Developing Sales Teams
Sales performance is difficult to predict but easy to measure. Individual revenue numbers paint the picture of that salesperson’s success. However, questions often remain. How much more can they sell? Would they do better in this market or region? Is this a short-term slump or long-term epidemic? Perhaps it is even as basic as “Can they sell?” These questions are answered in fine detail through our sales team evaluations.
Coaching
The first step is to know what skills your salesperson already possesses and what natural aptitudes he or she has yet to refine. The next part is to take your expertise and pass it on to the salesperson. The ROI on this area of leadership is staggering, both from the salesperson’s revenue performance to their loyalty to your company.
Accountability
This area is one that many sales leaders do not enjoy. There are always times when you simply have to access the salesperson’s personal responsibility for their actions, choices and performance. The simple truth here-you don’t have to be good at holding salespeople accountable, you just have to do it.
Motivation
You must know what motivates each of your salespeople and, just as importantly, what is their preferred reward structure. The assessments provide the answers. The sales leaders job is then to use that information to provide a spark on those days when the salesperson is not on their game. It happens to everyone, but it can be quickly neutralized by a sales leader who knows what buttons to push in those instances.
.
Development – The Key To Retention
Our assessments provide pages of data about a salesperson but how does a sales manager turn that information into actionable items? Through Select Metrix’s Sales Development Plan.
The development plan is a sales leader’s tool to use in coaching, motivating and growing their salespeople. Our development plan provides specific topics in which to grade the salesperson based on first-hand observations. The development plan becomes the blueprint for topic-specific, actionable items for the sales manager to use in developing and refining the salesperson’s skills.
Key Components:
Know their composition: How strong are their sales skills today? Do they have the aptitudes (potential) to develop these skills? If so, what rewards are going to drive their motivations to grow? If you don’t know these measurable traits, you are at a great disadvantage to building your team’s strengths. This information is the backbone of all development activities.
Leverage Strengths: Each salesperson has strengths in specific areas. Our development plans measure those areas with fine granularity so you know exactly what they can do today. Beyond that, we provide a measurement of the salesperson’s potential – how much they can grow in these specific sales areas. This allows the sales leader to leverage the salesperson’s strengths by putting them in territories, markets, situations where these strengths will have the most impact.
Neutralize Weaknesses: A stereotypical view of development is to turn weaknesses into strengths. Don’t fall for this thought process…it rarely happens. The better approach for dealing with weaknesses is to neutralize them. Weaknesses are more powerful than strengths and capable of overwhelming them. Weaknesses need to be brought up to a level there they are neutralized; where they no longer negatively impact the salesperson’s strengths.
Define a Career Path: The workplace is changing and the younger Millennial generation is driven by their career path. What skills and experiences can they develop and gain from this present sales role? Millennial salespeople are far more likely to leave if they feel they have developed all the skills they can in their current role. A career path provides a game plan for ongoing skill development tied to increased responsibilities. The development plan lays out a strategic path that will push the salesperson while accessing the skills and aptitudes that come naturally to them.