6 functions to increase sales rep productivity

A sales rep’s productivity is the ratio between sales metrics and the resources they use to achieve these metrics. The less time and effort an employee needs to achieve their goal, the higher their productivity, leading to better sales and higher company revenue. Productivity can be increased using modern tools that save time, automate part of work processes, and minimize manual labor.

Phone System Integration with CRM

As we have mentioned several times before, a significant part of a sales rep’s duties consists of routine tasks. According to research by Dooly, up to 41% of sales reps’ working time is spent on work that isn’t directly related to sales. Among such activities is working with CRM. 85% of sales reps are also confident they could bring more revenue to the company if they spent less time on such unnecessary tasks.

For example, when a new client calls, the sales rep must communicate and perform a series of routine tasks: create a contact and deal in CRM, etc. If the call is not the client’s first, they need to find the deal, record the call, and note the subject of the conversation. Of course, this doesn’t take long if we discuss a few daily conversations. But considerable time is wasted when talking about dozens of calls.

How can this be addressed? By automating part of the tasks that the sales rep previously performed manually. This frees up working time for primary duties — communication and, actually, sales.

Integrating virtual telephony with CRM helps increase productivity. Let’s look at how this works.

1. After a call from a new potential buyer, a contact, deal, and task are automatically created in the CRM system. The sales rep doesn’t have to “keep in mind” and manually perform these routine tasks.
2. If the client calls again, the sales rep will see their first and last name during the incoming call. So he or she can immediately address the client by name. They can also click once to go to CRM to view the history of previous communication immediately — this will help conduct the current conversation more effectively.
3. A call from a returning client will be automatically directed to the responsible sales rep. This not only makes communication more productive but also makes a good impression on the customer, who will hear a familiar voice.
4. A “Call back” task for the responsible sales rep for an unanswered call will be created. This way, the inquiry won’t be lost if the employee cannot answer the call.
5. Data about each call, including the conversation recording, is automatically transferred to the system. You can view the history of the communication and listen to all the recordings at any time.

The above are just the most common settings. However, each company can create its own telephony and CRM integration scenarios to make sales reps’ work easy and productive. The illustration below shows how to do this using a matrix:

We’ve only looked at one type of integration, the most demanded and popular in business — the integration of Ringostat telephony with CRM. Even this can make sales reps’ work more productive by avoiding routine, repetitive tasks, errors, and unnecessary time waste. But the Ringostat platform has over 30 different integrations with other programs:

• messengers;
• advertising accounts;
• analytical systems;
• other programs.

They all provide automatic call data transfer, making teamwork more effortless and productive.

Cross-platform Calling Application

Thanks to virtual telephony, communication between sales reps and clients has become convenient and effective. For example, calls can be processed with only a computer with an installed calling application and internet access.

However, mobility is also essential for modern business. Sales reps often communicate with clients not only at their office desks but also on the road, at production facilities, warehouses, during business trips, etc. Call data won’t be saved if a personal smartphone and regular mobile connection are used for such communication, harming the team’s overall productivity.

The cross-platform calling app Ringostat is a convenient solution which works on computers and smartphones. This application allows communication with clients regardless of the sales rep’s location while maintaining all call data.

It’s essential that the sales rep can be authorized on several devices simultaneously — this promotes continuous, fluid work even in unpredictable circumstances. Additionally, the mobile version of the application has full desktop version functionality:

• dialing numbers, receiving and making calls;
• viewing communication history — this, in particular, allows timely notice of missed calls and call back;
• messaging with users of various messengers and website chats — this eliminates the need to track multiple tabs separately;
• transferring calls to colleagues if another employee can better answer the interlocutor’s request;
• one-click transition to CRM when you need to clarify details of previous communication quickly;
• access to valuable information about the interlocutor, such as the number of pages viewed and previous calls, advertising source of website transition — this will give the sales rep useful hints for leading the interlocutor to purchase;
• viewing website visitors in real-time if these users previously called the company — you can quickly connect with potential buyers at the moment of greatest interest and engagement.

The application interface is simple and understandable. Using it is no more complicated than using a smartphone. At the same time, it doesn’t drain the phone’s battery. Even if electricity disappears, you can still receive and make calls using your smartphone and the application, using mobile internet. And you won’t lose connection with your clients.

Call Recording and Transcription

There are many cases when a sales rep might need to clarify the content of a previous conversation. For example, they must remind themselves or the interlocutor of the agreement details. Or a colleague spoke with the client during the responsible sales rep’s vacation or illness, and now they need to get up to speed. It’s also essential for managers to know how employees communicate with clients: whether they know the product well, answer all questions, and follow conversation scripts.

Ringostat telephony automatically records each phone conversation. This recording is transferred to the system through telephony integration with CRM and attached to the deal.

Call recordings are indeed a helpful tool. However, if a company makes dozens of calls daily, listening to and analyzing all communication can be problematic. Each conversation can last several to dozens of minutes, and processing — even more. After all, you need to listen and draw conclusions about the course of communication, sales rep skills, product knowledge, script adherence, etc. For example, searching for a specific key phrase in a conversation, even with partial or accelerated audio playback, can be challenging. Of course, this harms team productivity.

Artificial intelligence from Ringostat comes to help. It is capable of almost instantly transcribing conversations and converting them to text. This significantly simplifies the work of sales reps and managers whose duties include communication analysis. After all, reviewing a text transcript and brief report is much faster than listening to the entire recording.

According to our calculations, if the sales department consists of at least five employees who communicate with clients twice a day, AI can save the manager over 13 hours per week. This is possible thanks to automatic transcription and conversation analysis.

