WE DON'T HAVE A CONSISTENT SALES MODEL FOR ALL OUR TEAM TO USE

WE DON'T HAVE A CONSISTENT SALES MODEL FOR ALL OUR TEAM TO USE

Is this happening in your business?

Scenario:
You are finding that different members of the team are getting different results. You have tried to form a cohesive sales model, but this is proving very difficult. It’s creating strain on the business and impacting the workplace culture.

Are you at risk of:

  • The business relying on luck rather than judgement?

  • A lumpy cashflow, which makes it difficult to predict, plan, and invest in key areas for growth?

Here is what you can do:

Like many areas in business, it’s so important to build a measurable and coherent process for your team to follow and progress with.

The British Olympic Cycling team revolutionised the sport with this concept of marginal gains theory, where a 1% improvement in a host of tiny areas over time, resulted in extraordinary outcomes. In their case, it won them 16 gold medals over 2 Olympic games!

Below are some simple steps that you can follow to build a working sales process.

1. Teamwork makes the dream work

I know, we’ve heard it all before a million times before. But teamwork really does make the dream work. You want for your team to be progressing as a group. Yes, you will always get some high achievers that surpass the progress rate of others, but no man should be left behind to struggle.

Encourage your team to look out for their colleagues and offer a helping hand when asked. This is a great way to form those positive working relationships that make for a nurturing working environment.

While each member of the team should still be taking ownership of their successes, a collaborative method will enable you to form an aligned sales team with a higher overall return than one ‘favourite’ could bring alone.

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2. Define the perfect process with one of your best customers and document the steps

You want your sales process to be a compass for your team, guiding them through the stages of turning prospects into customers. Having a standardized process will allow for less experienced employees to get to grips with these stages quickly and seamlessly and make the learning process that bit easier.

Look at your successful salespeople as resources for your team to learn and grow from. People often learn more effectively when they have examples to refer from.

Celebrating those positive role models will give other colleagues a successful roadmap to follow. 

Companies that deliver on consistency will have natural leaders that demonstrate model behaviour for others to learn from. However, you want to be mindful not to put too much weight on the ‘sales star’ as you may end up relying on them too much. The process also won’t be scalable or adaptable if everyone follows their own method.

3. Roll out that process with team members

  • Put your sales process into action as soon as possible to see how it applies in person.
  • Establish some level of accountability, holding the team responsible for successful execution.


Try to always be running the process through a feedback loop, where you redefine your methods based on how they are received by the clients. Never be afraid to make changes or update something. If the data points in a certain direction, follow it. The more focussed the feedback, the easier you’ll find it to identify winning strategies and separate these from the ineffective ones.

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Having these fundamentals will drive a repeatable process for the whole team. As the ‘front line’ of your business, you want to be ensuring that the sales team maintain and represent your brand image

4. Mentor and support them with the skills they need

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Supporting your sales team and building on their skillset will be key to company progression. Offer your team growth opportunities when you can, to broaden their skills and tighten up on their sales approach.

Try to give your employees the space to come forward and pilot new ways they believe they can grow professionally. Assigning growth budgets to your team members could be a great way to get them proactively thinking about how they can better themselves as salespeople. Whether it’s an online sales course they want to sign up to, or perhaps a book they want to read, your investment in them will translate into an overall investment into your company.

Workshops are another great way to broaden the sales skillset. If you can make them interactive, even better! People often learn best when they can get involved and put things into motion.

5. Measure and review the process regularly

Reviewing the process regularly will allow you to make those necessary changes and ultimately tailor the plan to fit the needs of your sales team. Observing employees at work is a great way for you to determine if the new process works in practice, not just theory. If you can identify areas that need refining, have that conversation with the employee and look to implement those changes.

Keeping on top of the team’s success indicators will allow you to identify if your approach is working or needs some attention. Performance metrics will help you to identify the areas that need work and allow you to build on these, whether that’s a conversation with management to find a better method, or a conversation with the sales team to remind them of key steps in the process.

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Your sales process should always be evolving as you find more effective ways to move customers through the pipeline. Consider the customer touchpoints and look at what potentially moved them to the next stage. Was it that the sales rep targeted their specific pain points and offered a solution? Or was it the personalized customer service that led them to closing the deal? Knowing what worked and why is worked is crucial to forming a consistent sales model.

Doing this will enable you to figure out the process over time, and build the consistency you want.

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