Equipping and Serving a Sales Team

What does your sales team look like? How are you supporting and growing your sales team in a way that serves the company as a whole?

It’s easy for business owners to put their sales teams on autopilot, especially if the team is already good at what they do. Neglecting to put thought into your sales structure, though, is a critical business mistake. Actively creating a strategic sales support system is one of the most effective ways to grow your company. In fact, the International Coaching Federation found that there is a 7x ROI on money spent supporting the sales team.

Sales teams aren’t the only force behind sales, though. The sales team relies on other departments and functions in order to sell in the most effective way. Sharing the credit and successes is important to building a unified culture that moves towards collective success.

Coaches focus on recognizing and supporting the entire team for a sales success, because every moving part has to come together to make the machine run.

What does it look like to serve your sales team in a way that best benefits the overall company?

Types of sales teams

What does your sales structure currently look like? Consider how your sales team fits in with your overall organizational model.

Ask the following questions to better understand the foundation of your sales team:

• How many salespeople do you have?
• Are they in-house or out of office?
• How do they typically contact new prospects and current clients?

Once you have the specific features of your sales team laid out, it’s important to acknowledge the dynamics of the group. How do the salespeople interact with one another? Are they working together towards a united goal, or are they competing for the same clients?

It’s common for internal competition to develop between salespeople in traditional structures. This competitiveness can work well for established markets, like car dealerships or insurance agencies, where friendly rivalry can create a hungry, driven sales team.

However, in some environments, it can foster an aggressive atmosphere that rubs off on the customers. It can also create a lack of consistency across the brand as each individual sells in their own way to get to the next level.

It’s important to understand the dynamics of your team. Then, you can better understand how to manipulate these dynamics in a way that will foster the sales culture and benefit your company. For example, if you’re a startup, you likely want your sales team to work as a unit. You could create team goals, and tie individual rewards to the success of the entire group.

Acknowledge your sales team where they are. Facilitate success by establishing appropriate dynamics.

Equipping your sales team for success

The sales team is the customer-facing representation of the organization. Therefore, they need to be the most capable in every area of the company. They should be more than just good salespeople. They must be eloquent and trustworthy, and they have to be able to converse about everything in their business and industry. They are what your customers see of your brand.

Your salespeople should be able to articulately deliver the benefits of working with you and your company. This means you need to provide them with the appropriate tools and resources to talk to the client. For example, you might provide a sales script and language guide to maintain consistency for the team.

Consider the following questions to figure out what your sales team needs to get to the next level:

• Is your sales team aware of organizational goals?
• Do they understand your target market and how the product truly fits the consumer’s need?
• Does each individual have his or her own sales goals?
• How is your sales team performing? What do they say is holding them back from getting to the next level?
• What tools do you provide to your sales teams? How could they be better equipped?
• Is your CRM achieving positive results? Are you utilizing marketing automation?
• Is your sales kit up to date? Is there anything missing or changed?
• How do you hold your sales team accountable?
• Is there a strong example of performance coming from the top?

Take a look at the resources you provide. Keep the tools sharp, and you can continue to grow your business.

Equipping your business for sales success

Your sales team is the front line for your business, but they’re not the only team fighting the good fight. At BusinessLife, we believe the sales team shouldn’t stand out there alone. They need support from the back in order to move forward.

Sales teams do not succeed in a vacuum. Sales can only triumph when everything else is aligned. There needs to be strong product development team that delivers a product that serves a specific need and target audience. The company’s values need to be attractive to customers. The marketing department has to equip the sales team with market research and leads. Even logistics play a role; you’re more likely to get repeat orders if delivery is flawless.

Your sales team can only be successful if the rest of the machine is oiled and running. Serving the sales team means creating a collaborative culture with all departments united and working toward shared goals.

Serving your business with sales

There are a variety of factors for success with sales teams. Different organizations will have different ways of supporting their sales team based on culture, size, customer, and process.

Nevertheless, there are two things that always remain true when equipping and serving sales teams:

• Any salesperson can be successful if they are given the right tools and resources.
• The sales department simply closes the sale. The success of the sale is a combined effort from every department in the business.

Are you confident in the performance of your sales team? Do you want to take your team to the next level? Do you want to accelerate your business’ profitability through your people?

It’s time to open up the conversation. Contact me directly at peter@marcuscoaching.com to discuss your sales success.