Even if you’re able to eradicate the dysfunction from your sales team, it doesn’t mean you’ve necessarily created a high-impact team.Nadasa/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Even if you're able to eradicate the dysfunction from your sales team, it doesn't mean you've necessarily created a high-impact team. Here are six strategies that will energize your team and help to boost their performance.
1. Create excitement around the pipeline. Develop leads at every stage and ensure your team is confident about the pipeline. Have a contest, spot prizes and daily goals. Celebrate all wins. Big and small.
2. Rally around a simple, single concept. Focus on reinforcing a single concept for a selling period so that your team knows exactly what they should be aiming for. Switching gears halfway through the quarter will only ensure that many things get done in mediocre fashion, instead of a very few really well.
3. Respect for the sales team. Make sure the entire company knows not to bother your team or create non-revenue-generating meetings or activities during the last week of the month, or the last week of the quarter. Rally the entire organization around the fact that the sales team is generating revenue.
4. Coach for opportunity, not discipline. Reward your team verbally or with an e-mail when deals are won or saved, or when representative hit their quota. It's as important to let the team know when they're doing well as when things are wrong or need to be corrected.
5. Create a two-phase coaching program. Sales VPs should meet with reps one-on-one for about 30 minutes each week to run through deal analysis and talk in confidence around their pipeline. To foster camaraderie, teams should also meet once a week to share ideas.
6. Separate the manager from selling. If you have your own territory as a sales leader, you're essentially competing against your reps. Pass off your accounts to your team and coach them on how to improve their performance.
Ridding your sales team of dysfunction can be a difficult process -- but making it successful should be energizing and fun. By examining your practices, your people and yourself, you can develop a team that performs and generates revenue for your company.
As the founder and president of Engage Selling Solutions, Colleen Francis helps clients realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise their bottom line.
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