Over the years, it has never ceased to amaze me as to how many organisations focus so heavily on sales strategy to drive their business forward, almost to the exclusion of everything else. When the sales and revenue numbers are great and heading north, everyone is on the bandwagon and quite often, coaching, mentoring and focus on continuous improvement takes a back seat, as the team, and the organisation, rides the wave of success. But what happens when the tide turns, and the water gets sucked back out into the ocean, where the sales opportunities dry up and the revenue begins heading south?
Very often, the company will look at either the sales strategy and look at revamping the strategy (I’ve also seen some organisations decide on developing or importing a new sales methodology to solve the challenge) or they will point the finger at the personnel and seek to make changes. Some organisations even have the policy of ‘turning over’ their bottom 10% of salespeople, believing that bringing in new blood will turn the tide. In truth, sometimes that can work, however, mostly this strategy is hit and miss. What these companies overlook is their underlying sales culture, because in more than 95% of cases, this is where the problem sits.
Thankfully, more and more organisations are waking up to the realisation that the creation of, and maintenance of a strong sales culture, will deliver more consistent results, over a longer period of time. And sometimes, people will ‘opt out’ because they are not buying into the vision and they leave, but what is left is a very consistent and powerful culture that underpins the performance of the organisation. A recent example of this comes from the AFL. Now I am an AFL tragic and have been a Melbourne supporter my entire life. To say that Melbourne has experienced a long and sustained period of mediocrity would be a massive understatement, however, thankfully, over the last 3 years the club has turned their fortunes around, and whilst they are yet to taste the ultimate achievement of a Premiership (hopefully that will happen in my lifetime!), they have recognised that the long term success of the club is founded on an inclusive, empowering and strong culture.
This culture comes from the top, not from the bottom (or the players). When new Melbourne senior coach Simon Goodwin was brought on board as Paul Roos’ successor, what impressed Paul and the Melbourne Board was not Simon’s knowledge of the game, or the proposed game plan he was going to bring to the team (Vis-à-vis, sales strategy). Whilst this is important, what secured Simon the role was his insatiable focus and passion on leadership and culture. His belief was that every sustainably successful team is founded on a robust and unshakeable culture, where everyone is on the same page, and moving in the same direction. With that foundation in place, where the focus is on relationships, people and education, it is considerably easier to then develop and implement a game plan (sales strategy), because you have built the engagement first. A huge part of this is building trust within the team which is purely the leaders responsibility. The leader must trust his team implicitly from day one, but must earn the trust of his team from day 1.
This is about being consistent, being visible and present for the team, being respectful and most importantly being reliable – doing what you say you are going to do. Once the trust has been established, the culture has been shaped, only then can you layer on top the game plan or sales strategy.
So, as a sales leader, how do you develop and maintain a winning culture that will underpin your success and provide a solid platform for your sales strategy? Here are some ideas to get you thinking and acting :
- Relationships – irrespective of what type of sales business you are in, nothing happens without relationships being formed. Long gone are the days where the product and its features sold themselves (with perhaps 1 exception – Apple). The vast majority of business is based on relationships. In fact, research suggests that many prospective customers need to have contact or an interaction with an organisation or person between 7 & 14 times before they make a purchase. As such, relationships are critical. This equally applies to you as a sales leader in terms of the importance of building and maintaining relationships with your people. One of the greatest pieces of leadership guidance I have ever been given is; ‘to develop strong relationships, be interested in others, rather than be interesting’. This concept alone will build a higher quality relationship quicker than anything else.
- Confidentiality – to build high levels of trust, this principle is absolutely critical. Being a leader is a very privileged position, and with it, comes huge responsibility. Very often, your sales people will share information with you which is confidential and often stuff that they haven’t shared with anyone else. The quickest way to break trust and destroy culture is to be like a ‘sieve’, where this information is shared with others. To build a solid sales culture, this must not happen. As the sales leader, you must be like a vault, where the information shared with you is safely and securely stored and not readily accessible. Keeping confidential information confidential will build massive trust with your people.
- Commitment – there is nothing worse than a ‘fair weather’ sales leader, the leader who only takes action when the conditions are good and/or when they feel good. Even worse, they only take action when it is in their best interest. A certain way to build trust and develop a strong sales culture is to do what you say you are going to do, irrespective of how you feel. This action alone will speak louder than any words you may say. So make a commitment, and walk your talk.
- Empowerment – to develop a high performing sales team that delivers sustainable success, you cannot hold on to the reins too tightly. The sales guys must be empowered to take affirmative action and know that it in the process, you have their back and will support them. Often, they will make mistakes, and sometimes, even fail. However, this is a required outcome to build success, because without ‘failure’, there can be no success. So actively encourage your team to challenge themselves, to take action and help them develop strategies to deal with the inevitable failures and challenges. Not only will this help them develop resilience, they will also develop confidence as to what is possible to achieve. Empower them.
- Judgement Free – unfortunately, it is human nature that we can easily judge others, which can result in your sales team not taking chances, for fear of criticism. To build a strong culture, it is critical that you leave your ego at the door and remove all judgement – instead, replace it with curiosity and watch what happens to the engagement of your team, and their preparedness to take regular action.
So whilst sales strategy does play an important part in the success of your team, it is literally meaningless without a very strong sales culture at its foundation. If you are currently experiencing some challenges within your sales team and beginning to focus on the sales strategy, STOP. Focus first on the sales culture. Do this and you may actually find that your existing sales strategy will deliver the results you are seeking!
To your continued sales leadership success.
Darren
If you want to know how you can better lead your sales team, send me an email at darren@darrenmitchell.com.au
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Thank you for taking the time to read this post – I greatly appreciate it, and welcome comments and feedback. Please feel free to comment below, to follow me on LinkedIn, or to connect via Twitter, or Facebook.
Darren specialises in working with Sales Leaders to create, implement & embed a sales leadership game plan that will deliver outstanding and sustainable sales & revenue results. He is also the founder of the Australian Sales Leadership Network, a LinkedIn Group for sales leaders to share insights, strategies, resources and best practices, in order to build high quality, engaged and successful sales teams, delivering profitable and sustainable sales results. To apply to join, please click this link.
