The first step in building a great sales culture is to evaluate your team.  As a sales development expert and trainer, I learned long ago that simply throwing a new sales contest or a new training program at your sales team will have little impact unless you start by looking at what you are dealing with.  Whether you use our evaluation or someone else’s, here are the questions you need to answer up front:

• How Does Sales Leadership Impact Your Sales Force?
• What Are Your Current Sales Capabilities?
• How Motivated Are Your Salespeople and How Are They Motivated?
• Can Your Sales Team Generate More New Business?
• Can Your Team Be Better at Reaching Actual Decision Makers?
• Can You Shorten Your Sales Cycle?
• Can Your Team Sell More Consultatively?
• Is Your Team Selling on Price and Who Can Become a Value Seller?
• Is Your Value Proposition Consistent?
• Can Your Team Close More Sales?
• Do Your Systems and Processes Support a High Performance Sales Organization?
• Can Your Team Be More Consistent with Your Sales Process?
• How Well Are Your Sales Leadership Strategies Aligned?
• Do You Need to Change Your Selection Criteria?
• Can You Improve Ramp-Up?
• Can You Improve Your Pipeline and Forecasting Accuracy?
• Can You Improve Your Sales Culture?
• Who Can Become More Effective in Their Roles?
• What Are the Short-term Priorities for Accelerated Growth?

Once you know what you are working with, you can put a plan in place that will make your life easier and make your salespeople more resilient, positive and profitable. You’ll need to be proactive and consistent. Ultimately, you’ll have a sales team that outshines the competition.

Although the specific challenges of building a great sales culture are different at every company or firm we work with, there are some things that we know for certain:

• The culture won’t change on its own.
• The culture won’t change without someone in management driving that change.
• The culture won’t change without identifying the people who should participate in that change.
• The culture won’t change without establishing simple, basic expectations.
• The culture won’t change without showing the members of the sales team how to do what they need to do to meet those expectations.
• The culture won’t change without providing training so that the member of the sales team can develop new skills and gain the confidence to use them.
• The culture won’t change without ongoing coaching.
• The culture won’t change without getting outside expert advice.
• The culture won’t change unless there is an early emphasis on low-risk concepts like cross-selling, up-selling, calling inactive customers/clients, and seeking referrals.
• The culture won’t change unless management commits to holding people accountable.

Every group of people takes on its own unique philosophy, culture, expectations, norms and values. Sales teams are no different. This is the fundamental power of small group dynamics, and what a wonderful power it is. Unless the culture of that group evolves into something you don’t want.  Sometimes the culture that develops will be a strong one, but at other times it can be completely dysfunctional.   Your sales culture will be formed with or without your active participation. If you want the culture of your sales organization to be functional and effective you better have a proactive hand in shaping it.

Your team will take on an identity of its own, so you, as business owner or sales manager, need to take a strong role in the group and ask yourself this important question: “What type of culture do I want to instill in my sales team?” Better yet, “Do I want to define the parameters or have them dictated to me?”

Let’s take a look at several scenarios that can play out with or without a sales manager’s participation. Any one of these cultures can become the culture of your sales organization:

• A culture that is cut-throat, overly competitive and even adversarial.
• An environment that is laid back, non-competitive and passive.
• A group that is cooperative, yet competitive and resilient.
• Salespeople who are proud of what they do, how they do it, what they represent and whom they represent.
• Salespeople who are ashamed of sales, what they sell and for whom they sell.

There are literally hundreds of other variations on these themes. The real secret, though, is for you, as a sales executive or sales manager, to determine what you want your selling environment to be like. Here are nine variables for you to consider when establishing your sales culture:

1. What are the standards you use to recruit salespeople?Is your candidate pool too large or too small? Think about ways to tailor your approach in terms of job skills, sales skills and personal skills.

2. Who are the people you select to be on your team?Don’t settle for an average performer just because you need to fill a position. If you can afford to, wait to find someone who is a good fit for your position. Additionally, always keep your eyes open for strong talent, even when you don’t have an opening. Snatch up strong players when you can. Superstar sales talent always pays for itself in the long run.

3. What kind of orientation and training program do you have in place?Don’t leave this critical process up to another department outside of sales. The most successful organizations devote resources and careful planning to training and orientation.

4. What kind of expectations do you place on people, and how do you ensure compliance?Establish expectations early and make it clear that you intend to hold your salespeople accountable.

5. What kind of performance management and review process do you have in place?Looking at the sales numbers at the end of the month isn’t enough. Provide feedback objectively and often.

