Improve Agent Productivity

6 Proven Ways to Improve Sales Reps Productivity with Cloud Telephony

Sales has become more flexible and agile than ever because of the heavy competition in almost each and every sector. Moreover, with humans as buyers sales can never be linear. Sales reps have to go for multiple calls and process that are mostly disorganized and not streamlined.

So, how is this all working out?

A study on sales reps shows that sales agents only spent one-third of their time in selling and the rest of the time in manual work.[Source]

Brutal, yet real!

That’s where a cloud telephony solution comes into the game, acting as a co-pilot for sales reps by handling all the manual calls-related tasks.

Cloud telephony has emerged as a game-changer in the world of modern B2B sales. Whether we are talking about inside sales or field sales, cloud telephony has been the best bet for getting more closed deals and increasing productivity in sales.

A highly motivated business with big growth plans requires efficient and robust sales solutions, as growth is dependent on a killer sales team. Let’s look at how to improve sales productivity by examining the ways in which cloud telephony can act as a booster for sales agents.

You can also watch this video where we talk about how cloud telephony improves sales reps productivity and output.

1. Save reps from manual tasks

Cloud telephony is the most important tool in the sales communication arsenal of a rep. It has multiple features that automate the tasks of the agents and saves time for more productive tasks like persuading a high-value prospect and building relationship.

Automatic logging of call details and notes in the CRM:

Modern sales is not just about a silver bullet or a single call that can make or break the deal. Reps have to continuously put efforts in understanding the need and problems of the prospects. And follow-ups need to be done religiously.

This is only possible when all the conversations and details are saved for future conversations. Cloud telephony solution automatically saves all the call-related details that include call logs and details, SMS details, notes, call recording, disposition codes/call outcomes and others in your respective CRM.

Before the follow-up call, agents can quickly go through the saved notes and call details from the leads/customer profile and take the conversation forward. They can even listen to the recordings of the previous calls and understand the requirements of the prospect.

Sales Dialers – Auto Dialer and Predictive Dialer:

If a business is serious about growth, they have to break the mold of traditional outbound sales. And this can only be achieved by putting a brain behind the outbound sales strategy- Sales Dialers. A sales rep normally make 30-50 calls on a daily basis but with a sales dialer, the call frequency can go 3X.

While both Auto Dialer and Predictive Dialers act as a dialing hand for reps, both are different in terms of calling frequency and some other features. Auto Dialer dials 1 number at a time and connects the rep with the lead.

This way, it helps increase sales productivity as agents do not miss even a single prospect.

A single-line Auto Dialer can make around 75-80 calls per hour.

Predictive Dialer, on the other hand, dials multiple numbers at once and connect the agent with the answered calls only.sales reps productivity

SMBs, solopreneur, small support or sales team who are looking for more personalized conversation with prospects/customers should go for Auto Dialer. As Auto Dialer will dial 1 contact at a time and agents will be prepared with all the notes and sales scripts.

A Predictive Dialer can supercharge your agents if we are talking about enterprise and teams with more agents. With multiple active calls at any instant, the sales team will be able to handle more prospects. Sales scripts, disposition codes, notes, call logging and monitoring as the available features, predictive dialer acts as a reliable sidekick for your sales reps.

Read: Predictive Dialer vs Auto Dialer: Which is right for your business?

Click to call and text button in CRM:

For a business or call center that needs to make hundreds to thousands of calls a day, the seconds used for manual dialing easily add up to hours that could’ve been maximized for business-impacting tasks.

The typical workflow of sales reps is – pull up lead records on their CRM’s interface, dial the numbers in their mobile or desk phones, open notepads for notes and save call logs in the CRM after the call. But now, click to call and text button has made this process a lot smoother for salespeople.

Click to call and text icons remove this hassle of dialing numbers manually. With just a click, sales reps can quickly make the call to the contact from the CRM itself. And the same is true for SMS with click to text icon.

All conversations are automatically logged and recorded so that reps can focus on selling, while in-depth call reporting helps managers improve their team’s call techniques.

Voicemail drop:

Sales reps often face unanswered calls, and hence, voicemail box. This limits the reps to convince the prospect if they are unprepared for voicemail box.

