(By Loyd Ford) If you work as a sales manager or market manager, how do you create consistently rich recruitment opportunities for your sales team and how do you encourage sellers to create consistent actions that can result in better results, stronger production of revenue, and increases in their income?
- Managers are most impactful when they use influence to uncover the best sellers in their local market and attract them to the team over time. Consider that being a manager isn’t just about the nuts and bolts of managing P & L. Every best manager is responsible for making employee jobs easier and helping create more “TSS” (time spent selling) for individual sellers. Great managers knock down the roadblocks to success regularly.
- Both sales managers and market managers should consider the power of consistent ride-along visit days with individual sellers on the team. Doing so increases knowledge, creates deeper understanding, and allows sales talent to grow in confidence over time.
- Managers who seek competitive candidates with high like-a-lot scores and teach sellers to recognize Disc Personality Profiles in clients and others create more significantly focused sales teams with more opportunities to sell successfully. Matching behavior and approach with potential clients first based on their personality profiles will amplify success for individual sellers.
- Consider creating a process that gives sellers leads each week during your sales meeting to further encourage growth in active selling for individual sellers. We all know that psychology can be a barrier to sales growth because sellers will often tell themselves stories of why they “can’t” take an action or set in motion opportunities that lead to more sales. Creating a leads system encourages pursuit for all sellers and can elevate the number of presentations that occur regularly with your individual sellers. See more to sell more.
- Create regular bonus competitions to encourage sellers to compete. This doesn’t have to be large amounts of money. Highly competitive sellers can think of sales as a scorecard. Creating incremental competition and public praise can accelerate the chase to success.
While these five ideas may not be your cup of tea, experimenting can bring you a higher level of team and individual selling success. The basic idea behind this article is just to get you to think about shaking things up regularly in the most positive ways to create new opportunities. If we don’t begin to try different things to generate more sales, we will continue to do the same things we’ve always done. You know the story with that. Will continuing to do the same ole things result in the growth you need this year?
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.