6. What kind of compensation plan do you have?Depending on your culture, a good pay plan should reward personal performance, loyalty, organizational stability and team productivity.

 7. What style of leadership do you use?Do you lead by example, by expertise, by determination, by personal influence, by authority, by fear, etc.?

8. What kind of support team and tools have you put into place?Marketing, sales and service should be integrated. Your sales team should have some kind of marketing and operational support. If you don’t have a support system, establish that expectation up front and demonstrate why salespeople succeed in your organization without it.

9. How do you communicate decisions, updates and ideas to your sales team? Most sales teams are fairly resilient and flexible, or at least they should be. Providing “why to” information is extremely important when introducing new ideas or decisions to salespeople. If you have an autocratic environment make sure you establish that standard early in the orientation process; so that they aren’t surprised and alienated when it occurs later on.

In thinking through these variables answer this question: Do you cultivate your sales culture or does it grow unattended? You are the custodian either way – so why not make a conscious effort to cultivate your sales culture in ways that will be profitable, productive and positive?

It’s easy to sit back and allow things to be dictated to you. However if that is the path you choose, you’ll have to “play the hand you’re dealt.” That could be a good hand or a bad hand.

Great sales managers influence the environment so that they can influence the outcome. Why gamble with your future? Think about the nine variables that help forge a sales culture. Determine your approach, execute your plan, drive the culture you want and you’ll have a team that thrives.

 

In their outstanding book “Discover Your Sales Strengths,” Benson Smith & Tony Rutigliano of the Gallup Organization explain that “much of what has been written and taught about sales excellence has little to do with what really matters. All too many managers, authors, and so-called sales gurus are dead wrong about what it takes to be a great sales performer.” In research conducted by the Gallup Organization, they identified several myths about what it takes to succeed in sales. In my last post, I discussed the first four. In this post, I will address the remaining three:

The Money Myth – All salespeople are motivated by money.

Fact:  Not all salespeople are motivated by money. Even salespeople who have a strong desire to earn significant incomes are often motivated by other factors as well. Gallup’s research shows that motivation is often very different for different salespeople. For example, Gallup’s researchers met countless successful salespeople who did poorly in school. Why? – Because school did not provide the right motivational rewards to satisfy them.

Gallup found phenomenal sales reps that were happy to earn $80,000 a year, and they found phenomenal salespeople discontented with earning $300,000 a year. If you’re anything like the best salespeople Gallup studied, your motivation is not one-dimensional.

Research conducted by Dan Pink and explained his book titled “Drive,” shows that people are more motivated by intrinsic rewards than extrinsic rewards. To a salesperson, intrinsic rewards are things like recognition, a sense of purpose, fulfillment, satisfaction or enjoyment. It also includes the love of selling, a feeling of mastery or even when they have something to prove to others. Extrinsic rewards are more material and include things like money, toys, vacations and other prizes. Over the last decade we have witnessed a significant shift in salespeople who are motivated more by intrinsic rewards than extrinsic.

Salespeople are often motivated by a desire to feel significant, or by competition, or by a desire to be in charge. Some salespeople have an intense need for the respect of their colleagues or customers. Your salespeople do what they do for their reasons, not yours. Find out what drives them personally and find a way to synchronize what they want with what you want. Treating people fairly does not mean treating them all the same.

The Desire Myth – If you can think it, you can achieve it. People can do anything they want to do as long as they are willing to work hard and make it happen.

Fact:  Motivation is critical to excellent performance, but motivation alone is not enough. Our society sends the message that people can do anything they want to do as long as they are willing to work hard and make it happen. We hear this from elementary school on, but in the back of our minds, we know this just isn’t true. People need the appropriate strengths in order to be successful in a given occupation. Motivation, by itself, is not sufficient if you are to become a superior salesperson. Strengths and skills are just as important as motivation. Motivation without strengths and skills is wasted. Strengths and skills without motivation is untapped potential.

The Training Myth – Training alone will turn an average performer into a top performer.

Fact:  It is hard to ignore the fact that while most of a company’s sales representatives go through the same initial training program, there is a big difference in the results those salespeople generate. Why? While Gallup believes that training is helpful to improving sales performance, it helps those with inherent strengths, primarily talent and motivation, much more than it helps poor performers. Yet much of the training that companies provide is directed toward the poor performers.

Companies should provide training only to those that have the crucial elements for success (Desire, Commitment, Accountability and a Positive Outlook) and the strengths to capitalize on that training. Training people without these factors is an exercise in futility. Below average performance are typically plagued by a raft of hidden weaknesses and the lack of the crucial elements for success rather than a lack of training. Your best return on investment often comes from training your top performers to be even better.

