You’ve been in the business a while so you understand what it takes to be successful. To hit the sales numbers, people need to increase their volume. A certain number of calls, appointments, and proposals logistically equal an on-target month.
Because you have CallProof, you see how many of these actually happen each day with each sales person. If someone has a bad day, you can jump right in there and tell them to get their act together and their numbers up, right? Wrong.
The best managers fight the urge to micromanage, knowing the best results come when they don’t.
The Data
Managers need to understand what their sales team does each day. To understand each salesperson’s day, you need a tool that shows you their calls, visits, emails, and location. A real-time update of this information paints a relatively clear picture of each person’s probable success.
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For example, it’s 2:22 p.m. in Nashville when I look at the data for my new sales guy. I should see that he’s talked to about 15 companies, followed up with another 20 to 30 people, and made a couple of proposals in today’s activity. However, if I see he only had one meeting and made three calls, I know he’s off track.
My gut reaction (as a micromanaging sales manager) is to call this guy and say, “What the HECK are you doing?!” and proceed to chew him out for being a terrible salesperson. This will only leave him thinking, “My boss is such a tyrant. Little does he know, I’ve been trying to close a deal all morning.” or “Seriously?! I’m stuck in this sales training that he requires me to take.”
Sometimes there’s a legitimate excuse for bad data. Numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. Great leaders use data as a launching point to discover the truth of what happens each day. They don’t rely on the data as the truth itself.
The Approach
Beating up your sales team for less than stellar numbers won’t get you anywhere. Instead, approach your salespeople with an attitude of encouragement, not belittlement. With these four tactics, you can expect improvement in your sales team’s success.
1. Get Your Salesperson Talking
Use data to know when to check in. If you see that a team member has low numbers for the day, call and say, “How is your day going? What do you think are your biggest challenges this week with getting appointments?” You want to get the salesperson to talk. If he is unmotivated, he knows it. You don’t have to tell him, but your awareness may help him get back on track. If he’s just had a hiccup in the day, you’ve given him the opportunity to tell you about it.
2. Teach Activity
As time goes on, you can help your sales team understand that higher activity equals more success. You can do that by engaging with people one on one. Maybe you say, “I’m so excited that you’re hustling it up. On Friday, let’s go through your calls from the week and talk about your meetings to see what’s working for you and what’s not.” In that setting, you can then address any issues you’ve seen based on his activity reports.
3. Model Selling
Sometimes a more hands-on approach is necessary. If so, call your struggling salesperson and suggest, “Hey, let’s go on some calls tomorrow. Do you mind meeting me at 8:00? We’re going to go and visit some people. ” Then, you get to teach him how to tackle appointments first hand.
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4. Motivate (Don’t Intimidate)
As a sales manager, you’re there to help your team sell. Scare tactics and intimidation won’t help your team improve their pitch or up their numbers. All it does is create stress and, if anything, hinders performance. Encouragement, however, will raise your team’s confidence and sales numbers.
CallProof provides you with strong data. You can use it to micromanage each employee and eek out sales, but your results exponentially multiply if you use it to revitalize your team. Identify the unmotivated and then encourage them through positive interaction. Make that the number one goal and improvement is inevitable.
