If you’re reading this, you already know your sales team’s performance can make or break your quarter. So let’s not linger on that.

Yet, we see many sales leaders struggling to take their reps to the next level with their current coaching and training processes. We’re not pointing fingers, by the way. When teams are made up of dozens or hundreds of reps, getting everyone moving and talking in unison feels impossible.

This was the exact scenario facing these three sales teams. These teams all knew they could be doing better, but they couldn’t get past some big roadblocks.

Let’s take a look at each sales team, what was holding them back, and how they:

1. Boosted conversion rates by 16% in 14 weeks

2. Achieved a mind-boggling close rate, 132% higher than before

3. Reduced cancellations by 26%

Sales team 1: 750 reps searching for answers

In the insurance industry, contact centers and their reps are on the front lines dealing with most inbound callers. When a lead calls about starting a new policy, it’s the reps who take them through the process. National General has roughly 750 such reps working 24/7 in contact centers across the country – and all answer questions from buyers in all 50 states.

How hard would it be to get 750 reps closing deals on every call – with shifting insurance regulations across 50 states and policy plans ranging from auto to home coverage? Very.

Specifically, National General identified three challenges:

  1. Access to information: Reps had access to extensive information, but would have to search for it while live on calls.
  2. Outdated processes: Reps were utilizing printed checklists and hand-written notes to remember what to say.
  3. Long hold times: Searching for information in notes or online files took up valuable call time.

National General had made strides to improve their processes with some small success, but they still saw an opportunity to do better. With this in mind, National General’s leadership discovered Real-Time Guidance and decided to launch a pilot.

After implementation, Real-Time allowed managers to quickly update call center scripts and access data insights without waiting for post-call analysis. Real-Time supported reps with instant access to answers and provided them with the best discovery questions to close deals.

Within 14 weeks, conversion rates had increased by 16% – a huge addition to the company’s revenue pipeline. Oh, and rep average handle time dropped by 53 seconds. That came out to one extra call a day – scaled to 750 reps.

Sales team 2: Closing deals under pressure

The health insurance industry faces its own share of challenges with requirements from states and the federal government. When enrollment season rolls around, these challenges are amplified ten-fold. In this environment, it becomes easier for reps to forget or fumble essential steps. Things like a great discovery call and active listening can become extremely challenging.

In this high-pressure sales environment (ring a bell?), one of the largest health insurance companies in the country couldn’t get the close rates they knew they could achieve. They were ready to try something new. Team leadership had heard about Real-Time Guidance and wanted to test it out for themselves.

In just 90 days, reps using Real-Time Guidance had a 132% higher close rate than non-users and 71% higher quote rates. To control for any variables, they also tested new reps using Real-Time Guidance to new non-users. New agents in the Balto group had a 47x higher close rate than new agents in the Non-Balto group. Now that’s a metric you can hang your hat on.

This sales team has since expanded Real-Time Guidance to hundreds of agents and is netting unheard-of results.

Sales team 3: Turning the tide of cancellations

One of the largest flooring companies in the U.S. grew from a small family business to making millions hand over fist.It all started with the contact center.

One of the main jobs of this company’s contact center is to field calls from customers who have scheduled a service, but are trying to cancel. When the rep is able to keep the customer from cancelling the service, that adds to the group’s save rate. The more saved deals, the more money stays in their pockets.

Sales managers knew there was a huge opportunity to increase save rates. There were large gaps between their reps who could handle an objection call like seasoned pros, and those who couldn’t. But traditional training wasn’t cutting it. Managers were listening to a small subset of calls and working with reps 1-on-1. Where one rep improved in one area, another was slipping.

Management knew they needed a new approach. They learned about Real-Time Guidance and decided to give it a whirl with a small handful of reps.I

n one month, save rates increased by 26%. After three months, that translated to $3.2 million in revenue. And this was just a handful of reps, not nearly the whole team.Since then, the company has used Real-Time Guidance to overhaul its customer service capabilities and onboarding process.

The common thread: The best sales leaders use Real-Time to boost rep performance at scale

All three of these groups wanted to do better in three broad areas:

  1. Reps having the best information on every single sales call
  2. Delivering a perfect sales conversation on every call, even under pressure
  3. Handling objections like seasoned pros

They had done what they could to improve, but trying to boost team performance with outdated methods wasn’t cutting it.

But by using Real-Time Guidance, these teams were able to tackle all three objectives. Close rates are rising, reps are saving more calls, and more revenue is heading to the bank. All without sacrificing the customer experience or team morale. All three groups have also seen boosts in CSAT scores, reduced onboarding time, and record low escalations to managers.

Hungry to learn more about each team? Check out our in-depth studies on Team 1, Team 2 and Team 3.

Or, if you’re ready to see how your team could achieve greatness with Real-Time, learn more here.

Want to see Balto in action?

There’s no better way to see the power of real-time than to experience it live. Request a demo and we’ll show you the power of Balto’s real-time guidance in real-time on our first call.

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