Eight Tips for Supporting your Sales Person or Sales Team

If you are in the unenviable position of leading a sales team to victory, there are a few things you can do that can make all the difference for them. When working with sales managers and new businesses, I observe and evaluate before I start any training. And, what I have seen in my practice would make any good motivator cringe with fear. It is so easy to de-motivate your team and so hard to win back their trust and loyalty. So, if you are leading the sales team or are interested in growing to the point of having to have a sales person, and research shows that we all want to pass on the selling tasks, then take this information to heart. As the sales manager or business owner, you have the opportunity to empower the team to victory or alienate them. But, fair warning, if you alienate your sales people you will never realize your business potential. Here are eight tips to avoid disaster and move toward victory:

1. Start with strong training in your product and market niche. Don’t expect new sales people to figure things out on the fly. A few days or weeks of solid product review will give them the basis for a successful sales career with you. Of course, I am going to recommend Confidence Selling training for any individual or team and regardless of product. Instilling in your sales people the confidence to handle any conversation and believe that they are seeking not just the sale but a good match, can make everything else you do with your sales people more effective and profitable. For info on Confidence Selling contact me at my email.
2. Work with your sales team to set realistic goals and objectives for each month. These goals and objectives cannot be based on your needs, but must be grounded in the reality of how many leads you are generating for them, the typical time to the sale, emerging competition and the training cycle.
3. Once they set goals and objectives, spend 10-15 minutes each morning reviewing the goals and objectives for the day.
4. Feed them strong leads and demonstrate how your marketing is supporting their sales efforts and goals.
5. Don’t expect your team to do a great deal of administrative and clerical tasks, especially if they are on straight commission. It’s a real problem to hinder your sales people with administrative tasks when they should be selling while you support them. If you need another support person, hire one but leave your sales team to do the selling.
6. Share current information on your product and its position in the market so the team is ready to answer any questions.
7. Reinforce their belief in you by listening carefully to their sales strategies and struggles. When you hear a problem, do not just jump to a solution. Remember if you are not doing the selling with them, then you don’t really understand their problems. Instead, work with the team to brainstorm solutions and bring in some examples and sales theories to give them a big-picture solution.
8. Finish the day with 10-15 minute discussion of the successes and failure. Ask: what did you learn today? What support do you need from me? What can you share with me and the team that will help us understand how to best present and position our product so that we can shine over the competition? If you are not getting information from your sales people based on these questions, then maybe you have the wrong sales people BUT, it’s likely they are alienated and mistrustful and YOU need to do some real work to help them do their best. That’s an order from the Confidence Coach, Kathleen Schulweis