Why are some sales leaders better at building a sales team that executes consistently and effectively?
Top sales leaders do something simple—but it is not easy.
They run their sales team like a franchise. A great franchise doesn’t leave anything to chance. For example, a food franchise has a proven plan for:
- Marketing and messaging
- Hiring the right people
- Menu prep
- Food prep
- Pricing
- And the list goes on
Sales leaders, don’t make an already hard job harder. Observe, read, listen to what top sales leaders do and then DO IT.
#1. Create a hiring playbook. Start here. Yes, even before you invest time and money in learning the latest and greatest training and coaching skills. Because….
- No amount of great coaching works if you hire an uncoachable salesperson. Your brilliant coaching lands like a motivational poster—very nice to look at with zero impact on changing behaviors.
- If you hire a risk-averse salesperson, you’ll find yourself nursing a big bruise on your forehead. (From beating your head against the wall.) Risk averse salespeople avoid calling on bigger decision makers because it’s, well, risky. They won’t sell into new verticals because of fear of failure.
Here’s what they WILL do. They take up residence in the land of comfort while your competitors go after new and bigger accounts.
#2. Master your calendar and priorities. In your desire to be a team player, and empathetic sales manager, you say yes too often and no too little. Somewhere along the way you confuse being busy with being productive. And as a result…
- You reschedule or shortcut coaching sessions because you have no time.
- Group sales meetings look like a scene out of the movie Ground Hog Day because there wasn’t time to plan a GREAT meeting.
- And because of the above, your team is falling behind leading to stress and burnout.
As leadership speaker and author John Maxwell says, “Manage your calendar or someone else will.”
#3. Expand your library. As a sales professional, you love reading books or listening to podcasts on sales. It’s what you are good at. It’s why you were promoted. However, your job is no longer about being the top sales producer. Your job is to create a sales team of top producers. So…
- Read books on psychology. You’re dealing with human beings and they are complicated. When you really delve into most performance issues, they often have something to do with a person’s self-limiting beliefs which require a different coaching approach from skill development.
- Listen to leadership podcasts from a variety of industries. You can learn how to be a better leader after listening to an interview with a Navy Seal, athletic coach or a CEO.
- Study emotional intelligence skills. Often lack of soft skills is the reason your sales team isn’t doing what you taught them to do. Do you really need to tell your team ONE MORE TIME to listen more than they speak. The root cause of talking too much comes from poor emotional regulation, low self-awareness or underdeveloped impulse control skills.
Leaders are learners and build teams that are earners.
Observe what the best sales leaders do and then do it. Get good at hiring the “ideal profile” for your sales team. Master your calendar. Protect your coaching time like your revenue depends on it. (Because it does.) Expand your library and your learning.
Good Leading and Selling!