Webinars
Your go-to hub for top sales strategies backed by real data
Hightlights
- Location
Guided Selling for Sales Leaders: 10 Reasons to Leverage Guided Selling in 2023
- Location
Conquer Recognized As A Leader In The 2021 Aragon Research Globe For Sales Enablement Platforms
Webinars
Top 5 Sales Engagement Tools for Enterprise Sales Teams
Enterprise sales teams face a unique set of challenges. Whether it’s managing long sales cycles in financial services, aligning complex buyer groups in SaaS, or navigating compliance-heavy environments in insurance, having the right tools is critical. Luckily, sales engagement tools empower teams by taking away some of this load.
A good sales engagement tool can streamline processes, automate routine tasks, and build stronger connections with prospects and customers. In this guide, we’ll explore the top sales engagement tools for enterprise teams, each excelling in specific areas.
1. Conquer: The ultimate all-in-one platform
Conquer redefines what sales engagement tools can achieve by bringing together multi-channel communication, advanced analytics, and seamless CRM integration in one unified platform.
Unlike niche tools that focus on specific aspects of the sales process, Conquer is purpose-built for enterprise sales teams to handle everything—from initial outreach to deal closure.
Key Features:
- Smart integration with email, phone, SMS, and social channels into a single workflow so that reps can communicate without switching tools.
- As a native Salesforce application, it eliminates the disconnect between CRM data and sales engagement, offering a unified view of the customer journey.
- Advanced AI metrics detailing pipeline velocity, customer engagement, and team performance enable leaders to make informed decisions.
- Excels in managing complex, multi-stakeholder sales processes across industries.
Why Conquer Stands Out:
Conquer’s strength lies in its versatility and depth. For example, a financial services firm managing high-value accounts can use Conquer to automate follow-ups, maintain compliance across communication channels, and gain insights to tailor their strategies.
Meanwhile, SaaS companies benefit from Conquer’s ability to manage and accelerate lengthy decision-making processes involving multiple stakeholders.
Limitations:
Conquer’s comprehensive feature set may feel overwhelming to smaller teams or organizations with simpler sales processes. However, for enterprise-level teams, this depth becomes a key strength when managing complex workflows.
2. Salesloft: Ideal for simple pipeline management
Salesloft excels at helping sales teams organize and optimize their workflows. With features like guided playbooks, real-time coaching, and pipeline analytics, it’s a valuable tool for sales enablement leaders looking to scale best practices across their organizations.
Key Features:
- Sales playbooks that provide step-by-step guidance for reps, ensuring consistent execution.
- Call coaching tools include recording and AI-driven insights for improving conversations.
- CRM integrations with platforms like Salesforce align engagement data with broader sales strategies.
Use Case:
Enterprise sales managers in insurance or financial services can use Salesloft to standardize workflows, helping teams manage compliance-heavy processes while improving productivity.
Limitations:
Some users report that Salesloft’s interface can be challenging to navigate, leading to slower adoption. Its strengths in coaching and playbooks are offset by limited multi-channel engagement capabilities compared to other platforms available.
3. Outreach: Best for outbound sales
Outreach is a recurring choice for teams focused on outbound sales activities. Its core strength lies in enabling reps to scale their outreach efforts through automated sequences, personalized messaging, and multi-touch engagement strategies.
Key Features:
- Outreach offers multi-channel engagement (email, phone, LinkedIn) tailored for outbound prospecting.
- It integrates an advanced sequence automation that schedules follow-ups and tracks responses.
- Analytics dashboards to measure campaign effectiveness and identify improvement opportunities.
Use Case:
Outreach is particularly effective for SDR-heavy teams, such as SaaS companies focused on acquiring new business. The platform’s automation tools save time and claim to ensure that no lead goes untouched.
Limitations:
Outreach’s focus on outbound prospecting means it lacks the versatility to manage the full sales cycle. Enterprise teams requiring deeper integration with their CRM or advanced analytics may find their capabilities limited.
4. Gong: Best for conversation intelligence
Gong is the go-to solution for analyzing sales conversations. Its AI-powered platform records, transcribes, and analyzes calls to identify patterns that drive successful outcomes. This makes it invaluable for enterprise teams where customer interactions often determine the success of a deal.
Key Features:
- AI-driven insights on call effectiveness and deal health.
- Call transcription and keyword analysis to identify trends.
- Integration with CRM tools to align conversation data with sales goals.
Use Case:
Gong is ideal for financial services or SaaS companies managing complex deals. For example, a VP of Sales can use Gong to identify common objections in sales calls and train teams to address them proactively.
Limitations:
teams looking for broader engagement capabilities may need to pair Gong with other tools, adding complexity to their tech stack.
5. LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Best for relationship building
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is a powerful tool for building and nurturing relationships with high-value prospects. Its advanced search filters and real-time updates make it indispensable for account-based sales strategies.
Key Features:
- Advanced prospecting tools with detailed account insights.
- Notifications for job changes, promotions, and other lead activities.
- CRM integration to align LinkedIn activities with broader sales engagement efforts.
Use Case:
Insurance companies targeting C-suite decision-makers can use Sales Navigator to personalize outreach and build trust. For example, an account manager can leverage updates about a prospect’s recent promotion to craft a timely, congratulatory message.
Limitations:
While excellent for prospecting and relationship-building, LinkedIn Sales Navigator doesn’t address other critical aspects of sales engagement, such as pipeline management or multi-channel outreach.
Why Conquer is the best choice for enterprise teams
The tools listed above excel in specific niches, but enterprise sales teams often require a platform that can handle the entire sales engagement process. Conquer stands out by delivering everything enterprise teams need in one place:
- Unified Communication Channels: From email and SMS to social and voice, Conquer ensures seamless, multi-channel engagement that simplifies workflows and enhances customer relationships.
- Advanced Analytics: Conquer’s analytics go beyond surface-level metrics, offering actionable insights into pipeline velocity, deal progression, and team performance. This empowers sales leaders to make data-driven decisions with confidence.
