Checklist to Help Your Sales Team Grow

Checklist to Help Your Sales Team Grow

Sales is a challenging profession. In many companies, the average tenure of a salesperson is less than two years. With so much turnover in the industry, it’s necessary for sales managers to not only hire good people but also develop them for success.

Raphael Sternberg provides a list of principles and tasks that will help any sales team grow and succeed. Whether you’re leading or managing one person or 1,000, these tools will take you to the next level of excellence.

To Help Your Team Grow, Follow These 4 Steps:

1. Know Your Metrics

Sales managers are like quarterbacks. It’s their job to lead, inspire, and direct their team to victory. One key to being a good leader is knowing what you’re aiming for and how each team member contributes toward that goal. Make sure you know your sales numbers, including who is on top of their quota, who needs more training, who is new and needs time to adjust, etc. It will help you understand the overall health of your team and how to allocate resources among employees.

2. Create a Vision

Everyone on your team knows what they are doing and what they are for, but no one has a clear idea of how the sales process will end. Having everyone on board (or at least knowing what they are for) is only part of the process. Everyone also needs to have a clear vision: A shared understanding of how your team will successfully achieve its goal. It includes knowing who you are as an individual, where you want to be as an organization, and where you want your company to be in five years.

3. Push Forward Together

Whether it’s asking someone to improve, giving praise, or accepting blame, you have to be accountable for your part in achieving your company’s vision. In other words, you have to take responsibility for being a good leader. It does not mean there are never disagreements on how sales should be managed, but conflicts are bound to happen. The key is to keep them from getting in the way of accomplishing your team’s goal. Everyone will achieve more if they push forward with the same focus, consistency, and purpose.

4. Embrace Your Team

Feedback is necessary for both reflection and growth. Each team member also needs to know they can ask you questions or speak their mind when necessary. Dissatisfaction can come from within if employees need help understanding the vision, feel unsupported and never get the feedback they need. If personal relationships are essential to you, be sure to show appreciation for each team member’s efforts and go above and beyond in demonstrating that appreciation.

If you want to be a good leader and develop a winning team, it’s time to get on board with Raphael Sternberg‘s ideas. If you follow these four steps, your team can see the vision from start to finish and understand what they are for in achieving that goal.