Sales Management Coaching:
Arguably the most
important aspect of effective sale coaching is the ability to set
challenging goals for your sales reps.
They are the necessary incentives
pushing your field reps to the limit,guiding them towards whichever sales
objective you have targeted for the given quarter. Without them your team loses
direction, focus and with them any chance you had of reaching your business
objectives.
However, before sitting down and thinking about the goals to set
your individual sales people you need to keep two things mind. Every goal set
should be:
a) Directly related to a business objective
b) Fullfill all 5 of the SMART's model's requirements
How to make sure your sales goals are relevant
Sales objectives are a great tool for encouraging your team to go the
extra mile to hit a given objective.
In fact, an internal
study at Manager showed that field reps who could physically see (on
their diary CRM list ) a clear, given
sales goal increased their productivity by up to 10-20%.
The problem arises when
sales goals are not tied to a specific, long-term business objective .For
example, if a salesperson is given a goal of making 20 client visits a week yet
the business objective is to increase revenue from new customers, then visiting
existing customers (goal) is in no way positively affecting the business
objective.
To fix it, you simply start with your end goal in mind then work
backwards from there.
Using our previous example of increased revenue from new
customers, a good sales goal that directly affects this business objective would
be to increase sales visits to prospects and leads, not clients:
how to
set goals for sales reps ?
setting SMART goal for your Sales Teams
The second
point to remember when setting goals for your field team is to make sure they are
SMART, that is to say:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time-sensitive
Specificity means a goal can not be abstract; it needs to be a tangible,
measurable figure. For example, instead of saying increase sales visits change it to increase sales visits by 20-%30%
Achievable is self-explanatory; if a sales rep consistently hits 70-75% of
their target then suddenly asking them for 150% is slightly unrealistic. A better
goal maybe for 80-85% of target for the upcoming quarter.
Relevancy we
already touched upon before and time-sensitive is about putting a concrete
deadline on a goal. This is pretty straight forward with most goals being set on a
weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.
Sales Management Coaching: Motivating Your
Team
Another important sales management coaching skill is being able to
motivate your team.
Now the first tactic I’m going to discuss is somewhat of a product; every sales team requires one yet nobody is really game for talking
about it.
It is, of course, the compensation plan. Although it’s not related to
sales management coaching peruse I think it needs touching upon as it’s such a
key tool in motivating field reps.
The most common problem I across is managers
using the compensation plan as the sole tool in leveraging sales performance.
When the results don’t come in
they simply ramp up the commission and around and around we go.
The good news is
the compensation plan is only one of the many levers sales managers can pull to
motivate their team, so let’s take a look at some of other options.
3
alternatives to the compensation plan
To keep things concise I’ve focused on
the 3 factors I believe will have the greatest impact on your sales team’s
performance. They are:
1 Setting clear sales goals
2 Recognizing recognition
3 Personal
career path development
The first is by setting your individual sales people
clear, relevant sales targets.
Not only are they key in helping you achieve your business objectives but they also have very strong motivating effect too.
Secondly it’s important to recognize the hard graft your team’s putting in – all the better if
you can do it publicly.
That’s why I like to make a point in our bi-weekly sales meetings of complimenting individuals who I feel deserve a special mention.
Whether it’s a simple comment such as “great work prospecting this week .
The final point I want to touch upon is taking a vested interest in the personal career path development of your team members.
It means a great deal to your sales people if you showed a genuine interest in their overall development both in and out of work, and consequently, impacts their performance.
Try setting a general meeting at the start of every quarter to set out a career plan and any goals needed to fulfill it over the upcoming weeks.
You can then review them bi-weekly to see how they are progressing. It can often be simple things like setting up selling skills training sessions or maybe subsidizing a language course outside of work. Whatever it is, make sure to discuss with each of your team members their personal aspect and vision.
Not only are they key in helping you achieve your business objectives but they also have very strong motivating effect too.
Secondly it’s important to recognize the hard graft your team’s putting in – all the better if
you can do it publicly.
That’s why I like to make a point in our bi-weekly sales meetings of complimenting individuals who I feel deserve a special mention.
Whether it’s a simple comment such as “great work prospecting this week .
The final point I want to touch upon is taking a vested interest in the personal career path development of your team members.
It means a great deal to your sales people if you showed a genuine interest in their overall development both in and out of work, and consequently, impacts their performance.
Try setting a general meeting at the start of every quarter to set out a career plan and any goals needed to fulfill it over the upcoming weeks.
You can then review them bi-weekly to see how they are progressing. It can often be simple things like setting up selling skills training sessions or maybe subsidizing a language course outside of work. Whatever it is, make sure to discuss with each of your team members their personal aspect and vision.
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