Are your sales team thinking there are lots of opportunities, lots of business behind those doors or are they rocking gently in a corner?
“As IMF alarm bells ring, Australia is stuck between inflation and a looming global recession. ‘The IMF is now predicting Australia’s economy in 2023 and 2024 will grow by less than 2% each year”.
As headlines like this emerge, it may become clear it’s the first time you and your team have faced the challenge of inflation.
What can you do to support them and help them navigate positively and successfully through these times?
PREPARATION
What can you do to prepare your team?
Mindset
Your team need to know more than ever that there is enough business out there. The ole sayings ‘the early bird gets the worm, no such thing as luck etc may all come into play. Frankly, this is now about about how to roll your sleeves up and dig in.
Sales Strategy
Do you team have a strategy? For growth? One for existing accounts (protecting and developing) and for new accounts (acquisition)? Do they map this out with you? Do they stick to it? Is it well thought out and considered? Does it allow for variables in the market? Do they own it? (Did they write it with you, so they are part of it?).
ARE YOU INCREASING YOUR PRICES?
More than ever, an increase in price (totally expected) needs careful explanation to your sales team. They need to know how, why, when and how to positively deliver this news to their clients. If you start with ‘unfortunately we have to.. ‘ then it’s game over my friend. I know that might be tempting, but it needs to be done as a business transaction. You need to focus your time on positive sales stories and great outcomes for clients, reminding your team of what they sell, and the outcome to that client. It’s an oldie but a goodie – ‘WIIFT’ (for you younger folk that’s ‘What’s In It For Them’).
This is especially true if your team have known their client for ages and is in the ‘mateship’ phase (worst case – siding with the client pointing the finger at your business).
IN THE TRENCHES
Do you see clients?
As a sales leader do you tread the patch? Are you on the phone? Are you aware of the questions your clients (and potential clients) are asking? Are you aware of the challenges your team are facing every day? If your job has moved to being more a manager balancing out targets, pipelines and recruiting and onboarding, it’s time to get out. Your team need you to know what’s out there. They need an empathetic ear and support.
Objections
This is the number one thing you can help your team with, taking them on a journey from:
a) what objection/challenge/roadblock may come up
b) how they can respond (they choose to lean in, embrace it, see it as a call for education) (or they panic – hence you need to train them).
WEEKLY MEETINGS
Keep them honest, but not doom and gloom. Recognise those individuals who may derail a meeting, let them have their air time with you before the weekly meeting, allowing them the space to get off their chest about their issues whilst you coach them.
Incorporate development sessions, such as 30 minutes a week on development. The team can run this, each choosing a topic picking a blog, podcast, webinar, masterclass or anything they felt was of value. Have them email it out to everyone so there is a run-up of a week to watch it then discuss it, sharing insights comments and questions. This might be the best use of 30 minutes each week your team has. This is when they evolve their skills. It also sets a positive team environment around learning and elopement (after all even Tiger Woods has a coach)! So we can always learn – from everyone.
BE CREATIVE
I remember when expenses at my old company were cut. A bunch of salespeople who lunched and spent freely went into freefall. You would have thought the army was moving in. Â Some of us just got creative. I swapped Opera house drinks with a show ($500) for a picnic in the Botanical gardens (food from home, $30, couldn’t claim it back). What I found over that time is the reps who relied on expenses had a significant drop in business the following 6 months. It was very damaging, Â but some of us gained better ground than normal as we were required to think and make something really valuable. We also took it more seriously and so made each meeting count. We also, dare I say it, really got to know our clients. Remove alcohol and a show and suddenly you know their family, dog, likes and dislikes. I think that was the best 6 months of relationship-building I had.
TRAIN YOUR TEAM
If there is a time to invest in the team’s growth, it’s when times are tough. They need to be polished in every area of sales – how to open doors, how to build and maintain relationships, how to be effective, and proactive, how to motivate themselves daily. Learn resilience, emotional intelligence, objections, how to drive growth and how to sustain upward momentum.
Underperforming teams lose their mojo, get negative, lose heart, and question their abilities – whereas resilient prepared teams have a culture of learning and development, they lean into and embrace challenges and see this time as a phase to conquer, their mindset and resilience is strong and their figures hold fast.
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