5 expert tips to manage a successful sales team
As obvious a point to make as it may seem, the leadership style and techniques utilised by a sales manager can be instrumental in the success of their sales team. However, sales managers can often be so distracted that they pay little attention to their own development.
This situation can unnecessarily hinder the sales team's performance - especially given the simplicity with which the manager can, once they know how, lead their team to perform more effectively.
Don't place too many rules on your personnel
The best performers in the sales field tend to be aggressive, optimistic and visionary. These aren't the types of people who like being ordered to comply with a wide array of rules and regulations.
Therefore, by removing as many fetters as possible, you can help put such people on the path to success. If you instead try to give them overly strict orders, they will just expend their creative energies on attempting to overcome these barriers, Entrepreneur warns.
Let them work to their strengths
We all have our own strengths, and we tend to thrive most when we work to them. This certainly applies in the world of sales, too.
Let's assume that you have some salespeople who baulk at writing proposals while nonetheless enthusing - and being highly capable of - selling. In this instance, you should let those salespeople sell while you look for someone else who can handle penning the proposals.
Don't be excessively driven by metrics and deadlines
As well-stated in a Forbes article: "Too many sales teams are over-managed and under-led". Your own team's performance drive might hit a few too many speed bumps if you insist on implementing theoretical or arbitrary programs in a bid to help your sales staff thrive.
You shouldn't entirely forgo a sales process, goal-setting or pipeline-measuring for your staff. Still, they could more easily meet goals that are socially leveraged and, thus, can feel more natural.
Stop small issues before they snowball into serious problems
By thinking ahead, you can identify sore points just as they are emerging. This would better position you to nip those problems in the bud before they become more serious.
Perhaps your team's overall numbers are looking reasonably good, but some aspects of performance are slightly faltering. You could direct sales personnel to some of our training courses as and when you see fit - and don't forget to pursue your own sales management training.
Celebrate little victories as they arrive
Your team doesn't have to be so unrelenting in its drive for success that it decides against savouring small triumphs along the way. By allowing your team to celebrate from time to time, you can help them dispel the customary pressure of sales work and give them an appreciable boost.
This strategy can also improve their motivation, which has obvious advantages in the "pressure cooker" environment of sales. We offer sales courses that can further help them; phone us on 020 3859 0707 to learn various ways possible.
How to put into action all that you've learned in your sales training
You shouldn't expect sales training to be effectively a machine through which you can funnel yourself and from which you will emerge a magically better salesperson. It would be wiser to call sales training just one cog in what should ultimately be a larger and much more complex machine.
In short, it's not just what sales training teaches that matters; it's also how that know-how is practically applied. Here are ways you can more effectively put fruits of sales training into action.
Study your current sales skills
When being prepared for a new campaign or responsibility, you might too readily be inundated with excessive information. However, you shouldn't expect to be able to quickly absorb everything that, in a short space of time, you are told about new products, services, features and other matters.
Therefore, as this Forbes article advises, don't neglect to investigate various parts of a sales strategy - including discovery, qualifying and product knowledge - in search of genuine problems.
Treat issues that you diagnose
If your diagnosis does uncover problems, you should - of course - tackle them. Do this at the preparatory stage rather than actually during a campaign.
Whether you decide that the best way of tackling the problem would be adding to your skill set, trimming the sales cycle or making each deal more valuable, sales training could help. We offer various courses; which of them you should select will be influenced by what issue you wish to tackle.
Follow through with development initiatives
Naturally, whatever lessons you pick up during sales training, you - as an individual sales professional - would have the responsibility of acting on those lessons.
However, if you manage a sales team, you would also need to coach and refine processes that your sales staff develop. However competent your staff might be, they still require an inspirational leader to guide them - just as the British army relied on Winston Churchill's leadership during the war.
See how and where results improve
Have you taken the actions recommended in this article? If so, you might see sales rising - and, thus, vindicating your diagnosis and treatment - or still floundering. The latter case would indicate other failings that had escaped your notice during the diagnosis stage.
Take heart that, in this instance, you would have still filled a gap somewhere and so can now turn your attention to filling another. In doing so, you might decide to again join a sales training course on offer from us at Frosch Learning. It's all part of the long-term development of your sales technique.
Combine sales and customer service
These days, the onus should be on attracting, rather than making, sales - and you can do that by strengthening the customer service element of your sales team, as Inc. advises. By enlightening and educating customers, you would be effectively pitching to them, too.
You can call us on 020 3859 0707 to learn additional sales techniques which you could effectively transfer into the real world.
