Consistent Sales Excellence – HOW?
One of the questions I used to hear on a regular basis as a Regional Sales Manager was “how do you get your team to continue to perform at such a high level consistently.” As I reflected on the question, I knew immediately that the answer I would give might not be the response the listener would be willing to implement. I share the following however for your consideration in developing and creating a high-performance sales team.
My first lesson – I learned early on in my career that the best way for me to be successful was to support the people who were directly responsible for my meeting the requirements of my position.
Three of the Lessons I learned as a sales rep that helped me help my team:
Be True to your Word – When I started out as a sales person, I learned the importance of doing what I would say, when I would say I would do it and then following up to make sure the customer was satisfied with what I provided. Results – loyal following
Deliver Value, Honor your Commitments, Understand Needs -I also learned to respect my customers objectives, time and knowledge need. By focusing on what they wanted to have happen, providing them with up-to-date industry knowledge and respecting the time they committed to our appointment, I earned the right to have their business and present new products to them on a regular basis. Results – lots of business, referrals
Become a Resource to your Company – I learned to provide feedback to the home office, customer service and my manager of my observations in the field of new needs of the customer, new product requests, and the challenges or obstacles in our processes. Results – new processes, opportunities to contribute in a new way, recognition
Five of the Lessons I learned as Region Manager that grew a great team:
Listen – the first thing I did with every person I either hired or inherited was to sit down and listen to the reasons they decided to be a sales person, to understand their future career goals and to establish their action plan for success.
Develop – for every person that was a member of my team I created opportunities to expand their skills within the scope of their position. This included opportunities to cross train with other sales people in our region and later other regions. If they excelled in selling a certain line of product and others were experiencing difficulties in selling that line, they went in to help train and set up the success for the other person. One of the most successful things I did was to require a solution to every complaint. Incredible new ideas were the result and seeing them implemented company wide developed their leader strengths.
Empower – After 90 days of following the company standard for selling our products, they were told if they found a simpler, faster, or better way, whether it was with the reporting system or customer engagement, they were allowed to “test” their ideas and in turn teach them to the rest of the team at our region meetings.
Accountability – sales people will always ask to lower a price to obtain a large sale or to out bid the competition. Even with national contracts in place and long-term agreements, they would want to lower the price! After clearly demonstrating to them how lowering a price affected the bottom line, asking them if they were willing to take a cut in their commissions, they received a rate sheet with their limits to cut a price. It was amazing how this kind of accountability reduced the frequency they requested a reduced price beyond their limits!
Celebration – sales people thrive on acknowledgement, recognition, and rewards as much as they do the money they earn. Many companies have standard “prizes” or rewards given for certain thresholds of success. In my initial and ongoing meetings, I learned what inspired or motivated my team and provided those kinds of awards for small accomplishments along the way as incentives to continually add to their success. For some it would be a dinner certificate for their significant other, for others it might be a golf outing, a day at the lake, a spa service, or an educational seminar award.
Although there were many other things I instituted, what I gained was their commitment to their success, which insured mine. This also gave me permission to be “the Sarge” when things were not going so well!
Inspiring a team to greatness can come in many forms. Follow your intuition and creativity and see what results!
Come back and share with us your ideas and results! WE would love to hear from you!
Best of Success,
Kathy
Need help on your sales leader journey? Kathy@kathyholdaway.com or click on contact me below.