The Sales Evangelist TSE 1042: 3 Mistakes Small Company Sales Leaders Make
Very often, sales reps find themselves frustrated and hemmed in by the mistakes small company sales leaders make.
I had a conversation last week with a sales rep who was frustrated because his company had no real plan or guidance for how it would achieve the owner’s vision. The owner expected Herculean efforts by the rep, but eventually the rep stopped performing and left the company to escape the pressure.
In many cases, unless the owner corrects the mistakes, the cycle starts all over again when a new rep joins the team.
HONEYMOONMany of us in small organizations understand the excitement of entering a new role only to discover that the reality was different than the idea you bought into. The sales rep I mentioned was never good enough to accomplish what the boss was hoping for, because there was no plan in place to help him succeed.
Because the rep wasn’t as successful as the boss expected, he was moved into a different role. The rep continued in a sales support role, but his demeanor changed. His excitement disappeared. He wasn’t giving as much of himself to the company because he was discouraged by all that had happened.
Eventually he left the role and moved into a much better position.
MISSING PLANEntrepreneurs certainly have the freedom to set their own vision for their companies. It’s their responsibility to establish where the organization will go, but they must also determine how it will get there.
Imagine an owner who sets a goal to make $1 million. He wants the best sales reps to come into his organization and help him carry out that plan.
He hires a successful sales rep from another company where there is already a proven sales process and proven guidance to help him succeed. The owner expects the sales rep to execute at the new company the same way he did at the previous one, except there’s no structure in place.
If the rep didn’t take the sales job expecting to have to reinvent the wheel, he’ll likely be frustrated by the lack of any kind of process. If he’s a new seller, he may not have the resources or the experience to help build a sales process from nothing.
As a result, he’ll be frustrated and burned out quickly because he doesn’t have the necessary tools to be successful.
Without a change in the owner’s approach, every sales rep who walks into this same situation will likely end up leaving.
MISTAKE 1: FAILING TO FIND THE BEST CUSTOMERIf you don’t identify the best potential customer for your business, the sales rep will constantly have to switch gears in an effort to pursue different prospects. He’ll struggle to gain traction because he’ll be chasing too many possibilities.
He likely won’t have any idea what works and what doesn’t, because he’ll be spread too thin.
Have a clear definition of the customers you’ll pursue, and how you’ll connect with them. If you haven’t already determined who your ideal customers are, give your sales reps additional time to figure out which customers are worth pursuing.
MISTAKE 2: FAILING TO UNDERSTAND BASIC METRICSIf you aren’t tracking certain metrics within your company, you’ll have no way to determine which efforts are working and which ones are not.
Begin by determining which KPIs you’ll use to evaluate the effectiveness of your sales reps.
- How many deals do they close?
- The number of appointments they set?
- How many demonstrations do they schedule?
- How many contacts do they locate?
I recommend you focus on outcome-based KPIs. It’s ok to track the day-to-day activities that produce important outcomes like demonstrations scheduled or deals closed, but I wouldn’t judge your employees on those metrics.
Avoid measuring vanity numbers like the number of calls made and instead evaluate meaningful numbers like the number of appointments that resulted from those calls.
Determine what kind of realistic result your rep should be accomplishing. Should he be closing $6,000 worth of deals each month? Once you know that, you can help your reps ramp up.
Once you have a trajectory, plan, or path to follow, your sales reps will be able to duplicate their results over time and eventually hit even bigger goals. #SalesGoals MISTAKE 3: FAILING TO GUIDE YOUR TEAMOnce your team has an understanding of the ideal customers and how to find them, you must give your team a clear expectation of what to say.
Prepare your team for the questions they must be prepared to answer and the objections they’ll likely hear. Develop resources like downloads or podcasts or articles that will help your sales reps educate themselves. Accumulate resources that your reps can share with your prospects.
If you don’t help your sales reps succeed, they will move on to another company. Then, you’ll find yourself in the same mess again.
Don’t make these same mistakes. Develop a plan to help your team succeed.
Check out the TSE Certified Sales Training Program for help building a successful team and an effective process.
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This episode is also brought to you by the TSE Certified Sales Training Program. If 2018 wasn’t the best year for you, check out TSE Certified Sales Training Program. We can help you out of your slump.
If you gave a lot of great presentations and did a lot of hard work, only to watch your prospects choose to work with your competitors, we can help you fix that. The new semester of TSE Certified Sales Training Program begins in April and it would be an absolute honor to have you join us.
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HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS
HubSpot and bluëmago | STUDIOS hubpspot.com/marketers bluemangostudios.com