- Full CRM Integration: By embedding directly within Salesforce and other CRMs, Conquer eliminates data silos and keeps the entire team aligned on a single platform.
- Scalability and Flexibility: Designed for the unique demands of financial services, SaaS, and insurance industries, Conquer adapts to complex sales cycles, compliance needs, and large account volumes.
How to choose the best sales engagement platform
Even though many enterprise teams choose Conquer for its all-in-one functionality, it’s important to find the tool that fits your unique needs. What works for one organization might not work for another, so careful evaluation is key. Here are some tips to help guide your decision-making process.
1. Understand your sales process
Begin with analyzing your sales cycle, team structure, and sales workflows. Are you mostly dependent on outbound prospecting or focusing on the nurturing of long-term client relationships?
If your sales process includes many stages with complex handoffs, you’ll want a platform that can support seamless collaboration between teams. Conversely, if high-velocity outbound sales are your focus, tools with robust automation features may take priority.
Pro tip: Map your sales funnel and identify the pain points at every stage. Then, pick a tool that solves those pains directly.
2. Prioritize integration with your CRM
Your CRM is the backbone of your sales strategy, so the engagement platform you choose must be able to integrate seamlessly with it. Integration ensures data flows between systems, redundancies are avoided, and your team has one single source of truth.
This is key for reducing data admin work as well as enhancing collaboration across departments for a unified customer journey.
Example: If your sales teams use Salesforce, find software that natively integrates so that efficiency is maximized. Platforms requiring frequent data syncing or manual imports will impede workflows and cause data inaccuracies.
3. Go for multi-channel capabilities
In enterprise sales, engaging prospects and customers through multiple channels is critical. A good platform should unify these channels and allow the sales representatives to manage all interactions from one place. This reduces friction, ensures consistent communication, and saves precious time.
Questions to ask: Does the platform allow for omnichannel engagement? Can it scale to handle the volume of communication your enterprise team needs?
4. Consider scalability and flexibility
Large account volumes, complex workflows, and cross-department collaboration are commonly dealt with by enterprise teams. This means you must choose a tool that can scale with your organization as it grows. Find flexibility in customization to make sure the platform will be able to adapt to your evolving needs.
Pro tip: Request case studies or references from companies within your industry who have used the platform and how it has scaled for organizations with similar challenges.
5. Look for actionable analytics
Information forms the bedrock for strategic sales. Your engagement platform should be able to use advanced analytics that not only keep records but also provide insight into the velocity of the pipeline, team performance, and customers engaged.
Predictive analytics and AI-driven recommendations are added advantages that help sales leaders make smarter decisions, so you should focus on these offerings as well.
Question to ask: Does this platform give actionable insights associated with your KPIs such as conversion rates or period of sales cycle?
6. Assess usability and adoption
Even the most powerful tool is rendered useless if your team doesn’t want to use it. The sales engagement platform you choose should have an intuitive interface and require minimal training for reps to adopt. Complex platforms with steep learning curves can reduce productivity and cause frustration.
Pro tip: Ask for a demo or free trial to give your team a chance to experience the platform before buying. This will give you an idea of how fast they adapt to the tool and if it fits into their daily workflows.
7. Evaluate compliance and security
Compliance and data security are a must, especially for industries with sensitive information like financial services and insurance. Ensure the platform meets the industry standards and provides strong features for managing customer data securely to avoid costly fines associated with data breaches or leaks of customer PII.
Questions to ask: Does the tool offer audit trails, data encryption, and customizable permissions that can be configured based on roles and compliance?
8. Estimate TCO
Lastly, consider the total cost of ownership (TCO). While the subscription fee itself will be the apparent one, hidden costs around implementation, training, and integrations should also be taken into account. The cost has to be weighed against what a platform can give in return through productivity and revenue growth.
Pro tip: A slightly higher upfront investment in a robust platform can pay off in the long run by reducing the need for multiple tools and improving overall efficiency.
Wrapping up
Choosing the right sales engagement tool is critical for enterprise teams navigating complex industries. While platforms like Salesloft, Outreach, Gong, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator offer specialized features, Conquer delivers an all-in-one solution that simplifies engagement, enhances productivity, and drives measurable results.
If your enterprise team is ready to elevate its sales strategy, Conquer is the partner you need. Learn how Conquer can transform your sales engagement and get a free demo today!
Women Are A Sales Team’s Secret Weapon | TFOS E5
- Why women excel in sales and outperform industry benchmarks
- Overcoming underrepresentation in leadership
- Practical tips for women to thrive in sales careers
Making CRM Data Actionable: Key Metrics For Sales Leaders
In today’s data-driven business environment, CRM data is a must-have tool for sales leaders in various industries, especially those in financial services, manufacturing, and telecommunications. These systems collect a lot of customer data, but the real challenge lies in transforming it into actionable insights that drive sales performance.
Identifying and monitoring key metrics within your CRM can provide a roadmap to achieving sales excellence, which is exactly what we’ll be focusing on today.
Understanding CRM data
CRM data includes a wide array of information, such as customer interactions, purchase histories, service requests, and demographic information. With such analysis, businesses can better anticipate what their customers may want, personalize their marketing, and enhance overall customer satisfaction.
For example, purchasing patterns and levels of engagement can be analyzed in detail to give companies a better understanding of customer needs and what motivates them to buy. This is a key component in product and service development that appeals to just about any industry.
Making CRM data actionable
While collecting data is one thing, turning that information into actionable strategies is quite another. According to a study by Invesp, 87% of marketing leaders felt that their company was failing to leverage the full power of data. Those that do, however, report great rewards such as increased customer loyalty and retention.
By leveraging CRM data, sales leaders can drive informed decisions and deliver practical steps toward growing business, such as determining the conversion rate of clientele and predicting future revenues.
