If sales energy is sagging, consider this: When things get “tough”, many sales people tend to sink below their natural capacity.
Biggest reason?
- No connection to what they are doing or why
- The view of the future is “more of the same”
These two alone are guaranteed to slow any group. Just imagine being on a bus trip and not knowing where the bus is headed. How much involvement could you generate? For how long?
Would you want to ask, “Are we there yet?” What if the bus ride was approaching, say, three years in duration? How long would you stay on that ride?
That bus suffers from a lack of purpose, focus or vision. Call it what you want, the fact is, when your sales people can’t get enthused about what is possible, they will sink.
Help the sales team revisit the idea of having a vision. It is the best antidote for more of the same, work-a-day routines that lead nowhere.
Sales people need vision more than any other group in the company. If they have it, all the other departments will follow.
An easy way to start the process is to identify a small number of areas where you need action or want improvement. Just focus on the action wanted.
A sales team may want to determine:
- What changes would help to be twice as effective in getting new accounts over the next six months?
- How could the company triple customer service by the combined efforts of administration, engineering and sales?
- How could lead time on quotes be improved in the coming week?
The principle behind this is that when you as leader insist on being focused on possibility, things have a way of improving. Sounds simple, it is not. It requires sustained direction from the leader.
The point is to get your people together (all of them) and decide three fundamental questions:
- How good can we become?
- What are we already doing very well?
- Where do we want change in order to be the best in this business?
This is the beginning of actions that inspire a sales group. It really is not all that difficult, and generated by the very people on the bus. Try it in one small area of the sales department, small steps at first.
This all becomes a lot easier when you remember that the purpose of having a vision is to be inspired, inspired to choose something to work on, to make it part of your business, and to let it pull you forward.
Now you know what to do on this bus trip!
Send your comments.. How do you manage a sinking, low energy sales force?