Instead, AI helps process all team communication:

• without risking missing something important through selective analysis;
• without wasting extra time.

The solution from Ringostat will also be a real find for companies working in foreign markets. Suppose sales reps communicate with clients in different languages. The manager would have to know many languages to analyze all team communication, but thanks to Ringostat AI, this isn’t necessary — artificial intelligence knows over 50 languages. It can transcribe conversations in the original language or automatically translate them into English. This ensures productive work, even for an international company.

Conversation Summarization by AI

Conversation transcription is just one of dozens, if not hundreds of artificial intelligence capabilities that help sales reps work much more productively. Let’s mention others.

In particular, AI performs conversation analysis almost instantly after the call ends. Artificial intelligence automatically generates a detailed report based on the interlocutors’ remarks following the conversation. So the sales rep won’t have to do this manually, and thus, they can save at least 7 minutes per conversation.

But this isn’t just about speeding up work. It’s also about significantly strengthening the team with a tireless “colleague” with exceptional skills. Conversation summarization performed by artificial intelligence contains valuable information about the client and communication:

• key conversation points;
• main request;
• the mood of interlocutors, as well as the general mood of the conversation;
• recommendations for the next steps.

This data and AI advice can subsequently significantly help achieve the ultimate goal of communication — sales.

But that’s not all. Ringostat can prepare AI to work specifically for your business. For this, we train artificial intelligence based on company internal documents: regulations, rules, scripts, and process descriptions. This allows AI to analyze communication as an experienced, dedicated supervisor would. For example, artificial intelligence can create a client portrait based on a phone conversation. And not only that.

Artificial intelligence not only learns itself. It also helps company employees learn, particularly sales reps. This happens thanks to conversation analysis regarding:

• script adherence;
• following internal rules, for example, avoiding specific formulations or, conversely, the obligation to communicate some essential offer details;
• mistakes;
• successful steps;
• handling objections;
• achieved conversation results.

AI conclusions and advice regarding each conversation help sales reps grow and improve their skills.

Power Dialer — Automatic Number Dialing

Sales department work often involves making cold calls. Sometimes, sales reps have to make dozens of calls per day. Each new call requires certain automatic actions: copying the number from the database, pasting it into the calling application field, and pressing the call button. This seems trivial, but performing such unnoticeable actions can take up to 15 minutes over a day, and over a week—already an hour. Of course, this time is better spent on conversations.

Power Dialer is a simple solution implemented within the Ringostat calling application. It automatically dials numbers from a pre-created and uploaded database. The sales rep doesn’t even have to click on numbers, let alone dial digits on the keyboard. Also, Power Dialer automatically makes defined duration pauses between calls, so the employee has time to make notes and prepare for the next conversation.

Power Dialer contributes to sales rep productivity. The solution saves time and allows to focus solely on communication. This will also help avoid errors or accidentally missing a digit when dialing a number, which happens when dialing manually.

Learn more about this solution — “Automatically call clients with Power Dialer, saving up to 7 seconds per call”.

Convenient Internal Communication

Sales department productivity depends not only on each employee individually but also on how team internal communication is arranged. Often, employees have to use regular mobile communication or messengers. This isn’t convenient because you must spend time searching for numbers in the address book or typing text messages.

One convenient solution is short internal numbers assigned to each employee within the company’s phone system. Even if colleagues work not in adjacent offices but thousands of kilometers apart, sales reps can instantly connect using such short numbers.

However, manually dialing internal numbers is inconvenient. Ringostat offers a better solution: instant calls to colleagues using the Ringostat application. On the “Contact Book” tab, you’ll see a list of clients, colleagues, and departments of your company. You can connect with the needed employee with one click.

Also, using the Ringostat application, colleagues can transfer calls to each other. For example, a client called the sales department, but during communication, it became clear that the legal or technical department could resolve their question. You don’t need to dictate another number to the client in this case. The Ringostat application allows easy call transfer to another department or even a specific employee — by internal number. You can even talk to a colleague beforehand to explain case details while the client waits on the line. This way, they won’t have to retell their questions to employees twice.

Learn more about Ringostat application functionality and call transfer in the article “Ringostat Smart Phone: complete overview of desktop and mobile versions of the application for effective lead processing”.

Conclusions

1. Sales rep productivity increases if they achieve a defined goal in less time and with less effort. Many modern tools help them work more productively and, therefore, sell more and faster.
2. For example, thanks to Ringostat virtual telephony integration with CRM, you can eliminate routines that take a lot of time and distract specialists from their main duties. Upon call fact, contacts and tasks will be created, calls will be directed to the responsible sales rep, and conversation recordings will be added to deal cards. Such automation will significantly contribute to productivity growth.
3. Thanks to the cross-platform Ringostat calling application, which now works on computers and smartphones, sales reps can communicate with clients anywhere. This makes employees mobile and flexible. At the same time, there is no risk of losing call data—they are stored in business telephony reports as always.
4. Use artificial intelligence capabilities to strengthen the team and speed up work. AI from Ringostat can instantly transcribe conversations, converting recordings to text. This saves time because instead of listening to conversations, it’s enough to review the text transcript quickly. Also, artificial intelligence helps improve sales skills as it analyzes conversation flow and gives advice on how to bring the client closer to purchase.
5. If the team needs to call quickly and effectively through a database of numbers, it’s appropriate to use Power Dialer. This tool automatically and sequentially dials numbers, relieving the sales rep from doing this manually on the keyboard. The solution saves time and also helps focus on communication without any distractions.
6. Another advantage of the Ringostat calling application is its convenience and quick internal communication with colleagues. The application also makes it easy and fast to transfer a call to a colleague if the employee can answer the inquiry better and competently.