There are assessments in the marketplace to help people identify if they have what it takes. We use Objective Management Group’s (OMG) Sales Manager Evaluation. Three key findings are identified and scored:

1. The Will to be Successful specifically in the role of manager or sales leader
2. The Sales Manager DNA
3. The Sales Manager Competencies

In this series, we will break down several of these 3 findings to help sales managers zero in on what might be preventing you from achieving sales team excellence.

The Impact of Supportive Beliefs

OMG's research has found that high self-awareness is especially important for sales managers. Self-awareness helps you better understand the belief systems that you are consciously or unconsciously bringing into interactions with your salespeople or any customers you directly interface with. It also helps you understand how you might interpret a salesperson or client's response to you. Below we've listed 7 Self-Limiting Beliefs that could be preventing you from achieving sales team success, along with the corresponding Supportive Beliefs that you can develop with training and coaching.

Self-Limiting Belief: I don't need to manage my salespeople's daily activity
Supportive Belief: It is my job to manage my salespeople's daily activity

Self-Limiting Belief: I don't need to know what motivates my salespeople
Supportive Belief:  It is important to understand my salespeople's personal goals and financial needs

Self-Limiting Belief: I don't need to upgrade the sales force
Supportive Belief: It is important to regularly recruit new salespeople

Self-Limiting Belief: Raising my people's self-esteem is not a high priority
Supportive Belief: I must encourage my salespeople to get the most from them

Self-Limiting Belief: Prospects that need time to think before making a decision will eventually buy from us
Supportive Belief: Prospects that need time to think before making a decision will not end up doing business with us

Self-Limiting Belief: My salespeople need to make presentations
Supportive Belief: My salespeople should make presentations to fully qualified prospects and only when necessary

Self-Limiting Belief: I don't need a strong relationship with my prospects in order to sell them
Supportive Belief: I am able to quickly develop strong rapport with prospects

As you review and reflect on these 7 beliefs, how do you score on each?  What can you and will you do differently to change your coaching behavior and skill levels?  In our world today with the many digital and AI-programmed interactions, we have entered into a new reality when it comes to achieving sales team success. In order to stay ahead of the competition, companies need sales managers or coaches with supportive belief systems who can track each individual’s sales activities, coach, and hold them accountable to behaviors that will sustain and grow revenue.

Qualities of a Motivational Sales Leader

Certainly, understanding who you are hiring from the start is essential in having a team that is motivated to reach their sales goals. As a part of the hiring process, leaders must consistently use an assessment, preferably a sales-specific assessment, to identify if candidates are motivated, can sell, and will sell. We all understand that motivation is primarily an internal quality driven by personal factors of having goals, the desire to achieve, compete, and excel. However, there are also certain qualities that leaders must have to uncover and ignite the flame of those they motivate.

Drawing from Objective Management Group’s sales manager assessment, our partner and the pioneer of the sales assessment industry, we know that these are the characteristics of leaders who are effective motivators:

• Know what motivates people
• Have a strong self image
• Give recognition
• Do not accept mediocrity

Sales Leaders Must Know What Motivates Their People

When we first started evaluating sales teams 25 years ago – the findings told us that people were externally motivated. Motivation was money and the things money can provide. The current findings tell us that sales teams are highly motivated to succeed, but the source of motivation is internal rather than external. They are more motivated by a job well done, taking care of, and being a guide for their clients. They want to be recognized for success and they are motivated by achieving their own personal standards for success and achievement. As a sales leader, it is your job to find out what motivates your people and then you can have the appropriate discussions to keep them on track.

Sales Leaders Must Have a Strong Self Image

Much like salespeople, leaders must be internally motivated to develop and help others. This is often a problem when a leader is promoted from a sales position due to their success at driving sales and revenue into a sales leadership role in which the focus is achieving success through others. Some can make that transition and others do not. Leaders with a strong self image will spend time developing their own skills through the many resources available today from training and online as well as books and podcasts.

Another way to improve self-image and success as a leader motivating a sales team is to implement management practices that allow you to understand the activities and behaviors for potential coaching opportunities. A strong sales leader will hold regular sales huddles focused on the most critical activities that drive success, such as appointments and proposals.  They will have regular monthly sales meetings to help their team sharpen their saw, improve and learn from each other. Probably most importantly, sales leaders will implement a process to uncover personal and professional goals of their sales team so they can understand what motivates them. Implementing these activities helps sales leader become more effective in their role as a sales motivator and will improve their self-image and success.

