
What do you expect from your sales team?
I could do a bit of mind reading here…
- To exceed target
- To be motivated and proactive
- To do things the right way
- To be happy and upbeat
- To change quickly every time the company rolls out new procedures/products/services
- …and whatever else you value in a sales person!
Wouldn’t that be the perfect world?
Reality Check
The last time I looked, sales people were human beings…and humans come with a blend of positive attributes and (drumroll please) negative attributes!!!
Those negative attributes need addressing and careful handling….BY YOU! They come in many guises…insecurities, limiting beliefs, mood swings, anger issues, bad grammar, blame game, avoidance strategies and anything else you can dream up.
Being a Sales Leader isn’t simply about the numbers any more. It’s about helping each person in your team accentuate their positive attributes and either eliminate or find work arounds for their negative attributes.
Train them
Yes you can do that BUT don’t expect any training to work miracles.
Learning new skills is only the first step. Step two is applying what is learned…that’s where you come in. You’ll need to monitor their actions and mindset. Step three is the mastery of what they have applied in their day to day to make it their own. They’ll need your help for this step too!
Step 1 – Learn
Step 2 – Apply
Step 3 – Master
One of the biggest mistakes I see in Sales Leadership is abdicating on steps 2 and 3…
then blaming the sales team for not applying what they learn!
Not all Sales People are the same
There are sales people that learn, apply and master all by themselves. These will be the high performers in your team. They are built that way and rarely need your help. They see the value of developing their skills and mindset to improve themselves. They would probably achieve whether you are there or not! This will be about 10% of your team by my experience.
Then there are the 10% of non-performers. This will have given up on the inside and have a sense of hopelessness about their situation. They are unlikely to verbalise this, but you’ll feel it in their energy. They are just going through the motions and at some stage they will turn themselves around or be fired.
That leaves 80% of your team…where do they stand?
Well these are likely to be a mix of plodders that just about get their target each month, rollercoasters that can get good sales one month then miss the next month and the promising ones…they ones that do the right things and could make it but it’s just out of their reach.
Depending on the blend of this group will determine your levels of frustration and input.
This group is your biggest win. These guys want to succeed. They want to be with the high achievers.
The thing is they need you to do that.
The question is…have you got the skills, the time and 100% commitment to doing that?
Until next time,
Leigh 🙂