Your sales team is facing tough market conditions. How can you instill resilience and determination in them?

The key to building trust with your sales team is to truly care about them and to help them see and overcome the barriers they struggle with. Coaching is not about the numbers, it's about navigating what the numbers tell us, and that is an individual sport—1 on 1 with your salespeople.

To further build trust and instill resilience, implement regular one-on-one check-ins with each team member. Use these sessions to discuss not only sales targets but also personal challenges and achievements. For example, acknowledge their efforts during a tough month, even if the outcomes weren’t as expected. These personalized interactions demonstrate your commitment to their growth and well-being, strengthening trust and boosting morale, empowering them to navigate challenging market conditions with confidence and determination.

Set Clear Goals and Plans: Setting clear goals and creating detailed sales plans for your salespeople breaks down big goals into smaller ones so they can stay organized and more likely to achieve their sales goals. Build a positive mindset: Emphasize the importance of a positive mindset and encourage salespeople to maintain strong willpower and determination in the face of challenges. Help them stay motivated and find solutions to problems through self-suggestion and positive thinking. Maintain Positive Communication: Emphasizes the importance of clear, timely and effective communication with team members and customers. Learn to listen and understand each other's needs and provide targeted solutions to build good customer relationships.

Empower your team with skills! Do you send them out unarmed, or are they confident in their sales philosophy and process? It all starts with what they believe about their role and the role of the buyer.

To effectively empower your sales team, consider implementing a mentorship program where less experienced members are paired with seasoned colleagues. This setup allows them to learn practical strategies and gain insights firsthand. For example, a mentor might guide a mentee through a complex negotiation process, providing real-time feedback and advice. This builds skills and reinforces confidence as team members see tangible improvements in their abilities, motivating them to push through even in challenging market conditions.

Setting realistic goals is part of it, but it is crucial to hold them accountable for those goals and equip them through training and coaching to achieve them.

To balance realistic goal-setting with accountability, implement a tiered goal system. Start with smaller, easily attainable goals to build initial momentum and confidence. For instance, if the broader goal is to increase quarterly sales by 20%, start with monthly targets that gradually increase. This approach allows for early detection and correction of potential shortfalls and keeps motivation high as team members feel a continuous sense of achievement. Regular reviews and feedback sessions can then be used to fine-tune strategies and celebrate progress, reinforcing a cycle of improvement and success.

To enhance and reward collaboration within your sales team, introduce a recognition program that highlights and rewards group achievements alongside individual successes. For example, establish a "Team of the Month" award based on collaborative efforts and results. This recognition could include perks such as team lunches, bonuses, or additional professional development opportunities. Such incentives not only celebrate teamwork but also encourage a culture where collective success is valued just as highly as individual performance. This approach helps build a supportive environment crucial for navigating tough market conditions.

Collaboration is a vital skill that few people possess and that many organizations don't reward. How do you reward collaborative sales activities?

How often do sales conversations go in unexpected directions? Is your team versatile enough to adapt to a new turn in a conversation and still maintain control of the conversation?

To foster adaptability in your sales team, implement regular training sessions focused on scenario planning and role-playing. For example, simulate sales conversations that take unexpected turns, teaching team members how to pivot effectively. This practice prepares them for various real-world scenarios and builds confidence in their ability to steer conversations back to productive outcomes, regardless of the direction they initially take. Encouraging this level of flexibility helps your team see unexpected challenges as opportunities to demonstrate their expertise and control of the sales process.

Keeping the team positive when market conditions are challenging requires a manager to strike a balance between being realistic about the team’s performance and being optimistic about the team’s ability to learn, adapt, and get better at activities they can control. I’ve found it is important to maintain focus on the team’s skill development and to capture and celebrate even the smallest wins to preserve optimism and keep engagement high and positive.