March 21, 2012
How’s Your Sales Team Really Doing?
BY John Paul Narowski IN Sales and Marketing
Teams must work together in order to succeed. A manager’s job is to help their team become successful through guidance and understanding. It is not about control. Together, managers and associates work together through communication to reach their goals.
The truth is that many managers have concern for how their team is functioning. They view their efforts from outside or above the situation, seeing how things work without always understanding how things work. Only once you’ve asked questions, discussed, and seen for yourself can you truly understand how effective your team is.
Communicating with your team
If you can’t achieve effective communication, you will fall short of your management duties, and your team won’t function as a whole.
Rather than demanding your team do what you tell them, consider asking what they think may be necessary to become more productive. Often times, there are small differences which can affect success. These differences can’t always be seen from above, and instead can only be discovered through discussion and communication.
Your team sees these differences every day through their work habits, and understand what functions can help them be successful – their input is vital and valuable.
Team meetings
Be sure that your meeting is a two-way street. Avoid simply saying “no” to advice or communication. Nothing will shut down the lines of communication faster than feeling devalued and unheard.
When you give the reason for your “no,” you help them understand where you are coming from and give them a reason to stay on the right track. Team meetings are events that need to work, in all elements, to bring the team together, and not simply be a “pep” talk.
Communicating between sales associates and sales management
Open communication channels are vital to your success as a small business owner leading a sales team (or sales person) or a sale manager. Work your team as though it were a “think tank” rather than workers performing tasks. They can come up with new methods or ideas that can speed up or advance productivity.
Growing with your team
Communicating with your team helps everyone in the group operates as one smooth working engine that achieves and understand far more than otherwise possible. This allows you to adapt before problems arise. These problems can be economical, trend issues, or even productivity problems that can present debilitating situation later down the road.
Sometimes we find that the communication breakdown happens from crazy busy schedules where the owner or sales manager has just run out of enough day to communicate what it is they need, what needs to be adjusted or even how the sales team can be even more helpful and productive. Consider putting some great systems in place that will aid in streamlining your daily functions so you can focus on things that are “closer to the dollar” – things like a well armed, informed and motivated sales team. Utilize systems that don’t require additional thought or energy to create and can deliver a checklist of activities that will produce results. Perhaps start with how you manage your client’s contact information?
Teams must work together in order to succeed. A manager’s job is to help their team become successful through guidance and understanding. It is not about control. Together, managers and associates work together through communication to reach their goals.
The truth is that many managers have concern for how their team is functioning. They view their efforts from outside or above the situation, seeing how things work without always understanding how things work. Only once you’ve asked questions, discussed, and seen for yourself can you truly understand how effective your team is.
Communicating with your team
If you can’t achieve effective communication, you will fall short of your management duties, and your team won’t function as a whole.
Rather than demanding your team do what you tell them, consider asking what they think may be necessary to become more productive. Often times, there are small differences which can affect success. These differences can’t always be seen from above, and instead can only be discovered through discussion and communication.
Your team sees these differences every day through their work habits, and understand what functions can help them be successful – their input is vital and valuable.
Team meetings
Be sure that your meeting is a two-way street. Avoid simply saying “no” to advice or communication. Nothing will shut down the lines of communication faster than feeling devalued and unheard.
When you give the reason for your “no,” you help them understand where you are coming from and give them a reason to stay on the right track. Team meetings are events that need to work, in all elements, to bring the team together, and not simply be a “pep” talk.
Communicating between sales associates and sales management
Open communication channels are vital to your success as a small business owner leading a sales team (or sales person) or a sale manager. Work your team as though it were a “think tank” rather than workers performing tasks. They can come up with new methods or ideas that can speed up or advance productivity.
Growing with your team
Communicating with your team helps everyone in the group operates as one smooth working engine that achieves and understand far more than otherwise possible. This allows you to adapt before problems arise. These problems can be economical, trend issues, or even productivity problems that can present debilitating situation later down the road.
Sometimes we find that the communication breakdown happens from crazy busy schedules where the owner or sales manager has just run out of enough day to communicate what it is they need, what needs to be adjusted or even how the sales team can be even more helpful and productive. Consider putting some great systems in place that will aid in streamlining your daily functions so you can focus on things that are “closer to the dollar” – things like a well armed, informed and motivated sales team. Utilize systems that don’t require additional thought or energy to create and can deliver a checklist of activities that will produce results. Perhaps start with how you manage your client’s contact information?
I’ve been hacking at various business ideas since I was 16. I’m a full stack developer and love crafting user experiences. I’ve been nose deep in code since I put the legos down, and built several successful businesses in the process. I’ve lost some hair, gained some experience and throughly enjoyed the journey.
