Equipping your sales teams with the right skills and tools gives you a major competitive advantage. How big of a difference does this make? Aberdeen[1] reported that organizations that fully embrace Sales Optimization programs outsell their competition in key categories such as total company revenue, profit margin and customer retention.

A Sales Enablement Framework to Assess, Customize and Integrate

An effective Sales Optimization program is a holistic growth strategy. It takes you beyond typical field support and training. Done well, it drives greater sales performance — whether it’s through attach rates, trade-in volume or improved customer satisfaction.

Evaluate your device protection sales enablement program against these proven attributes:

  • Does it assess information in a data-driven platform across your sales programs? And give you easy, line-of-sight view?
  • Does it include customized sales tools and training materials so your teams better understand the offerings? And are more confident and effective in selling?
  • Does it optimize your go-to-market strategy?
  • Does it impact every point of your customer lifecycle?

If your efforts lack these characteristics, look for a partner that has a proven approach with demonstrated performance results. For example, Assurant, a leader in mobile device lifecycle solutions, uses a holistic proprietary Sales Optimization framework to assess, customize and integrate its customer programs. This framework serves as the foundation for all sales enablement activities. It continually operates in the background and surrounds your sales efforts to maximize results.

By incorporating these three foundational elements, you’ll gain one of the best program performance possible:

  • Assess information in a data-driven platform throughout all sales channels. We leverage our proprietary analytical framework to assess your program enabling us to gather insights and adjust where needed.
  • Customize solutions that improve governance, drive your program’s growth and enhance your customer’s experience. We don’t take a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, we provide targeted strategies in collaboration with you.
  • Integrate into your sales processes across all customer acquisition channels. We work to ensure cultural and operational alignment and seamlessly integrate efficient and effective solutions.

Target All Seven Key Dimensions of Your Business

The most effective sales enablement programs use a proven framework and align to your sales model. Make sure your partner embeds efforts for each of the seven key dimensions of your business, along with a foundational strategy, so you can reach your performance targets:

  1. Operational sales integration: Integration into your processes and procedures ensures the program offering is incorporated into every eligible sale while promoting a positive customer experience.
  2. Management commitment: In a study published by McKinsey & Company,[2] leadership commitment was noted as one of the key factors for success. Look for ways a partner can help you gain cultural alignment and promote consistent messaging throughout your entire sales force.
  3. Accountability and reporting: Data and analytics can significantly improve the effectiveness of sales programs. Make sure you have access to customized dashboards and reporting tools that track and analyze the right data. Having this data at your fingertips will help you capture more opportunities to drive outperformance.
  4. Customized training: Don’t limit training programs just on new hires or product introductions. Work with a partner who has a full host of comprehensive and innovative training capabilities. Add ongoing teaching and learning components into your program to gain an understanding of new and better ways of working. By continually developing your team’s knowledge, you’ll instill more confidence in them to be successful.
  5. Internal marketing: A trusted partner can help you socialize your internal value proposition and ‘sell’ your program to create belief and adoption. Align your internal marketing efforts to your internal operations. Greater alignment allows you to maximize customer value and grow a more profitable business.
  6. External marketing: Look for a partner to help you create integrated marketing strategies that are compliant and support your sales strategy. Use their marketing expertise to create end-to-end communications to ensure brand consistency and a superior customer experience at every touch point.
  7. Rewards and recognition: Recognition is often named as the number one thing employees say inspires them to produce great work. That’s why savvy mobile carriers use incentives and promotions to influence behavior and drive results. Engage a device protection partner to create ways for you to inspire your teams and grow sales for trade-ins and upgrades.

Outperform with a Proven Sales Performance Partner

Working with a partner who has demonstrated success in helping to grow device protection programs is key. Assurant, for example, has delivered superior Sales Optimization results for many leading mobile carriers and retailers. After partnering with Assurant, clients reported seeing tangible results on their ‘before’ and ‘after’ sales performance. In fact, clients who deployed Sales Optimization with Assurant realized 124% growth in key metrics. Specifically, mobile carrier clients saw an average gain of 119% in their attach rates.

How effective is your Sales Optimization program? If it’s not getting the results you deserve, contact Assurant today.