It’s a funny thing how many of the most successful sales people, seem to have the same traits. In this post we’ll look at those traits and some of the ways you can apply them to your own team.
First impressions matter when you are trying to manage a sales team. Your employees have little time to get to know the person or person they are working under and they tend to project the stereotypes they have seen about their managers. To succeed in your role as a manager you need to project an image of competence, confidence and leadership.
If you are a manager or owner of a business, you need to be able to motivate your sales teams. We’ve put together a list of 12 expert tips on how to best motivate your sales forces.
You’ve come to the correct spot if you want to learn how to manage a sales staff. You’re going to get practical advice from top professionals who’ve all been there (and done it).
Managing a sales team is difficult, but you may be in for a harsh awakening unless you’ve managed or been on a sales team that generates revenue at a rate of +20 percent MoM AT SCALE.
These 12 sales management ideas are based on real-world experience from world-renowned sales executives who have built businesses ranging in size from zero to $100 million.
12 Proven Ways to Lead a Successful Sales Team
- Be focused on the end outcome.
- Determine where you are in relation to what you need.
- Control your expectations.
- Hire representatives that are willing to learn.
- Set lofty yet attainable objectives.
- Motivate your troops.
- Make learning a priority in your life.
- Make use of the volume-to-value ratio.
- Avoid using a “one-size-fits-all” strategy.
- Early start, hire specialist salespeople to ensure long-term success.
- Make your company transparent.
- Plan and distribute your accounts with care.
1. “Aim for results” – Baga, David
Hire individuals that are self-motivated and determined. Create a transparent atmosphere that is focused on important sales KPIs. In the end, putting competitive individuals together in a transparent atmosphere propels the whole company to the right. You avoid people mistaking activity with productivity, be sure to highlight results.
David is SVP of Revenue & Operations for Rocket Lawyer where his team has grown revenues from $2 million to over $40 million in just four years. David spent seven years at Oracle, building and leading sales teams that delivered record-setting results.
2. “Know where you are and what you need.” Aaron Ross –
You must first learn how to create a sales team before learning how to manage one. Determine if your prospective employees are builders or grows. Builders start from the ground up. They have nothing to begin with. Once everything is in place, growers may begin to grow. The majority of individuals are inept at both. Know what stage you’re at and what kind of salesman you’ll need, and ask questions to distinguish the builders from the growers.
Aaron is the Founder of Predictable Revenue Inc. and the #1 best-selling author of Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into A Sales Machine With The $100 Million Best Practices Of Salesforce.com. He was a former sales expert at Salesforce.com, where he helped the company grow by $100 million in revenue.
3. “Adequately manage expectations” – Zolfaghari, Navid
You want to enthuse your team and do all you can to help them succeed. I believe everyone understands what over-performance entails, but few have articulated what under-performance entails. Are you more comfortable with a salesman who regularly achieves 90% of quota or one who achieves 150 percent one month and then falls short the next?
Navid is the Founder of Pinpoint Mobile, as well as the Founder of TriFame, an online talent discovery service that was purchased by Google in August 2012 for over $400 million. He was also an early member of Wildfire Interactive, which was acquired by Google in August 2012 for over $400 million.
4. “Coachability is essential.” – Roberge, Mark
You must ensure that your new employees are capable of receiving feedback. Assess this by having them act out a demo for your product in a role play. Then inquire as to how they believe they performed. After that, provide them your feedback. Not only should you grade them on how well the demo went, but also on how open they were to self-evaluation, accepting criticism, and implementing it.
The HubSpot Sales Division’s Chief Revenue Officer is Mark. Mark was rated #19 in Forbes’ Top 30 Social Sellers in the World, and HubSpot was placed #33 on the Inc. 500 list of Fastest Growing Companies in 2011.
5. Andrew Riesenfeld says, “Set the bar high.”
There’s something worth chasing when sales targets are lofty (but realistic), and your team needs to feel that anything is possible. If you accomplish 70% of a stretch goal, you’re doing better than if you hit 100% of a mediocre objective, as long as there’s a collective nirvana about what’s being created to drive your achievement.
Andrew is now the VP of Field Sales at GuideSpark and was formerly the VP of WW Sales Development + Pipeline at Responsys, where he assisted in the company’s $1.6 billion purchase by Oracle.
“Incentivize your team” is number six. Arjun Dev Arora, Arjun Dev Arora, Arjun Dev Arora, Arjun
Invest in a few dashboards throughout the workplace, for example, that show a live feed of transactions closed and current monthly dollar value, or deals closed for each individual. This generates a feeling of urgency and drive across the company and team.
Arjun is the Chairman of the Board and Founder of ReTargeter, a business that he bootstrapped to the top 100 of the Inc. 500 list of Fastest Growing Companies in 2013.
“Training is important,” says David Baga.
Make lifelong learning a priority; place a premium on training and professional growth. Every effective sales organization should have a training schedule that develops the fundamentals of product knowledge, competitive intelligence, prospecting, opportunity management, territory planning, and professional communications on a regular basis.
8. “Apply the volume-to-value ratio” Aaron Ross (Aaron Ross)
Your most valuable (and most costly) employees should devote their time to the lowest volume (but most important) tasks, such as developing connections, obtaining referrals, and forming partnerships. Your lower-value employees should concentrate on higher-volume tasks, such as converting prospects into leads. This is also true for leads. Pursue fewer, but more promising possibilities.
9. “There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution.” – Zolfaghari, Navid
You have a diverse group of people working for you. Yours is a mentor and facilitator position. You want to protect your team from internal politics and poor sales practices, allowing them to concentrate on the task at hand and achieve more success. Different individuals need different approaches to management; find out what drives each of them and press those buttons to create stronger salespeople in general.
In the spirit of sales inspiration, here’s one to consider:
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“Specialize early to increase sales” is number ten. – Roberge, Mark
Don’t apply the identical treatment to all of your salesmen. Group them according to their preferences and skills – do they like to go for big deals or are they better at building relationships with small businesses? Do they have a greater understanding of some industries than others? To address them, segment your prospects and your sales staff, particularly as your company grows.
“Develop a transparent organization” is number eleven. – Baga, David
Transparency implies that your colleagues, supervisors, and anybody else should be able to see how you’re doing. The greatest sales organizations should be aware of each team member’s objectives and how they are progressing toward them.
For example, the number of calls made each day, the amount of time spent on the phone, and the status of each person’s pipeline should all be visible to everyone. You should be able to see your work ethic in action.
12. “Think about how you’re going to divide accounts.” – Zolfaghari, Navid
It’s only natural to want to offer your best salespeople the greatest chances, but you also want to have a fair structure in place. Make sure you invest in your fresh talent and give them a chance if you want everyone to believe they have a chance to succeed.
Being a sales manager is key to success in many ways. It’s your job to conduct sales training to improve your salespeople’s performance, and make sure they are motivated to sell. If your salespeople don’t sell, they won’t be happy and you’ll be unhappy that you aren’t achieving your sales goals. If you don’t want to lose sales teams, making sure your salespeople are happy is an important first step. There are many good reasons for a sales team to be happy, and if you follow these suggestions, you’ll be able to turn a group of people who may have been unhappy with their jobs into the happiest sales team you can find.. Read more about what makes a successful sales team and let us know what you think.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I manage my telesales team?
You can manage your team by going to the Manage Team section of the app.
How do you build a good sales team?
To build a good sales team, you must first hire the best people and then train them well.
How can you help your sales team achieve target?
We are currently working on a new sales strategy that will help us achieve our target.
Related Tags
This article broadly covered the following related topics:
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- what makes a successful sales team
- the art of managing a sales team