As a sales manager, you know that developing each sales team member is crucial for achieving your goals and growing your business. But how do you create a process that works for everyone, regardless of their experience, skills, and personality? In this article, we'll share some tips on how to design and implement a process that helps you coach, motivate, and empower your sales team.
The first step in developing your sales team is to assess their current performance, strengths, and weaknesses. You can use various tools and methods to do this, such as sales reports, feedback surveys, role-playing exercises, and one-on-one meetings. The goal is to identify where each team member excels, where they need improvement, and what their learning style and preferences are. This will help you tailor your coaching and training to their specific needs and goals.
This is a crucial step even more so when starting to manage a new team. Understanding where each individual team member is in their own journey, what drives them, what goals and aspirations they have, will allow a new manager/leader to create trust and engagement, as opposed to resistance.
The next step is to set SMART goals for each team member, based on the assessment results. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. These criteria help you create clear and realistic expectations, track progress, and evaluate outcomes. For example, a SMART goal could be: Increase the number of qualified leads by 10% in the next quarter by using the new CRM system and following up with prospects within 24 hours. You should also involve your team members in setting their own goals, so they feel more engaged and committed.
One thing I’ve found helpful is to state who the plan is for. When someone is asked to create an Action plan, they’re often thinking about what is the plan my manager want, but the important part here what is the plan that can help this individual accomplish the desired goals. Keep it simple, with a clear “who” “what” “when” followed by timely measures of success. Don’t marry the individual steps; if one action item didn’t work out, then try something different. The goal is continued progress getting you closer to the measures of success within a realistic timeline.
Once you have set the goals, you need to provide coaching and training to help your team members achieve them. Coaching and training are not the same thing, but they complement each other. Coaching is a personalized and ongoing process that involves giving feedback, guidance, and support to your team members. Training is a structured and formalized way of teaching new skills, knowledge, and best practices. You can use different formats and platforms for coaching and training, such as online courses, webinars, workshops, mentoring, and peer learning.
The fourth step is to monitor and measure the results of your coaching and training efforts. You need to track the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are aligned with your goals, such as sales volume, conversion rate, customer satisfaction, and retention. You also need to collect feedback from your team members, customers, and other stakeholders to evaluate the impact of your interventions. You can use tools like dashboards, surveys, and testimonials to visualize and communicate the results.
The final step is to recognize and reward the achievements of your team members. This is important to motivate them, boost their confidence, and reinforce positive behaviors. You can use different types of recognition and rewards, such as verbal praise, public recognition, bonuses, incentives, promotions, and career development opportunities. You should also celebrate the team's collective success and foster a culture of appreciation and collaboration.
It is also the small wins , the tiny achievements that require appreciation on an ongoing basis for your Sales Teams. Each team member has different strengths & a verbal/written appreciation from the manager or super boss is important. Spending time with your team members to know them better, to understand their challenges & guide them to navigate through those, that's appreciation too. Timely promotions, awards of recognition, sometimes earlier than required is a great morale booster & reward. Career & skill development opportunities are also a sign of appreciation for your teams. Both Personalised & Public encouragement / reward each of their unique as well as collaborative strengths is crucial to managing a performing sales team.