7 KPIs for sales teams
To unlock the full potential of CRM data, sales leaders must focus on specific Key Performance Indicators that align with their business objectives. By zeroing in on these metrics, sales teams can find opportunities for improvement, smoothen out processes, and ultimately increase revenue. Let’s dive deeper into each essential CRM metric.
1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer acquisition cost is the sum of the cost to acquire a new customer. It includes marketing, sales, and operational expenses. For sales leaders, CAC is an important metric that measures the efficiency and profitability of the customer acquisition strategy.
A very high CAC may point to inefficiency in the sales process or a heavy reliance on expensive customer acquisition channels, such as paid advertising. For example, if your CAC is increasing without a proportional increase in either revenue or CLV, that’s a good time to revisit your lead generation and qualification processes.
The strategies include improving lead scoring models, focusing on high-conversion channels, and nurturing prospects through personalized touchpoints to lower CAC.
How Conquer helps: By integrating all sales communication channels into a single CRM platform, Conquer ensures an efficient sales process. By decreasing the time and resources spent on winning over customers, the ratio automatically balances out in reducing CAC.
Moreover, automated follow-ups and AI-powered insights also contribute to CAC optimization by enabling sales teams to concentrate on high-value prospects.
2. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Customer lifetime value is the estimated quantity of revenue one customer will generate for a firm during a lifetime. This is arguably the most important metric for gauging the long-term profitability of a company. By comparing this to CAC, sales leaders can measure the ROI from acquisition and find which of their customer segments are generating the greatest value.
For instance, a financial services company may find that customers buying bundled services tend to have higher CLV. With this CRM data, their salespeople can craft their pitch to cross-sell additional services. The personalized nature of the engagement and loyalty programs also tends to increase CLV by elongating the customer’s life.
Action Tip: Segment your customer base based on CLV to put more resources into high-value accounts. This ensures that the most valuable customers get attention to drive retention and revenue.
3. Lead conversion rate
The lead conversion rate refers to the leads that have been developed into paying customers. This is directly indicative of how great your lead generation and lead nurturing processes are. Low conversion rates may be due to either poorly qualified leads or gaps in the sales funnel.
Improving this metric requires the refinement of your lead qualification criteria and alignment of marketing and sales teams in their messaging. For instance, manufacturing firms selling to B2B clients may want to consider custom proposals or product demonstrations that speak directly to pain points, thus nudging prospects toward conversion.
How Conquer helps: Conquer’s guided selling tools enable real-time insights and prompts for customer interactions. This means reps have the right message at the right time. Personalizing interactions not only enhances customer engagement but leads to better conversion rates as well.
4. Customer retention rate
Customer retention rate measures how many customers keep buying from your company over a certain period. Quite often, it is more cost-effective than acquisition; hence, this metric is of high importance in industries with long customer lifecycles, such as telecommunications and financial services.
High retention rates signal customer satisfaction and loyalty, while a shrinking rate serves as an indication of poor service, product quality, or communication. Tools like NPS surveys can provide valuable insights into why customers leave and how to improve their experience.
Actionable tip: Employ CRM data to find patterns in at-risk customers. Proactive outreach, including personalized incentives or addressing potential issues before they escalate, can make or break a retention boost.
5. Sales cycle length
Sales cycle length refers to the period of time that is normally taken to close a sale, from initial contact through to final agreement. Normally, a short cycle for sales means that things work well, while longer ones may indicate bottlenecks or inefficiencies.
For instance, a telecommunications company may realize that pre-proposal stages take longer due to client inquiries for details or verification. Solutions may include providing collateral to answer frequently asked questions in advance, or using CRM to automate proposal creation.
5. Sales cycle length
Sales cycle length refers to the period of time that is normally taken to close a sale, from initial contact through to final agreement. Normally, a short cycle for sales means that things work well, while longer ones may indicate bottlenecks or inefficiencies.
For instance, a telecommunications company may realize that pre-proposal stages take longer due to client inquiries for details or verification. Solutions may include providing collateral to answer frequently asked questions in advance, or using CRM to automate proposal creation.
How Conquer helps: Conquer puts all the information sales reps need at their fingertips and in the moment they need it, quickening the decision-making process.
6. Average deal size
Average deal size calculates the average revenue generated per closed deal, offering insights into the value of your customer base. This CRM data is especially important in identifying opportunities to upsell or cross-sell.
For instance, in manufacturing, a sales team may find that customers buying mid-tier equipment also are accepting add-on warranties or service packages. Equipped with this insight, sales leaders can develop focused methods to improve deal size while creating value for the customer.
Action tip: Leverage CRM segmentation to identify customers most likely to upgrade or add complementary products. This often greatly increases the average deal size with personal outreach and timing of offers.
7. Pipeline velocity
Pipeline velocity helps gauge how fast deals move through your sales funnel, giving a view into your team’s overall effectiveness. For example, slow pipeline velocity might be indicative of issues in how leads are qualified or bottlenecks at certain parts of the funnel.
For instance, a financial services company might notice delays at the contract negotiation stage. Addressing this could involve improving document workflows or training reps in objection handling. Regularly reviewing pipeline velocity helps identify bottlenecks and fine-tune strategies to accelerate deal progression.
How Conquer helps: Conquer’s strong analytics help sales leaders monitor pipeline velocity in real time and point out where attention is needed. Its frictionless integrations make sure that every stage of the pipeline is optimized for speed and efficiency.
By focusing on these CRM metrics and leveraging tools like Conquer to streamline processes, sales leaders can make data-driven decisions that drive success. These KPIs for sales teams not only provide a roadmap for continuous improvement but also empower teams to deliver measurable results in a competitive marketplace.
How to implement CRM analytics
In a world brimming with data, it’s no longer enough to have a CRM system. To unlock the full potential of CRM data, companies need equally strong analytics capabilities to convert the raw information into actionable insights.
Effective CRM analytics can give sales leaders unparalleled visibility into customer behaviors, market trends, and performance metrics that drive more informed, data-driven decisions. Let’s further explore how to implement and maximize the power of CRM analytics.
