible for something that is supremely critical: closing new deals. Without those new opportunities, revenues come solely from existing customers. That might not sound like a problem, but left unaddressed, it’s common to find manufacturers with extremely high customer concentrations that put their businesses at risk. That, or they have open capacity due to not finding new opportunities to fill in the gaps. Focusing on these new opportunities is essential.
Sales Coordination Works Best When Sales Isn’t Doing It
Whether it’s you doing the work or a team alongside you, did the above description poke at some wounds? Do you feel that you don’t have enough time or capacity to focus on that critical task of closing new deals? Do you find that deals are languishing in your pipeline, that you suddenly realize you haven’t heard from a prospect for some time, or that other key sales tasks are falling through the cracks?
Unfortunately, many core sales teams — the ones that should be closing deals — are tasked with sales coordination responsibilities. To some, it sounds like that work fits in perfectly with what a salesperson should be doing. But do the math on a salesperson’s time and revenue metrics, and you’ll see just how negatively impactful it is when that work is a large part of their role — not closing new deals.
Today, many sales people are tasked with administrative duties, account service tasks, and at times even work on the production floor. Sometimes it’s unavoidable — we understand that. But if you want your organization to grow, a division of labor approach is what’s needed. Let’s take a look at an example from the metal fabrication industry.
How Sales Coordination Supported Growth
When this metal fabricator was struggling with a large customer concentration and no new business development efforts in place, they turned to Athena to implement our structured front-end solution. In addition to building new targeted lists, conducting outreach, implementing a holistic outbound/inbound marketing strategy, and more, Athena leveraged our sales coordination services to fully support the core sales team:
“Athena began some sales coordination efforts to help the sales team after a lead has been secured — whether that is following up on quotes, reaching back out to a prospect that hasn’t responded since an initial meeting, or finding out why a quote was lost.”
Additionally, our sales coordination support identified opportunities with existing customers, too:
“One current customer became silent and wasn’t responding after a project was quoted. Athena offered to find out what had happened. Zach called them and found out why the quote was lost, and now they are working with the customer to secure future projects.”
This sales coordination support went a long way toward building a pipeline with $2.4 million in active opportunities, from which more than $120,000 was closed with hundreds of thousands in annual spend potential.
Let’s Get the Right People in the Right Spots
If you’re tired of the opportunities you and your team have built slipping through the cracks, aging in pipelines for months, and revenue not growing, then Athena is the team you need to support your success. Our sales coordination support is part of our larger structured sales solution and holistic outbound/inbound marketing support effort. With our team actively involved from start to finish in all stages of the sales process, we’ll not only help you generate more opportunities but will also help you move them more efficiently toward closing — and more revenue.
Connect with us today to learn more in a private overview of our proven model.