The ‘highest yielding’ B2B sales have conversations floating around a 43:57 talk-to-listen ratio. In other words, the data shows that top-producing sales professionals speak only 43% of the time (on average), allowing the prospect to speak 57% of the time (on average).

You are highly motivated for your next closure but what if there is a voicemail box waiting for you? Reps can’t simply miss the chance of conversion if they have to leave a voicemail instead of proper conversation.

Voicemail drop feature comes as a savior in this case. With just a click, you can drop a saved voicemail reply in the prospects voicemail box. This not only increases the chance of conversion but also save time of the reps. Your saved voicemail just need to be convincing and should create interest in the buyer.

2. Acquire and nurture leads

Cloud telephony not only assist sales reps in closing deals but in the pre-sales and prospecting too. With an active business phone number and features of cloud telephony, your business can undoubtedly get more sales qualified leads than ever.

Website Click to Call button

Missing leads that are already on your website can be painful. Many a time, leads have some question related to the product or services related to your business.

Website click to call button come handy in this situation. With website click to call, leads and customers can connect with the sales reps in a click. This not only increases the number of leads but also proves that your business is inclined to improve customer satisfaction.

With JustCall, your customers can not only get on the call with sales reps in a click. But can also schedule the call for later or drop a message.

Read more on website click to call button

Bulk SMS and SMS automation

SMS is the most efficient and cost-effective way to stay connected with your customers. It skyrockets your marketing efforts and works as an accelerator for establishing communication. The most attractive feature that makes experts love SMS is that it has a staggering open rate of 98%.

With SMS automation or SMS bot, your business will be able to handle all the queries of your leads and customers at any moment. SMS bot is a proper fit if you are looking for a quick, reliable and 24/7 support system for your business that will never leave your customer’s queries unresponded. By using the keywords of a query, you can either set up a static or dynamic reply with the help of workflows.SMS Bot

Bulk SMS can work wonder for your cross-selling and up-selling operations. Customers can be updated about discount offers, new products, account-related details and other helpful information using Bulk SMS.

3. Never miss a lead

In the era of remote work and digital nomads, cloud telephony acts as a boon for businesses over the globe. It removes the restrictions and limits of a physical location. Sales reps can connect with customers anytime and anywhere as cloud telephony is platform-independent.

Platform independence- Web, Desktop and Mobile App

Reps can make or receive calls and SMS from the web, desktop or mobile app. Moreover, all the details related to call, call recording, notes and voicemail will be logged in the CRM and reps can have a look at these details and notes from any platform.

IVR or Interactive Voice Response

IVR works as a virtual receptionist or the first line of defense. Prospects can be connected quickly and without any error to the best available agent of a specific department. This ensures that the prospect is quickly able to get an accurate solution without wasting much of his time waiting and listening to dial tones.

With IVR, your business can handle high volume calls without making the customers wait for long. This results in more queries resolved in less time, higher conversions, and happier customers. Businesses can even give multiple language options in the IVR to ensure none of the lead is missed because of differences in languages.IVR

Use-case for lead gen using IVR: A unique number in the marketing campaign of a real estate agency connects prospects with the IVR. After the message related to the campaign has been played, it gives leads the option to record and save their questions as voicemail. The sales team can then use the details submitted to the IVR and the query of the customer to contact with the lead. Thus, they will have something more than just a name to initiate the conversation. This helps establish a better connection and more fruitful conversation with the lead.

Read more on IVR-Interactive Voice Response

Call forwarding

Call forwarding lets your calls go wherever you want them to go. You can forward incoming business calls to any phone, cell or landline. This feature is helpful in transferring all the important calls to reps personal number or to someone who is available.

3 Ways To Forward Calls with JustCall

  1. Forward calls to your JustCall Mobile and and Web Apps.
  2. Incoming calls can also be forwarded to your mobile or landline phone(external number).
  3. Forward calls to your team members – ring all at once or ring in order.

Call forwarding can be configured in seconds and can be change as often as needed to fulfill your business needs. Call forwarding is the perfect feature for busy teams which require their phone system to be flexible and reachable.