Step 1: Choose the right platform
The bottom line of any effective CRM data analytics is choosing a platform that can fulfill each and every business need. Leading tools like Conquer come forward with various analytics features to process complex data and generate meaningful insights.
For instance, Conquer’s analytics natively host various AI capabilities that let businesses predict outcomes, recommend next steps, and automate processes. Such functionality can be a real game-changer for industries that require the ability to forecast demand or identify sales opportunities ahead of time.
What to look for in a platform:
- Scalability: Make sure the platform will scale with your business.
- Integration: Seek out tools that play nicely with existing systems
- Ease of use: Aim for platforms with intuitive dashboards and visualizations
Step 2: Centralize and clean your data
For analytics to be effective, your CRM data must be accurate, consistent, and centralized. A common challenge for businesses, especially in industries like telecommunications or manufacturing, is siloed data stored across multiple systems. Inconsistent data can lead to inaccurate insights and missed opportunities.
To overcome this, sales leaders should perform regular audits to clean and update their CRM database, getting rid of duplicate or outdated records. They also need to invest in data integration tools that can help them unify information coming from different sources like marketing campaigns, customer service interactions, and sales activities.
Example: A telecommunications company might use a data integration tool to combine call logs, customer satisfaction surveys, and billing information. This creates a unified view of each customer, enabling better personalization and targeted sales efforts.
Step 3: Use advanced analytics (and AI)
While traditional CRM systems provide basic reporting capabilities, advanced analytics and AI upgrade CRM data to a whole new level. AI-powered CRM analytics take businesses beyond the boundaries of historical reporting to predictive and prescriptive insights.
By using AI analytics, sales leaders can:
- Find out which leads are likely to turn into deals so that the sales team can focus on high-value prospects.
- Segment customers by behavior, preference, or purchase history to design more effective marketing campaigns
- Identify early signs of dissatisfaction and take proactive action to improve customer retention.
Case Study: J.P. Morgan Payments processes more than $10 trillion every day and deploys advanced analytics to gain deep insights into customer behavior. Their customer insights go beyond demographics, pinpointing patterns in transaction data that can be used to help them create very specific strategies.
Similarly, Conquer has helped enterprise organizations make better decisions simply by utilizing the power of data. For example, a manufacturing company using Conquer AI can take such insights to predict when its clients are most likely to reorder supplies and reach out at just the right time.
Step 4: Democratize data across teams
Analytics shouldn’t be siloed. To be truly effective, insights gleaned from CRM data should be democratized across the sales, marketing, customer service, and leadership teams. This aligns everyone to make sure each department is rowing in the right direction.
Platforms like Conquer allow decision-makers to build custom dashboards tailored to particular roles. For instance:
- Sales leaders can track pipeline velocity and forecasted revenue.
- The marketing teams can understand campaign performance and lead quality
- Customer service reps can gauge customer satisfaction scores and churn risks.
This way, every team gets the insights they need to drive collaboration and ensure each decision is data-informed.
Step 5: Measure and refine your efforts
The process of CRM analytics is ongoing, not a one-stop matter. The business has to regularly measure the effectiveness of analytics and make alterations according to the need.
How to measure success:
- Track key metrics like lead-to-conversion rate, sales cycle duration, and customer retention.
- Rate tool adoption by evaluating how many different teams use the dashboards and reports provided to them.
- Collect feedback from users to understand where there are gaps or pain points in the analytics process.
Example: A manufacturing company that has implemented CRM analytics may notice that its sales force is not using predictive lead scoring as it should be. In this case, offering targeted training can help drive greater adoption and value, solving a major roadblock in its processes.
Roadblocks in CRM data integration? How Conquer helps
While CRM systems generate a significant amount of data, sales leaders often have trouble taking action on this information because of:
- Data overload: The volume of data is so huge that it becomes very difficult to extract meaningful insights from it.
- Data quality: Inaccurate or outdated data often leads to misguided strategies.
- Integration issues: Combining data from various sources can be complex and may result in inconsistencies.
Addressing these challenges requires a strategic approach to data management, ensuring data is clean, relevant, and integrated across platforms. Luckily, these difficulties are all challenges that Conquer is specifically designed to help overcome.
Simplifying data overload
Conquer’s customizable dashboards by role allow teams to rapidly access the KPIs for sales that are most important. For example, the VP of Sales has visibility into pipeline velocity and forecasted revenue, and can dive deeper into lead conversion rates and activity metrics for individual reps.
Conquer also includes AI-powered recommendations to surface high-impact insights, such as which leads to prioritize or when to engage with a customer.
Streamlining integration
Conquer is native to Salesforce and can seamlessly integrate with Microsoft Dynamics, which greatly reduces integration challenges. Its APIs and seamless integrations ensure that data flows smoothly between systems, eliminating silos.
Conquer consolidates communications, analytics, and sales tools into one platform to help an organization have a unified front for their revenue team. This eliminates the inefficiencies of managing disparate systems and ensures that all stakeholders have access to unified, accurate data.
Overcoming resistance to change
Conquer’s intuitive design helps make this platform painless for sales teams to adapt and start working on effectively. Its intuitive interface reduces friction in learning naturally, while embedded training modules and real-time support further help them to get more from the experience.
In addition, Conquer also supports tool adoption efforts by emphasizing collaboration. Shared dashboards and cross-departmental insights are two ways transparency helps teams better visualize the immediate value of adopting CRM analytics.
Wrapping up
This conversion of CRM data to actionable insights remains a pivot point for sales leaders who envision leading performance toward fulfilling business goals. From deciphering purchasing patterns to analyzing engagement trends, CRM data offers actionable insights that drive informed decision-making.
This strategic approach not only enhances sales effectiveness but also fosters stronger customer relationships, paving the way for sustained growth in competitive industries like financial services, manufacturing, and telecommunications. So, if you want to be part of the future of sales, try Conquer today!
