Leading a team of people to produce at a high level is no easy task. Sales Managers receive little to no training. Usually promoted from within (typically top producers) they are tapped to lead the tribe. “Just show ‘em how you did it”. This is a response I’ve heard too many times to count from senior management when asked about management training. The result? Sales Mangers who struggle to get results from their people.
Consequently Sales Managers fall into three habits that inhibit real sustainable sales growth.
Attached to their own agenda:
Agendas take many forms. Moving up the ladder, getting recognized, hitting personal goals, meeting quota, the list goes on. As a sales coach there should be one agenda…the success of the people you lead. Abandon your agenda when working with your team and the results will follow.
Driven by fear:
Fear is a killer. It’s debilitating. Fear can’t be led or managed. Fear is the future not the present. When the management team lives in fear, or uses fear to manage a team at best you’ll meet the minimum expectation of the company—in a word mediocre. Worst case you’ll have high turn over, a shaky customer base and a staff who just get by.
Living in the future:
Sales goals, or quota’s, set by senior management then passed down through to Sales Managers, become the mantra. Constantly looking toward the future, or end result—“Where are the numbers at the end of the day, week, period, quarter?” Having all of your focus here is a trap. It’s living in the future not in the present. It’s also typically the result of not having a clear and concise sale process.
When there’s a clearly defined sales process, along with the appropriate sales tools you can live in the present and focus on the process (living in the present) instead of the results (living in the future). It’s the process that produces the results. Manage to the process. Train to the process. Coach to the process
Whether you sell products, services or both all B2B sales follow a basic cycle.
Connect—Connect with your prospect, customer or client and build rapport. Not by asking about their personal life, or taking about the weather. Build rapport by focusing on their business and career goals.
Motivation—What are they trying to accomplish in their business and why is it important to them? What are their pains, fears and desires?
Anchored Value Proposition—A proposition from you—anchored to what THEY value.
Communicate Value—Reinforce the return on their investment.
AFB—Ask for the business, but only after you have earned the right. In any sale you’ll need to ask for the order, or gain agreement on the next step(s).
This model can be adapted to any sale. What questions will you need to ask? What answer will you need to listen for? What tools will you use throughout each step in the cycle? The answers to those questions will create your process.
True sales coaches and leaders live in the present, focus on the their customer, their seller, and know that fear is the irrational emotion of what might happen tomorrow.
