When you boil it down to the basics, sales departments are measured by profit increases. Simple, yes, but that is the crux of the goal. Operational efficiencies are part of the equation, but the focus here is on increasing profits via increased revenue. So how do companies go about achieving improvement in their sales-driven profits?
Profile Your Sale
Too often sales gets muddled by general tactics, inconsistent value propositions and rogue selling systems. Understanding your ideal sale is the first step to repeatable results. The output is a definition of what your ideal sale looks like from this day forward. This clarity provides direction and consistency to all sales efforts.
Evaluate What You Have
The next step is to measure your current team to assess group strengths and weaknesses especially in comparison to your ideal sale. This step usually leads to the realization that some salespeople on your team do not have the best skills for your department’s long-term goals. Yet, these salespeople still can contribute – the advantage is that you now know how to best utilize their abilities.
Manage To Their Strengths
Managers must manage to each individual’s strengths while neutralizing the salesperson’s weaknesses. This approach is the backbone of successful sales management. Our sales development plan provides a specific road map for the sales manager to follow with each individual.
Hire Stronger Salespeople
Nothing has a greater impact on increased sales profits and revenues than hiring stronger salespeople. Mediocrity is a degenerative disease within a company. Accepting mediocrity in your sales hiring is beyond dangerous (“warm body is better than no body,” “hire fast, fire fast,” etc.). Bad hires are worse (gut-level decisions, over-reliance upon resumes, etc.). Change your process, change your hires, change your revenue and profits.
You notice that we do not list 1 or 2 day sales motivation training. These programs are entertaining for annual sales meetings but are pointless for significantly changing a sales team. Habits do not change in 1, 3 or 10 days (I heard it takes 21 days to form a new habit). Enjoy these energetic speakers and perhaps take away a salient point or two. But do not expect a seismic shift in your sales team’s abilities.
This fact means that the sales manager must consistently guide the team to success. This goal is best accomplished by knowing each individual’s strengths, how best to coach them and ensuring that you put the strongest team into the marketplace.