Sales management involves directing sales reps to sell to current and potential customers every day. Your reps’ needs are also essential. You must coach, train, and promote every broker. Agents can become complacent without your leadership. Your leadership will motivate them to achieve and surpass their sales goals. Sales reps will do a better job and be more excited about making more money. These are the seven ingredients that make sales reps successful.
Sales Planning and Goal Setting
One-on-one meetings are a great way to establish clear goals and actions with your team. These goals should be written down and clarified. Determine what the reps want in terms of their income and the personal benefits that their success will bring to their lives. This conversation should be flexible with each individual’s needs and territory. This conversation should be held at least once a month, if not every other week, depending on the performance of each individual. Do it less often if you have more success or longevity. Do this more often if the person has not had much success. Follow-up is critical and should be incorporated into your daily conversations.
Coaching one-on-one
Each week, we have at most a short discussion by phone with each rep. What were you able to sell? (Officially, you have the reports. But you would like to hear from the agent. What do you need for a follow-up? What can I do to help? You did a great job!
As needed, redirect them constructively: We closed three sales. Let’s do it again next week. What is the most important personal goal you talked about? Let’s put more effort. What is the plan for this week? Keep it positive!
Field Coaching
Plan and go out on the job. Your personal attention is essential for sales reps. They will be able to improve their sales and customer service with your support. Your goal should be to teach, coach, support, and sell. You don’t do this to just get out of the office or to “rip” the salesperson for their poor performance or to make catch-up phone calls in your car. The goal of the field is to improve the rep’s performance and increase sales. This should be done with all your team members, not just the lowest performers. This will help you to sell more.
Marketing Programs
One of our customers who achieves fantastic results is a master at using company marketing literature and programs. Teach your employees to do the same. Too many companies spend vast amounts of money on marketing resources that aren’t being used. Execute brilliantly and be the leader. This will bring you and your team success. If you do it, it’s easy to achieve success. In all communications with your reps, lead by example.
Sales Training
Establish a training schedule and make sure your team is trained regularly. Do not make the same mistake that everyone else makes-only conducting sales training once per year. This is not enough. You can have an annual event, but you should also hold weekly, monthly, or quarterly group meetings. If you have a limited budget or are located far apart, WebEx is a great option. You can send reminders via email and text on a regular basis. These reminders should be positive and upbeat. Your team should also be exposed to good sales books. Every year, over a thousand new books are published in sales. While you won’t be able to read all of them, you can still read more than your competitors. Sales training is the best way to learn how to sell.
Sales reports and goal board
You should update your numbers at least once a day. In today’s world, “real-time” results are essential for top-level performance. Display the company’s significant picture results on a department dashboard. Show who is selling what. This creates urgency and a visible sign of it. This is also a recognition that your reps will see. It encourages competition among brokers and communicates openness regarding how we work together.
Promotions/Incentives/Contests
Your team will be more successful if you use all the strategies above. This strategy can be used to add the exclamation mark at the end. Not just to increase your numbers, but also to motivate and create competitions. Whatever your budget, there is always something happening and a goal you want to set for your team. Every sales rep should have a chance at winning if you organize a contest. The top performers will win the majority of the time. Make it personal, make it enjoyable, and have some fun with the incentives! Remember to recognize your progress and achievements as you go.
Remember, leadership is critical if you want people to succeed. These seven strategies will help you win big this month and year. Make them yours.