Moreover, in order for training to be effective, sales management must reinforce the training and put the right systems and processes in place to support it.  These systems and processes include: clearly defined target markets, strategies and goals, key metrics that can be used to hold salespeople accountable using a pipeline management tool and an effective sales coaching process.  In addition, the compensation plan needs to reward the right behaviors. Therefore, while training is necessary for building a high performance sales organization, it is not enough all by itself.

The Bottom Line: Recruit salespeople that are motivated and have the  strengths that will support their ability to sell value, build relationships and gain commitments. (You will learn more on this later.) Make sure those individuals believe in the value you deliver to customers and are passionate about the products and services you sell.

Find a process for selling that fits the products and services you sell within your specific industry. Use it as an overriding strategy and a means for communication, but be careful not to compel every salesperson to operate in exactly the same way. Give salespeople the flexibility to choose a style and set of techniques that mesh with their strengths. Train those people to maximize their effectiveness. Remember, your employees do what they do for their reasons not for yours. Find out what drives them personally and find a way to synchronize what they want with what you want. Treating people fairly does not mean treating them all the same.

In their outstanding book ”Discover Your Sales Strengths,” Benson Smith & Tony Rutigliano of the Gallup Organization explain that “much of what has been written and taught about sales excellence has little to do with what really matters. All too many managers, authors, and so-called sales gurus are dead wrong about what it takes to be a great sales performer.” In research conducted by the Gallup Organization, they identified several myths about what it takes to succeed in sales. Here are the first four:

The Education Myth – A higher degree and better grades equate to better sales performance.

Fact:  Gallup found that most of the salespeople in the top quartile did not have advanced degrees. In fact, most of the best performers had not achieved high grade point averages in college. In all the companies Gallup has studied, they have never – even in very technical fields – found a relationship between education and sales success.

The Experience Myth – Better salespeople typically have more experience.

Fact:  Sales is not an experience-sensitive profession. The learning curve in most sales jobs is short. Gallup rarely found a strong correlation between experience and results.

The “A-Good-Salesperson-Can-Sell-Anything” Myth – Selling is selling; In other words, a good salesperson can sell anything.

Fact:  From time to time the researchers at Gallup found salespeople who had done a good job in several different sales capacities. However, such all-around naturals were rare. Instead, they repeatedly found that salespeople who did the best in any company shared a configuration of skills and strengths that were well matched to their roles. Thus, a salesperson might do an exceptional job in one situation and a mediocre job in another.

The Relationship Myth – Relationships are critical to selling.

Fact:  The notion that relationships are critical to selling is so widely held that everyone assumes it must be true. And in part it is. People with strong people skills frequently use those strengths to generate positive results. But we also see people with great relationship abilities who are not able to sell a thing. Why? Because relationship-building skills alone are not enough.

The best salespeople are able to get customers to make commitments. They are not afraid to risk the relationship to challenge a prospect’s perspective, confront a customer or ask for the business. Surprisingly, Gallup has found a good number of top salespeople who have only average people skills, but they do have the ability to influence others.

Salespeople that avoid relationship selling actually build better business partnerships with their customers. Their customers remain loyal because there is a good business reason. The business they do with their customers is not based on whether they like someone or not. That means that the salespeople have better control over their future orders. They find it easier to achieve the targets that they have set.

This insight was recently corroborated by the research conducted by the Corporate Executive Board (“CEB”) and discussed in their book titled “The Challenger Sale.” The CEB found that of all the different types of salespeople they studied, the relationship builders had the lowest overall results. When it came to selling commodities,  only 11% of the top performing salespeople were relationship builders. When the sale was more complex and a consultative sales approach was preferred, only 4% of the top performers were relationship builders.

One of the biggest reasons for this disparity is that salespeople with strong people skills are often plagued with hidden weaknesses that impede their ability to sell. The big five are: (1) High Need for Approval, (2) Non-Supportive Buy Cycle, (3) Money Issues, (4) Tendency to get Emotionally Involved, and (5) Self-Limiting Beliefs. These weaknesses are typically invisible to most sales managers.

Salespeople that continue to rely on relationship selling will find that they get poorer results in return for the effort they expend. Their prospects will be delighted at all the help, friendship and free consultancy that they get from these salespeople, but they will often go elsewhere to place orders. Relationship sellers will always struggle to control their sales pipeline and they will find it hard to meet their sales objectives.

