As a sales leader, one of your most important responsibilities is getting the best performance out of your sales reps. This can be a real challenge, as every member of your team is going to have their own unique personality, motivations, and working style.
The key is to learn how to adapt your management approach to meet each rep where they are. It's not about expecting them to change to fit your preferences - it's about you as the leader being flexible and adjusting to bring out the best in each individual.
Let's dive into some practical tips for effective sales rep management:
Step 1: Understand And Adapt To Your Team's Individual Personalities And Styles
Key Insight: Every salesperson is different. To manage effectively, you need to adapt to each person’s style and personality.
The first step is to get a good handle on the different personality types and communication styles of your sales reps. This will allow you to tailor your approach accordingly.
For example, let's say you have a rep who is very direct and prefers to get right to the point. They don't like a lot of unnecessary details. If you try to manage this person the same way you'd manage someone who is more analytical and detail-oriented, it's likely going to create a lot of friction and resistance.
Instead, recognise the rep's preferences of being direct and adapt your own communication style to match. Get to the key issues quickly, avoid long-winded explanations, and be concise in your feedback and directions.
On the flip side, with an analytical rep who thrives on details, you'll need to provide more context and be prepared to answer lots of questions. They want to understand the "why" behind things.
It's just like selling to different types of prospects - you need to recognise and adapt to their preferences. It's the same concept with managing your sales team.
Actionable Tips:
- DISC Profiling: Use DISC profiling to understand each team member’s personality type. This can help you tailor your approach to fit their style.
- Meet Them Where They Are: Think of managing your team like selling to a prospect. For example, if a salesperson is direct and to the point, adapt your communication style to be concise and focused.
Questions to Ask Your Team:
- What communication style do you prefer?
- How do you like to receive feedback?
Here's a deep dive article if you want to learn more about effective Sales team collaboration and communication.
Step 2: Set Clear Expectations From The Start
Key Insight: Clear expectations create alignment and cohesion within your team.
One of the hallmarks of ineffective sales management is failing to set clear expectations from the very beginning. If you don't lay out what you expect from each rep in terms of activities, behaviors, and outcomes, how can you possibly hold them accountable?
When you first bring a new rep onto the team, have an in-depth discussion about your non-negotiables. What are the daily and weekly activities you expect them to be doing? What are the key metrics and goals you want them to hit? What kind of support and coaching will you provide in return?
Get their buy-in on these expectations. Make sure you're both on the same page before they ever make their first sales call. This upfront alignment will pay huge dividends down the road.
Actionable Tips:
- Non-Negotiables: Define your non-negotiables and ensure every team member understands them
- Regular Check-ins: Schedule daily or weekly check-ins to discuss progress and address any concerns.
Questions to Ask Your Team:
- Do you understand what’s expected of you in your role?
- What concerns do you have about these expectations?
Step 3: Shift The Focus To Inputs, Not Just Outputs
Key Insight: Concentrate on the activities that lead to success, not just the end results.
Many sales managers make the mistake of spending too much time obsessing over outputs - the bottom-line results like closed deals and quota attainment. While those metrics are obviously important, that's not where you want to be focusing the majority of your time and attention.
Instead, shift the focus to the inputs - the activities, behaviors, and skills that drive those outputs. What are the leading indicators that will predict future success?
For example, you might shift more of your focus towards the number and quality of discovery calls a rep is conducting, rather than just the final win/loss ratio. Or you might prioritize pipeline generation metrics over just closed revenue.
The key is to identify the specific activities and competencies that, if improved, will move the needle on your desired outcomes. Then work with each rep to develop and refine those skills.
Actionable Tips:
- Activity Metrics: Track and discuss activity metrics such as calls made, meetings held and pipeline movement.
- Skill Development: Invest time in developing the skills that influence these activities, such as asking better discovery questions or improving cold calls.
Questions to Ask Your Team:
- What activities do you believe are most critical to achieving your goals?
- How can I help you improve your skills in these areas?
Step 4: Recognition And Understanding Individual Motivations
Key Insight: Understanding what drives each salesperson can help you better motivate and manage them. Regular recognition can significantly boost morale and performance
One of the biggest shortcomings of average sales managers is a lack of recognition and motivation for their team. They get so caught up in the numbers and the data that they forget the human element.
Every sales rep is different in terms of what truly drives and motivates them. Some may be primarily motivated by money and financial rewards. Others might be more driven by a sense of purpose, achievement, or personal growth.
