How are you spending time with your sales team?

Time is a limited resource.  Really none of us should waste time and all of us should try to maximize how we are spending it.  As a sales manager what is the best way to spend your time, and how much should you spend with your sales team?  These are questions I'm pondering as I review my personal performance over the past year and ways I can improve moving forward.  The other day in conversation with some of my peers I was curious how they approached spending time with their teams, since we are all equipped with different skill sets and are in unique situations. To me that was an interesting conversation as I saw how even in the same company a variety of methods can be used to garner the desired results. 

Even beyond our own personal talents and preferences, sales managers have a variety of factors from: territory, staff size, staff skill levels, individual and territory performance, ownership expectations and more that can affect how much time and how you spend it with your team. There is no one size fits all answer on how much and what type of time to spend you’re your team. How to make these determinations is part of the challenge sales managers face in being effective and serving the needs of our team. Below I describe the method and a few reasons why I like to do each with mine. As I'd previously said part of the reason I'm writing this post is because I'm looking back and reflecting on how things have gone over the past year to consider what I might do to improve my own performance, but further I thought perhaps the post could help others who are looking for ways to improve their own performance with their team. I welcome your feedback and suggestions in the comments section or via personal message if you prefer.

1. Sales Group Meetings: I ask my entire staff to come together and meet with a preset agenda that I email out along with the meeting invitation. Typically I’ll send out an email beforehand giving them an opportunity to let me know about any time conflicts before I schedule the meeting as I do expect them all to attend the meeting. I find a set agenda is important as I want to make sure the time being used is adding value to the group, it also allows everyone an opportunity to do any preparation they might want to add to the discussion. I’ll review new pricing strategies, introduce new products, discuss market changes and things of that nature in these meetings that typically last about 90 minutes. I almost always end the meetings with an open forum too, to give the team a chance to discuss anything important to them that I might have missed. I try to host one meeting a month, but some of the shorter months or when we’re a bit on the busier side I might skip it, especially if meeting content is on the lighter side and can wait for the following month.
2. One on One meetings: I meet with my reps individually for about 30 minutes per week, to review their activity from the previous week, what new projects they have coming in, current sales to date, any issues with accounts that have come up, we review their game plan for the week, address any other concerns that might have risen during that week and then we get them back out in the field. These meetings held the same day/time each week for each member of my staff. By holding these meetings it allows me to help stay current with the day to day struggles of my staff, make any needed changes and communicate with upper management what is happening in our market.
3. In the field sales calls: Going out in the field is fun, but also it is a way to see what techniques are being used by your staff. You can learn about items your reps might need to help them in the way of collateral, samples or new solutions. You can also observe how they practically approach selling to both prospects and active accounts. If they are doing things ineffectively or having trouble, you might be able to correct issues you’d not otherwise know about. Then again if someone is doing something in a unique way that is effective, you might also be able to bring that up as a teaching opportunity to your other staff so they can all improve. The observations can allow for growth in multiple ways, so the time you spend is well worth it. Beyond observing, you also get precious time in the car on the way to the actual calls to have conversations with your staff outside of the office, where sometimes they are more open/candid about issues and how things are going. The fact you’re willing to go out in the field with them also can help them see that you are invested in their success. That old adage “they won’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” applies here. Building a rapport with your staff can be accomplished in part by spending some time with them outside the office, working on helping them build their sales territory. I tend to do this much more with newer reps, trying to instill in them good habits, overcome fear of rejection, look for good prospects and opportunities and get to know their work ethic. As they get better and more experience the field call time I spend is reduced, but I still like to get out with my team, mostly when invited to show them I value them, catch up on how they are doing and see if there are any minor adjustments I can help them make to improve. My personal philosophy is we can always improve, so every day I’m looking for ways to improve myself.

I believe that sales managers need to spend time with their teams in the ways described above. Each of us has to evaluate how we’re spending our time, consider what we might do to help increase our efficiencies and effectiveness and then make the changes necessary moving forward to improve. As servants to our team, this will help us serve their needs better and improve performance of sales for the companies we work for.  

“The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of Ira Bowman. Content published here is not read or approved by Thomas Printworks before it is posted and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Thomas Printworks.”