New year, new habits that will improve your “sales-health”…

I love coffee and I live in Seattle, therefore it was very easy for me to develop my coffee habit. Grabbing a cup of coffee on my way to work is “normal course of business”. I am a double tall non-fat latte guy and I am not a fan of the “flavor of the month”.

My mentor, years ago, told me that if you are going to build something, build it World Class. World Class sales reporting, takes business system adoption. World Class sales process, takes training. World Class sales recognition programs, takes commitment. World Class sales talent reviews, take dedication. World Class sales compensations plans, take coordination. World Class sales organization, takes execution of the plan, every day of every week.

Now that we have moved into a new year, it is time to form some new habits. Research says that it takes on average 66 days to form a new habit, so lets get started. What can a sales organization do to help their sales team develop desirable habits?

Commit to the process: It starts on day 1 and you need to set expectations. If you need sales folks to use the CRM tool daily, then sales management must monitor the usage of the CRM tool daily. Make it easy, set up a dashboard so sales management can see when their sales team last logged on to the system or how many visits they made yesterday. You must have this type of discipline to do things right and you must have a commitment of sales leadership.

Normal course of business: Be more consistent, avoid “flavor of the month” directions to your sales team. While special requests are needed at times, it should not be the norm. Create the plan and define what is necessary and normal for your sales team to do their job. As an example: If you have a sales process, then a discussion around a sales opportunity should be within the framework of that sales process, every time. Communicate and train your sales team on what is expected of them on a daily or weekly basis (and why).

Fabric of the sales organization: You must be proactive and develop useful reports and programs that support your plan and motivate your sales team. The goal is that the reporting and programs will be credible to your sales team and will help drive them to execute THE plan. A few items that you may want to weave into your fabric:

1. Daily sales reporting and/or timely reporting on sales contest are key recognition drivers that should have your sales team’s focus and should be part of the sales culture.
2. Regular/quarterly talent reviews covering all areas of a sales persons responsibility should be held, giving sales folks constructive feedback on areas, expectations, other then the attainment of quota. These reviews should also be part of the sales culture and welcomed by your sales team.

Are you ready to make it easy for your sales team to develop desired habits? Start today and set clear expectations. Let them know what is necessary and normal for them to do every day. Develop high-value reporting and practical programs that help measure and reward those that have accepted your challenge to create the new, more effective habits and contribute to attaining a new level of “sales healthiness” …and I’m going for a “fresh cuppa joe…double de-caff”.

By:

Jim Williams, M.B.A.
Total Innovation Group Inc., Associate

and

Sam O’Rear, M.A.
Total Innovation Group Inc., Senior Partner

Published by TIGI