Take the time to have in-depth conversations with each of your reps to understand their intrinsic motivations. What are their personal and professional goals? What would it mean to them to hit a certain sales target or earn a specific amount of comission? How do they want to be recognised and celebrated for their successes?
Then, make it a priority to provide that kind of personalised recognition and motivation on a regular basis. Public praise, small gifts, one-on-one coaching sessions - whatever resonates best with each individual. The more you can tap into their core drivers, the more engaged and high-performing they'll be.
Actionable Tips:
- Monthly Motivation Meetings: Sit down with each team member monthly to discuss their personal and professional goals.
- Beyond Money: Dig deeper than just financial motivations. Understand what they want to spend their earnings on and what brings them satisfaction.
- 1:1 Recognition: Recognise achievements in one-on-one meetings.
- Public Recognition: Celebrate successes publicly within the team and the broader organisation. Slack shoutouts to the company work a treat here!
- Team Celebrations: Celebrate wins as a team to build camaraderie and morale.
- Post-Mortems: Conduct post-mortem meetings after closed deals to profile the specific winning behaviours that led to a win.
Questions to Ask Your Team:
- What motivates you to get up and perform every day?
- What do you want to achieve with your earnings?
- How do you prefer to be recognised for your achievements?
- What type of feedback helps you improve the most?
- What did we do well in this win?
- What can we learn from this loss to improve in the future?
If you want to find out more about boosting performance with sales team incentive strategies we have an article here.
Step 5: Maximise Your Time
Key Insight: Effective time management is crucial for maintaining productivity without becoming overwhelmed. Balancing managerial tasks with coaching can lead to better long-term performance.
As a sales leader, your plate is already overflowing. Between deal management, forecasting, team meetings, and countless other responsibilities, it can feel impossible to find the time to really invest in your reps.
The key is to be ruthlessly prioritised in how you spend your time. Start by categorising all of your tasks and responsibilities into three buckets:
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Boulders - These are the 2-3 truly high-impact activities that will move the needle the most for your team this quarter. These are your top priorities.
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Rocks - These are important tasks that need to get done, but aren't as directly tied to your biggest objectives.
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Pebbles - These are the small, day-to-day tasks that often crop up and end up consuming far too much of our time, even though they don't have a major strategic impact.
Take a hard look at how you're currently spending your time. Chances are, you're devoting a disproportionate amount of energy to those pebbles, while neglecting the boulders that could really transform your team's performance.
Be ruthless about eliminating or delegating those low-impact pebbles. Then double down on your boulder activities - the ones that will drive the greatest results through your sales reps. This could mean things like:
- Conducting more in-depth 1-on-1 coaching sessions
- Leading team-wide training workshops
- Directly shadowing reps on key customer calls
- Helping reps strategise on their biggest opportunities
Remember, your job as a sales leader isn't to be a solo superstar. It's to get results through the efforts of your team. Invest your time in the best places.
Actionable Tips:
- Prioritise Coaching: Set aside dedicated time each week for coaching and skill development.
- External Support: Consider investing in external coaching support to help develop your team’s skills.
- Delegate: Delegate tasks that don’t require your direct involvement.
- Automate: Use automation tools to streamline administrative tasks.
- Say No: Learn to say no to tasks that don’t align with your primary goals.
Questions To Ask Your Team:
- What skills do you feel you need to develop further?
- How can I best support your professional growth?
Questions To Ask Yourself:
- Are there tasks I’m doing that could be delegated, automated, or even completely dropped?
- How can we streamline our processes to save time?
Step 6: Consider Bringing in External Support
Key Insight: The right external support can be a true force multiplier, allowing you to have a bigger impact as a sales manager without burning yourself out.
Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help. As a sales leader, you can't - and shouldn't - try to do it all on your own. Bringing in external support, such as an external coaching organisation, can be a game-changer.
Having an outside expert who can take certain tasks and responsibilities off your plate, while also providing specialised expertise, allows you to free up more of your own time and attention. You can then direct that energy towards higher-level strategic initiatives and hands-on work with your team.
Look for providers who can help in areas like:
- Providing personalised, 1:1 coaching for your team
- Expertise across a wide range of topics and job roles
- The ability to assess individual and team strengths/weaknesses to ensure they are directing coaching in the right areas
At the end of the day, effective sales rep management comes down to balancing the needs of your individual team members with the broader goals and priorities of your organisation. It requires adaptability, intentionality, and a willingness to invest in the development of your people.
By putting these principles into practice, you'll be well on your way to getting the absolute best from your sales team.
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