We work in a volatile world in which the framework conditions are set by the customer. And one thing is true across the board and across all sectors: customers’ expectations are getting higher and higher!
This makes it all the more important to get the employees in the sales departments on board, guide them accordingly and support them in their work. Because if we always do everything the customer wants, there is a risk that we will not work efficiently and cost-effectively in these areas. In exceptional cases, this is certainly not a bad thing and pays off in the long term, but if this kind of behavior becomes permanent, it is no longer economically viable.
Successful sales managers must
- know the sales strategy and sales targets
- break these goals down to the individual employees in such a way that everyone understands the requirements placed on them
- penetrate the department communicatively. It is important to find a good mix of team meetings and individual discussions
- Ensure knowledge management and transfer of experience and use appropriate methods
- sometimes resort to new management methods! The customers get a sophisticated “all-round carefree package” – the employees should also be worth it to you!
- accompany employees in their day-to-day business and see where things are going wrong, pick up on this and address it. Please note, I am not writing here: “Become a problem solver for your employees!” Rather: be so close to your team that you recognize where problems are arising
- Carry out a performance review and provide prompt feedback
- use the instrument of praise as an amplifier. Incidentally, this is a completely underestimated management tool – praise can achieve so much!
- allow people to grow with their tasks by delegating responsibility and thus retain top performers in the company. If you don’t praise, then at least enable employees to achieve personal success!
- provide the opportunity for re-qualification if an employee does not yet fully or no longer fully meet expectations because requirements have changed
Keeping an eye on the team
It may also be useful to hold a team meeting, possibly externally moderated, on the topic of
“Increasing efficiency and effectiveness in the sales team”. This allows your employees to participate in changes and gives them a feeling of activity instead of reactive passivity. You turn those affected into participants and show that, in addition to performance, contributing your own ideas and working together are also important to you.
There are wonderful approaches and working techniques here that will help your team
- look back on successes already achieved (by the way, we do this far too rarely! People tend to only keep the bad things in their heads – if twenty things go well in one day and one thing doesn’t go perfectly, then we think about that one thing and block ourselves from moving forward).
- Critically examining together what can be optimized in the existing processes, structures, interfaces and the type of cooperation
- Establishes rules for interaction within the team
- Rules developed for cooperation with customers or internal interfaces
- reflect on the role of sales and their own function
- is sensitized to the contribution to the company’s success
Conclusion
Leadership in sales is a very exciting and extensive field. Transparent and clear leadership that provides guidelines, promotes talent and develops rules within the team is essential at this point, as the focus is equally on the company and the customer.
by Eika Schoenmakers, trainer at Lorenz-Seminare