Setting Sales Goals and Strategies for 2025
The start of a new year is like a clean slate for your sales strategy; it’s an opportunity to build on past successes, address challenges, and set the stage for growth. But success in sales doesn’t come from vague aspirations or half-baked plans; it’s rooted in specific, measurable goals and strategies that align your team’s efforts.
Let’s explore how you can set impactful sales goals for 2025 and craft strategies to actually achieve them.
Learn from 2024
Before looking forward, it’s essential to look back. Reflecting on your past year’s performance may expose patterns, strengths, and gaps that need consideration in your next steps. It’s not all about metrics; it’s about asking deep questions.
Did your team surpass their quotas? If so, what were the drivers for those wins? Maybe it was a new outbound strategy that finally stuck or maybe the new streamlined CRM cut back wasted time. And if some targets are missed, dig deeper—was it market conditions, bad lead quality, or perhaps an ill-aligned goal and resources mix?
For instance, take a sales team that had poor numbers in Q3 because Q2 was slow. Well, that’s not only constructive criticism but also a very helpful clue. In 2025, they would develop strategies to increase early-year marketing, making sure they do not slow down mid-year.
Set goals that stick
Goals should do more than sit on a slide deck; they need to be inspiring for the team and drive real action. The SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) is a classic for good reason. It turns ambitious dreams into practical plans.
Take a generic goal like “Increase sales revenue.” That sounds wonderful, but it’s not clear. In its place, a SMART goal would be: “Increase revenue by 15% by securing 20 new enterprise clients by Q4.” This specificity helps to better align your team’s focus and allows for easier tracking.
This is where you break your goals into manageable chunks. If the annual target is 15% revenue growth, translate that into quarterly or even monthly objectives. This incremental approach doesn’t just make the goal less intimidating—it keeps the team motivated with a steady sense of progress.
Understand your market
Great sales goals are based on real-world insight. That is, on an understanding of the landscape within which you operate. To start, consider the market trends and changing needs of your customers. Are they asking for more cost-effective solutions? Are competitors repositioning with bundled packages or aggressive pricing?
For example, a SaaS company might find that more and more of its clients are requesting cybersecurity features. Instead of sticking to their standard pitch, their strategy in 2025 could focus on the security benefits of their product.
This customer-centric approach ensures your goals and strategies are not created in a vacuum. They react to real-world shifts, which makes them more relevant and achievable.
Craft strategies that make sense
Goals give the “what,” but strategy defines the “how.” Without a clear plan, even the best goals can remain out of reach.
Start by segmenting your focus. Revenue goals may require specific strategies for new customer acquisition, upselling existing clients, and retaining high-value accounts. Activity-based goals could emphasize improving sales velocity or increasing customer touchpoints with better cadence management.
For instance, if shortening the sales cycle is key, it’s time to begin optimizing your funnel. Is it stalling at one particular stage? Perhaps after demos, prospects are not convinced. The solution could be better training for reps or adding interactive elements like case studies or tailored follow-ups.
Every strategy should have a clear assignee. Assign specific initiatives to team members who have the expertise and resources to drive them forward. Accountability ensures plans don’t get lost in the shuffle of daily tasks.
Use data & technology
In today’s world, sales success and data are inseparable. Your CRM is more than a glorified address book—it’s a treasure trove of insights. Use it to identify trends, forecast outcomes, and track progress toward your goals.
Analytics tools can highlight the channels or campaigns that consistently bring in the highest-value leads. If a particular type of outreach—say, personalized emails—delivers the best results, double down on it in 2025.
At this stage, it’s vital not to overlook automation. Automating follow-up emails sent or meetings scheduled gives your team more time to actually build relationships and close deals. Luckily, platforms like Conquer will seamlessly integrate those activities into your workflow, so you can use them to maintain consistency without added effort.
Include your team
The best goals and strategies mean little without a motivated, equipped team. Take stock of your team’s skills and resources. Do they feel confident using the sales tools at their disposal? Are they clear on how they fit into the bigger picture?
Empowering your team doesn’t mean micro-managing them; rather, it’s about training them and giving them the tools they need. If one of your goals is to improve the win rate, then support them with training in negotiation techniques. You can also arm up your sales representatives with real-time battle cards to combat objections more effectively.
The other important piece of the puzzle is recognition. Celebrate successes no matter how big or small. Whether it’s a monthly milestone or a hard-won deal, constant recognition builds a culture of accountability and motivation.
Use stories to motivate
Numbers and strategies are important, but stories inspire action. Show examples of past successes to illustrate how goals and strategies translate into results.
Consider a sales representative who changed how they approached lead follow-ups with automated reminders and personalized messaging. Their win rate doubled, not because they worked harder but because they worked smarter. These stories don’t just motivate-they provide concrete proof that the right strategies can deliver tangible outcomes.
Prepare for change
If there is one thing the past years have taught us, it is how to be adaptable. In an instant, market conditions change, customers behave differently, and even world events shift. That’s why your goals and strategies must be well-formulated so that they can easily adjust to these changes.
This is where scenario planning can help. Draw up plans for best-case, worst-case, and most likely scenarios. For instance, if economic uncertainty makes clients’ budgets tighter, your strategy might shift to touting cost-saving benefits or flexible payment options.
Another powerful tool for staying agile is feedback loops. Regularly check in with your team and customers to understand what’s working and what’s not. Those insights will drive real-time adjustments to your strategy.
Wrapping up
Setting sales goals and developing strategies is not just a planning exercise but an investment in your team’s success. By reflecting on the past, leveraging data, empowering your team, and staying flexible, you create a roadmap that’s both ambitious and achievable.
As you step into 2025, remember that every goal is a stepping stone toward bigger achievements. Stay focused, stay adaptable, and most importantly, stay connected to your team and customers. The results will follow.
And if you need more tips on making the most of new sales trends, explore our ‘Future of Selling’ eBook and learn about AI, automation, and more.
