“I”™m trying to figure out my sales force. I find the ones making the most calls are the newest ones in the business. As they settle in and work on opportunities, they lose focus on lead generation. Most make fewer calls. Then their production falls off. How do I help them keep things on track?”
Thoughts of the Day: You need to set up structure and systems that ensure your sales team is consistently selling. Coach and mentor your salespeople. Create a team mindset as a way to boost performance across a group of people with varying skills. Encourage additional efforts by creating some friendly, internal competition.
In the beginning salespeople use up time in the day by making a lot of calls. They set up appointments to fill their calendar. They reach out for introductions to key contacts and new prospects. They do a lot of networking and build up referral sources.
Typically as the calendar fills up with sales activities the outreach slows down. Focus shifts to active prospects and productive referral sources. Salespeople also get distracted implementing new programs. New introductory calls fall to the bottom of the priority list. Networking for new contacts and additional referral sources drops off. And eventually the pipeline gets very thin.
Combat loss of focus and momentum by putting in place tools your team can use to achieve consistency. Agree on a standard set of actions that have been proven to produce short and long term results. Use calendars to plan out and recap sales schedules and marketing campaigns.
Block time weekly to make prospecting phone calls, go to networking events, meet with referral sources and circle back to reapproach cold leads. Teach everyone on the team how to implement activities that have been proven to deliver a high degree of results. Track activity to ensure that the majority of each sales person”™s time is spent focused on selling.
Build relationships with your people by working with them. Be aware of individual strengths and weaknesses. Meet one-on-one with people who aren”™t making their calls. Show them how to adjust their schedule to fit in essential sales tasks. Emphasize how results come from continually adding to the pipeline. Be willing to admit there have been times you”™ve struggled to meet your goals and share lessons you”™ve learned about how to stay on track.
As much as sales positions require individual performance, there can also be great value in group sales goals and teamwork. Go out on joint sales calls. Ensure introductory approach calls get made by setting up times to make phone calls together. Dial in sequence so everyone can listen, share in the successes and learn from the breakdowns. Pair up people who are really good at a specific activity with others who need to learn how to do that.
Money and competition are motivators for many sales people. Show your team that you appreciate their efforts with recognition and compensation. Keep focused on calls by setting a goal each week. Recognize people who consistently meet or exceed that goal. Build a performance club that people can earn their way into by consistently doing what you want them to do.
Create an attitude of winning. Help people bond together by giving them an important mission such as growing a profitable, thriving business. Ask the team to brainstorm how they would produce extraordinary results. Then encourage them to implement the plan.
Hand out awards publicly. Put peoples”™ pictures up on the walls. Hand out commission checks in sales meetings. Use regular sales meetings to boost motivation by talking about the growth plan and progress that”™s been made towards achieving the plan.
Andi Gray is president of Strategy Leaders Inc., strategyleaders.com, a business consulting firm that specializes in helping entrepreneurial firms grow. She can be reached by phone at (877) 238-3535. Do you have a question for Andi? Please send it via email to AskAndi@strategyleaders. Visit AskAndi.com for an entire library of Ask Andi articles.