Motivating Your Team with Regular Recognition (and Feedback to Improve)

Many, but not all salespeople thrive on winning, positive feedback, and recognition, so this is a given for effective sales leaders. Find opportunities to recognize the efforts, behaviors, and success of your team members, whether it is one-on-one or in a group setting. Leader boards, celebrating wins, and giving rewards are all motivating factors.

But what about the other end of the stick?  An effective sales leader must be focused on motivating a salesperson who is going off track, not doing the behaviors needed or agreed upon for reaching their sales goals. To motivate a sales team, leaders must have practices and processes in place to catch lagging behaviors quickly before they become a real problem. Coaching and motivating are very closely related. If a sales leader can help identify what is getting in the way of a salesperson attaining more appointments and can coach them to improvement, that can be very motivating for a salesperson.

Strong Sales Leaders Do Not Accept Mediocrity

Most leaders will tell you that they do not accept mediocrity however if you review their stack ranking, they have and keep low performers. Every company has a lowest performer. But what can a sales leader do to improve performance overall so that each year, that lowest performer is better than before?

We coach organizations and leaders to Set the Bar for Success by:

• Clearly establishing and communicating what it means to be successful in the organization.
• Have systems and processes in place to catch failure before failure happens rather than when it actually happens. Failure never happens all at once.
• Track the improvement of performance quintiles year over year. When you take the snapshot next year, the numbers for each quintile have to be better than the previous year.
• Establish a culture and commitment to set the bar higher for success and then hold people accountable to actually doing the behaviors required to be successful.

Motivating a sales team to success is no easy achievement. It takes consistent and persistent behaviors. Strong sales managers do not worry about being liked by their salespeople. They achieve success when their salespeople become more effective and successful.

• Don’t think of them as just a Lead. When someone fills out a form on your website that indicates they have an interest and have gone to the trouble of downloading a resource, so yes, that is a Lead. More importantly, they are a person that has an interest, possibly a problem or an opportunity and is looking for information that you and your company may have. It is time to do some initial research and find out what company they are with, where they are located, what they might need help with and then, a Lead becomes much more then just a prospect. Lead relationship management involves having a sincere curiosity about the lead, what they might be interested and looking for and a desire to help.
• Respond Quickly. We have helped salespeople for 30 years now and if there is one best practice that has stayed consistent, it has been how swiftly your should respond. When a Lead fills out a form and assuming they are a person who looks like your type of best prospect is, reach out immediately. If you do not, they will continue their search, find other solutions and be sidetracked by other issues that come across their desk. Now is the best time to call a Lead, while they are looking and while it is top of mind. Contact within the first 24 hours is the best approach for lead relationship management.
• Do your research. It does not take long in today’s tech world to find out some information and facts about your Lead so do that immediately. There is the website, LinkedIn, google, ZoomInfo – so many resources to help you prepare your call. But that should only take 15 minutes. Do not let that delay the callback!
• Become skillful with your questions. if you have sold your service or product for a number of years, you know why a Lead is typically coming to your website and looking for resources. Be prepared with probing, insightful questions that you can ask them about their business and their concerns. This lead management best practice will prevent you from going into a sales pitch. Your job in nurturing a Lead is to peel back the onion, ask all the great and difficult questions you need to ask in order to determine if in fact, the Lead is a Prospect.
• Don’t sell on the call, set an appointment. This is a tough best practice for many salespeople. Of course, you must establish some credibility on the call by sharing a story or two about how you have helped other people or companies address a similar problem. But salespeople, beware, this is not usually the time to go deep into your solutions, unless the buyer has made it very clear they are ready to buy. In most businesses with longer sales cycles, it helps salespeople to uncover the problem or opportunity, identify that the Lead wants to address it and agree to schedule a time to talk more deeply and for you, the salesperson, to prepare.
• Don’t send automated, non personalized emails. Most companies have lists of prospects that have over time, inquired or encountered your resources and your company will likely send them periodical emails with information. But for a Lead that is new and inquiring about your services, do not default to an automated approach. A best practice for lead relationship management is to make certain that your communications with this Lead are personal, relevant and timely. Otherwise you risk the threat of “Unsubscribe”.
• Don’t give up until… There is varying research on how many times you should contact a Lead but it is more then once and probably less than 20, if no response. Buyers are busy and while they do not need to be pestered, it will pay off if you reach out consistently with helpful information. Nurturing a lead could involve sharing some of your website assets, stories and capability statements.
• Stay in touch. Once you have determined that a Lead is not going any further, it pays off to stay in touch. We have had Leads turn into customers years after their inquiry. It is a fine line to walk but if you have marketing resources to help, stay in touch with an email here and there or connect on LinkedIn and follow their company. A best practice in lead relationship management is not being short sited in your approach. If you are a seasoned salesperson with a great service or product to offer, you are not going anywhere and can develop a relationship even if the Lead is not a prospect today.
• Continue to Give. There is a book we recommend in our sales training called Go-Givers Sell More but Bob Burg and John David Mann. Order it and read it today. Selling is about Giving and our last lead relationship management best practice is to give. There is nothing that beats a sincere desire and effort to help your Lead solve their problem and grow their company.

