GROWING YOUR BUSINESS
FEATURE
Getting the most out of your sales staff
PHIL PARTINGTON, Owner of Productive Sales Professionals, offers his top tips for boosting the performance of sales staff.
As I visit companies for the first time, I am used to being confronted with a sales function that is not performing as the owners would like. Sadly, it’s often not the sales team but the management who need to address their approach, in order to get the most out of their sales staff. Simple but effective changes to their process can have a significantly positive impact on the results.
USING THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY Far too often when I ask owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) where they keep records of their customer and prospect sales activity, the word ‘spreadsheet’ is muttered to me. With all of the cloud- based free customer relationship management (CRM) systems that are now available, cost is no longer an acceptable excuse for not investing in technology. CRM systems can help you be much more efficient in scheduling calls, creating email campaigns, trend analysis and many other elements that can help your sales staff be much more productive – and accountable as visibility is increased and more importantly, the valuable data gathered stays with you and not in the heads or the devices of your sales staff. Investors value businesses with active and well-controlled CRM systems more than those that don’t have them.
Phil Partington says simple changes can be effective
my clients have benefited from introducing a tiered commission scheme which rewards consistency of performance. Clearly, every business’ needs differ and therefore there is no ‘silver bullet’, but a well thought through scheme will get the most out of the top sales staff (though it is a good idea to ask an experienced sales person to stress test it for loopholes, as they will find them if they’re there.)
REFRESH THEIR KNOWLEDGE I used to refer to sales training as a metaphoric ‘sheep dip’ – in and out in a day (with a bit of luck) and back to the
grindstone. However, I once came across a great sales trainer who broke his training into bite-sized chunks that were delivered every quarter over the course of a year and it became apparent that the lessons being learned actually stuck with the teams much longer. The key is to keep it regular and review the progress from the previous session before moving on.
CLEAR DIRECTION I don’t share the idea that salespeople should have a manager constantly hovering over their shoulder. As with most staff, it’s important that they are given a clear set of key performance indicators (KPI’s) they will be measured against. These should then be reviewed monthly in order to ensure they are doing the right amount of the right things. With the use of CRM reports, it should be easy to analyse with the sales staff whether they are hitting the right number of calls, meetings and proposals to achieve their targets. More importantly, it will help to pinpoint areas to be focused on for the next review. I’ve also always found it healthy to publish performance
statistics for all to see as it encourages transparency and introduces a degree of competition.
INCENTIVES Another challenge I come across frequently is the way in which sales staff are incentivised. I tend to subscribe to the view that the majority of good sales people are primarily money-driven and it’s therefore most effective to address that characteristic with your incentive scheme. Several of
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RECOGNITION Finally, recognise your sales staff when they achieve. Celebrate successes – even small ones – with the team. Motivation may come from within, but it’s important to create a happy and fun environment where sales staff feel valued for their contribution. Obviously the flip side of this is that you need to be decisive with poor performers. If your reviews and coaching don’t help them, make a decision and act on it for the betterment of the rest. Refreshing the sales ‘gene pool’ is sometimes necessary and tells everyone that you won’t carry passengers.
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