Sales Performance Management: Use it as a Positive Influence

Sales Performance Management: Use it as a Positive Influence

I still savor Jim Collins’ sage advice: “First, put the right people on the bus. Then, get the wrong people off the bus and get the right people into the right seats. Then you can drive the bus anywhere.”

To get the growth you’re charting and envision in your strategic growth plan, one of the “right people” needed on your business bus is a competent sales manager and leader. A sales leader who –
gets it,
wants, it and
has the capacity to do it.

So, what are the components of “it”?

One of the key responsibilities of a sales manager and leader is coaching. But, what and where should they be coaching in to maximize performance? Here are some key areas:

● Will to Sell: strengthening each salesperson’s fire-in-the-belly passion.
● Sales DNA: improving each person’s ability to consistently apply the right sales behaviour at the right time with the right decision maker in the right way.
● Sales Competencies: expanding so that each salesperson has a robust tool kit in all facets of the sales process. This includes hunting, qualifying, consultative selling, and closing.

The performance of your sales teams is directly tied to the sales manager’s effectiveness at coaching. They prioritize strengthening the sales capacity of their sales people.

So, where are your sales managers focusing their coaching?

And, how much time do they spend coaching?

I recommend that 50% of the Sales Managers’ time should be focused on sales coaching. That’s 20 – 30 hours per week!

Some sales managers tell me this is an unrealistic goal. I hear “I’m too busy” excuses like:

 I’m closing deals for my sales people.”
 I’m putting out fires. There’s no time left for anything else.”
 I’m e handling my own book of business.”

It seems like they are taking comfort in how busy they are. Unfortunately, many of them aren’t busy enough with one of the most important aspects of revenue-enhancing responsibilities of the role – coaching.

Here’s the irony: when time is invested in effective sales coaching, your sales manager won’t have to spend so much time on all these other activities that keeping them so “busy”.

There’s another reason why sales coaching is crucial for today’s work force. Millennials. In my upcoming book, Millennials Matter: Proven Strategies for Building Your Next Gen Leader, I state, “The star performers responsible for the growth of your business, will, in a few short years, be primarily made up of Millennials. That’s a significant reason why mentoring young people needs to be a top priority of every company’s business growth strategy.”

So, where do you get the data and insights to help your sales manager strategically focus their coaching efforts, so they can maximize business results?

Check out our Sales Audit Proven Process.

How effective is your current sales effort? Check out at Sales Force Grader. Answer just 22 questions (it will take less than 5 minutes) and we’ll provide you with an instant score of the relative effectiveness of your sales force.

Once you get your score, feel free to let me know your thoughts. Based on the results, do you have what it takes to achieve your growth objectives? Are the right people in the right seats, focused on the right things?

© Copyright 2017 Danita Bye