Tips for successfully developing your small business startup
On the face of it, the UK's startup scene looks promising. Last year, the Financial Times reported that UK startups had reached a new record tally. However, Enterprise Research Centre head Mark Hart despaired: "The UK's productivity puzzle remains as seemingly intractable as ever."
He observed that too many companies struggle in productivity or making jobs, perpetuating the UK's "problem with turning startups into high growth companies." How could your firm avoid the trap?
Create and communicate an appealing brand
Many of your favourite companies probably have a distinctive brand that helps them spread the word about why people should buy from them. Consider the example of Dove, the blue-and-white colour scheme of which helps promote its image of ethics and purity.
You could learn from such examples by cultivating a distinct brand before checking that employees right through the business take up this brand image to help communicate what your firm is about.
Resist cutting corners with the standard of work
However much you might feel under pressure when running your company, you can't afford to occasionally sacrifice the quality of the work which you provide for customers.
Adopting such a half-hearted approach could lead the customer to feel underappreciated and that they should look for the same products or services from another business that will deliver them to a higher standard. This can seriously impact your growth ability, smallbusiness.co.uk cautions.
Offer the occasional bonus or freebie
Naturally, everyone appreciates a little-unexpected extra from time to time - and you can offer exactly that as a way of attracting new customers and helping to keep older ones coming back.
However, you can't expect such goodies to draw much attention if you don't make a serious effort to ensure news of these treats is reaching as many people as possible. Therefore, when you do start offering them, remember to promote them across various social media platforms and onsite blogs.
Pay attention to what competitors are doing
Rival companies can benefit yours in a range of unexpected ways. For example, their prices can help you to discern how exactly you ought to price your own products or services.
Meanwhile, if their customers are showing disgruntlement with certain aspects of a competing business, you can identify such aspects and endeavour to make your firm especially appealing in these areas. Taking account of other firms can feed into wiser corporate decisions on your part.
Surround yourself with a competent team
King of Shaves is a great example of a British business success story. Founder Will King told Start Up Donut that much of his phenomenal success at the helm can be attributed to great staff.
How A Good Sales Team Can Improve Your Business
When considering how best to improve your business, there are many factors to examine—but one of the most essential is the quality of your sales team. As Entrepreneur points out, salespeople are “your front-line troops, the ones with the most daily contact with your customers”. The sales team has the essential job of promoting your business, and they may well be the first representatives of you that customers will encounter. Here are some reasons why a good sales team will help you make your business the best that it can be.
Colleague Unity
This is perhaps an obvious advantage, but an important one: a sales team that mesh well and are united in their work will leave the greatest impression upon customers. The Balance emphasises that a sales team with “positive attitudes [and a willingness] to support and to challenge others on the team” is a good sales team. If positivity, learning and support are fostered amongst your employees, then your sales team will grow in a thriving environment—and if your employees are happy and enthusiastic, your customers will most surely notice.
Driven to Succeed
As The Balance notes: “good sales teams are filled with professionals who simply make other members better. … No one on a team wants to be the weakest link and be the cause of the team missing their goals. Inspired by this, a good team is filled with professionals who strive to improve.” A good sales team would not only work well together; they would motivate and encourage one another to always do better, and be driven as a unit towards new heights of success. With the right blend of work ethic and the best sales training tips, a good sales team will always strive to work hard and deliver top-notch customer service.
Innovation
We at Frosch Learning have always believed that, no matter how good an employee is, “there is always potential for them to be even better”. In a discipline such as sales, which is ever-evolving and always seeking new ways to entice clients, that is even more relevant. Your fully trained sales team could be a gateway to fresh, innovative ideas, which “will drive sales, service, and delivery and increase confidence in both you and your employees”. Encouraging and inspiring innovation in your sales team could and will put your business on the map.
Customer Loyalty
The customer is always right, or so the old saying goes. Certainly, if a customer feels comfortable and well taken care of, they will feel right in showing loyalty to your business. Frosch Learning has commented before that “many of the hallmarks of good customer service—such as dealing with unhappy customers calmly and keeping in touch with customers—can go some way towards cultivating stronger loyalty in customers”. A sales team that is welcoming, informative and engaged will go further than perhaps anything else in encouraging customer trust. If the face representing your brand is a friendly one, and one that can and will offer the best possible service to the customer, then your business will become one that customers believe in.
