How Providing Qualitative Support Improves Sales Team Performance

This post was originally published on CloserIQ's sales management blog. 

A good sales manager knows that to ensure their team is working at a certain caliber they have to track performance using quantitative metrics. A great sales manager recognizes that providing hands-on support with qualitative measures is just as vital as the numbers.

In my case, I use Monday morning meetings as an opportunity to provide support and help my team plan out their sales for the week. The benefits of starting the week by regrouping are four-fold: each team member receives dedicated time, the meeting boosts confidence, I receive an accurate sales forecast for the week, and it provides valuable insight into challenges.

• Each member receives dedicated time.
• Holding people to numbers is important but nothing beats a qualitative hands-on pipeline review meeting to help a rep get closer to closing a deal. This one-on-one time allows me to help coach each team member while simultaneously driving immediate revenue.
• Helps boost rep’s confidence.
• Simply put, these meetings serve as a confidence builder for my sales team. They see a clear path to closing each deal as we walk through and create an action plan for each deal for the week. Providing each rep with a forum to run through each deal leaves them feeling prepared to tackle the anticipated challenges of the week.
• Provides an accurate weekly sales forecast.
• As a team manager, sitting with each team member allows me to critically evaluate each deal and provide an accurate forecast for the week’s sales. I am able to gain a realistic prediction of the revenue for the week, which I can then deliver to my executive team.
• Allows for spotting thematic issues with your team.
• Conducting back-to-back meetings with each team member can quickly expose larger challenges that are shared by the entire team. Once exposed, these obstacles can be faces with constructive measures like strategic changes or coaching sessions.

 When it comes to structuring these weekly meetings, it is essential to plan them in a manner that promotes productivity, efficiency, and success. Below are three techniques I abide by: 

• Set recurring, weekly meetings.
• For consistency, I carve out 15-30 minutes for each team member every Monday and these calls take place at the same time every week. By conducting these calls at the start of the week, I am able to walk each member of the team through the week and help prepare action plans.
• Stick to the agenda.
• To keep the calls efficient, we forgo chit chat and dive right into the pre-agreed upon agenda so that the call is strategic and focused. Each rep is expected to attend the weekly call prepared with 4-6 late stage or strategic deals that they’re currently working on. We discuss steps they have already taken, the probability of a positive or negative outcome, and the game plan in each of the scenarios.
• Pose the same diagnostic questions.
• While the questions I ask my team members are very specific, I tend to ask the same ones every time. Seem repetitive? By asking the same diagnostic questions – say, “Did the doctor have a Google Plus profile?” – I find that my team becomes conditioned to ask these important question to the prospective clients themselves. This, in turn, improves their sales pitch and makes them more consistent in how they surface client pain points.

See how qualitative feedback can benefit your sales team performance by implementing a weekly one-on-one meeting with each member of your team. You won’t regret it!

Like this article? Read more on CloserIQ's sales blog.