Sales Management Doesn’t Have to be the Hardest Part of Your Job
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
Are you experiencing any of these common sales problems?
- Not hitting your sales goals
- Blaming your sales people for missing revenue goals
- Increased customer complaints
- High staff turnover
- Production and/or inventory problems
The good news is, you are not alone. You also don’t have to continue to function this way. These four steps will help get rid of the frustration so you can get back to doing what you do best within your organization.
4 Steps to Sales Success
1) Set Goals
Your first step is to set meaningful sales goals. However, if you don’t have the correct information in front of you this can be a hit or miss exercise. Begin by getting to know your customers and collect all the information you can get your hands on. Armed with this information, you will begin to identify the holes in your sales strategy and where there are potential opportunities.
2) Establish Process
What is your sales team’s current process? Take best practices from each of your salespeople and create a process that all of your sales reps can follow. But don’t stop with the sale—you need to take this process all the way through the customer experience. Then you will be able to manage production and inventory and become more proactive rather than reactive.
3) Determine Roles and Responsibilities
Often salespeople feel like they are on an island—they have to eat what they kill and hope that the product/service is delivered in a satisfactory way. If it isn’t, they are powerless to do anything about it. However, if everyone from frontline staff through to invoicing or installing knows their role in the customer experience, then they can begin to see their value and contribute to it. This has a positive impact on your bottom line and, more importantly, to your company brand.
4) Create Accountability
Without accountability, your goals, process, and roles and responsibilities are merely a suggestion. Set regular meetings with agendas that review your goals and processes, and hold people accountable for doing their jobs. Celebrate successes and make sure that each person understands their contribution when goals are hit. Positive feedback will reinforce your process and make it easier to hit your goals in the future.
Once you have successfully implemented the four steps above, you will:
- Hit your sales goals
- Reduce customer complaints and increase customer satisfaction
- Better manage production and/or inventory
- Hire the right sales people who are successful and happy with your company
- Know exactly where your sales are coming from and where to go to get more
Just do it! It can be scary to think about implementing everything above. Sometimes you just need the right partners. We are here to help if you need us.
