Answer:
One of the problems I am having with the sales team is lack of communication.
- There is a lot of sales and marketing activities going on the company, yet we don't have a system in place to ensure that I receive accurate feedback from all the relevant sections. For instance, there is no way to accurately know what feedback regarding our products and services that the sales team are collecting.
- I am not getting real-time results as they are happening. Sometimes it takes 6 weeks to get information about something that happened. By that time, if it's a negative occurrence, we are way out of course before we can make corrections. If it's a great occurrence, we lose out on the moment and the timing to capitalise on it for more results.
- This lack of data/poorly collected information is also affecting my working relationship with my superiors as I am unable to provide my superiors with market intelligence.
Solutions
In order to mitigate these problems, I suggest we hold an emergency training for every member of the sales and marketing team on communications and how it can significantly improve our bottom line as well as everyone's take home.
For instance, if there is a new entrant into the market, the sales team usually are the first to know. If this is not communicated immediately, we lose out on the right timing to react with precision and speed.
I would also suggest that we provide the sales team with a simple app on their mobile phones which enables them to give feedback in realtime and at the end of each days work. We would need to work with the IT team on this.
Thank you.