Category: Sales Management ideas

If your sales team have reached their quota so far this year, congratulations are in order. You and your team belong to the 45% who have successfully found a path to high sales growth. Well done! Whatever you are doing to recruit, train and motivate your people, keep on doing it, do more and make it better.

If you and your team belong to the other 55%, stay positive and read on. Your journey to fix for your team’s sales performance starts here.

Sales performance is directly related to salespeople’s ability to do the job and their attitude doing the job.

I break it down in three strategic areas:

1. Skills.
2. Knowledge.
3. Motivation.

They all need to be 100% in order to get the best sales performance.

The better equipped sales people are, the more likely they are successful reaching their sales targets.

Lack of sales skills

Poor sales skills are major obstacles to sales performance.

No matter the quality, size, price or other features of your product, salespeople need to be the best they can be in Qualifying*, Presenting and Closing. If only one of these skills is failing them, they will under perform significantly.

*According to the TAS group up to 40% of sales people do not understand the need to qualify customers.

• Coaching. Get each team member to score themselves on each sales skill using a scale of 1 to 10. The lowest scores are the areas where we should focus our development effort through coaching and training.
• Sales process improvement. Work with your team building or reviewing your **sales play book or sales process. There are always improvements we can make. Come at it from the customers’ perspective. What do we do for the customer to enjoy a positive buying experience?
• Use shadowing another salesperson as a powerful technique to build sales skills across the team.

** My experience is that less than 50% salespeople use a sales play book or have a sales process

Lack of sales knowledge

A lack of knowledge is a major contributor to missing sales targets.

There is an old saying ‘knowledge gives confidence’. This certainly is true in the sales profession where salespeople must be ready to answer many different customer questions. ***A salesperson is an expert and problem solver in the eyes of customers. They need to trust the salesperson before they make a purchase.

***According to Gartner research, sales people who assist buyers to make buying decisions are most likely to win the deal.

Remedies:

• Expertise. Invite product managers/industry experts to join your sales team meetings and run regular products and process knowledge sessions
• Gamification. Devise a product knowledge quiz for the team.
• Recruitment. Improve the product knowledge element in you boarding process by using salespeople to run a product session

Poor sales motivation

A lack of motivation badly affects sales performance and can affect other team members too.

Sales team motivation is perhaps best measured in how well the team is applying the skills and knowledge learned. To capture this, apply a simple activity-based and quality driven measurements; Key Performance Indicators

Salespeople who repeatedly do not complete CRM, miss key performance indicators and under perform in sales results, may just not appreciate the considerable commitment needed for real success.

Remedies

• Set clear target, activity and quality expectations. Review performance and support progress through scheduled, regular 121 sessions with your team members.
• Root cause analysis. Find out from your under performing salespeople what motivates them in the job and find ways to link that motivation to the required performance. Perhaps a review of the commission scheme is needed.
• Coaching. Coach or hire a sales coach to address the motivational, skill or knowledge issues.

During my work as sales coach I learn that in sales, everybody deserves a fair shot. A lack of form is a phase we have all gone through. We have to have eachother’s back.

Yet, if under performance is due to incompetence and there is no reasonable way forward, it is perhaps best to cut losses early.

Feel free to get in touch for advice and and support achieving high sales growth. gert.scholts@sales-coaching.pro

Ever wondered what the hype about coaching is in sales and how it speeds up high sales growth?

Here is a short explanation why it works, how it works and what it is.

Sales coaching achieves high sales growth by making use of real customer interactions to develop skills, knowledge and attitude.

The coach works with the sales person while they are interacting with customers. No books or theory are used and no time away from the office on an expensive course is needed.

Traditional classroom and e-learning have its benefits of course, yet many sales people are activist learners who learn best from doing things.

The results can be truly amazing when sales people try a new or different way to win sales, meetings, commitment, or just facts they otherwise struggled to get.

The learning is instant and more importantly, creates desire to understand and do more.

The results are there to demonstrate effectiveness. Sales results will improve and so will sales staff retention.

Every sales manager should see themselves as a coach. It is part of the modern sales manager who sees him/her self as sales enabler for their team. Giving team members attention and real development is a promise often made during the recruitment stage. Coaching is one way of delivering on that promise.

And if you are too busy to coach, you can always hire a good one.

I work with sales managers and their teams to create high sales growth.

The evidence is overwhelming: coaching increases sales, job satisfaction and staff retention.

Feel free to get in touch and find out how you can use sales coaching to achieve high sales growth.

#thebestsalescoach #salescoaching #winningdeals #winningsales #motivatingsalespeople #staffretention #salestraining #highsalesgrowth

This short article aims to provide direction when deciding on a high sales growth strategy.

I regularly get asked about sales strategies, sales team organisation structures and sales plans.

The questions tend to be:

1. What is the best sales strategy for my business?
2. How should I organise my sales team?
3. What kind of sales people do I need to be successful?

Over the years I have learned that the right answers to these questions lie with customers and their needs.

A sales organisation anticipating, and meeting customer needs, is a successful one.

Here are two practical examples:

Re-purchase customers

These customers buy more than one product from a supplier on a regular basis. In this case the supplier/sales person needs to remain in customers’ mind, create and maintain full confidence, anticipate their needs, and be there when those needs arise. He or she must feel they work in the customer’s company.

1. Sales strategy: Total Service
2. Sales organisation: Account Management + Customer Support
3. Sales people profile: Relationship focus

New customers

These potential customers are someone else’s customer right now. You want to be their supplier/partner instead. Finding new customers succeeds best when you know when incumbent suppliers fail to meet their customer’s expectations or when a potential customer feels it prudent to look for alternative suppliers.

