Mike Cardinal has released the final article in our Proactive Sales Management series titled The Finishing Touches.  This article completes our 3 part Summer series which defines 3 basic steps in structuring a sales department that acts, well, proactively instead of reactively.

An excerpt:

A simple but effective way to ensure flexibility within your sales department€™s foundation and structure is to utilize information available to you. Many of our clients take the insight they learn from our assessments to customize and add finishing touches to the communication style utilized with each individual.

Each salesperson has a blend of traits, styles, skills and motivations that need to be considered.  The sales manager sets the tone for the department and essentially €œfinishes€ the look of the department.  Yet, the sales manager also needs to understand the influencing factors associated with each individual to receive their full effort.

Some salespeople require a strong, bold approach while others thrive in a data-driven, detached style.  Many are rewarded by money, while others are motivated by status and recognition.  The sales manager who understands these fine details about his or her team is the one who puts the perfect finishing touches on the sales organization.

Please read the entire article.  And in case you missed the first two articles:

Part 1 – The Foundation of Expectations

Part 2 – The Structure of a Selling System

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The first step and greatest key to get the most out of your sales team is to know what you have. I realize many sales managers believe they know their team’s strengths and obviously they do to some level. But I’m thinking deeper than an observational level.

Assessing and evaluating their skills, talents and motivations provides a detailed, objective blueprint for maximizing performance. This principle is well written in an excellent Boston Herald article titled Leverage your team with sales assessments.

Here is a succinct description of some successes which flow from assessing and evaluating your team.

Assessments that measure individuals€™ motivating drives at work help you understand who the person really is, how they adapt to their work environment, and what the world sees.

This information is particularly helpful in designing a coaching plan and understanding how to help salespeople unleash their self-motivation. In the selling skills area, it€™s important to assess a sales rep€™s skills in the core areas common to all sales processes: building trust and credibility, understanding how buyers buy, strategic questioning, effective listening, value articulation, presentation skills, closing, handling objections, establishing next steps and positioning for future business. Combining the information of these types of tools provides a powerful benchmark for leading your sales reps.

I see this truth play out on a regular basis when dealing directly with salespeople. Most of them are shocked at how much information we can gather from a handful of relatively short questionaires. The next surprise is our ability to describe and define the salesperson’s motivation and reward pattern. Understanding this pattern leads to clarity in their role – something that is often intrinsically unclear.

Secondly, this information allows the sales manager to leverage the strength areas of each salesperson.

The other aspect that is helpful is the individual information. This information is best used to design focused individual action plans, coaching plans and performance improvement plans. By concentrating on areas where an individual needs the most help, and using insights on individuals€™ motivating drives to continually keep them focused on making improvements, your odds of helping them bolster sales will increase dramatically.

Please click here if you would like to learn more about how to use this deeply-rooted information to leverage your sales team.

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