4. Training reps in real-time

The top salespeople aren’t the smooth talkers — they’re the most effective listeners. Instead of pushing the product from the beginning of the conversation, an effective salesperson carefully listens to the need of the prospects and assist in the best way possible. But like any skill, even naturally capable salespeople need to sharpen their skills through consistent sales training as sales is dynamic and there is always something new to learn.

And call monitoring feature of JustCall is no-doubt the best solution for real-time monitoring and training of sales reps. Call analytics assist manager in evaluating the overall performance of the reps, team, and calls.

Call monitoring- Call Listening, Call Whispering, Call Barging

For effective real-world training to happen, a sales manager needs to listen live calls of the reps, review recordings, and analyze the rep’s performance to offer timely and specific feedback. Supervisors can emphasize on listening and understanding the needs of the client and helps salespeople avoid pushing a product by providing direct feedback in a real sales situation. Managers can also barge in a live call when their interruption can assist reps in closing the deal.

Call monitoring is not just about listening to live calls but it also allows you to take necessary actions whenever required at the different stages of an on-going call.

JustCall supports all 3 stages of call monitoring :

  1. Listening: Listen to live agent calls without any interference
  2. Whispering: Manager can speak directly with the reps over the call without letting the customer know
  3. Barging: Jump into the on-going call between your agent and customer and talk to the customer directly.

Call Analytics

Monitoring performance of the reps and team is a must for any organization. But manual tracking and keeping an eye on the performance of each and every rep is pretty heavy and time-consuming.

Cloud telephony ensures that everything reps do is completely trackable and can be monitored. JustCall covers all the call analytics feature any organization might require for keeping a track on the performance of the agents.

  • Live Call Activity
  • Call Analytics
  • Service Level Analytics
  • Number Analytics
  • Team Analytics
  • Voicemail Analytics
  • Busy Hours Analytics

5. Scale quickly and effortlessly

For a growing business, scaling team is obligatory. But onboarding new reps involve multiple steps. New system, phone and number can take days. Also, managing a big team has it’s own pain. Cloud telephony removes these complexities involved in the onboarding of a new hire and team management.

Get numbers in a click

JustCall gives you an option to instantly get phone numbers for your team members and teams in over 58 countries that we support. You can use these phone numbers to make or receive calls from any part of the world.

To get a new phone number, you just have to select the country and the type of number.

With JustCall, you have different options for new phone numbers:

  • Local or Toll-Free Number
  • Country
  • Filter by digits or area code

Manage team

The job of a manager isn’t always a smooth sail. A manager needs to constantly keep an eye on the performance of the reps. But this is certainly not easy if we are talking about big teams. Managers can’t simply go to each and every rep and ask them questions, there’s a need for a solution that can assist manager in monitoring the performance of the teamsales reps productivity

With Justcall you can:

  • Manage your team members and clients in one place.
  • Allot phone numbers and access Call logs.
  • Monitor your team’s call.
  • Invite or remove users in a few clicks.

6. Enhance the efficiency and professionalism of sales reps

Along with removing manual tasks, cloud telephony has multiple automation that can assist reps in reaching quicker to the prospects and customers.

Incoming call forwarding

Sales reps also have to handle incoming calls of the leads and repeat customers. Cloud telephony supercharges the functionalities around incoming calls.

With JustCall there are 3 options for incoming call forwarding

  • Forwarding calls to mobile or landline
  • Forwarding calls to mobile or web app
  • Forward calls to team members

You can also setup intelligent incoming call routing with JustCall. This allows you to connect an incoming caller with a specific team member.

Incoming call profile badge

In the case of inbound calls, screen pops filled with CRM data automatically provide context for every call. For getting the information regarding the inbound caller, JustCall has profile badge. With profile badge, you can directly go to the contact profile in the CRM and see all details and previous conversations.

Disposition code or outcome code

After the call ends, reps can tag the contact with the call outcomes or the ‘disposition code.’ These disposition codes can be anything like ‘interested, follow up’ and others

Bonus: With JustCall, you can also create a campaign and workflows based on the disposition codes you have set for the leads. Disposition codes work as tags and you can even segregate contacts based on your disposition code.

