Your sales team is only as good as the weakest person and the success of your startup largely depends on the strength of your sales team. Therefore, as a founder it is important to spend some time with your sales team and ensure they are firing on all cylinders. Managing a high-performing sales team is largely about watching metrics and identifying early who and how people are underperforming.
From my own experience, there are 2 things you need to do to create and focus a high-performing sales team.
1) Touch Base daily
Sales teams should be high-energy and fast-paced. The quickest way to set this cadence within your team is by connecting and communicating with them every day.
Daily catchups should be largely focused on key metrics. The goal is to measure a lot and measure frequently. Some of the key metrics to focus on are the number of connections or appointments, the total booked value, average sale value, new opportunities, win rate and year over year growth.
2) Start keeping score
Your sales team are going to be highly competitive. People don’t tend to last long in sales without a strong competitive attitude. Gamifying your sales metrics is a great way to engage your sales force in some friendly competition. Investing in a scoreboard or an interactive dashboard to track key metrics is the perfect solution.
The dashboard needs to provide your sales team with immediate daily results and feedback but also how those results then contribute to the longer-term monthly, quarterly, and annual results. However, make sure it is specific to your strategic goals and culture within your organisation.
TAKEAWAY: Your sales team are responsible for a large part of your business’s success. If the sales team are not motivated and engaged then it can have a severe impact.
Keeping regular contact with your team and creating friendly competition between the sales reps is an effective way to drive results and build a strong results-driven culture in your team.