Very well known in the IT world, the agile method is famous for its iterative approach in short sprints.
In an undulating economic context that brings B2B sales closer to a game of blindfolded chess, this approach favors greater flexibility and responsiveness to adapt to the feedback of target customers.
It motivates teams more in the short term, and makes it possible to identify growth drivers more quickly. You got it: it's a very useful approach.
In this episode of Sales Acceleration, discover:
⚡ Our method for becoming agile
⚡ The opinion of our expert on the subject
Happy reading!
.webp)
1 - Gain efficiency through commercial agility
Sales agility borrows project management strategies from other disciplines such as:
▫️ The sprints
▫️ Daily meetings
▫️ Short-term goals
▫️ Data analysis
▫️ Adaptation continues
Learn now how to become an agile sales organization.
Optimize your efficiency with sprints
In a fluctuating economic climate, sales goals are increasingly perceived as daunting. Sprints make them more motivating and achievable.
Basically, in agile methods, we find the two types of classic objectives of a sales team:
🚀 Result objectives: i.e. the final objective of the sales team (e.g.: +25% on turnover in one year)
🚀 Effort goals: progressive goals to be achieved during the quarter, such as the number of calls to be made or the number of opportunities to be created.
Effort goals measure the progress made in achieving the result objective.
Sprints are periods during which the team focuses on completing a set of tasks that achieve a goal of results.
👉 Always start your sprints with a weekly planning meeting, prepared by the Manager in advance. Don't fall into the trap of setting overly ambitious goals early on.
👉 Use a Kanban board (via Notion, Trello, or Asana) to organize and track the team's progress toward different goals.
At the end of each sprint, organize a meeting to assess what worked well and what needs to be improved for the next sprint.
See an example of a sales sprint
Energize your team with daily stand-ups
These morning meetings of 10 minutes are essential for:
🙌 Sharing the previous day's successes
🎯 Plan the day
🔧 Resolve issues quickly
They reinforce the cohesiveness And theinvolvement individuals.
Most salespeople don't like meetings and feel like they're taking them away from selling.
👉 Make sure that each member understands the profits and objectives of these meetings, and the benefits for them of an agile transformation.
Encouraging a collaborative work culture strengthens internal ties, and promotes the exploitation of everyone's network to close respective opportunities.
See an example of an agile sales agenda
Clarify individual responsibilities to the team
The pivotal role of salespeople allows feedback essential for adjusting strategies.
✅ Communication is therefore essential, and must be facilitated.
In the agile Scrum framework, the Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that members collaborate and communicate effectively.
👉 A profile Sales Ops even an empathetic manager is an excellent profile for this role. If not, choose the natural leader of the group. A RACI matrix allows you to set up this system.
Use data to improve performance
Agility in sales allows for better understanding buyers, and To adapt his approaches quickly. To do this:
👉 Set aside time every week to analyze your sales data
👉 Analyze the impact of each task performed
Then use the “PMG” approach: Small Manageable Pieces
Every corrective action put in place to improve results must first be tested through small changes. These will only be generalized if the following result is positive.
For example, if you want test a new customer target, define the hypotheses of your experience in advance, and plan the possible scenarios before even starting your effort.
2 - The opinion of our expert Alexandre
This week it's Alexandre Laurent who shares his advice on business agility with you.
Alexandre has 7 years of experience in the field of sales in the SaaS sector, occupying various positions up to key account salespeople.
His strong interest for agility commercial emerged following his discovery of the Customer Centric Selling. This sales approach places the prospect at the heart of the sales process. The agile approach shares similarities, as it aims to use feedback to adjust the sales process according to the buyer's real journey.
His vision of commercial agility
“Agility is also a mindset only one method, and there are several ways to embody an agile sales team. Some teams follow sprints aligned with each stage of their sales cycle, while others, especially those composed mostly of SDRs/BDRs, will only opt for prospecting sprints.
In the second case, salespeople test messages using campaigns where they generate a representative volume of data. This then makes it possible to identify the best approaches by analyzing them. The results are amazing and often counterintuitive.
Beyond that, one thing is certain: being agile means being able to adapt by wasting less time on low-profit customer targets.
By making your approach agile, you will necessarily encounter hazards. It's part of the game, don't get discouraged. On the contrary, the agile method makes it possible to solve the perils encountered more quickly.
For example, salespeople's pipes don't fill up at the same speed. Some must therefore be able to invest more time than others in generating their pipe.
What really matters is to have clear criteria that make it possible to assess the good progress of prospects through the sales cycle for react as quickly as possible when it comes to advancing an opportunity or closing it.
Then, the more traditional agility actions can be applied, such as automating everything that can be automated in order to optimize the use of commercial time.”
Her favorite resource on business agility
👉 The Webinar from Richardson on the Sprint Selling method. A must for starting out in agile.
For all your questions about Akimbo and for support focused on commercial acceleration, our Sales Leader Alexandre Laurent makes himself available for you. And of course, we support you on the implementation of this strategy for your team.