Appointment scheduler

Finding the perfect meeting time with prospects normally involves multiple distractions, waiting for replies, modification in the calendar and other monotonous tasks. In addition to the waste of time, the absence of a proper system leads to loss of lead and hence less number of closures per quarter.

There are 100s of appointment scheduler tool available online. But all of these schedulers still have leakages in terms of manual work the sales rep has to do to check scheduled call details and make manual entries in the CRM system after the call has completed. This not only consume the time of the reps but also creates the process difficult.

JustCall appointment scheduler is connected to JustCall’s phone system and your CRM system. So, if the sales rep is using JustCall’s Appointment Scheduler, you can not only let your leads schedule a call or appointment with you but you can make the calls & automatically log them into JustCall system right from your computer.

Benefits of Cloud Telephony for Sales Reps

Cloud telephony uses the internet to make calls, bringing countless benefits to businesses and sales representatives. The four key benefits that cloud calling provides are discussed below.

Increased Mobility

In the age of remote and hybrid work, cloud telephony allows your sales reps to take their work with them wherever they go.

Cloud calling solutions can be conveniently made available over any mobile device, giving the sales reps the mobility they need to close more calls at their convenience.

Accessibility

Since these systems are catered to the employees over the cloud, it makes these services highly accessible.

Whether your sales representatives are at their desks or moving, working from home or from another city, they can easily access the cloud telephony systems from anywhere.

Improved Collaboration

In certain situations, a sales rep must work with other departments (like marketing or accounting) to complete a task.

In such situations, cloud telephony systems provide efficient collaboration features that facilitate correspondence, teamwork, and project collaboration.

Improved Customer Engagement

Cloud telephony, with its alerts, notifications, and intelligent call queueing and routing systems, helps to reduce response times drastically. This, in turn, boosts customer engagement and helps agents to resolve queries faster.

It is possible to increase the call volume by driving high efficiencies using cloud calling systems.

Types of Cloud Telephony Solutions

Four distinct types of cloud telephony solutions help you boost productivity in sales.

Virtual Call Centres

Virtual call centers are cloud-based call centers that do not require the traditional telephony setup to be operational. They are deployed directly to the employees’ screens through the cloud, making them extremely mobile, flexible, and accessible.

Virtual contact centers are the ideal choice for businesses with a sales team working remotely or from dispersed locations.

Cloud-based PBX systems

PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange. A cloud-based PBX is a telephony system wherein the telephone network is provided to a private business branch through a cloud setup.

The employees can connect to this cloud space to access the PBX and place calls.

This system helps businesses control, manage, integrate, and connect with the PSTN in a cloud environment, simplifying operations significantly.

Audio/Video Conferencing

Audio/video conferencing is self-evident: it leverages VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to send audio and visual data over the internet. The meetings and calls you place over Zoom, or Google Meet, are examples of audio/video conferencing.

Businesses leverage these tools to assist their clients and customers more comprehensively.

They can also be used for internal communications.

WebRTC App Development

WebRTC stands for Web-based Real-Time Communications.

Much like WhatsApp allows sharing of real-time instant messages over an application, WebRTC applications are deployed over the web to enable real-time communication between two web browsers.

Applications like screen-sharing are a product of WebRTC-based cloud telephony. Most tech businesses deploy this solution to assist their customers with troubleshooting.

Choosing the Right Telephony Solution for Your Sales Team

Before you make the final decision in selecting a cloud telephony solution, consider the following aspects to make the best use of your investment.

Team Size

Normally, cloud telephony solutions are provided on a per-agent, per-line, or per user basis. The solution you choose would differ depending on the number of sales representatives you plan to put on the cloud.

While some providers are ideal for larger enterprises, others may provide more suitable solutions for start-ups and SMEs where the teams aren’t big.

Call Volume

Larger enterprises deal with a higher call volume every day. On the other hand, smaller companies do not need to subscribe to larger server bandwidths because their call volumes are lower.

You would need to assess your call volume to determine how busy your lines would be and the best solution that can handle this volume.

Budget

Some cloud telephony solutions are equipped with more tools and features than others. Evidently, these solutions cost more than the rudimentary setup.

If you need ancillary services like customer intelligence, contact center metrics, and more, you need to stretch your budget a bit to accommodate the solution with these features.

