The selling race is on. Now is the time to make hay.
This newsletter: “100 Days to Sell, Part 1” focuses on essential sales management techniques.
Here are 10 actionable strategies to help your team close more deals in today’s economic climate.
Use this as a check list, which ones are you doing well, and where can you improve?
1. Be the Positive Island in a Sea of “No’s”
Your salespeople face rejection daily; the negatives add up over time. It is exhausting for them.
Be their unwavering source of positivity and encouragement to keep their spirits high.
2. Respond Fast and Follow Up
Sales success hinges on rapid response.
Treat sales like “production” and track the teams’ site visits, proposals, (designs,) and follow ups.
Don’t let your team get bogged down in the spring.
Ensure everyone understands your response and communication standards.
Trust but verify!
3. Inspire with Sales Commissions
Design your commission structures that push your team to meet and exceed expectations. We call that “running through the tape.”
Make it about the rewards (carrots), not the penalties (sticks).
Show them how they win—and how they can win even bigger by running through the tape.
Let your salespeople dream big.
4. Tap into Competitive Energy
Harness your sales team’s natural competitiveness with weekly meetings to review key metrics, manage the variances and celebrate wins.
Winning is contagious if you show them how, and make it a habit each week.
5. Encourage Participation in Sales Meetings
Sales meetings should be interactive, not monologues and never long and boring.
Have your team input and discuss their own numbers, variances, challenges, and wins.
The more engaged they are, the more committed they become.
6. Mix it up.
There are different ways to win: happy clients, exceptional deals, and consistent performance. Mix up your praise.
Use mini-games (monthly goals) around selling specific products or services to keep the juices flowing.
7. Tap into their “Sales Love Language”
Money matters, but so does recognition, attention, and a sense of achievement.
Each salesperson has their own sales love language, the thing that drives them and makes them feel like a winner.
Figure out their hot buttons and pay attention to what matters most.
8. Remove Barriers to Selling
Great sales managers eliminate distractions and streamline sales processes.
However, every salesperson faces unique obstacles—identify it for each person on your team.
Some salespeople may have issues with certain steps in the sales process:
- Bonding and rapport,
- Needs inquiry (and pain point articulation),
- Solutions development,
- Handling objections,
- Closing the deal.
Spend time to figure out if and where they need the most coaching.
9. Leverage Scarcity to Close Deals
Help prospects commit by showing them the schedule and emphasizing limited availability.
Scarcity creates urgency—show your sales team how to use it to your advantage.
10. Lead with a Servant’s Heart
As Todd Hardy (Director of Sales, Schill Grounds Mgmt) shared on my podcast recently
- Selling is about serving clients, and
- Managing is about serving your salespeople.
Support them, listen to them, remove their roadblocks, and watch them thrive.
The selling race is on. Now is the time to make hay.
This newsletter: “100 Days to Sell, Part 1” focuses on essential sales management techniques.
Here are 10 actionable strategies to help your team close more deals in today’s economic climate.
Use this as a check list, which ones are you doing well, and where can you improve?
1. Be the Positive Island in a Sea of “No’s”
Your salespeople face rejection daily; the negatives add up over time. It is exhausting for them.
Be their unwavering source of positivity and encouragement to keep their spirits high.
2. Respond Fast and Follow Up
Sales success hinges on rapid response.
Treat sales like “production” and track the teams’ site visits, proposals, (designs,) and follow ups.
Don’t let your team get bogged down in the spring.
Ensure everyone understands your response and communication standards.
Trust but verify!
3. Inspire with Sales Commissions
Design your commission structures that push your team to meet and exceed expectations. We call that “running through the tape.”
Make it about the rewards (carrots), not the penalties (sticks).
Show them how they win—and how they can win even bigger by running through the tape.
Let your salespeople dream big.
4. Tap into Competitive Energy
Harness your sales team’s natural competitiveness with weekly meetings to review key metrics, manage the variances and celebrate wins.
Winning is contagious if you show them how, and make it a habit each week.
5. Encourage Participation in Sales Meetings
Sales meetings should be interactive, not monologues and never long and boring.
Have your team input and discuss their own numbers, variances, challenges, and wins.
The more engaged they are, the more committed they become.
6. Mix it up.
There are different ways to win: happy clients, exceptional deals, and consistent performance. Mix up your praise.
Use mini-games (monthly goals) around selling specific products or services to keep the juices flowing.
7. Tap into their “Sales Love Language”
Money matters, but so does recognition, attention, and a sense of achievement.
Each salesperson has their own sales love language, the thing that drives them and makes them feel like a winner.
Figure out their hot buttons and pay attention to what matters most.
8. Remove Barriers to Selling
Great sales managers eliminate distractions and streamline sales processes.
However, every salesperson faces unique obstacles—identify it for each person on your team.
Some salespeople may have issues with certain steps in the sales process:
- Bonding and rapport,
- Needs inquiry (and pain point articulation),
- Solutions development,
- Handling objections,
- Closing the deal.
Spend time to figure out if and where they need the most coaching.
9. Leverage Scarcity to Close Deals
Help prospects commit by showing them the schedule and emphasizing limited availability.
Scarcity creates urgency—show your sales team how to use it to your advantage.
10. Lead with a Servant’s Heart
As Todd Hardy (Director of Sales, Schill Grounds Mgmt) shared on my podcast recently
- Selling is about serving clients, and
- Managing is about serving your salespeople.
Support them, listen to them, remove their roadblocks, and watch them thrive.
Your Challenge: Understand the Personal Goals of Your Team
Every salesperson is driven by underlying personal goals.
What is driving each person on your team?
Figure out their:
- Personal goals,
- Professional goals, and
- “Sales love language” at work.
This will allow you to become the best sales manager in THEIR eyes.
Next Steps – Listen to this podcast with Todd Hardy to dive deeper into effective sales leadership.
Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Todd speak at our Summer Growth Summit. (Save $400 per ticket when you sign up before April 24, in three weeks.)
Regards, Jeffrey Scott!
