4 Sales Tactics to Adopt and 4 to Abandon in 2024

As technology and customer behavior both evolve, sales tactics need to keep up. Anything likely to get your team making more sales or conversions is worth trying, and anything weighing your team down or driving customers away needs to be cut loose.

Our platform improves outreach for sales teams so that you can have more quality conversations with prospects—but you’ll still need to know what to say (or not say) when a lead picks up the phone. Here are our top dos and don'ts for your 2024 sales strategy.

4 Sales Tactics to Improve Team Performance

Staying up to date with current technology and using it to enhance the quality of your communication is vital for keeping your sales conversations on track and maintaining a high conversion rate. Here’s what we recommend in 2024:

1. Unify Your Data

Your sales, marketing, and customer success teams should all be feeding off the same data and enriching the data collected by other departments with their own insights.

Dialing software with built-in CRM support provides a centralized place to collect data from marketing and customer service teams so that your reps always have access to the information they need.

2. Get the Right Leads to the Right Agents

Effective lead distribution remains a challenge for many teams in 2024. The rise of remote work can actually make this problem even more difficult than it used to be, since leads can easily grow cold if they’re sent to a remote rep with no way for sales managers to check on their status.

Modern sales teams can prevent leads from getting lost or underworked by using tools that automate lead distribution. One example is PhoneBurner’s LeadStream feature, which lets you set up custom rules so the system can automatically send leads to the agents most likely to reach and convert them. What’s more, if leads are not contacted within a specified time frame they can be automatically redistributed to eliminate lost opportunities.

3. Know What to Automate

You already know automation can give you speed and accuracy over manual processes. The problem is that there are thousands of automation tools in the sales and marketing sector. How do you know which tools deliver value, and which don’t?

Always consider the speed/quality trade-off. Sales is about relationships—so don't let automation or AI drag down the quality of your communications.

For example, many high-call volume sales teams are tempted to use auto dialers. This type of software calls many prospects at once, and uses AI to determine if someone answers live. When they do, the call is transferred to a live agent.

The downside is that awkward moment of dead air as the system senses a live answer and transfers the call. This type of automation is likely to work against you. Many conversations begin from a place of skepticism, as the customer identifies the call as a sales call. Many more simply don't begin at all, as the phone hangs up and the line goes dead.

Opt for technology that boosts productivity, without sacrificing quality. A power dialer increases dialing efficiency without any sign that software is being used. Using PhoneBurner, sales reps are on the line when contacts say "hello" so they can reply instantly as if they dialed by hand.

Learn More: Auto Dialer vs Power Dialer: The Difference and Obvious Choice

But power dialers like PhoneBurner can automate other things that help reps sell without compromising call quality. For example, if no one answers, reps can leave a pre-recorded voicemail in one click without waiting for the beep. They can even send a personalized email and/or a text at the same time.

With PhoneBurner, all calls are automatically logged and post-call workflows handled—resulting in up to 4x more live conversations. All of this can be done without sacrificing the 1-to-1 human connection that today’s consumers demand.

4. Integrate Your Technology to Make Reps Happy

Post-call workflow automation, lead distribution, and CRM support can all help your sales reps reach more prospects and have better conversations with them—but no one wants to have to log in to a dozen different sales and automation apps each day.

Your tech stack needs to be seamlessly integrated so that reps get the benefits without overhauling their processes.

Part of succeeding with modern technology is simply manageability.

PhoneBurner’s seamless integration with hundreds of toolsand top CRMs, including native integrations with Salesforce, Zoho, Outreach, and others makes adoption easy. Features that improve live answer rates and reduce risk of spam flags makes outreach more rewarding too. Start your free trial here, or read on for our list of tactics to avoid.

4 Sales Tactics to Avoid

The tactics that worked even a few years ago aren't still driving sales today. Customer preferences are changing, so your team needs to stay proactive and informed.

Here are a few once-great practices to leave out of your sales strategy in 2024 and beyond.

1. Telling and Not Asking (a.k.a. Selling and Not Solving)

In the olden days of marketing and sales, the primary strategy revolved around telling. The power of suggestion ruled all. Sales callers told prospects what they needed, and they listened. However, if you're selling a solution to just anyone, they're bound to figure out pretty quickly when it isn't a good fit.

Learn More: 7 Common Conversation Mistakes You Need to Avoid in Sales

Instead, ask the right questions to get to know your prospects on a deeper level. Make sure you have a solution for their real-world problem. Otherwise, you're wasting their time, and your own. When you're on the phone with your key decision-makers, remember that 96% of them are more likely to consider you if you have a clear understanding of their business needs.

2. Leaving the Next Steps Unclear

Too many salespeople end a sales call without a firm follow-up. If your sales team is ending their calls with, "How about I give you a week to think about it?" and thinking that's the path to a yes, you're missing golden opportunities.

Learn More: How to Make the Most of Sales Follow-Up Calls

Having a well-thought-out (and thoroughly tested) sales process is key. Go into every call with a clear goal and next step in mind. Whether it's a discovery call, a live demo, or a proposal review, clarify what will happen next, and set a firm appointment. Otherwise, they'll lose focus and attend to any of the hundred other things competing for their attention, leaving you stuck in a game of phone and email tag.

Get on your prospects' calendars, and they'll be less likely to flake.

3. Moving too Quickly

Pushing for the one-call sale can give you quite the rush. However, you can also miss out on those warning signs that the customer isn't the right fit. Without taking the time to get to know your prospects and build a connection to your brand, those customers might only stick with you for a few months. An overwhelming 84% of unhappy buyers say their sales rep was too pushy.

If you're more focused on making a sale than finding the right fit, you'll eventually damage your reputation. Before long, the customers you steered in the wrong direction will start recommending their connections stay away from you. Pushing to make a quick buck is undoubtedly a sales tactic to avoid, no matter what year it is.

4. Not Training Your Sales Team

It's a common misconception that only new hires and entry-level sales reps need training. Everyone benefits from honing their skills, even the elites.

In fact, the best-of-the-best often demand it. How many chart-topping singers don't have vocal training? How many pro athletes walk on the field having missed practice all week? Exactly—none.

Your sales team is just the same. They need refreshers on the fundamentals and to stay up-to-date on the techniques that are driving conversions. They need to refine their scripts and their pitches. They need to know and analyze the competition. Your sales team wants nothing more than to make more sales, and training done right will give them that edge.

A virtual sales floor is a powerful way to provide live feedback, and it’s fun too.

Learn More About PhoneBurner's Power Dialer

Do you use the phone as a sales tool? Looking to grow your sales in 2024 and beyond? Learn how PhoneBurner can give your team more quality “at bats” and make outreach more personal, more productive, and more profitable.

To see how our dialer and sales acceleration platform turn good sales teams into great ones, start your free trial here.