You’ve just been assigned to a new role – you’re the new Sales Executive of a profitable Sales enterprise and you’ve got a sales team that’s not on target or quota. Sales are slipping. The team is discouraged and miserable, and to add insult to injury, your best sales rep has resigned last week and two more are off sick. What’s been going on here? You feel panicked and are hopeless and haven’t got a game plan of how to lift the team out of their rut. First, stop the panic. Most sales execs have faced these issues, and in the end have turned out real champions and leaders of their teams.
The following categories are small tweaks that can accomplish big things for your sales team. Take a look at these 4 concepts and see how really working with your sales force can have a big impact on their performance.
- Gather all data about your sales team and the market
Many sales execs dive head first into sending memos telling sales reps to work harder, longer, and see more customers. At the end of the day, this is exactly what you want, but you won’t succeed if you don’t do your homework about the previous exec’s habits, the attitudes of the sales force, and the overall sales process within the company. Is the downward trend recent? What’s happening in the market? How are customers responding? Is the same thing happening company-wide or is it just your sales team?
The important thing is to gather information about the overall climate within the organization and the climate in the overall market. Understanding why morale is low and why there is a downward trend in sales is the first step to solving the problem. What follows is the way you involve the team in finding the solution.
- Consistently touching base with your sales team
You’ve done your research and you’ve found out exactly what you needed to know. Now you’ve got to work with your team. Many sales execs simply delegate; it’s the ones that become part of the team that succeed. Do they have clear goals? Are they forecasting? Are they honing their skills and where do they need to improve?
Sales reps love to be successful and do well. The magic happens when they see someone enthusiastic enough to become involved in helping them achieve their goals. A good sales exec is consistently helping and touching base with the team while watching over everyone to ensure they are being supported. They know what’s important to them and they want to see them achieve real success.
- Engaging with the sales team
The “I talk you listen” approach doesn’t cut it. It bogs down the team and makes them lose confidence in their abilities. It has never worked. Sales reps have always rebelled against this kind of treatment and, now, more than ever, it’s not a successful tactic as strong leadership has become a necessary part of sales success. When your team feels that their opinion has worth and matters, they will be more inclined to listen and be responsive.
4. The importance of motivation
Find out what it takes for your individual sales reps to be inspired to achieve more. What is it about the job that makes them feel alive? Of course, money is the factor, but, it’s when they feel that someone believes in them and wants to motivate them to do better is when the quality of their performance improves. Making them happy by recognizing them not only encourages them to hit their targets, it gives them a feeling that they are doing something that truly makes a difference.
These concepts are key to sales success. What have you done in the past to encourage an under performing sales team?
