Sales Culture – Results Driven or Success Oriented?

If you focus on creating a sales culture that is oriented towards success, then the odds can be tipped in your favour.  The crucial element is to pay special attention to the management of the sales process that is positive, inspires confidence and is not just focused on results.

Here are a few action points that can help you boost the success rate of your sales team:

Underline how important the role of the salesperson is:

Having a position in sales can be a very demanding and difficult job. With failure and rejection commonly experienced on a daily basis, it usually requires a strong individual to overcome these and bounce back, starting afresh again. For this reason, promote within the whole company how important your sales rep or team are and how fundamental they are in the success of the business.

Automate repetitive tasks: 

Salespeople tend to have a lot of energy and often find it difficult focussing on the more repetitive, sales-related tasks.  Wherever possible, utilise technology – such as sending customised messages to prospects via a CRM system – to free them up to do what they do best: sales!

Implement a consistent sales process:

There will always be salespeople who value their own techniques such as working on “a gut feel”, as opposed to following a due process.  However, this isn’t necessarily the best method to deliver the sales culture you are looking for to achieve success.  Instead, look to establish a consistent process so that everyone involved knows the procedures of identifying, qualifying and closing an opportunity.

Train for the results you want: 

Many business owners look to employ the most talented sales people so that they can hit the ground running from day one.  However, an effective strategy would be to dedicate time for sales training, focusing on a variety of techniques, such as:

• Being interested in the prospect by asking questions, instead of just talking to them
• Presenting yourself as a problem-solver, not as an expert
• Identifying and learning how to deliver the company’s unique selling proposition
• Focusing on sales activity as much as on results

Sales people usually welcome constructive feedback, and therefore as a business owner or team manager diarise to sit in on phone calls or attend prospect meetings.

Learning in conjunction with training: 

Give your sales teams the opportunity to keep learning by allowing them the time to attend sales conferences or participate in webinars etc.  This will keep them energised, quite often coming back having collaborated and learnt new sales strategies and techniques that they can then share and integrate within the business.

Micromanagement – avoid it! 

Instead of micromanaging your salespeople, leave them alone and delegate responsibility; this will show them that you trust in their judgement and ability and will also instil confidence in them. Occasionally you may need to step in, however avoid apportioning blame and instead emphasise the value of learning from the experience and doing better next time.

By valuing how important the sales role is, giving your team the tools and responsibility to succeed, it is possible to create a sales culture with an abundance of enthusiasm and energy, the likes of which you will not have seen before.

To find out how Capital Space business premises could benefit your growing business,  call 0800 107 3667