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6 Principles sales leaders can use to transform sales teams

In recent years the both the US and UK sales sector has undergone a significant transition in terms of becoming more professionally oriented. The evidence for this lies in the increasing number training of programmes on offer, both in-house training and via academic courses within more traditional education institutions, as well as the advances in assessing and profiling sales people.

This change has been drive by a number of factors:

• Intensified competition through an increasingly Globalised business world.
• Significant changes in the typical sales cycle; the rise of the web, user reviews and social media often means that sales staff interact with a potential customer or prospect far later on in the purchase journey.
• More intense scrutiny from legislators and consumer watch dogs following the miss-selling of products and services across a range of industries.

A recent article in the Sunday times reported a shift in climate where the best sales people were more focussed on helping their clients succeed as opposed to purely ‘closing the deal’. In reality the situation is more complicated, it is however indicative of the new approach and a recognition that sales performance is intricately aligned with a sound understanding of your prospects business, excellent communication skills and a commitment to exceptional customer service.

Rather than a quick fix and a focus on employing more experienced sales people, there needs to be a sustained approach to developing both sales organisations as well as sales professionals.

Ford is one the companies leading the way, having abandoned the practice of hiring based on previous experience, in favour of a selection process focused on customer centric competencies. The result of the approach has delivered improvement across a wide range of metrics including sales, profitability and customer feedback.

Turnstone Sales recently released a White Paperadvocating a focus on 6 key principles that will help sales leaders transform their sales organisations, build a talent pipeline and drive the success of their sales operation.

1. Recognize today’s business context.

We operate in a value-focussed environment. Respond with a strategic plan that enables your organisation to maximise its sales effectiveness by utilising the appropriate mix of talent combining sales skills and business acumen. Ensure you have the right salespeople for the right sales role.

2. Eradicate and avoid employing “dead wood“

They are a drain on the entire sales team. Review your current sales organisation’s performance and act to transform it. Put in place a plan to enhance the excellence of your sales talent on a continuing basis by hiring appropriately based on quality, skills and potential rather than experience alone.

3. Understand the modern sales context.

Agility, creativity and professionalism. Consider training or development that is accredited by a professional body. “Look for training that is founded on solid principles that have evolved to suit the modern business world,” advises Turnstone’s Nick Christian.

Ensure that development won’t just ‘wash over the heads’ of the salespeople only to be forgotten when they get back to the job. You need confidence that development has been embedded through a combination of practice, learning and role-play. This means the salespeople are ready to go when they get back to their companies.

4 Maintain the business-development momentum.

Enhance the right pipeline by hiring the right people. This often means new talent with the appropriate attitudes and potential supported by high-quality training. Use them to generate meetings and accompany more experienced sales people in visits to clients to build their range of skills. This helps to develop a virtuous circle whereby new recruits learn from more experienced salespeople but also bring greater commitment and impetus to developing the sales pipeline.

5. Recognise the need for wide-ranging business know-how at higher levels.

Particularly in the context of ‘megadeals’. The facility to interact with the C-Suite is founded on the ability to grasp advanced business principles plus understanding of the customer’s business. Creativity, agile thinking and deep insight founded on the ability to, ‘bring something new to the customer’ are vital at this level.

6. Make the most of new business channels.

Social media. Salespeople need to recognise that there are new tools available to them not only to find and generate new leads but also to communicate with their customers. Many older salespeople are not even on LinkedIn. For them it is a totally different sales world from the one that they started in. Nevertheless, excellent communication remains the key; successful salespeople need to be confident and articulate, online, over the phone and face-to-face.

You can download the full white paper here

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Brendan Wilde .