How to Set Up Your Sales Team for Success

Your success as a sales leader is highly dependent upon the success of your sales team.  Once your sales strategy is clear enough, believable enough and implementable enough, it is your job as a sales leader to create the best environment for your team to successfully execute that strategy.

What can you do as a sales leader to greatly increase their chances for success?

1.  Ensure that your sales process is well understood and adhered to by all.  This includes agreed upon roles and responsibilities, the way you generate and handle leads, develop client relationships, add value and sell. As well, you need a smart way to track and improve these steps in the sales cycle through regular meetings, goal setting and employee development.
2. Make certain that your reward and recognition program aligns with your strategy, culture and marketplace.  Relevant rewards and consequences for success and failure have a clear and immediate cause and effect relationship in a way that is considered fair, proportionate and consistent by your team.
3. Give your team the sales skills and tools it needs to be efficient and productive.  Take advantage of the quality sales training and software available to minimize mistakes and to save your team from reinventing the wheel, writing reports, looking for information or crunching the numbers.
4. Develop a common and compelling language.  Use terms that the team has learned together that resonate with your target buyers. This will reinforce a sense of team and also contribute to mutual understanding.
5. Keep close to your team and be available as a performance coach and sales partner when needed.  You have a common goal. Work on it together. Remove barriers.  Continuously learn and improve.