As a sales manager, your primary responsibilities are (1) coaching and developing, (2) motivating; and (3) holding your salespeople accountable to the highest possible levels of achievement. Done right, there is probably no more maddening and demanding job in the universe. In addition, you often have to spend a significant portion of your time recruiting new salespeople.

As your sales managers go, so go your salespeople. Salespeople will generally not do more than sales managers ask them to, and sales managers cannot coach them beyond their own personal capabilities to sell.

 Coaching and Development

The process of coaching salespeople consists of an on-going dialogue that includes, but isn’t limited to, pre-call strategizing and post-call debriefing. Under ideal conditions, this should take place weekly. This means helping your salespeople discover what they can do to improve without being overly critical.

When managers are ineffective at coaching their salespeople it is often because they aren’t spending enough time at it. Today’s sales managers should spend fifty percent of their time coaching their salespeople.

On some occasions, well-intentioned managers perform the activities of being a coach, but they do it poorly when they have not created the proper environment for productive and effective sales coaching. Salespeople must have a good business relationship with their managers. They must trust their manager’s intentions, believe in their advice, and respect their expertise. Salespeople must be open to change and sales managers must be rep-focused rather than self-focused. This means that the sales-manager must never place his or her own needs ahead of the sales force. This includes taking credit for the team’s successes and placing blame for the team’s failures.

In addition, in order to be an effective coach, you must have a unified system for selling in place. A selling system is an overall strategy and set of techniques designed to ensure that you handle every buyer-seller interaction in as close to the optimum manner as possible.

A unified sales process gives you and your colleagues a common language with which to share ideas, analyze past sales calls, and strategize upcoming appointments. Everyone on the team must be operating from the same playbook.  Without a sales process, you won’t be able to have the kind of quality conversations pertaining to specific deals that you need to have on regular basis to improve the performance of your sales team.

Motivating

Motivating salespeople is an on-going process. On those days when a salesperson isn’t able to “self-start” you need to step in and provide an external dose of motivation. Unfortunately, those days are far more common than anyone realizes, and you can only be effective when you know the unique motivations of each of your salespeople.

You should start by helping your salespeople get in touch with the dreams they have probably long forsaken. To be truly motivating their personal goals must be derived from their dreams. If you take the time to get to know your salespeople, you will know how to motivate them and they will be more responsive to your coaching. If you really want to generate sales growth within your organization, this is an easy and powerful place to begin.

From there you must help your salespeople realize that their goals are achievable and help them construct a plan to reach them. This plan should consist of activities and behaviors that, if performed consistently, will manifest in the results they (and you) are seeking. It is your job to hold your salespeople accountable to this plan.

Holding Salespeople Accountable

Holding salespeople accountable is perhaps the most feared part of sales management. It requires clear, mutual expectations for each salesperson’s required activity on a daily or weekly basis. Instead of holding your salespeople accountable for a certain sales volume on a monthly or quarterly basis, you should hold them accountable to the behaviors they need to perform on a daily basis to achieve these results. When salespeople fail to perform the required behaviors, you should meet with them, express disappointment and remind them that their performance was not acceptable. Next, you should make it clear that they must meet those expectations in the next measurement period and discuss the consequences related to their failure to perform as required in the future.

Although the consequences must be expressed clearly, you must also bring out their personal motivation for changing their behavior. The section on how to motivate salespeople will give you an effective process for doing this.

I believe that you should use a “three strikes and you’re out” philosophy. The most important part of this process is following through. This is also the part that most managers fear. It requires confrontation and although it may make you uncomfortable, it is necessary. It sends a powerful message that you will not accept mediocrity.

The Importance of Recruiting

One of the biggest fears of holding people accountable, is the fear that if the sales manager is too tough on a salesperson, the salesperson might leave. As a result, the sales manager will be stuck with an open territory.  At best, this dilemma results in lost opportunity. At worst, the sales manager must step in a fill the salesperson’s role. Therefore, it is extremely important that you are always building a bench of potential sales talent that you can send into the game when one of your team members quits. If you have several good candidates waiting in the wings you won’t be afraid to hold a marginal performer accountable and, if necessary, let them go.

What Else Gets In the Way?

Two other things typically get in the way of being an effective manager – your ego and your need for approval. As a manager, you can no longer enjoy the glory of closing the big deal. Your job is to help your salespeople experience that glory, so you’ll have to put your ego on hold and learn to live vicariously. Secondly, you have to realize that you are now the boss, and you can no longer be a friend to the people who work for you. You are now more like a parent who has to do what is best for children, even if they hate you for it in the short term. In the sections that follow, I will provide a clear outline of how to perform each of these functions.