EP 86: Where Are My Sales(People)?
How does an organization optimize their sales team? How do you hire good sales team members and train them for success? What should company owners expect of their sales team? These are some of the questions Clouser discusses with guest John Lee of Sales Xceleration on this episode. See how some businesss are instituting best sales team practices and how you can help your business pipeline and company succeed in the long term.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Clouser, the first thing you should know is that when you type in Clouser, the default spell check reverts to “Closer” which is ironic based on this episode.
An effective sales team needs to know their goals. Your guest hit all the right buttons. But, the lesson to be learned here is that if Senior Management/Ownership doesn’t have a plan, then nobody has direction. I believe the point was made. But what needs to be accentuated is that if there is no plan based on the goals of the company, based on Senior level short- and long-term planning, then shame on that structure. It’s typically a secret of what the company’s “raison d’etre” because small businesses and their owners rarely think about their role in their employees lives and the existence of a long-term vision. As a young man, I had a mentor who told me immediately that “as a salesperson, you are responsible for 200 employees x 4, to feed their families. If nothing is sold, nothing can create the functions of administrative services., buying, production, shipping and after sales service,” to keep it short.
I disagree with the position that Sales Management can’t deliver a “forecast” and therefore the finance/accounting department has to take on that burden. Typically, the sales department delivers a forecast. If you have a seasoned professional salesperson that understands financial responsibility, you can get a solid number. But the number is never good enough. Management usually wants something higher. More importantly, there is no crystal ball. If I, as a salesperson had one, I’d be selling “Forecasting Crystal Balls!”
In most operations, the only measurement posted every day is sales. So that pressure alone, creates the sandbagging issue, or over promising and under-delivering. So, directionless salespeople, will go the direction of their assumed compensation. Again, I can’t stress enough that most companies only post sales as a measurement of success. KPI’s are applicable to all functional departments of a company. I have much more to comment on here, but I’ll leave you with this:
Motivate salespeople by including them in the grand scheme of things regarding the goals of the company. Especially today, if you want young talent to engage in a vision of an inclusive future that includes carbon footprint and other yet to be attainable goals. Second, put KPI’s in place for all departments, because they are available. Measure accuracy, labor utilization, proper financial reporting, and require everyone ed to have a measurable commitment to meeting their responsibilities; by committing to a date, time, number or actual product or sale produced in a time frame. Stop putting sales as the only measurement of success in a company and make everyone equally responsible for the overall success, with definable measurements, and you’ll get a team, after the shock of change and turnover, rowing in the same direction.