CANDIDATE TIPS AND ADVICE

We apologise in advance, but here comes a Richard Branson quote: “Train your team well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so that they won’t want to”.

There, we said it, but this quote perfectly sums up what your efforts as a Manager should be in order to have a successful, happy, and motivated sales team. I wanted to share my thoughts on what you should be doing, and how you can accomplish this. Bear in mind that we are not talking about any team, we are talking about a team of sales people. Leading a sales team does require a different approach to that of other teams. Sales professionals often need strong motivators to hit performance goals, and a certain degree of autonomy.

We have listed below what you should be doing as a minimum in order to get the results you expect from your team, but also to ensure for a happy and committed working environment…

1.     Lead From the Front

Your sales team will reflect your style of leadership. You need to embody the values and demonstrate them consistently so that your sales team do the same. For example, always be punctual, show honesty and act with integrity. Being on the front line also earns you respect as a leader. Show your team how to do things first hand, and that you are with them to help row the proverbial 'boat'.

2.     Build Good Work Relationships...

Pretty obvious right? But how much do you do to build this? If your relationship begins and ends at the front door of the office then you may want to look at ways to expand this. Good relationships are the path to the light side (original Yoda quote, no kidding!) – this leads to higher team morale, increased productivity, and greater collaboration. Create opportunities outside of work to socialise. 

3.     Develop Emotional Intelligence...

Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, is a term that has surfaced a lot recently but in my opinion is still very much underrated. EQ is the ability to understand and manage yours and other people’s emotions. You can imagine that when you are successful in understanding this it can have a positive impact on your relationships with clients as well as other members of staff. Encourage your team to develop these (if they don’t already have strong EQ) and work with them to do this. It will benefit their own sales but also it will develop strong ties between you and your team.

4.     Understand Your People's Personalities...

What are your team’s strengths, weaknesses, what makes each team member tick? Understanding this will go a long way in helping you address each individual situation. It goes without saying that everyone is different and therefore how you handle a particular situation will vary from person to person.

5.     Tailor Rewards and Motivators...

You might find that your sales team will respond to different drivers. Financial incentives are something that should get enough for most sales people, but you might find it best to tailor rewards and motivators for each person, thus ensuring each person is motivated to the max! Possible motivators can include Financial rewards, holidays, small gifts, career progression, new leads etc

6.     Create Competition...

Take advantage of your team’s natural competitiveness and create healthy competition. This can be a great way of increasing productivity during a slow period. Creating competitions using Sales or KPI’s as a metric can improve morale, and focus. Offer a gift or prize to the winner to make the competition valuable and rewarding. At Sydney Brookes we recently did a ‘Euro 2016’ competition which combined sales performance with the European Championships. I won’t explain how this worked in detail but suffice it to say, it created good competition and some fun! Be as creative as you can.

Back to Tips and Advice

For more information on this and other tutorials, please visit our MDs LinkedIn page for a full list of articles