Evaluating Your Sales Performance in 2024
As 2024 draws to a close, it’s time to take stock of your sales performance. This isn’t just an exercise in reviewing numbers—it’s an opportunity to uncover patterns, celebrate wins, and course-correct where needed. Every data point, every deal closed, and every missed opportunity has a story to tell.
When analyzed thoughtfully, these insights can set the stage for a record-breaking 2025. In this guide, we’ll explore the steps to thoroughly evaluate your sales performance and turn your findings into strategic actions for the year ahead.
1. Dive deep into your sales metrics
Sales metrics aren’t just numbers; they’re the pulse of your sales strategy. First, evaluate how your KPIs aligned with your goals: Did you meet revenue targets? If not, was the shortfall due to too few leads, low close rates, or some other market shift?
For instance, your win rate—the percentage of deals closed—being lower than the average in your industry could be indicative of a problem in either the sales pitch or the qualification process. On the other hand, if your CAC is higher than CLV, then it may show that your method of outreach is not efficient.
In this case, you can use Conquer’s integrated insights or track other Salesforce tools to create detailed reports that highlight trends. Find patterns that are repeating, such as a conversion drop in a certain quarter, and then look into the possible causes. These insights provide the basis for strategic adjustments.
2. Reflect on your strategies and their impact
Sales isn’t just about the numbers; it’s about approach as well. Was your strategy effective for your target audience? For example, if you were heavy with your cold calls but nobody responded, it may be a signal to try other means of contacting them, such as social selling or video outreach.
In this case, you must consider how well your strategy is aligned with market conditions. For example, did economic uncertainty lead to budget cuts among your clients, and were you quick to pivot your messaging? Or did you stick to a one-size-fits-all script?
Collaboration is especially important here. Hold a team workshop or retrospective to gather input from your sales representatives. Their on-the-ground insight may highlight gaps that data cannot show. For instance, they could say that prospects repeatedly mentioned price as a barrier, indicating the need for either better value demonstration or refined pricing.
Action Tip: Apply the SWOT framework to break down your strategies. This gives you a structured approach to make sure you don’t miss anything.
3: Fix bottlenecks in your sales funnel
A sales funnel should flow like a well-oiled machine, but bottlenecks often cause frustration and lost revenue. Jot down a diagram of your funnel and identify where deals got stuck. Was it at the lead qualification stage? Or did prospects go cold after receiving a proposal?
Poor lead nurturing is one of the general complaints. If prospects come in but never convert, then that could be a signal that your follow-up strategy needs to be refined. Sometimes all it takes is automated email campaigns, customized content, or timely check-ins to re-engage those cold leads.
Next, look at your pipeline velocity and take note of how long it takes for deals to move from one stage to the next. If some stages are really lagging behind, dig in and try to find out why. Is it a lack of urgency on the part of prospects, or internal inefficiencies such as delayed approvals?
4. Assess team performance and collaboration
Your sales team is the engine that drives your success. A good team is not just about hitting individual quotas; it’s about how well they come together to work toward common objectives. Take time to review individual and collective performance.
Were there some members who always surpassed the set targets, while others struggled to meet them? Identify what made the top performers different. Was it in the way they build relationships, use sales tools, or handle objections? Use these insights to mentor and support underperforming reps.
Additionally, consider how your team aligned with other departments, like marketing. A lot of misaligned messaging or siloed efforts equate to missed opportunities. If your sales and marketing teams aren’t sharing insights into 2024, make cross-department alignment a key priority for 2025.
Action Tip: Consider peer mentoring programs or regular training sessions. These will elevate the performance of your entire team by tapping into the collective expertise of all.
5. Incorporate external factors
No sales strategy lives in a vacuum. Outside factors, including market conditions, competitive influences, and economic conditions all have a huge role in your day-to-day performance. Did another company enter with a game-changing offering or begin pricing aggressively that changed win rates? Did macro conditions freeze purchase decisions?
Compare this information to internal data. Knowing “why” something happened will also provide insights into “how” to better address similar situations in the future.
6. Identify wins and take lessons
It’s easy to focus on what went wrong, but don’t forget to celebrate your successes. Whether it’s securing a major client, exceeding quarterly targets, or seeing individual team members grow, these wins deserve recognition.
At the same time, view setbacks as learning opportunities. Maybe a promising deal fell through due to poor timing. Instead of dwelling on the loss, ask what could be done differently next time. Was it a lack of urgency, misaligned expectations, or something else entirely? Every failure holds a lesson if you’re willing to look for it.
7. Build a strategic blueprint for 2025
With your insights in hand, it’s time to look forward. Set SMART goals that are informed by your evaluation. For instance, if your CAC was too high, set a goal of reducing it by 10% through targeted lead generation strategies. Break these goals down into quarterly benchmarks, and ensure your team has the tools and support to achieve them.
But recall, the process of evaluation doesn’t need to end in December. Make it a habit to review and refine your strategy throughout the year, so you can always stay one step ahead.
Wrapping Up
Evaluating your sales performance is more than a year-end task—it’s a strategic investment in your future success. So take the time to analyze your metrics, strategy, and team dynamics and create specific plans of action that will plot an outlined map for 2025. Remember, the goal isn’t perfection; it’s continuous improvement.
Ready to supercharge your 2025 sales strategy? Download our free eBook, The Future of Selling, to get expert guidance on navigating the shifting sales landscape and enter the new year more prepared than ever!
How to Speed Up The Sales Cycle Using AI
The sales cycle often feels like a long, winding road when it could be a fast, smooth ride. Prospects delay decisions, manual processes eat into precious time, and following up can feel like chasing a moving target. Delays drive sales teams crazy because deals get stalled and revenue hangs in the balance.
Enter AI, the transformational technology that equips teams with the power to remove roadblocks, keep prospects engaged, and close deals faster. In this blog, we’ll discover how AI can help businesses smoothen the sales cycle while maintaining personalized and effective customer interactions.
