Hi Does Your Sales Leadership Team Provide consistent Coaching & Mentoring For Your Sales Team?

I have been truly humbled in my career, by working with and for amazing sales leaders. Even today in my sales consulting firm, Sales Result inc., I am constantly amazed at how these amazing individuals, men and women,  exhibit these behaviors and assets. I have not included in this blog assets like honesty, values, proven skills, trust, leadership and communication. I will leave these for another time. 

Can every member of your sales team deliver strong value propositions and elevator pitches that address a prospect’s needs while building credibility and peaking interest? Is your team consistent and effective in their approach strategies, both individually and collectively?

As we all know and probably experienced in our career, there is a lot of sales training programs out there in the market place. We typically sit in a room for hours or sometimes days listening to an instructor tell you how to close more deals or improve a certain skillset. . 

One of my early experiences was with a company called Lanier. At the time we were selling a new concept for the B2B marketplace. The training was rigorous, why. They demanded that each of us trainees, could do an effective cold call, effective 1st meeting, effective discovery meeting, demo, solution presentation and close. It was "intense" to say the least. But it worked and I was very successful because of that rigor of sales certification that I implemented into my daily work life. 

I've learned countless lessons as Sales Result's CEO, some the result of great decision-making, others from making mistakes. Fifteen years later, I use these learnings to coach sales leaders to be the best version of themselves. Today's blog features five key points that I incorporate into every executive coaching engagement, and that I believe are incredibly important for any CEO or sales leader to remember. 

As we approach 2017, most Sales Managers and VPs of Sales have already started the budget and planning phase. I get asked by sales leaders what, besides the normal stuff, to invest in. The “normal” being travel and entertainment, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), hiring and onboarding, and sales kickoff meetings.

The VP of Sales’ primary responsibility is delivering revenue, wether it's a hard number, growth/profit targets, and/or market share. It's a critical position in any company. Unfortunately, VP of Sales positions are notorious for high turnover—usually due to burnout or bad fit. In fact, there’s reason for the common saying “You’ve Got to Get Past the Carcass of Your First VP of Sales”.

Do you manage a team of sales reps with clear (or sometimes not-so-clear) over-performers and under-performers? Do you have a rep on your team who you wish you could duplicate? Are you able to weed the “A” players from the “C” players, and articulate why they fall in their respective categories? Simply put, are you able to define your Characteristics of Sales Excellence?