Convincing Your Customers That Your Product Is Right For Them
Sales is a vocation in which “you often need to brush yourself off and keep on going”, according to Forbes. It is certainly true that, when prospecting potential customers, you must have a thick skin and a will of steel. Most of all, you must learn how best to approach a customer and convince them that your product is the one for them. Below we have compiled some ways to make sure that your pitch is perfect and that your sale will be successfully closed.
Connection
One of the glorious elements of working in sales, though it may not sound it, is the opportunity to interact with customers directly, even face-to-face. It might appear a daunting task—recent data suggests that less than a quarter of sales emails are opened, and it may take nearly twenty phone calls to reach a prospective customer—but being able to make a more personal connection to your customer may be the making of a successful sale. In being present and available, you open up a dialogue with your customer. You can converse with them, and they with you; and consequently you can modify your pitch to appeal personally to them.
The Pitch
Every salesperson should have a template of a pitch prepared to apply to any customer that they connect with, to relieve the pressure on themselves and to ensure that any essential information is shared with the customer. However, when communicating with specific clients, it should also be possible to alter your pitch slightly in order to suit the requirements of the customer. Buyers today have the means to research and educate themselves on products more than ever, which means that different customers may well come with different concerns and interest in different aspects of the product. In pitching a product, a salesperson should know their stuff, and be ready to answer any question and tackle any approach. As we at Frosch Learning have noted before, “[tailoring] your customer service will prove that you care about the customer’s wants and needs.” By taking an interest in your client, you can skilfully adapt your pitch to meet their needs, and foster a relationship with a potential returning customer.
Closing the Deal
When the time feels right, and the customer is pleased, you’re ready to close to deal. There are several sales closing techniques that can be learned and utilised, but the most important thing is confidence in yourself and your client. Maintain the open and personalised dialogue you have established with the customer as you negotiate this closing. Listening to the client, and alleviating any last concerns or doubts they have, is more necessary than ever here: letting them speak will mean that they begin the negotiation, and will reassure them that they are being heard. It is also important, after the initial discussion, to follow up with the customer later on; according to Forbes, as many as 80% of deals are made and finalised in the follow-up. Most of all, this shows the customer that you are reliable and dedicated to ensuring their satisfaction.
The most common customer service mistakes and how to avoid them
Working within the customer service industry can be a daunting career choice. With days filled with phone calls, friendly advice and marketing strategies, it is important to avoid as many mistakes as possible to make sure that the customer always comes first. Here are some of the most common customer service mistakes and how to ultimately avoid them.
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Improper Training Skills
The foundation of every business lies within its employees. However, should they not receive proper training, or have been funded to go on any business development courses, then it is more than likely the business will suffer from simple mistakes made by inexperienced employees. Keeping a customer on hold, not fully listening to customers, an arrogant attitude or not delivering on what was promised are the marks of untrained employee and will severely damage your customer relationship. However, there is also an easy solution to fixing these problems. Train your staff efficiently to show empathy and understanding towards your customers. Teaching your employees, either through business development courses or staff meetings, to react to a situation positively (and offering as much help as possible) will only increase the possibility of your customers returning to the company for more service.
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An Overflowing Inbox
Customers wish to be greeted with fast service and helpful advice and as a business becomes more popular, more customers may seek customer support on how to order products, report feedback or to inquire for more information. The worst thing that any customer service worker can do is to ignore these emails for extended periods of time. By not corresponding with a potential client within two days, this can lead to the customer feeling undervalued and ignored. To avoid this, and lose potential business, all make sure your inbox is almost empty by the end of the day. Try and respond to every client within two days, at the very latest.
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Customer Relationships
According to Whitney Johnson, a business analyst, ‘we make judgments [about other people] in a nanosecond.’ Thus, a friendly tone as well as offering rewards to a customer can influence a customer’s attitude when it comes to buying a product. Businesses without incentives for a customer can appear to be overly expensive without any extra added benefits to the customer. Try implementing a loyalty scheme for pre-existing customers. More than 82% of adults in America say that they are loyal to one brand. Thus, try and spend time on becoming a brand and household name. Your business is sure to gain more of a following that way.
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Complaints and Feedback
The worst thing an employee can do is shy away from complaints and feedback. How else is the company supposed to grow if these are ignored? Be sure to take any complaints in your stride and figure out if there are any reoccurring complaints. These will be key points to bring up at your next business meeting.
How To Overcome Tricky Challenges Posed By Clients
In business, no two days are the same. Every new sale and new customer will introduce its own unique set of advantages, considerations and challenges to be tackled. Here, we will take a look at some of the tricky challenges you might face from your clients, and how these can be overcome.