Sales cycle bottlenecks that AI solves
At its core, the sales cycle is all about momentum. Each step—engaging prospects, nurturing leads, and handling objections—needs to go seamlessly for the deal to progress. But inefficiencies creep in:
- Time wasted on chasing unqualified leads
- Missing follow-ups which leave the prospects cold
- General outreach that just can’t connect
- Overwhelming administrative tasks keeping reps away from selling
Friction caused by these everyday problems brings the process to a crawl. With AI, you can take these challenges as an opportunity for optimization, providing a faster and more efficient path toward closing deals.
AI lead prioritization
One of the most significant hurdles in sales is determining where to focus your energy. Reaching out to every lead equally means wasting time on those unlikely to convert while missing high-value opportunities. AI lead scoring changes the game by analyzing behavioral data, demographics, and engagement patterns to highlight your most promising prospects.
Picture having a tool that flags leads in active research of your product or interacting with your content so your team reaches out just when the iron is hottest. Equipped with this capability, sales reps waste less time on guesswork and focus on developing real relationships with the right people.
For example, Conquer Cadence, native to Salesforce, automated the lead prioritization process by seamlessly sorting leads based on actions and injecting real-time insight into workflows so no lead falls through the cracks.
Personalization that scales
If you’ve ever received a generic cold email, you know how easy it is to ignore it. Personalization is the antidote, but for sales teams juggling hundreds of prospects, it’s not easy to employ it at scale.
AI simplifies this by analyzing individual prospect behaviors, like pages visited, content downloaded, or emails opened. Then, it uses its algorithms to craft tailored messages that feel personal and relevant to provide effective communication for the entire team.
For instance, if a prospect has downloaded a white paper on reducing operational costs, AI can recommend sending follow-up emails featuring case studies of companies that have similarly reduced operational costs.
Using tools like Conquer, such follow-ups can be automated and enable your team to have other high-value conversations at scale with a personal touch.
Consistent follow-ups
Sales usually happen in the follow-up. Yet, tracking the journey of every prospect is easier said than done. AI ensures consistency by automating follow-up reminders and even drafting suggested content based on the interactions a lead has had previously with your brand. This keeps your team top of mind for prospects so that deals don’t slip.
Imagine a lead navigating to your pricing page, yet opting out of the next course of action. AI recognizes this and sends your sales representative an alert to send a follow-up email touting related offers or further resources. By eradicating the guesswork, AI empowers reps to better engage customers and accelerates the decision-making cycle.
Eliminating time-wasting activities
Administrative activities like data entry, call logging, and activity tracking eat into hours of your team’s day. AI automates these mundane processes, freeing your reps to sell more. Following a call, for example, AI might log the interaction in your CRM, update the status of the lead, and even recommend a next step—all without a human touch.
This efficiency boost means a quicker sales cycle, as reps are free from administrative burdens and can focus on building the relationships that close deals. With Conquer’s sales optimization, this process becomes second nature, seamlessly integrating into daily workflows.
Predict and remove roadblocks
Even the best sales strategies encounter objections or stalls. AI shines here by analyzing patterns in past deals to predict where current ones might falter. Maybe a prospect is likely to ask for a discount, or a deal will probably stall at the contract negotiation stage. AI can flag these trends early, allowing reps to proactively address them.
For example, if AI detected a high probability of a pricing objection; it might recommend resources such as case studies or an ROI calculator that would enhance your value proposition. This proactive approach keeps deals moving and saves precious time for smoother negotiations.
Integrating AI within your sales process
When applied effectively, AI doesn’t just accelerate individual tasks—it reinvents the entire sales cycle. Sales teams enjoy seamless handoffs between marketing and sales, superior forecasting to allow for resource planning, and the ability to scale successes.
Real-time insights make sure reps know the next steps at any moment in time and create consistency and predictability to close. Of course, there are some challenges to integrating AI into your sales strategy. Resistance to change, poor data quality, or over-reliance on automation will inevitably cause friction. The solution?
- Involve your team early: Demonstrate ways AI can simplify their workflow and make life easier.
- Invest in your data: Make sure your CRM is accurate and clean before bringing in AI tools.
- Keep it human: Use AI to enable personal touch, not replace it.
When integrated intelligently, AI is a complementary partner to the capabilities of your team, not a replacement for them.
Wrapping up
Accelerating the sales cycle doesn’t have to translate to rushing prospects or cutting corners. In fact, it translates to working smarter: removing inefficiencies, automating repetitive tasks, and driving engagement with precision. AI provides the tools for doing all of this while keeping your sales process human and relationship-driven.
With solutions like Conquer, you can combine AI’s power with a seamless Salesforce integration and make sure your team connects with the right prospects at the right time. Ready to revolutionize your sales cycle? Book a demo today with Conquer to discover how AI can help you close faster deals and bring in more effective sales.
How to Use AI for a Personalized Sales Outreach Strategy
Personalization is more than just a buzzword—it’s an absolute must if you want to stay ahead. Your prospects hear pitches all day long, and there’s no quicker way to set yourself apart than with personalized communication built to match their exact needs. AI can be a game-changer for this, helping you connect better with leads and close more deals as you go.
This post will explain how to integrate AI into your sales outreach for a strategy that delivers top results while still keeping that much-needed human touch.
What makes personalized sales outreach essential?
Before dipping into the “how,” let’s cover the “why.” Personalized sales outreach lets you:
- Build trust by showing prospects you understand their challenges
- Enhance engagement with relevant content and messages
- Automate follow-ups with data-backed insight into prospect behaviors
In reality, scaling this personalization level without automation is nearly impossible. That’s where AI comes in. AI revolutionizes sales outreach by automating time-intensive activities like prospect research, crafting personalized messages, or processing data analysis.
5 Ways AI Improves Sales Outreach
Whether you’re looking to boost response rates or streamline follow-ups, AI has the power to transform your outreach strategy and drive results. Here’s how.
1. Smoothing prospect research
AI-powered tools process lots of data to identify potential leads that fit your ICP. This data comes from websites, social media, CRM systems, and industry databases—a lot of work that otherwise would have been done by your team.
