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How to get your Sales Team Motivated & Crushing Targets
Guest articles >
How to get your Sales Team Motivated & Crushing Targets
by: Luke McLeod
“How many calls have you made?”, “How many meetings have you had this week?”,
“What’s happening with X & Y accounts?”. Sound like familiar questions? Whether
you’re the one asking them or the one receiving them, these questions are
generally the most common questions you’ll hear in sales meetings. Yes the
answers to these questions are important, but there are other ways in attaining
this information and they certainly don’t arouse excitement and inspiration in
your team to run back to their desks and pick up the phone.
I’ve lost count of how many sales meetings I’ve been in where these questions
were the only ones asked. Why is this the case? Mainly because the Sales
Managers in these meeting didn’t know any better. Most likely they secured their
management position by being a great sales person and therefore earned the right
to be promoted into it. Let me be clear here though. Just because they may have
been a great sales person doesn’t mean they’re going to be a great manager.
You see, those sales professionals who get promoted into a management
position without being equipped with the right management/leadership skills will
undoubtedly become what I like to refer to as a Sale Measurer not a Sales
Manager. They’ll do a great job of measuring their sales team’s activity and
asking them to do better. Why? Because that’s how they succeeded. When they were
on the front line and knew that they were going to miss their target, they would
say to themselves “I need to get more meetings. Come on Jimbob, pick your game
up” and would go about doing so. Although this can certainly be what’s needed
for yourself to get motivated. When it’s coming from someone else it has the
reverse effect, generally making them feel inferior and disheartened.
In saying this though, it doesn’t mean that great sales people can’t become
great managers. In fact some of the best Sales Managers I’ve seen used to be at
the front line. These great Sales Managers all have a few key skills that make
them so great:
- LBE – Lead By Example: Just because they’ve got the promotion doesn’t mean
they can kick off their shoes and never touch the phone again. By far the best
Sales Managers I’ve seen are those who are still very active in the front line
sales activity. Those who are prepared to join the sales team in their office,
pick up the phone and make some cold calls. This is particularly the case if
your sales team isn’t being proactive enough. Those managers that are willing to
confront possible rejection and embarrassment in front of their team are the
ones who will gain the most respect and admiration. I once had a sales manager
that made a cold call in front of me and stuffed it up. After the call he looked
at me grinning and said “Shit. I stuffed that one up didn’t I?” and then picked
up the phone again to have another go and nailed an appointment. That act made
me so determined and inspired to get in and do him proud.
- Give them the Keys: Remember the first time your Dad gave you the opportunity to
drive his car? How did you feel? Nervous? Excited? Proud?? Giving that same type
of responsibility to a sales team can be an extremely valuable exercise. Give
them the opportunity to create their own New Business Development Plan or a
Client Expansion Campaign, where they have complete autonomy to put forward how,
who, why and by when the plan/campaign would work. This gives them a great sense
of purpose and responsibility and shows them that you trust them and are
interested in their ideas. Once they come back to you with their plan/campaign,
always highlight their good ideas and suggest how you think it could even be
better. Then have them commit and sign to the plan and let them go on their way
to complete, mentioning that you are here if they need any help at anytime. I
think you’ll be surprised of the outcomes.
- Sales Management ART – Acknowledgement, Reward & Trust: If you’re a Sales
Manager and you nail these three skills, your work will become very valuable-
just like an expensive piece of ART. Acknowledgement – Oh, how a little
acknowledgement can go so far! I spoke with a sales professional last week who
seemed a little down and when I asked him why he was so glum. He replied “All I
want is to know whether I’m doing a good job.” He was doing a GOOD job, not a
GREAT job, just a good one. However, I bet if his Sales Manager said to him, “I
think you’re doing a good job and I know you have the ability to be great, is
there anything I can do?”, that would of been enough for him to get back on
track and put more focus into becoming great rather than just being good. Reward
– Having the right reward structure in place is essential to great sales
management, something that is realistic and motivating. I think a tiered
structure that invites the sales team to strive for higher commissions is great.
Also non-monetary rewards such as weekends away, movie tickets, gift vouchers
and corporate team trips away upon reaching team targets are all great
incentives. Just make sure that when you start as a new Sales Manager or have a
new sales person join the team you explain the structure clearly and ask for
their feedback on it. Trust – Well if there’s no trust there will be no reaching
target. Creating a trusting environment between the Sales Manager and sales
team, and between the sales team itself, is extremely important. Trust is
developed through keeping your word, being honest and taking responsibility when
you know you have stuffed up. If you keep these principles then it will create a
team of highly capable, mature and respectful individuals that will want to do a
great job, which equals doing a great job, which equals crushing of sales
targets.
Luke McLeod writes
topshelfsales.wordpress.com, a blog dedicated to offering the very best in
'Top Shelf' advice. The blog has been in operation for close a year now and is
getting some good attention.
Contributor:
Luke McLeod
Published here on: 21-Nov-11
Classification: Sales
Website:
topshelfsales.wordpress.com
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