Here we need excellent market intelligence at sales, product company and market level. We also need sales people who are hungry to do new deals, meet new people and love knocking on new doors.

1. Sales Strategy: Hunting
2. Sales organisation: Hunters + Intelligence, Sales support unit
3. Sales people profile : Deal focused

Marketing and IT infrastructure play an increasingly important role in the above too. Customer experience from the first engagement needs to be a joy. Our communications need to be timely and relevant for the customer too.

If we want to know how to best organise your sales effort, let’s look at our customer’s needs for the answers.

I help companies pressing that all important growth button. Feel free to contact me

#salesstrategy #winningsales #hiringasalesteam #highsalesgrowth

The need for regular 121 meetings between B2B salespeople and their managers is essential for a successful and productive working relationship. This type of meeting provides an opportunity for both parties to openly discuss the salesperson’s performance, goals, and strategies. It also allows the salesperson to voice any concerns they may have and allows the manager to provide feedback and guidance.

In the modern business world, salespeople need to be able to quickly adapt and adjust their approach to a changing market. A strong relationship between the salesperson and their manager allows them to stay on top of this, as the manager is able to provide valuable insights into the market that the salesperson may not have access to, or vice versa. Without regular 121 meetings, it is difficult for the salesperson to stay up to date on the changes in the market and to adjust their approach accordingly.

Regular 121 meetings also provide a space for the salesperson to voice any challenges they may be facing and to receive the necessary guidance from their manager. The manager is able to provide support and advice that is tailored to the salesperson’s individual needs, allowing them to feel supported and heard in their role. Without regular 121 meetings, salespeople may be left feeling frustrated and unsupported, which can lead to a lack of motivation and decreased performance.

Regular 121 meetings also create an opportunity for the manager to review the performance of the salesperson and provide appropriate feedback. In this way, the manager is able to ensure that the salesperson is on track and performing to the expected standards. This is especially crucial in a B2B sales environment, where accuracy and efficiency are paramount. Without regular 121 meetings, it can be difficult for the manager to identify any issues with performance and address them promptly.

Regular meetings between rookie sales people and their sales manager is key to developing a good sales person into a great one.

• Schedule 35 minutes meetings at the same time, early in the week if possible (weekly, biweekly, monthly, and so on), depending on how often you think necessary. Doing this, is easier on your time, sets up a good working week and it builds good routine.
• Make the meetings a total obligation and commitment. Never cancel them, just reschedule
• Position the meetings as quality time between manager and sales person, so no interruptions, a quiet area and no mobiles.
• Have your CRM on the ready and use the info in there as the basis for the meeting. If it is not in CRM, it did not happen.

Prepare good questions:

• How are you doing against your sales and activity targets?
• What’s working?
• Where are you getting stuck?
• What might you do differently?
• How are you doing?
• What is one thing I can help you with this week to support your growth?

Review the key sales opportunities and home in on when the sales will happen and what support you can give.

Agree actions (what, who and when by) and confirm them via email.

Over time you will see performance, job satisfaction and retention improve.

In conclusion, regular 121 meetings between B2B salespeople and their managers are essential for a successful and productive working relationship. This type of meeting provides a space for the salesperson to receive support and guidance, as well as for the manager to review performance and provide feedback. Without regular 121 meetings, it is difficult for the salesperson to stay up to date on changes in the market and for the manager to identify and address any issues with performance

More experienced sales people need 121s too. The format is different. Feel free to ask me for ideas.

This sales management story demonstrates that a lack of sales results and low activity/morale can be fixed through route cause analysis, vision and team work.

Some months ago, I started working with a well-established business supplying high end architectural fittings to building firms. The Directors had asked me to work with the sales team to find ways of increasing productivity. They believed the demand was there, yet the team struggled to:

• Take full advantage of sales opportunities from existing clients
• Found it challenging to engage future clients

We started working together and I joined them on site for a few days to understand the business, people and processes. In short, sales were happening yet there was a lack of clear sales process and opportunity management.

The way forward was as simple as extensive:

We agreed to put in place good sales habits and practices supported by a standalone CRM application called Pipedrive. Simple to configure, cloud based and good value.

My job was to hold the team accountable and highly motivated through weekly 121 meetings using the phone and SKYPE.

We wanted more sales from existing customers and bring new customers on board and here is how we did it:

• Dedicated in-house lead generation and future client engagement. The guy who does this is a heavy weight top class communicator. We decided not to work with ‘cheap and cheerful’ telemarketers who would not understand the business well enough to engage potential new clients. Our man was a big investment, yet it paid off handsomely. He understands the businesses he approaches and how our solutions can help them with their objectives. Most importantly he asks pertinent questions to engage clients from the start.
• We had agreed sales processes for each of the customer groups. This would help us to keep track and what was next.
• We owned tasks throughout the sales process. We all had a key role to play and our names were tagged against next actions.
• We had total transparency throughout the sales cycle using an effective standalone CRM application used by all.
• We included KPIs like ‘agreement to quote’, ’meaningful conversations’ and ‘meetings with decision makers’.
• The weekly 121 calls lasted no more than 20 minutes per sales person. We had agreed a simple structure for this too: What is working, what is not working yet and what is our next action.

And so, our journey started. What made things easier was the amount of sheer energy through a passionate sales director who challenged himself and the team to greater achievement every day. Over time the pipeline became bigger and bigger………..Sales started to come in at an increasing rate. Then suddenly the monthly target was smashed. The rest is history as they say. The team is now highly motivated and super active winning deal after deal.

If you have a small, leaking sales funnel or are concerned not all sales opportunities are picked up and exploited fully, feel free to contact me for advice

#Pipedrivecom #salesfunnel #salesmanagement #salesimprovement