8 Ways To Positively Impact Your Sellers Now

(By Loyd Ford) Everybody wants it. Your team dropping high fives. Smiles everywhere. Pipelines full and growing. Revenue exploding. The struggle is real though. There are so many things that command your attention as a sales manager, as a market manager, as an owner, and as a seller. Here are eight ways to positively impact your sellers now:

1. Continuous training first. A lot of managers don’t like to engage in training. Many sellers are intimidated by training. If you want to have that high-five dropping, smiling, pipeline full, and growing revenue exploding environment, you have to create an environment where intimidation isn’t welcome. Place emphasis on helping everyone.
2. Refusal to be remote. This is a message for sellers. You may feel that things have changed since the pandemic, but the smartest sellers must create and deepen personal relationships with clients and prospects or loss of revenue is inevitable. Think about ways you can engage more and make it personal. 
3. Constant encouragement. Sales can be brutal and it’s up to management and other sellers to reward constant encouragement to keep chins up and everyone looking toward the prize: See time spent selling below.
4. Clear schedules for more time spent selling. The most precious thing other than an open and engaging culture where employees feel valuable is Time Spent Selling. It is up to market managers and especially sales managers to clear the busy work and focus sellers on the importance of spending as much of their time selling as is possible.
5. Practice Makes Perfect. Consider opening a weekly practice session at your sales meetings where one (scheduled) salesperson each week presents to the sales team something they are presenting this coming week. This shouldn’t be done for criticism; it should be done so everyone can encourage success and sellers can learn from each other.
6. Open shotgun trips. Sales managers riding shotgun with sellers for a day. This is an all-in mentality where growth can be sped up. Engaging sellers this way can stoke your success and your continuous training for stronger individual sellers.
7. Public praising. This is huge and should come from the top. Market managers and sales managers have a regular opportunity to praise activity that leads to higher sales. Praising sellers in front of the other sellers and the full staff is powerful and should be done regularly.
8. Flexibility. The old days are over. If you have an exceptional seller who can come in twice a week and otherwise wants to work from home, let it be about results. 

It isn’t easy to do everything right, but you don’t have to do everything right. Still, you have opportunity every week if you leverage it. This is about making the most of your product, training your sellers and growing your revenue. Following these eight (8) opportunities will positively impact your revenue. Are you ready?

Loyd Ford is president and chief strategic officer at Rainmaker Pathway Consulting Works (RPC). They help local radio with ratings and revenue. Reach him anytime at 864.448.4169 or [email protected]. Read Loyd’s Radio Ink archives here.