The 7 Principles that underpin a successful high performing sales team!

In my experience there are 7 principles that underpin a successful high performing sales team.

They are often missing when I start to work with an underperforming sales team and my mission is ensure they are firmly in place by the end of my training programmes.

I’m going to give you an overview of each one today then dive deeper into each one in later blogs.

Ready? Here we go…

1. Care about each of your sales people as individuals

The most successful Sales Leaders realise that you must take a holistic view with sales people. Each one is different and needs a different approach that suits them. Research by Harvard shows that happier sales people generate 37% more sales. Giving your sales team the sales skills they need simply isn’t enough anymore. You have to care about them as a human being too!

2. Value and nurture what they already do well

Acknowledging their positive traits and allowing them to do more of what they do best increases their confidence, happiness and sales performance. The positive psychological impact of firstly, you noticing…and secondly, personally acknowledging them pays huge dividends.

3. Coaching your sales team increases their skills and mindset

Your sales people may need your help identifying gaps in their performance. Coaching is the No.1 way to develop a high performing sales team. Telling them how to fix something or suggesting what they should do next time kills their ability to find solution for themselves. A TELLING culture is one of the biggest barriers to sales success….and please note that suggesting is still telling!

4. Build their self-belief and confidence

Without self-belief and confidence, the best sales skills trainer in the world will fail to deliver what you want. It’s all very well knowing HOW to do something…if you don’t believe you can do it…you WON’T! How many of your sales people are not doing activities they know how to do? The evidence is in every sales team. Sales success is less about sales skills and more about Sales Mindset! A less skilled sales person with a great attitude will always outperform a very skilled sales person with a poor mindset.

5. Cultivate pride in their role and the value they deliver to their customers

Sales hasn’t got the same level of prestige as many other skilled professions. Sad but true. Thankfully that’s changing but I still come across sales professionals that when asked what they do by friends will give them a fancy title that doesn’t make it clear they are in sales!

Focusing your sales team on the positive impact of what they do in the world increases their pride…and their sales. If you can link these to personal values, it’s even more powerful.

6. Taking responsibility for their results

Sales people are very good at coming up with reasons and excuses for poor performance. Playing the BLAME game makes THEM and sometimes YOU too feel better about WHY. Creating a culture where sales people learn from situations that don’t go their way…and improve their performance based on these learnings get’s rid of a blame culture. My favourite question when I get a reason or an excuse for lack of sales is…So what are you going to do about that?

7. Make it FUN

We spend so much time working so the more enjoyable you make it the more your sales team will bond, support each other, go the extra mile and exceed their sales targets.

So how are you doing on these 7 principles?

Celebrate the ones that you already have in place…and commit to improving the weak or absent ones.

Until next time,

Leigh