How to Manage a Sales Team

HOW TO MANAGE a SALES TEAM Sales Hierarchy TOP 20% MIDDLE 60% THREE PERSON SALES TEAM Less contention, more competition. BOTTOM 20% % OF SALES, TOP 80% TWO PERSON SALES TEAM MIDDLE 15% More conflict, one person does all the work, one person coasts. BOTTOM 5% Sales Mentality CURIOUS CONFIDENT GOOD MEMORY CARING A good salesperson can remember facts A good salesperson is curious and willing to explore/test boundaries, within A good salesperson always appears confident, in control, and sure of their facts A good salesperson keeps commission in the back of their mind and the needs of the and draw conclusions from those facts or knowledge. quickly and correctly. customer foremost. reason. ARROGANT UNCERTAIN GREGARIOUS A salesperson who appears certain they know better than the A salesperson who doesn't appear certain of their facts, figures, or abilities does not inspire confidence in themselves or others. A salesperson whose approach is overly friendly or unusually talkative winds up talking themselves out of a sale. customer does are is likely to lose a sale on the spot. Motivation WHAT MOTIVATES good sales PEOPLE? Some salespeople are not Many salespeople are driven by the idea of a fat commission cheque and the idea of scoring raises regularly for their hard work. Effective management means understanding what motivation or combination of motivations each as concerned with the money as they are making sure the customer gets what they need, no more individual on the team has. and no less. #31 Sales is a competitive business, and many Many salespeople are driven by the desire to pick up quick cash or benefits in the form of incentives salespeople aspire to be the best, with the highest close rate, best numbers, and largest contact list. Most salespeople have families to support, and if they don't hit their target sales in a given period, their family may have to do without vital necessities. and bonuses to their regular pay. Managing leads QUALITY LEADS IS YOUR QUALIFIED LEAD SCHEME WORKING? REFINE & YES TRAIN ON HOW TO DEVELOP NO DEVELOPING QUALITY LEADS UNQUALIFIED LEADS. WHAT FACTORS CAUSE THE PROBLEM? Too many unqualified leads wastes 80% of 80% your sales budget on chasing unqualified leads. Good lead development makes pipeline management unnecessary Pipeline metrics can be deceptive, suggesting salespeople are doing better or worse than they actually BE REALISTIC are. 98% OF ALL LEADS DO NOT PAN OUT AVOID TIME WASTERS It takes seven 75% MANAGE PEOPLE NOT PIPELINE attempts to reach a decision maker. Sales Incentives * CINEMA * ADMIT ONE A gift card or voucher for dinner with the family can be a great way to motivate Tickets to the theatre, $8 billion a year is wasted on cash-driven sales sports games or the movies are a great sales incentive. your staff. incentives. Non-cash incentives are both more memorable and drive higher performance, because losing cash incentive fosters an "it's A vacation on the company is a big sales incentive that will greatly motivate your staff however small, frequent incentives generally perform better than large, infrequent, more expensive prizes and rewards. just money" attitude. PAID TIME OFF! Sales Team GOOD PRACTICE BAD PRACTICE Make salespeople create a business plan that works with your company's objectives Telling salespeople what is expected but don't give them tools Make salespeople accountable for their success Poor sales material Training/shadowing/feedback Poor business plan Let salespeople own their solutions for problems encountered "You're experienced, you figure it out." Tell salespeople what is expected but don't give them training Allow salespeople to experiment within limits Allow salespeople to find what works for them within limits Harsh criticism Acknowledge good performance publicly and often Inflexibility with rules Be flexible with rules where possible No boundaries, ever Positive feedback No feedback, ever/negative feedback Coach your team Turnover Rate HIGH TURNOVER UNDERSTAND WHAT MOTIVATES THEM Failure in management. LOW TURNOVER UNDERSTAND WHAT PROBLEMS THEY FACE Successful employees, lower training costs, higher ROI. ASK TEAM MEMBERS WHAT TO DO, DON'T TELL THEM A bad salesperson costs £500,000 to train and lose, counting training time, lost sales and revenue, and training time to get a replacement up to speed. DON'T HOLD FEEDBACK UNTIL LATER DON'T MANAGE YOUR TEAM, LEAD IT EW CANDIDATE "Management" implies your people do not know what to do until they are told. "Leading" implies your people know what to do, but occasionally need extra guidance and support. Foster a culture that rewards open communication and honest (but not harsh) assessment of failures and successes. Celebrate successes. Commission cheques punish failure automatically. phoenix Making people better at what they do. CASH INCENTIVES OF ALL LEADS WILL NOT RESULT IN A MEETING WITH A QUALIFIED DECISION MAKER OR C-LEVEL EXECUTIVE INCENTIVES/BONUSES POOR SALESPEOPLE GOOD SALESPEOPLE TIERS OF SALESPEOPLE %24 VACATION TICKETS COMPETITION MONEY WASTE TIME FRUSTRATE SALES STAFF TRAINING COSTS YOUR COMPANY MONEY DINNER ON US FAMILY HELPING OTHERS MAINTENANCE OUTPUT DETERMINE WHY