Open Mind, Open Heart
When going into the first interaction with a potential new client, the number one thing to remember is to keep your mind open and be prepared. Every client is different, and what worked with one will not necessarily be successful with the next; therefore, be ready to enter into an open, upfront discussion with your client, in order to best determine what they need and how you can help them achieve that. Mutual understanding, as Frosch Learning has previously determined, is key.
Communication and Community
A certain way of removing any roadblocks in your future dealings is to make sure you both know what the other is looking for and, if there is any problem, you can “directly tackle the issue rather than simply put your head in the sand”. Communicating with your client is absolutely essential, especially when facing difficult challenges: you not only need to understand each other’s goals, but also your limitations, and keep aware of where the other is in the process. We at Frosch have always recognised the importance of regular communication with clients. Not only will it keep open channels through which to tackle challenges together, but also it will foster a “customer community” that will ensure mutual respect and loyalty from your client base. In addition, a closer relationship, personalised to suit the client, will increase the likelihood of returning customers and benefit you in your interactions with them. Help Scout notes that having “flexibility to adapt and add [your] own personality” rather sticking to a pre-existing script will not only breed familiarity with your clients, but will give you the freedom to approach them more openly in tough situations and find solutions that satisfy you both.
Language Barriers
One of the most challenging scenarios that might be encountered in business is dealing with clients from overseas. Frosch Learning offers courses in export sales training, but there are few more daunting hurdles than the language barrier, which might require more training to overcome than many sales personnel are willing to do! However, there are ways to still establish good and open communication with clients abroad. Firstly, as recommended by Conversational, your message must be simplified in order to translate to everyone—“[whatever] you need to communicate to the customer can be stripped down to the bare essentials. … [Make] it your priority to use simple, short statements to communicate best with the customer.” In return, be prepared to stop and listen to the client at every turn, giving them the opportunity to communicate with you as well. Even then, you must remain attuned to any issue that may arise with your customer. As The Balance advises: “learn to read between the lines.”
Motivating Your Employees: Do’s And Don’ts
We at Frosch Learning know that a business is not a single unit but the sum of many parts—a living, breathing organism that, from the managers to the sales teams to the customers themselves, is working towards a common goal. So those in leadership positions must understand the importance of happy employees for a successful business. Our courses offer in-depth all the tools one would need to be the best manager possible, but here we will discuss some of the do’s and don’ts of motivating employees that leaders should make a note of.
Do: Create A Pleasant Environment
In both a literal sense and a social and personal one, a pleasant environment is essential to an employee’s comfort, drive and satisfaction in the workplace. As this article by Square says, having surroundings that are “aesthetically pleasing, well-lit, functional, and fun” will keep your employees relaxed and at ease while at work, with the right, up-to-date equipment and an atmosphere in which to thrive. Similarly, ensuring that your employees are happy, feel respected and well-treated, and have positive relationships with management and colleagues can only further contribute to an environment in which they can flourish and continue their hard work.
Do: Show Employees You Care
As stated above, a warm and welcoming working environment will do wonders for your employees’ motivation. In order to maximise productivity and output, it is an essential responsibility as a manager to relate to your employees and foster your business as a place of respect and consideration. This not only means taking into account business-wide policies and the satisfaction of all your employees but also looking at yourself and how you can create a good experience for your colleagues in the workplace. Forbes notes that“[as] leaders, we need to stay mindful of the examples we’re setting. Just physically being there, and being approachable, is a great start — but it extends to nearly every way you express yourself and your esteem for your employees.” To succeed in this, this ideally includes being approachable, giving employees opportunity to express their own thoughts, and giving them room to grow and progress in their own unique ways.
Don’t: Insist Only On Compliance
Harvard Business Review uses the metaphor of dangling a carrot from a stick to illustrate this next point: “Leaders are […] encouraged to rely on the carrot versus stick approach for motivation, where the carrot is a reward for compliance and the stick is a consequence for noncompliance. But when our sole task as leaders becomes compliance […] chances are we’re the only ones who will be motivated.” In other words, driving employees to do the most work rather than examining how they feel and how that affects the quality of their work may negatively affect your employees’ motivation. The carrot may force them onwards, but not forwards.
Don’t: Be Unforgiving With Mistakes
It is part and parcel of all facets of life that you will make mistakes—even if you’re the boss. As Frosch has commented before: “Accepting that individuals can make mistakes will promote more trust with your staff who may be struggling with an issue of their own, too.” The best thing we can do in the workplace is to always improve ourselves, together.
