Give your sales teams the opportunity to REALLY grow!
As a sales coach, I see all sorts of things that make me cringe. From the exercises around perfecting the 30-second elevator pitch, to mandatory mystery messages, to crazy work hours, to public humiliation to giving your best leads only to your A-players, to redlining said A-Players until they collapse from exhaustion... It's nothing but cringe-worthy policy after disastrous execution...
It turns out that there is ONE thing you should have them focus on first and foremost, and it's not breaking the record for most calls dialed in a single day.
Prior to starting my inbound marketing agency, I was in b2b sales for about a decade. And I'm not going to lie... I was good - really good, actually... Although I can't take all of the credit, because it didn't happen entirely on purpose. Yes, I worked my ass off, but I hated the actual task of cold calling, so I did everything in my power to avoid it.
Sure, it pissed off more than one manager and even a CEO or two I worked for, but it shouldn't have. I brought them money, and I inspired people around me to swim in these bluer waters themselves.
If you have somebody on your sales team kicking ass and doing it in a manner that allows them to be true to themselves, you should be doing everything in your power to nurture that behavior, not kill it just because they challenge the status quo.
Allow them to be true to themselves
This is the one key that you're probably forgetting about amid the scripts and role-playing, and everything else that forces them to be somebody they're not.
The thing is, they want the exact same thing as you do - money. They likely got into the sales role because of the almighty dollar, which is why you have a commission plan in place. THEY want to win just as badly, and possibly MORE than you, so you have to know that they're going to do whatever they can to win.
It's up to YOU to decide whether they DO win, or sink with the large majority of their counterparts.
And it all comes down to the freedom to be themselves.
1: Realness
One of my most successful sales visits, when I was in staffing, happened because when my associate and I were leaving and walking out the front door, I tripped over the carpet.
I try to be a funny guy whenever something embarrassing happens because it tends to take the edge off, and I think it's important to be able to laugh at myself... So, I tucked, rolled, and then landed on my feet with my hands in the air, at which point, I announced, "Stuck it!" before walking out the door.
I was their first call from that point forward.
2: Humility
Sometimes we're wrong - all of us - but being wrong shouldn't mean the end of the world, especially for creatures as ego-driven and fragile as salespeople.
Not only that, but the moment you start making people feel like they have to be infallible, you get a bunch of liars working for you. Next thing you know, people are faking call counts and putting "connect" when they should be writing "left message."
Give them room be human, and you will end up with people taking accountability for their actions, and putting them in front of you when they are still solvable, not after they "mysteriously" die.
3: Interesting
I have no problem watching an epic movie more than once (or anything Disney thanks to my 2-year-old)... I've even watched the entire Game of Thrones Series twice. I've read my favorite books over and over, and I DEFINITELY order the same thing each time I dine at my favorite surf n' turf taco joint.
But there is something so INSANELY UNinteresting and painfully dull about experiencing the same sales pitch or tactics or personality, that I, and all of the other prospects they're targeting, will RUN from people like that.
But it's not their fault. They're just following the same guidance they were given by their previous employers, and before them, and so on. Now you. They're a cookie-cutter sales puppet with you pulling their strings, while their personality gets covered in one-liners and pivot tools.
Blech. No wonder the trend isn't looking good.
When I was in staffing, I was also the singer of a rock band that played on the weekends. And EVERY one of my clients knew it (and even attended our shows!), just like I knew about THEIR lives, and became friends outside of work.
4:Creativity
There is nothing more mind-boggling to me than when a sales manager tells a room full of their salespeople to "think outside the box," but then applies rigid call quotas and scripts.
How in the hell are they supposed to "think outside of the box" with conditions like that? If "prime time" is "pounding the phones" time, then you're guilty of deploying a stifling environment.
When I was at my best, it wasn't because I was pumping out higher volumes of calls. NOOOO.... It was when I spent time playing around on social media or putting together marketing collateral like calculators (see more about "content marketing").
But because call quotas were the name of the game, I was always unfortunately held to a wildly irrelevant quota standard and spent plenty of time trying to appease my managers by slamming 50 worthless calls in a day. It's enough to drive your all-stars completely mad.
CONCLUSION:
Not everybody is going to work out. I get that. Turnover is especially prevalent when it comes to sales roles, because there has to be a match between your business and their personality, and not EVERY sales all-star will be at their best on your payroll
But by letting people be themselves, you will get their best versions, which will keep you from having to guess.
Are you looking for ways to boost sales through marketing alignment? Orange Pegs Media provides marketing solutions that draws your best prospects to YOU, and helps you assemble a process to CLOSE at higher rates. Check out our sales enablement services today!
COMMENTS