BUILDING A WINNING SALES TEAM - 9 STEPS

If your sales team is not performing, individuals are continually full of excuses and there’s an overall poor attitude throughout the sales business, then something needs to change if results are to improve.

During my coaching career I’ve met numerous “Sales Managers” who without much thought given by senior management, have been placed in charge of sales teams, based purely upon having the best sales record! Wrong!! It takes many key skills to become an effective sales manager of a high performing sales team.

High producing “happy” sales teams are led by sales managers who follow established business models incorporating proven strategies Here are nine of these strategies to help you to improve the performance of your sales team.

STEP ONE: DO NOTHING!

When you first arrive on the scene of a sales team in distress, don’t do anything. Take the time to understand your organization’s situation, gather information about the people involved, and...

STEP TWO: ANALYSE YOUR PROBLEM(S)

The main problem may be that your salespeople don’t believe in themselves. They haven’t yet experienced sales success, and there’s no role model in the team, a salesperson of whom others in the team can say, "there’s somebody like me who’s successful."

By now you may be thinking, "Hey, isn’t it my role as a sales manager to set a leadership example?" And, of course, the answer is "yes." But the example you set for your people is not enough, because many salespeople emulate the actions of their peers.

Since many salespeople play "follow the leader," you’ve got to ask yourself which salespeople in the team does your less experienced salespeople look up to? And, what kind of example are these "leaders" setting?

You can achieve peak performance out of average producers if you can get average producers to follow the success habits demonstrated by a leading salesperson. If this person does not currently exist then you may therefore need to find this leader. Fast.

STEP THREE: FIND YOUR SUCCESS ROLE MODEL

In sport, when a player assumes a leadership role on a team, it’s called "stepping up." Hopefully, you already have a few players in your team capable of stepping up. If so, talk to them. Help them see the importance of their success example, and ask them to share more of their knowledge and experience with less experienced salespeople. Weekly sales meetings and award presentations are great opportunities for this to happen.

As per step 2, you may have to unfortunately recruit a new salesperson to be your success role model because nobody else in the sales team is capable of leadership. That next person you employ could play a pivotal role in reversing a poor performance trend.

Actively seek out this person. Ensure it’s the right person to be your new top performing leader in the team. Tell him/her "if you stick with me, do exactly as I teach you to do, you will succeed." Let him/her know that you are counting on him/her, and they won’t let you down.

Poor attitudes in the office will soon change, from one of making excuses for poor performance to "What’s that John/Mary Smith doing?"

A successful role model in a sales team forces others to take a hard look in the mirror. That will be the day when individuals finally accept responsibility for their own actions and poor performance.

STEP FOUR: DON’T TOLERATE MEDIOCRE SALES PERFORMANCE

Far too often, poorly performing salespeople are allowed to continue their lacklustre ways. A manager may not want to face the hassle of recruiting a replacement, or may want to avoid confrontation. This is a big mistake.

Successful sales managers don’t tie the ship to a poor performer’s anchor. Instead, successful managers take a "hands- on" role by providing the coaching and training the poor performer needs to improve.

Your objective is to bring those that are lagging behind to "the intersection of choice." By that, I mean poor performers must make a decision themselves to either:

a) Recommit themselves to perform the necessary behaviours and activities, or

b) Leave the company immediately.

There’s only one thing worse than somebody who quits and leaves - and that’s somebody who quits and stays."

The key question is this: If you knew then what you know now, is there anybody on your team you would not have hired? If so, get "hands-on" and escort that individual to his or her intersection of choice.

STEP FIVE: INSTALL PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

You’ve got to communicate your expectations. So raise the BAR on everybody with standards that consist of:

Behaviour

Activity and

Results

A behaviour standard, for example, could be to arrive in the office every morning before 8am. An activity standard could be to make a minimum of 25 telephone prospecting calls every day. A result standard could be that a sales rep with seven to nine months sales experience must sell a minimum of $50,000 per month.

Regarding results standards, set two standards. One, a lower "keep your job" standard. Salespeople who fall below the minimum standard for a three-month period are placed on probation. If sales don’t pick up in the next quarter, that person must be "de-hired." Another standard performance is, of course, a higher sales quota.

STEP SIX: DE-HIRE THOSE BELOW MINIMUM STANDARDS

Your salespeople will be wondering, "do you really mean it?" The first person you de-hire will send a loud and clear message - performance standards will be enforced. If you don’t enforce them, your standards are meaningless.

STEP SEVEN: COACH, COACH AND COACH SOME MORE

Don’t be a "desk jockey." Get out and work with your salespeople. It’s the only way to grow your people and your business.

STEP EIGHT: CULTIVATE A BETTER "QUALITY OF LIFE"

Have more fun. Develop a series of contests that get everybody focused on the team’s goals. For example, if the team achieves the office goal, salespeople who achieved their individual standards earn a round of golf with the other achievers.

Then there are sales blitzes, e.g. where everyone can pair up and make a load of cold calls. The salespeople who receive the resulting leads are rewarded on the spot.

STEP NINE: KNOW WHAT EACH SALESPERSON WANTS

Every person has his or her own personal motivators. Your job is to find out what they are and help the salesperson toward achieving them.

Sit down with each salesperson one on one. Try to learn something about each of them: what are their goals with your company and beyond? What is their past like? How can you help them be, have and do more?

For example, one of your salespeople may want to buy a house, while another wants to play the top 10 golf courses in the world. Two very different goals, but both could be achieved faster by the salesperson exceeding quota.

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The results you can achieve via implementing all or just some of these steps can bring about extraordinary sales improvement of individuals and your entire sales team.