How to effectively manage relationships with your clients
Businesses utilise various means of attracting new clients. Many firms might attempt to hone their advertising techniques or polish their social media strategy. However, helpful though these methods can be, looking at the bigger picture entails considering existing clients, too.
After all, a current client can bring you much more profit than a new one, Small Business Trends observes. Here are some ways you can look after those clients for your firm's ultimate benefit.
Use a client's time wisely
Your clients are busy and so eager to squeeze as much as possible from what time they have. Therefore, they are unlikely to appreciate it if they believe you are wasting their time.
So, if a client expresses a wish to meet up with you, resist telling them simply to "drop by". They could too easily turn up when you are busy and so need to keep them waiting. Instead, invite them to schedule an appointment with you.
Keep meetings face-to-face as often as possible
Informing a client when there's a blunder can prove a crucial part of helping to preserve the health of your relationship with that client. However, you should hold off reaching for the phone and especially fire off an email, in which you could struggle to translate your feelings accurately.
Instead, you should - wherever possible - arrange a face-to-face chat with the client. This is also a good idea for meetings where you would be imparting good or indifferent news.
Give yourself time to develop credibility
You might find that a new client seems reticent during your first or second meeting with them; however, this is understandable when they aren't yet familiar with you.
Developing trust with this client isn't something you will be able to rush. Hence, be meticulous with every little thing you say to the client. Of course, you should also follow through what you tell the client you will do. Forbes notes that the personal touch does not replace "great work".
Respond as quickly as possible to clients' emails
The client might occasionally email you with a question to which you don't know the answer. However, you should still delay as little as possible in acknowledging the email. You might be able to find the answer for this client, given time; so, don't be afraid to tell them so.
The client will be comforted that you have acknowledged their request and shown at least a willingness to help.
Focus on clients who have previously helped you
Given the difficulty that attempting to win over a new client can pose, you might not be too surprised to see us emphasise your need to focus on existing clients.
However, you could go even further by targeting more of your promotional efforts specifically at those clients who regularly bring you the most business. Your sales staff could undertake Key Account Management training, where they can learn how to put such a principle into action. Call 020 3859 0707, and you can learn more about our KAM training offerings.
What qualities make a great team leader?
Think of great leaders and you probably quickly imagine Winston Churchill declaring "we shall fight on the beaches" during the War. You might also think of Queen Elizabeth I addressing troops with her now well-known "I have the body of a weak, feeble woman" speech before England's historic naval victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588.
You can probably quickly recall various other examples of great leaders in history - and here are a few examples of qualities that excellent leaders tend to share.
Ability to carefully and cautiously make decisions
What Churchill and Elizabeth particularly had in common was the ability to keep people's hopes up during tumultuous and uncertain times. Furthermore, despite those times, they remained capable of thinking rationally to ensure that they would make wise decisions.
Job-Interview-Site.com emphasises how well a team leader must make decisions. In fact, "extreme care and caution" should be exercised in the process, the site says.
An eye for the right people for the team
A leader isn't truly a leader without followers - and those followers should share the leader's corporate passion and vision, says Personnel Today.
When recruiting for your team, don't simply hire people who mirror your current workers' qualities. You would benefit better from putting together a varied team where individual employees can complement strengths and weaknesses of other team members.
The team should also receive training to update their skills. Don't overlook your need to develop yourself, either; we offer great leadership training opportunities.
Willingness to get stuck in with their team
Resist being the equivalent of a political leader who stays cooped up in an administrative room while all of the fighting is carried out by other people on a distant battlefield.
In business, you will not be respected as a leader unless you are willing to get involved in the same kind of work as the rest of your team.
Ability to set a good example
Here is another way in which you can attract the kind of respect fitting of a good leader: acting as an example of how the overall team should perform and behave.
Admittedly, the world is so fast-paced that, in the attempt to set an example, you might struggle to get it strongly noticed by many of your team's members. However, the onus remains on you to try - whether you are demonstrating how the others should work, make decisions, or do something else.
Willingness to take calculated risks
Sometimes, you might see opportunities that are gaping but would also require you to take risks. By carefully weighing up what you could potentially gain or lose from taking these risks, you could better assess whether you should go ahead with doing so.
Even a risk doesn't pay off like you had hoped, just learn from the mistake and move on. By phoning us on 020 3859 0707, you could learn about the staff training courses that we offer and could assist you in reducing the probability of failure with your risk-taking.