The Capacity Challenge Facing Sales Teams

Sales teams are tasked with turning prospects into closed opportunities. The process of moving from fresh lead to new customer requires persistent outreach attempts and enough charisma to win deals. However, it might be harder than you think to properly match the capacity of your Sales team to your incoming leads.

This mismatch can happen in one of two ways. Either the number of incoming leads far exceeds your team’s ability to connect with each and every one (which is typical following an event or major marketing push) or the number of incoming leads is highly variable leaving your Sales staff over-occupied or under-occupied (such as during a seasonal downturn).

This is what we are calling the sales capacity challenge and it’s a big deal for Sales teams. The primary consequence of this predicament is that many opportunities are left untapped due to the simple fact that Salespeople do not have the time necessary to follow up with every lead.

Below, we will look at the sales capacity challenge, why it’s so difficult to tackle, and how a Conversica Sales AI Assistant can alleviate these difficulties for Marketing and Sales teams.

Sales teams are busy and selective

Truth be told, most businesses are unaware of the sales capacity challenge because they considered it a foregone conclusion. Marketing generates as many leads as they can and Salespeople chase down as many as they can. This strategy puts pressure on members of the Sales team to focus their attention on what they perceive are the hottest leads in the bunch.

Regrettably, many leads are left unexplored due to the reality that Salespeople only have so many hours to spend on each lead before moving their attention elsewhere. Knowing this, some organizations hire Business Development Reps (BDRs) to help manage the influx of leads by evaluating, qualifying and nurturing leads before handing them off to a Salesperson to close. Still, the process isn’t perfect since BDRs (much like Salespeople) will naturally cherry-pick leads based on their own assumptions. Not to mention, many businesses do not have BDR teams to leverage.

People Are Only Human

It’s tempting to think that the sales capacity challenge is something businesses can overcome by simply hiring more staff. While the thinking here is justifiable, it can also lead to its own set of problems. Businesses that overhire Salespeople tend to see lower job satisfaction rates due to bored and under-stimulated reps, and ballooning costs due to the hiring of new team members. Each of these new hires requires training and oversight, which is no small matter.

It’s also important to remember that people are only human. They tend to get sick, have bad days and leave for other career opportunities. Clearly, hiring more staff isn’t the fix these businesses need.

Gaps Caused by the Sales Capacity Challenge

Failure to address the sales capacity challenge creates gaps in the outreach process. These gaps include leads that do not score highly enough as Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs), leads who go dark without cause, recycled leads, leads who require multiple outreach attempts and, worst of all, leads who want to talk to Sales but go undetected.

While it’s true that sales acceleration tools help manage routine outreach duties and qualify leads, they still require management from a Salesperson. In other words, these tools still occupy an employee’s capacity.

What Sales teams really need is a Sales AI Assistant.

Intelligent Virtual Assistants: The Sales Capacity Solution

Intelligent Virtual Assistants for customer engagement automate repetitive and routine tasks so your employees can focus on what they do best. The Conversica Sales AI Assistant, for instance, generates personalized emails and text messages to engage and nurture leads until intent is determined. It doesn’t matter if it takes one week, five months or two years. The Intelligent Virtual Assistant remains polite and persistent in its communications, only passing over Sales-ready leads when they are truly ready for such a conversation.

Intelligent Virtual Assistants augment teams without adding to the capacity problem by touching every lead at scale. This also means you can handle variable lead trends without needing to add or subtract from your staff. Even if an employee takes a sick day or goes on vacation, no one within your company needs to scramble to pick up the conversation. Best of all, conversations from the Sales AI Assistant feel authentic and personalized for your potential buyers.

In the end, the Intelligent Virtual Assistant identifies more Sales-ready leads in your existing pool, which results in more meetings, more opportunities and more pipeline. If your organization is struggling with the capacity challenge, AI is the answer you’ve been searching for.

Explore the Sales Capacity Challenge in-depth and read our new eBook, “The Sales Capacity Challenge”

Never miss a Sales-ready opportunity again. Hire a Conversica Sales AI Assistant for your business. Request a demo to see how an Intelligent Virtual Assistant can augment your workforce!