Do these scenarios seem familiar? You often struggle hitting your numbers, you can’t seem to get over the hump and you want to get better. You look at your sales report and you see what most people see — two top performers, two medium performers and two bottom feeders. What can you do to change things for the better, and create a team of all top performers?
A Common Goal
The real question is — how do you create consistency throughout your entire sales force, so that everyone wins, including the company? First, you must unite the team to a common goal. Does everyone clearly understand the company numbers? I have always been a big believer that the more employees know the more they care. I want each sales person to know what happens when we hit our numbers, what happens when we are above our numbers and what happens when we are below. People will respond differently to your goals, projections and daily contests when they understand the significance of the numbers.
After everyone understands the company’s goals, and more importantly — why you have them— we must then state each individual’s goals. Each sales rep not only has to know what they have to do, but also what their goals mean to them and the team. I believe you should have an individual bonus and a team bonus. When an individual hits their personal numbers, then they can take part in the team bonus. If they don’t hit their numbers then they cannot share in the team bonus. Now you can start to see the ability for focus to become clear. Not only does the individual understand the company’s numbers, but also they understand their own responsibilities and understand the benefit of everyone doing their job.
If you are a sales manager you now know the tools you need to hold people accountable to their numbers. Each sales rep must hit their numbers to help the team hit its numbers. If an individual is performing below quota, he or she will feel the positive pressure of others outperforming them. Each sales rep will know that their contribution will allow others to make money. They will also know that their lack of contribution will keep others from making money. I have always found that really embracing the incentives creates a winning formula for attitude and desire. I have seen sales teams work extremely hard and well together to make sure the team goals are hit. In order to do that, they probably are achieving their personal numbers as well. This process is the beginning of a win-win situation.
How to Keep Your Team on Track
All sales reps should have a daily worksheet. Each day they should turn it in or e-mail it to their sales manager. The report should include daily calls, number of prospects, sales, referrals gotten, telephone inquiries, net leads, outreach leads, etc. — this is just a score sheet. Each sales manager has magic numbers. For example, you may require your sales team to make five new appointments per day, three new referrals, 50 passes handed out a day, 50 phone calls — each club will have different quantitative data. Whatever key performance indicators you use, be a stickler to them.
I have convinced my sales team that worksheets are for them and not for me. Sales reps have to be the best judge of their day. My job as a sales manager is to make sure they are on track for their personal goals. I take their goals seriously and I feel personally responsible for each one hitting their number. It is this level of trust in our relationship that allows growth within and outside the sales department. I am describing a level of commitment that comes from each individual including the manager, to achieve one common goal — to hit the numbers. If you can create this type of environment, you won’t have many different levels of performance. Instead, you’ll have consistency throughout your organization — hopefully with all top performers.
By Chuck Hall, Executive Director for Big Vanilla
