Building Great Sales Teams, a hot seat…

Not entirely satisfied by how things are going in the team? Is it difficult to get a good understanding of the reason why? Being in sales myself, I discovered that other stuff is much more important than setting the right sales objectives. I hope this short article helps, though it could feel inconvenient. When it comes to building Great Sales Teams, there are 5 Challenging Questions that teammembers should investigate:

1.   What is our fundament? Do we have a good basis for mutual trust? Are we really transparent about what is going on? Do we share the good and the not-so-good?

2.    Do we dare to have courageous conversations? Are we allowed to disagree and does that lead to a constructive and creative conversation in which we search for the best solutions for all?

3.    Do we show real commitment? Do we commit ourselves to the agreements we make, provided that it was safe to speak up when we made them? Or are we allowing ourselves the freedom to navigate around them?

4.    Do we support each other all the way? Do we coach each other on the job, roles and responsibilities that we have accepted? Are we setting higher standards by addressing our mutual performance?

5.   What does real success look like? Do we focus on team achievements and goals or are we more concerned about our individual results? Are all ego’s serving the team and pursue what is good for all?

These are 5 key questions (Patrick Lencioni, thank you!) when it comes to leading both the hard and the soft stuff in teams. I have worked with teams that show that behavior, they share the same values in communication and they understand their differences in styles. Very often it is the “soft stuff” that holds the key to success because performance programs fail to address the right motivation.

Sure, sales teams need a good set of “hard” concepts too on how to structure and improve their sales process with every client. That common language comes from a methodology like INFOteam Winning Complex Sales. It certainly helps a lot in getting a much better understanding how clients take decisions and what it takes to tailor the value of your proposition. You have to ask yourself, though, how useful is your excellent sales process, when there is a lack of trust in your team? What is the cost when your sales culture doesn’t support a-truely-safe-to-speak-up attitude?

Building trust starts with getting to know each other, understanding the differences and then appreciate what each member brings to the team. When team members are able to shift their conversation from the regular egocentric content to, how are WE doing, it helps them to see how they can improve. Imagine what effect that will have on your bottom line… feel free to connect.