Scalability

Every business grows steadily, while some grow quickly in an accelerated manner. It is essential to understand the growth pattern of your business to judge the kind of cloud telephony solution you would require.

A highly scalable solution works for a rapidly growing business. However, too many scaling features may complicate the setup for an enterprise going steady.

Security

Data security is the front and center of any software solution.

Keeping in mind that there are now laws and regulations in place to protect consumer privacy, your contact center must deploy solutions that assure compliance by providing a robust data security protocol.

The encryptions and access controls embedded in the cloud telephony solutions should be effective.

Challenges of Implementing Cloud Telephony

While cloud telephony solves countless business challenges, there are several difficulties that it may pose for the sales rep and the company. However, these challenges can be easily mitigated with a little extra effort.

Need for Training

Cloud telephony is a kind of software that is provided to the business for use in cloud environments. This setup may be new for many sales representatives, necessitating the need for training to boost productivity in sales.

This training may provide to be an additional cost and time investment for your enterprise.

Potential for System Malfunctions

Where technology is involved, there are bound to be several system-related issues from time to time. In the situation where your cloud telephony solution is not properly configured according to requirements, you may encounter several system malfunctions.

These can prove to be costly in the long run.

Cloud Telephony Success Stories

Birmingham City University

Birmingham City University was facing issues with clearing the process through which students can apply to universities for courses of their choice.

BCM needed to put an effective call center solution in place to tackle the service standards required and improve deliverability to aid students in achieving their dreams.

By deploying cloud telephony that used Webex calling with data backup into the cloud, BCM was able to achieve its goals.

Dragon 2000

Dragon 2000 faced the challenge of flexibility and resilience with its existing contact center solutions. They could handle calls for their off-site staff by incorporating cloud telephony into the mic.

In light of COVID-19, they needed more flexibility and accessibility in their call centers, which was made possible by cloud calling systems.

Bonus: Improve sales conversation with JustCall and Gong.io integration

How often in Sales meetings we talk about being a better listener? I would say almost in all of the meetings I have been in, this has always been one point we are told to work upon. The very best salespeople aren’t always the slickest talkers, they’re the most effective listeners. Instead of ignoring the client and trying to stay one step ahead, an effective salesperson carefully listens to the need of the prospect and assist in the best way possible.

In the era of artificial intelligence, Gong is a tool revolutionizing the space of conversational intelligence and gives you the capability of analyzing your sales meetings. Being not just another transcript tool, it gives you a balance of how long the Salesperson was talking and what are the metrics that were discussed. We at JustCall found this as an opportunity to help sales teams analyze their phone calls and improve reps performance.

Final thoughts:

Being a rep is difficult. Consistently succeeding as a rep is nearly impossible. Your day is hectic- multi-tasking, prospecting, doing discoveries, scheduling demos, negotiating, closing.

But cloud telephony acts as a co-pilot and assists sales reps in closing more deals in less time. Cloud telephony is popular among all sales departments as it skyrockets productivity in sales and gives sales reps much more time to focus on the actual selling bit.

Book a meeting with us to discuss how JustCall can transform sales reps into sales champions.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does cloud telephony improve communication and collaboration between sales reps and other team members?

By providing a single, dedicated platform for the team members in the sales department, cloud telephony systems encourage prompt and real-time collaboration between team members. It makes it more flexible and cost-effective as well.

How does cloud telephony help sales reps work more efficiently?

By providing the sales representatives with information like incoming and outgoing call statistics, missed calls, follow-ups, and scheduled meetings, a cloud telephony system enables sales representatives to work more efficiently.

How to choose the right cloud telephony solution for your sales team's needs?

The best way to choose the right cloud telephony solution is to assess the following parameters:

  • Call volume
  • Number of team members
  • Features
  • Collaboration tools of the solution

Depending on these needs, you will be able to select the best solution.

Sid heads the global Sales Team at JustCall. He has been instrumental in establishing the foundation for the GTM functions at JustCall, driving the organisation into a growth phase. He is passionate about enabling organisations to build great customer experiences using technology. He is always looking to help startups beyond work, advising early stage companies on all things Sales & GTM.

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