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How do you push the productivity of your sales reps without being seen as a slave driver?
I think that some managers lack finesse and balance in their coaching. What are your effective methods for driving your team without being too overbearing?
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5 Answers
I'm with Bob + Dave on this one. With a twist. On how to help them make smarter decisions for themselves.
We need to give sales people feedback on the buyer actions being triggered by sales efforts. If and when Reps can see what they're ACHIEVING from what they're DOING, they'll quite naturally go on to achieve more. They'll own the outcome. They'll see that they can affect it by what they do.
We also need to shrink the time it takes sales people to detect what they're achieving from what they're doing. Doing so will shrink the cost of making mistakes and, in doing so, provoke sales people to learn + improve their impacts faster. It'll open the door to a 'pull' model for driving productivity improvements. Reps will be enabled to make small moves, smartly, that can add up to a big impact over time.
Reps want a Return on Effort from what they're doing. Show them what they're getting and they'll 'get it.'
Trust this adds some value. - John
Until the individual understands "what's in it for them," it's difficult to improve and sustain that improvement. Too often, as managers, we are pushing something that's in our managerial self interest, neglecting to understand what's in it for the sales person.
If we can't show the sales person how it helps them achieve their business and personal goals, then it is unlikely they will own and interalize whatever coaching or changes you are trying to drive.
For example, just saying, "you need to make XX calls per day," is likely to be viewed as a management command. Showing them how making XX calls per day helps them achieve their business and personal goals more effectively/easily--whatever is more likely to be internalized and acted on by the sales person.
So however you define productivity, or whatever change initiatives you are trying to drive, until people understand their role, how it helps them achieve their goals (business AND personal), it is impossible to drive sustained performance and behavioral changes.
Adam,
You can't "push" better "productivity." Here's why...
1) "Pushing" implies that your salespeople are uninspired, because inspired people always go and do. They don't need to be pushed. If your team is uninspired it's either because the wrong people are on your bus or you are driving the bus to the wrong destination.
2) "Productivity." What does that mean? Productivity in lead calls, in meetings, in filing paper work, in putting out social media posts to build credibility...? "Productivity" is a ridiculously overused generalization. It truly means everything so it means nothing. You must define - with each team member - what they desire to be more EFFECTIVE at doing and then create the plan with them to help them do it.
Anyway, I hope that helps.
I'm with Dave on this one. Don't focus on activities, focus on outcomes, and show them what's in it for them.
Use the opportunity to identify and share best practices. Make it easy for the sales person to identify and embrace the winning habits of their top-performing peers.
Show how the data you're collecting from the CRM system is going to help them be more personally productive, and achieve their goals faster.
But if all you do is to drive them to do stuff because the system demands it, or because more activity is inevitably better, you'll end up with a bunch of unproductive slaves anyway.
Better to help them to make smarter decisions for themselves - decisions that benefit them, you and the company...
I coach youth soccer and if you go into a season with the expectation that the kids are just going to be "productive", you're going to drive yourself crazy. You need to define the goals for development and identify the tools (practice drills and games) that are going to help them get there. The same is true for sales teams and sales leaders. Understand what the primary success metrics are and get the tools to enable the sales people to meet those metrics and for you to measure them. Whether it's calling XX leads per day, emailing 1000 people a week, or whatever the case may be.
Utilize CRM tools like salesforce to easily report on sales activities and use prospecting tools like OneSource's iSell to put your sales team in touch with leads. Sales 2.0 is about using tools and technology to put yourself and your team in a position to close business. Once you get there, you can use the metrics from the use of these tools to identify (and push) who you need to lean on and you'll have data to back it up.
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