5 Top Tips for a Happy & Productive Sales Team
As someone who has both worked in numerous sales teams and also managed a team I have been exposed to both sides of sales management. I’ve witnessed numerous management styles, and if I’ve learnt one thing, it’s how rarely sales people feel properly supported by their immediate manager. Here’s my 5 top tips for maintaining a happy and productive sales team:-
1. Set process for forecasting and CRM – and make sure it’s consistent and clear
Expectation management is an essential part of running, or being part of, a sales team. When it comes to forecasting and CRM, ambiguity is therefore not our friend. When forecasting it’s absolutely vital that all team members understand some clear business rules for moving an opportunity through a pipeline and for forecasting and that these rules remain consistent and don’t change from one quarter to another. This probably sounds very obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me how often rules are bent and changed to ‘massage’ a number to get it closer to quota. If a team is off its number, far better to know at the beginning of a sales quarter so that corrective action can be taken, rather than for everything to drop out right at the end.
2. Be analytical - and have the courage to solve the right problems in the right way
Of course we’d always like our sales teams to be knocking their number out of the park, every quarter, but invariably there will be times when a team or part of a team is underperforming. When this happens it’s essential to understand where the problem lies in order to resolve the underlying problem. So often in a sales environment, I have seen the baby thrown out with the bathwater – knee jerk reactions to try to solve dwindling sales numbers by hiring and firing, only to see things get worse and not better. With modern CRM tools, we have never been better placed to understand what’s happening with our pipeline and opportunities. So if a team has a great conversion rate but no pipeline, then perhaps look at the top of funnel activity and consider how the organisation can produce more leads and ultimately more opportunities to support the sales team. Conversely if there are weak members of the team, analysis through an accurately maintained CRM (see point 1!) will show where these problems lie.
3. Build Culture – Retain Staff, Reduce Churn, Increase Productivity
Good sales teams have strong culture. They work collaboratively, celebrate the success of their peers (rather than feel threatened by it) and work to a common goal. A good sales team that works together is so much more than the sum of its parts. Sales people are often very well equipped to help each other, not least because all of their networks will very often overlap, but if a team doesn’t spend time working as a team, talking about their opportunities and actively trying to assist and collaborate, then opportunities will be missed. Make sure that sales people spend time together outside of weekly sales meetings. Regular team lunches and evenings out cost little but go along way to building culture and collaboration.
4. Use your team’s insight to guide product development
Nobody hears the customer’s voice, louder than your sales team. They are at the sharp end, often first to get feedback on current and future product features or pricing. As such the feedback they can give to your product management team can be invaluable in the fine tuning of your products and services to make sure that you can outpace your competitors. Remember that just because your sales team may not understand the low level technical detail of a feature, they do understand the business value that those features can deliver – business value is the language they speak with their clients on a daily basis.
5. Ask not what your team can do for you . . . .
. . .but what you can do for your team. Be a resource that your team can call on for help as and when they need it. Don’t create a culture where asking for help is seen as a weakness, but where it’s seen as a strength. Of course you can’t do everything for your team all the time but we all have unique experience and expertise. By making yourself available for your team, you will inevitably have greater insight into deal progress and more chance to help deals stay on track, earlier in the process.
