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The sales process has gotten more complex as the point of contact between potential customers and sales reps keeps getting more technical. The addition of each new technology is, in theory, supposed to simplify things and to a certain extent it is, but it also means there are more activities that have to be performed to produce positive results.

An article on business2community looks at what it takes to bring your sales team to a champion status. The analogy taken is the current March Madness tournament that has offices across the country rooting for their favorite college team.

The piece makes two points: "Know When to Pass the Ball, And to Whom" and "Be Conscious of the Clock and Scoreboard"

The first point relates to finding the right sales person with the right prospect by giving high quality leads to individuals that are able to close the deal. The second point is to highlight the importance of time by letting reps know there is a clock they have to watch. The piece goes on to say that challenging the reps with leaderboards that point out the time it is taking to close a deal can be used to see how they measure up with their competition.

For many organizations, getting the most out of their sales reps means using CRM systems and dialers to expedite the sales process. But the processes in a CRM system have to be managed properly in order to ensure the desired result will be achieved. This will also require yet another technology, data analysis. The right data set will greatly determine which sales reps gets what leads, and if high priority accounts are not getting the right attention with the right talent, it can be a wasted opportunity.

Another tool making reps more efficient is performance-based and/or skill-based routing. With the right system in place, reps that are given leads with their particular skill sets have conversion rates that are doubled year-over-year (YoY), according to Velocify.  This of course requires some investment in time and the right technology; not doing so will be a waste of valuable resources as well as throwing away high-quality leads. The research by Velocify revealed improvement of 111 percent YoY for skilled reps, compared to 14 percent for other reps and 53 percent overall.

In addition to these techniques, there is another very important tool companies can use to drive even more sales: the "carrot" or compensation. B2C maintains the right motivation will win championships -- again the tournament analogy -- but it will take motivating your sales reps with the carrot, the stick and the race for continued success.