- Do keep selling If you are a great sales person, keep selling, but create clear parameters on what you will do and won’t do so you’re not just pinching sales off your team
- Do meet one on one with each team member every week – even if you think you don’t need to right now, there will come a time when you do. even if you are simply giving them a high five for great work, regular structured 1 on 1 contact with sales people goes a long way toward creating accountability and consistant performance with sales people.
- Do Fire quickly – If you have a poor performer in your team, implement a turn around or terminate program with them immediately. Poor performance begets poor performance and your team must be held accountable for their results. That said, your job is to coach them in a kind, supportive way through their blockages along a learning curve of personal development
- Do become an excellent sales coach – being a sales manager today requires the skill of being able to quickly identify how to motivate a sales person so they can reach the next level of performance and results – just shoving figures in their face and “reading them the riot act” just wont’t cut it anymore.
- Do Make sure you are generating a healthy amount of qualified leads for them – as well as their own efforts, as a company your marketing system should be producing a good flow of targeted quality leads. be aware that cold calling and lead generation (actually is marketing activity) and selling are two different things – wherever possible you want your team in front of clients selling and closing deals, not doing the time consuming, heavy lifting of cold calling
- Do Train Your Team – it’s not fair to create a set of objectives and goals for each individual and not give them the tools to achieve it. A great sales system should be able to be used by anyone who joins your team who has a good attitude. Create it, train people in it and then coach and hold people accountable to it
- Do be open to change. listen to yourself talking, can you hear someone who is justifying the status quo or can you hear someone who is open to change and taking the business to the next level. – consider that if you argue for your company’s, your own and your team’s limitations you WILL own them and you will not grow beyond where you are at
- Do invest in your own personal development – the speed of the group is determined by the speed of the leader – if you want your team to grow you have to be inspirational and to be inspirational you have to be inspired and to be inspired you have immerse yourself in audio, written and video based business and personal development material that allows you to grow as an individual and as a professional
- Do be mindful of the culture you are creating within your sales team – you can have a group of great sales people, but if they hate each other your efforts will be massively compromised. it’s not just about bums on seats, it’s about the right mix of personalities
- Do seek help – there will be great mentors both within your organisation and outside of your organisation that can help you and shed light on even the most insurmountable of problems – the trick is to know what questions to ask
If you are a sales manager and you do this stuff, be prepared to fight off a barrage of head hunters gunning for you within the next 6-12 months – but more importantly get ready to grow as an individual and get ready for some increases in your company’s sales and as a natural flow on from that – you’re wage.
Good Luck!
John Blake
