
The economy in the UK has shrunk by a record 20% in April due to the impact of COVID19. This is the largest monthly drop on record! To give you some context in Q4 of 2008 our economy dropped by 2.2% which was the largest drop for the entire 2008/2009 recession.
I know…it really hits home right?
Now is the time to change the way we perceive, train and develop sales teams…because we are the key workers of economic recovery!
What kind of training?
Giving sales people sales process training and expecting them to go out and achieve their targets/quotas is misguided, high risk and unrealistic.
As a Sales Leader you know as well as I do that sales people generally know what they should be doing…and yet most of them are simply not doing it. Why? Because they don’t get the personal development and coaching they need to have a sales growth mindset that enables them to be the best version of themselves. The constantly evolving and improving version of themselves that is inspired and motivated to deliver consistently great results.
How about you?
As a Sales Leader you may be in the same boat. If you’ve never received the development you need to be the best version of yourself…a constantly evolving and improving Sales Leader then you’re on the same cycle. That cycle of doing what you know even if it doesn’t work.
You may be thinking…that’s a bit harsh and that may be totally true in your situation but until Sales Leaders recognise that they need to develop, to step up and treat their sales people like the athletes they need to be…we will continue to be in an industry where less than 50% of sales people hit their targets ☹
So where to start?
Rate yourself on the following traits:
A deep understanding of sales growth mindset
Non leading sales coaching
Sales Mentoring
Knowing the difference between mentoring and coaching
Having those tricky conversations as soon as you notice something that needs addressing
The ability to stop yourself jumping in to fix things or telling your team how to do stuff
The ability to stop yourself saving sales people
Not comparing a sales person’s chapter 5 to your chapter 50
Being a good listener
Caring about and being interested in each individual in your team
Knowing what each sales person needs for their next stage of development
Nudging people out of their comfort zone then supporting them through the resulting anxiety
Being a good human being
There are so many traits you need to be a great sales leader but these are the basic and essential traits in my opinion.
Until you develop these traits in yourself, you will never have the sales team you strive for…sorry but it’s true in my experience.
The great thing is that you can develop yourself over time and so can each person in your team.
Going forward
I predict a stronger focus on developing the mindset within sales people and sales leaders going forward…not as a nice to have but as an essential ingredient to success.
Our sales people are at the sharp end of a fast-changing business landscape. They are going to need great sales and people skills…and a strong, resilient and confident mindset. I suspect there will be more NO’s from customers unless we adapt and flex our offerings to suit the market place. You need your sales people to get straight back up after every NO with the energy they have after a big win. That can only happen when they have a strong mindset. No sales process training on the planet can deliver that.
So my closing question is…
Do you have a sales team that is focused, proactive and motivated no matter what? Or do you have order takers that are great in an easy climate but crumble in hard times?
There’s a parable in the bible that says you can’t put new wine in old wine skins…what you did pre COVID isn’t going to cut it going forward. It’s time for new wine in new wine skins!
Until next time,
Leigh 😊
PS If you want to chat about improving the sales growth mindset in your team then please get in touch!
Thanks to Alexas Fotos for the photo 😊