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Getting the most out of your sales team will most likely take some work and effort. That said, here’s a fairly straightforward, step-by-step process that will maximize team sales and performance.

Steps to Maximum Sales Team Performance

Step 1: Remove the Roadblocks

Roadblocks include paperwork, computer work, order entry, and all the other day-to-day items that don’t have your salespeople in front of a prospect or customer. These should all be delegated to highly capable, competent people. The only activities that pay your salespeople, and ultimately you, are these:

• Prospecting.
• Presenting.
• Closing.

In addition to those three activities, your salespeople should also be spending about 20 percent of their time building relationships and following up with current customers, especially the top 20 percent that give you 80 percent of your business. Other than those four activities, everything else is a roadblock that should be taken off their plates.

Step 2: Provide the Right Environment

Once you’ve removed task and activity roadblocks, you need to provide a supportive environment conducive to conducting business in. This is a professional environment of positive, proactive people which includes the tools and resources necessary to sell at the highest level possible. CRM tools, telephone systems, e-mail, technology, and all other support items should be in place and run smoothly and efficiently. The environment needs to be void of negativity, negative people, red tape, and any other obstacles that slow down or hinder business. You may also need to personally pave the road and help out your people. This may include playing coach, running interference, being an advocate, or otherwise providing assistance to get the job done.

Step 3: Develop Sales Skills

Now that your people are spending the most time possible in front of prospects and customers, the next step is to ensure they are as effective as possible when they are having those conversations. Your salespeople should have well-thought-out, scripted answers to everything they need to say in a prospect or client interaction. Their presentation, all answers to objections, closes, and anything else they might possibly need to say, should be well crafted and tight. They also need to have these committed to memory to the point where if someone were to wake them at 3 a.m., they’d be able to respond immediately. In order for this to happen, they each need their own personal “play book” of scripts that they refer to and practice on a daily basis. You should also be role playing and practicing during sales meetings. Even when you walk by them in the office, ask them questions, give them objections, and test their preparedness.

All of your salespeople need to be constantly improving and getting better at prospecting, presenting, overcoming objections, closing, follow-up, and all other aspects of selling. Encourage them to read, listen to programs, watch videos, and study everything they can get their hands on that relates to selling. Make book suggestions, give them articles, and do whatever you can to help their learning. Remind them that there’s always more to learn.

Step 4: Help Them Find Their Motivation

One of your jobs as the leader of a sales organization is to know how to motivate your team. While external positive (money and prizes), and external negative (“do business or else”) methods can work temporarily, ideally you want to help them find their internal, lasting motivation. Help them find this by focusing on the big picture. Why are they working there and what is the end game? What is their ultimate vision for themselves, their family, friends, and their life in general? What do they want and, more importantly, why do they want it? It’s simple, if they know where they are headed in life for themselves and friends and family, and they have powerful reasons why they must get there, they’ll get there, but it’s going to come down to having a powerful why.

Once you know their vision and why they must achieve it, it’s your job to show them how their daily activities are getting them closer to the “vision” and how a lack of activity takes them in the other direction. Let them know you care about them, support them, and you want them to be successful. Finally, continue to tie daily activity to what they want most and remind them that they can have anything they want if they’re willing to work for it.

Step 5: Set Standards and Hold Them Accountable

This step is the one that is most often ignored by leaders of sales teams. It is imperative that you set standards for sales activity and hold everyone accountable. With newer salespeople you need to watch activity more closely until they are on track with good, sound habits. With your top performers and veterans, you can and should be more hands-off. Each salesperson needs to have reasonable but challenging goals. They should be pushed out of their comfort zone but they have to believe they can do what you’re asking of them.

Again, you must hold each salesperson accountable. No one gets a bye here. If a salesperson is not hitting their numbers, you need to find out why. Is it a skillset or attitude issue? If it’s a skillset issue, do what you need to do to help them to develop the skills they need. If they can’t or won’t develop the necessary skills, you’re eventually going to need to let them go. If, on the other hand, they have the skills but are simply not doing the necessary activities, while you can start with the “nice” velvet-glove approach, you more than likely will need to use the iron fist and introduce the “fear” of losing their job if they don’t do what needs to be done. If at this point they continue to miss their numbers and skirt the necessary work, put your foot down and move them out the door. Keeping underperformers around will kill morale, cause major headaches, and at the end of the day, you’re not doing yourself or them any favors. You’re running a business, not a charity or psych ward.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].