Sales professionals deserve strong sales leadership. Sales pros work best in an environment where they know their actions are seen and appreciated.
I’ll never forget a sales position I had where our sales manager paid little attention to the sales team. He was only interested in our numbers and our closed business – someone who was not a conduit between us and company leadership. Instead he was focused on his personal issues outside of work and whatever he was told to do by company leadership. The sales team had little respect for this guy I’ll call Charlie. He was slippery – slipped out whenever someone needed something from him – like help in closing a deal.
Charlie had no coaching skills - he couldn’t help us get better.
Charlie had no personal development ideas - he figured the company hired reps who knew it all.
Charlie had no idea what we were doing as sellers - he thought the numbers would fall into place.
Fortunately, our team outlived Charlie but it took five months of us being in sales misery. It was a valuable lesson to learn - what not to do and what does not motivate a team of sellers.
"Lets Them Know You Care"
Sales leaders – let your sellers know that you care by leading a 5-minute Sales Pow Wow every day. Yes, every day.
"Why?"
They deserve your attention and focus every day as you all work together to build revenues and move those big sales opportunities forward.
What is a Sales Pow Wow?
A dedicated 5-7 minutes of time EVERY morning where the team gets on a call and shares what they are focused on today, and to share how successful they were yesterday. Here is what’s amazing – if you have a team of 10 reps of less it takes 7 minutes to do correctly. Smaller teams can do it in 5 minutes. If you have a sales team bigger than 10 we should talk – that’s a different issue for another conversation. In a Sales Pow Wow, everyone can be anywhere – it is a virtual conversation.
In our Sales Pow Wows at Score More Sales we teach our clients to lead these with clear expectations and brevity. It is not the place to discuss anything but what each rep is working on that day and how they did the previous business day.
“How they did” the previous business day is in the form of metrics that you decide are important. For us, it includes how many conversations with decision makers, how many attempts, second conversations, and deals brought to closure. Create a simple spreadsheet to track OR customize your CRM to accommodate and report on daily.
What’s in It for Sellers?
The best part about a Sales Pow Wow is that it makes sellers accountable for their time. We (as sellers) need to know that it MATTERS if we cut our day short to get a start on the weekend OR if my manager will really notice the effort I’m making to move closer to my goals.
If I know my manager (and his/her boss) knows how I am working – what I am tracking – how I’m performing it energizes me as a seller. I don’t cut corners. I work harder.
What’s in It for Sales Managers?
It is important that you make specific time for your sellers that is fast and focused. It’s fast so as to respect their time, and focused in that you are listening to hear how they are doing – the daily Sales Pow Wow sets up your weekly sales coaching conversations you have individually with each rep. In fact, we had a client that called their Sales Pow Wow “Fast and Focused” – in very short order we know what everyone is working on. The nature of a quick daily get together makes sales leaders disciplined in regularly hearing what reps have to say.
A Sales Pow Wow is not a sales meeting
A Sales Pow Wow is not a coaching conversation
A Sales Pow Wow is not a gripe session about internal issues
"If you are living in a sales world where your boss has NO idea what you are doing or working on today, yesterday or this past week – you deserve to work for a better sales leader."
Most people leave their jobs because of their immediate supervisor – even if a great company.
Reps – let leadership know you deserve more.
Leaders – if you don’t show that you care about your reps on a daily basis, why would they think you care at all about their efforts?
Sales Pow Wows are Powerful
By adding in a regular accountability check daily with your team, you can increase revenues 20% or more within 60 days. If you want to know more about how to do that, contact us.
Lori Richardson helps mid-sized companies grow revenues by solving key issues in their sales department - like recruiting, retention, diversity hiring, process, pipeline and leadership. She speaks at CEO groups on topics of sales growth. Clients include companies in the technology, telecom, manufacturing, distribution, and professional services industries. Subscribe to the award-winning blog, follow her on Twitter
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