Individual and Sales Team Coaching

Running an effective sales team is one of the biggest challenges that organisations face.  The best salespeople are often not the easiest of people to manage.  I remember when it often felt like trying to herd cats.

 

It has also become even more challenging, due to the changing landscape of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Many organisations have found that sustaining consistent sales has been almost impossible, due to the volatile climate and volatile customer buying habits.  But it is possible to attain consistency and growth – because the only thing that produces inconsistent results, is inconsistent actions.

 

When I first started running my own sales team, I would hear lots of stories about all the big deals that were going to come in.  Naively, I took this information at face value, thinking that at the end of the month, everything would be okay and I could trust what people told me.  More often than not, those deals failed to come in, and I would be left pulling my hair out and doing the worst thing I could possibly do – blaming my sales team.  Don’t misunderstand – I’m not saying that they didn’t have their share of responsibility for the poor results – but I was the one buying into their stories because it was more convenient for me to believe them than to go through the long and arduous task of working out what was really going on and fixing it.

 

The only thing that produces inconsistent results, is inconsistent actions

 

Producing results in sales does require some basic sales skills.  BUT, it is not the most important thing.  Let’s be clear – results in sales are primarily about one thing, and one thing only – consistent actions.  Understanding your numbers is key.  A salesperson can have the best rapport-building skills, be the best objection handler or close like a pro, but if she doesn’t understand her numbers, she’s destined for failure.

 

A key part of my work is about helping the sales manager or business owner, understand this principle and implement it into the team and into the business, so that consistency and growth can be achieved.  I know it works because I’ve done it myself in my own companies and in others.