3 Ways to Reduce Communication Overload

On a typical day, reps face a constant flurry of internal communications announcing company events, cross-functional requests, product launches and updates, training and compliance requirements, etc. While this may seem harmless on the surface—What’s one more little email going to hurt? Someone might find this information valuable!—the net result of this communication overload is that reps have less time to focus on value-creating activities. In fact, one member organization found that their managers were spending up to 50 hours a month processing company communications! To deal with this overload, many reps end up filtering communications based on individual preferences and capacities, which may at times contradict organizational imperatives.

The only way to combat communications overload while still ensuring that key messages are received and understood by the sales force is to take a proactive approach to managing and filtering communications. Recently, CEB Sales has had a number of conversations with members on how they have been working to address communications overload within their organization. We’ve found that strategies for doing so generally embrace three concepts: control, consolidate, and customize.

Control

The most effective step in limiting communications overload is to introduce some sort of barrier to access to the all-rep distribution list. Many members have established a centralized place from which all sales communications are sent. They take in all communications requests from throughout the organization, and use a standardized vetting process to determine the importance of each message and the ideal channel through which to distribute it.

This control is generally placed in the hands of the Sales Effectiveness, Operations, or Enablement functions, but some organizations also utilize a dedicated Communications Director. The exact place or function where control over communications is placed matters less than ensuring that whoever has control has a keen understanding of the things that matter most to a rep. Senior sales leaders and management often have at least an informal say in the ultimate communications that are sent out to the sales force as well.

Consolidate

Instead of bombarding reps with messages at any and all times, consolidating product, marketing, and compliance news into regularly scheduled (often weekly or bi-weekly) newsletters reduces time spent reading emails, and lets reps know that the information contained inside is important and pertinent. The updates included should be kept brief to maintain readability. Links for further reading or relevant content should be included where possible. Some organizations also make use of teleconferences or town hall-style meetings for similar purposes. Other organizations may use a combination of communication methods and channels to emphasize different types of messages.

Consolidating other, less immediately important but still relevant communications into portals or intranet sites can also help to reduce communication overload while still ensuring that reps are aware of important messages and updates. Portals and intranet sites are useful as information repositories for reps to actively seek out information, rather than as a source of proactive communication.

Customize

Receiving irrelevant or misdirected communications is one of the primary sources of information overload reported by reps. To combat this, it is important to tailor communications to different audiences within the sales rep community. Reps shouldn’t have to sift through tons of extraneous information to find what is pertinent to them. Communications containing information such as inventory updates and “housekeeping” items should be customized into multiple versions for segment- or region-specific distributions.

Managers also play an important role in ensuring that reps receive and understand important communications. Front-line managers have the greatest ability to personalize messages for their reps and emphasize the importance and relevance of various strategic initiatives. Some organizations send out sales manager-specific emails to highlight specific topics that should be shared and emphasized in team meetings.

CEB Sales Members, to learn more about how your peers are working to reduce communication fatigue, take a look at our research brief on Effective Communication to the Sales Force and check out the forum discussion on How to Communicate with Sales Reps. For further learning on reducing the volume of communication and ensuring that critical information is received by sales reps, including best practices from sales executives, be sure to access our decision support center on Sales Force Communication Management.