Example: AI can detect active prospects who are either visiting your site, engaging with your content, or searching for solutions in your space.
2. Scaling personalization in outreach
Personalization no longer means starting each email with “Hi [First Name].” AI tools analyze behavior and demographic data to create messages tailored to each user’s unique needs. This helps your message come across more effectively while making your prospects feel like you actually care about their unique needs.
Example: If a prospect downloads a white paper, AI can recommend follow-up emails with related products or case studies. This way, you can convert prospects more successfully.
3. Finding the best timing & channels
AI algorithms make sure the prospecting team connects at the most conducive time and through the optimal channel. Whether through email, phone, or messages, all prospects have a communication channel they respond best to. By utilizing tools like Conquer’s multichannel solution, your efforts are on target and timely, delivering better open and response rates.
4. Utilizing better follow-ups
Few realize this, but most sales happen after the fifth or sixth follow-up. Optimal AI solutions track interactions with prospects and make suggestions for the next best steps based on a pattern of engagement. This way, sales teams can focus on high-priority leads, ensuring timely and relevant outreach that keeps prospects engaged throughout the sales journey.
5. Taking advantage of smarter insights
AI doesn’t just send messages—it learns from them. Through open rates, click-throughs, and responses, AI tools refine your messaging over time to make sure your outreach gets better and better. This continuous feedback loop will help your team construct communications that can actually resonate more powerfully with your audience.
Example: AI may learn that a particular subject line generates higher open rates, so it may auto-suggest words or phrases for better performance in the future.
Building an AI-Powered Sales Outreach Strategy
So, how do you implement AI effectively in your sales workflow? All you have to do is follow the steps below:
1. Set clear objectives
Before using any AI tool, you need to know what you want to achieve. In such a way, your strategy will be focused, and it will be easier to measure success.
Key goals to consider:
- Generating more qualified leads
- Boosting response rates with more targeted outreach
- Shortening sales cycles by guiding prospects more effectively
Why this matters: Clear objectives ensure you’re investing in the right solutions and aligning AI with measurable outcomes. For example, if your team struggles with lead prioritization, AI-powered lead-scoring tools might be your top priority.
2. Choose the right tools
With so many different AI tools on the market, it’s critical to choose those that solve specific pain points for your team. Depending on your needs, some of them include
- Lead scoring: AI platforms like Salesforce Einstein analyze prospect data and grade leads according to their conversion potential. This will help your team focus on the highest-value opportunities.
- Email personalization: Solutions like Conquer and Grammarly optimize the tone and engagement of outreach emails so that reps can create effective messages.
- Sales engagement: Conquer Cadence is a sales engagement platform that integrates many of these AI functionalities: guided selling, automated follow-ups, and real-time analytics, all natively integrated with Salesforce.
Ideally, you should try a couple of tools with a small team as a pilot to assess the ease of use and results before a full rollout.
3. Train your team for success
AI is an awesome wingman—but not if your team has absolutely no idea how to fly with it. It’s critical to enable reps to interpret AI recommendations–such as suggested follow-up times or tweaks to messaging—and apply them in practical confidence.
Make sure you offer concrete examples of how AI can help them save time, better target leads, and drive more effective results.
Why this matters: So many sales tools fail, not because of the technology, but due to poor adoption. Have your team feel empowered, rather than replaced, by emphasizing how AI can reduce monotony and let them focus on relationship building.
4. Balance automation with a human touch
Throughout AI innovation, the human touch will always remain key in sales. To balance the two, always make sure to allow AI to draft personalized emails or call scripts, which you will then review and tailor to show real care and understand the needs of your prospect.
This will free up your team for more strategic conversations as AI automates scheduling and data tracking. For example, AI might recommend reaching out to a prospect regarding a specific case study. Your sales representative can include a personal note referring to their last conversation to give it an organic feel.
5. Keep the pulse and polish your approach
AI lives by data, but so should your outreach approach. Long-term success comes about through constant improvement.
In this case, you should keep analytics in a tab to see what’s working and what should be changed, such as whether personalized emails are improving response rates or whether follow-ups are giving better conversions.
Use AI insights to refine your processes. If an email sequence isn’t working all that great, test new subject lines or CTAs suggested by AI. Conquer’s reporting and analytics enable you to monitor your outreach efforts and adjust on-the-fly campaigns for surefire optimization of success.
Bonus tips on optimizing AI for sales outreach
Using AI in sales outreach isn’t without challenges. Here’s how to solve some common problems you might face:
- Over-Automation: If prospects feel like they’re interacting with a robot, you risk losing trust. The fix? Always review and personalize AI-generated content.
- Data Quality: AI is only as good as the data it’s fed. Ensure your CRM and databases are accurate and up-to-date.
- Team Buy-In: Some reps might resist AI because they’re afraid it will replace them. Show them how AI elevates their role and makes their jobs easier—nothing more.
AI is still evolving fast, and its role in sales outreach strategies is bound to expand further. In the future, these tools will become even better at predicting which prospects are most likely to convert. AI-powered phone calls will also be adjusted in real time, and hyper-specific recommendations will be based on deeper behavioral data.
Wrapping up
AI is an incredibly powerful tool, but it is no replacement for human contact. The best sales outreach strategies meld AI-driven efficiency with the empathy and creativity that only your team can provide.
If you’re ready to supercharge your sales outreach, Conquer can help. With native Salesforce integration and AI tools, Conquer lets your team personalize outreach, scale efforts, and close deals faster. Schedule a demo today to see how AI can upgrade your sales process.
Mastering the Art of Sales Communication | TFOS E4
Join host Rick Smith, Chief Customer Officer at Conquer, as he chats with Andy Smith, SVP of Sales at Talk Me Up. Discover how AI is transforming sales communication and uncover the secrets of the “3 R’s of Sales Success.” Packed with insights on empathy, personalization, and engagement, this episode is a must-listen for sales pros!
