December is here and it is a time where we take stock and review how we did … So what went right and what went wrong? With this evaluation, some wonder why numbers were not met and others wonder how numbers were achieved.
What l have found over the years working with Sales Teams is the lack of accountability all year long… accountability in not just the WHY individuals achieved but also the HOW they made those achievements or didn’t.
OK, some business feel once the Goals and Objectives are set… everyone should be playing ball! Yes, some play ball all year long (our eagles) and others just seem to slide along….
Today we are so used to our communication devices that face to face meetings with our sales staff are a rare event. 90 % of our communication goes through these devices which leave 10 % of our time tuning into our staff in face to face meetings.
Much is lost in the 90%. We need to find more time to carve out quality face to face meeting time to support our teams’ success.
Back in the day we would have a “WAR ROOM” ….this room was set up with yearly goals and objectives (visually) using white boards – graphs- pictures- maps – a place every week our sales team went to review; what was working and what was not; even our outside team got conferenced in if they could not make it in for our weekly gathering. Today we might call it the” Sales Activity Centre” it clearly sounds better than going to war!
As a leader, it is your responsibility to support your sales teams in reaching what they said they could accomplish along with holding each sales team member accountable. The Sales Activity Centre” provides FOCUS along with the review as a team to what needs to happen to reach those targets and goals. Process improvement happens when teams get together to revisit what works and what does not work… by meeting weekly everyone contributes to evaluating the process in making it more effective and celebrating the success of the team where individuals are performing and assisting other that are not performing Looking at results at the end of the month is way too late for everyone involved let alone year end. It is time to improve our face to face time with our staff to stay connected as a TEAM.
Companies lose great sales staff when they decided to take on another position with another company because you lost track of what was happening with them…. I cannot stress enough about rallying your team together weekly to get a measure of what is happening with individuals on your team and making your objectives a reality.