If you are a sales leader or a CEO with a sales team you may be thinking why do I have to meet with them regularly? Surely, they are salespeople they can go and do what they need to and win business without me.
Let me tell you, it doesn’t work like that. In this short blog I will share with you my MIST approach which, as a sales leader or CEO, you can use to ensure that your sales team meet with you regularly to get the right support and help they need to go and deliver incredible results.
Sales is the lifeblood of any business. When I talk to business owners about where their companies are going, I get two types of responses:
- That they are booming and scaling; or
- That they are bumbling along and just getting by.
When I talk to people about why they feel they are bumbling along, the common trend is that they don’t meet regularly enough with their sales team. Here are four reasons as to why it is important.
MOTIVATE THEM
Good sales managers and good CEOs are able to motivate people. They’re able to encourage and give their team support and self-belief to achieve what they need to. Most salespeople are comfortable with what they are doing, but having extra motivation and inspiration from the people they work with is critical.
- You could:
meet with them on a regular basis; - if they hit a target by a certain time, get them some wine or a voucher; or
- just spend some time with them – share a story on how you have overcome a difficult time. It might be relatable to them and how they might be feeling right now.
Motivation is one of those things we have to get into the habit of doing regularly. If you can fulfil this critical factor, you’ll be doing a brilliant job as a sales leader.
INFORM THEM
Meet with your sales team and tell them what’s actually going on in the business. Ask them what they’re seeing in the marketplace with the prospects they’re talking to.
Salespeople are the spear of the arrow – they’re out there, talking to potential clients, talking to customers and talking to people in the industry. The information that they have is gold!
You has a resource that has first-hand access and ability to see what trends are happening. If you don’t meet your team regularly and get this feed of information back, you’re missing out and potentially wasting a huge amount of time and enerty.
Informing your team also enables you to share with your team about what new services are coming down the line, or what other things have happened in different areas, that could be useful for them to know about.
Two-way communication is critical. How do you communicate with your team about what’s happening and the latest news? Are they empowered for when they have conversations with prospects?
Use your regular meetings to feed information and inform them of everything that’s happening. This will help them stay motivated and keep everyone on the same hymn sheet.
SUPPORT THEM
Currently, there is a shortage of high-quality of salespeople I’m seeing roles change on a regular basis because the management is failing to give the salespeople the support they need.
- The type of support they need is going to be different depending on the people in your team:
they may need personal support: they may be going through a tough time; or - they may need operational support with tasks they may be struggling with.
Their job is to be at the front of the company, taking your message out to people. How can they do that if you’re not giving them the support they need?
If you think support isn’t needed in sales, you’ve forgotten that everyone on your team is a human being, and everyone needs some support to grow, develop and feel good about what you are doing.
When someone feels supported (and they know the company has their back), they can go out there and make a real impact! Focus on having those meetings so you can support your sales team.
A simple question I always used to ask of my teams was, “What are the things that are getting in your way to achieving [goal], and how can I help you?”.
Focus on supporting your team, and the rest will fall into place.
TRAIN THEM
At 87 years old, Michelangelo said he was still learning.
Sales meetings are a perfect opportunity to train your team on new ideas and different techniques. You may even want to bring in a sales trainer to support the team.
Whomever you bring in, or whether you train in-house, use those meetings to upskill your team.
- Maybe there is a new outbound prospecting technique you want to talk to them about?
- Could you use your meeting to role-play different scenarios to practice objection handling?
Meeting regularly enables you to put aside time for training. What can you do to help them and add value to what they’re doing, and learn new skills that can help them win business? All these learnings will reflect well on you and everyone will be happy.
MIST is a great method to use when it comes to thinking about your sales teams and why you should be meeting regularly.
How often you meet depends on the sales situations that you’ve got and it depends on where your sales team are based, either from the office or from home. If you want to discuss how often you should meet your team reach out to me at james@thesbsa.com.
The key thing I encourage you to do is put time in the diary to meet with them and one final tip is to actually do the meetings at the start of the month, or quarter, not at the end.
Having meetings when they are busy trying to hit numbers doesn’t really work, do those meetings at the start of the month so they can start the month or quarter ready to be on the path to success.
Outstanding sales cultures smash targets and support growth. The problem is that so many CEO's and leaders struggle to build and cultivate one.
Outstanding sales cultures smash targets and support growth.
The problem is that so many CEO’s and leaders struggle to build and cultivate one.
This scorecard will enable you to:
- Review which areas of your culture is thriving and which need improvement.
- Prioritise key areas to build a sales culture that stands the test of time.
- Gain practical tips you can embed immediately to shift your culture in a short space of time.
