- You've got a sales team that you believe in
but somehow the numbers aren't adding up.
What can you do to ensure that your team
is performing at the best of their abilities at all times?
It's important to perform health checks on your team
assessing their performance and wellbeing
as well as determining areas for improvement.
Regular diagnosis will help you identify and tackle
any problems before they severely affect performance.
It's always better to be proactive.
A few questions you can ask your team
to help diagnose problems are on a scale of one to five,
how happy are you to come to work every day,
are other reps on the team willing to help you
or is there a sense of unhealthy competition,
are there particular stages in the sales process
where you frequently experience challenges
or the deals get stuck,
what steps can management or the team take
to find more leads and win more business,
are there any tools or technologies
the team could use to perform better,
on a scale of one to five,
how likely would you be to recommend
that a friend take a job in sales here?
You can give these questions as an anonymous survey
or through casual conversations with your reps.
You can also study your sales metrics
exploring the areas of your sales process
that are performing well
and try to identify which sales stages
would benefit from some fine tuning.
If you feel like your team is unmotivated,
there are ways to shake things up and get them reengaged.
Anyone can become unmotivated
by lack of new ideas and challenges.
Don't assume that your top reps will continue being stars
without feedback and encouragement.
You can also assign them a new role or responsibility
that will challenge and engage them.
For example, you can have a rep coach a new hire
or a member of the team that needs work on a certain skill.
This way, you strengthen both your team's performance
and your rep's motivation.
Keep in mind, in the high pressure world of sales,
some reps can experience self-esteem issues.
If a rep feels that their current skill set
is not enough for the job,
you'll see it reflected in the sales.
Make sure your sales reps have resources and training
they need to feel completely confident doing their job.
I've always found that reading top sales books
and listening to sales podcasts
is a great way to help reps build their skills
and their confidence.
Underperforming sales teams
can also be the result of poorly defined processes.
Allowing reps too much independence
with their sales processes can lead to inconsistencies
as well as sales processes
that ultimately don't align with your goals.
Clearly defined strategies that are understood
and followed by your reps
are key to maintaining a healthy sales team.
Hold regular team meetings
where team members share individual wins and losses.
Spend time on each rep
to talk about how they dealt with difficult customers,
overcame objections and obstacles
and successfully navigated complex sales situations.
This provides your team with opportunities
to learn from the mistakes and successes of their teammates.
Now, survey your reps
in the six questions I just mentioned earlier
either formally or informally.
This will help you take the temperature
on your team's health and point you in the direction
of what steps you can take to improve the team.
Do this annually and you'll always stay out ahead
of any problems that can jeopardize your team's sales quotas
and their overall productivity.