• Confidently and effectively operating in a more remote and digital selling environment
• Becoming more consultative in approach adapting to the state of the informed and empowered client and prospect, who has deep information at their fingertips
• Becoming an Expert in our specialties. Anything less is available online
• Understanding and utilizing many of the new tools available to compliment selling such as our CRM, AI, virtual reality and marketing automation

Success in selling in the future will involve all of these adjustments and remains a viable career if bankers also acquire the Core Sales Competencies needed to be successful.

According to Objective Management Group, the pioneer and leader in sales evaluations, there are 21 Sales Core Competencies that determine the degree of success for every salesperson. Using one of their salesperson evaluations, let's further explore just one of these sales competencies, the prospecting or hunting competency. This is an area that all bankers struggle with.

The Prospector or Hunter competency is a producer’s capabilities for prospecting.  Here are the competencies of someone with the Hunter Sales Competency:

• Will Prospect - This is the salesperson that, when held accountable to prospecting activity, will prospect, no matter what and use all business intelligence tools to do so.
• Prospects Consistently - This is the banker who, based on their own internal desire and personal commitment to success in sales, and their sense of responsibility for results, will prospect without direct supervision and will take accountability for their own prospecting activity. It is a consistent part of their calendar every week and they understand how important it is to achieving their goals.

• Prospects via Phone and/or Walk-ins - A skilled prospector knows that the phone call starts the process.  It is one thing to get an introduction, to attend a networking event or to get a response to an email invitation, but all of that effort is for naught until they pick up the phone and attempt to reach the prospect.  Regardless of tenure in selling, the phone is still very key to starting the sales cycle and the buying/selling relationship.

• Has No or Little Need for Approval - This relationship manager gets past gatekeepers and has a very powerful message to deliver to the prospect. They are not likely to be thrown off by the gatekeepers blocking techniques or the objections of the prospect.  They realize that they have a job to do - get the appointment. They build a relationship with the prospect that is mutually beneficial based on the “expert” value they bring to the table and do not take conflict personally.
• Schedules Meetings - The effort of networking, social networking, and asking for introductions turns into meetings.  A banker who puts forth the great effort of picking up the phone has one of the necessary characteristics to be a successful hunter, but unless they actually schedule the appointments, then they will continue to struggle to fill their pipelines and meet personal and business goals.
• Recovers from Rejection – The banker faces rejection on a regular basis.  The difference between this person and an average producer is that they also understand the formula of SW3N - Some Will, Some Won't, So What? - NEXT. They learn from it and move on to find the next prospect.
• Maintains a Full Pipeline - This is the metric that helps you quantify the strength and skill of hunting skills.  Do they have a full pipeline that turns into business? Strong lenders know when to take someone out of the pipeline so that it is not full of pipedreams. They are strong at qualifying if a prospect is in their niche.

• Not a Perfectionist – Super hunters do not delay that call until “the perfect time” and they understand that outreach must happen, regardless. They use the right tech stack tools to prepare, but it does not have to be perfect and the concept of an ideal situation does not distract them from activity that must be done.

• Believes They are Quickly Liked by Customers – Wanting to be liked can work against a relationship manager however, skilled bankers are excellent at building rapport and are easily likeable.

• Reaches Decision Makers – The hunter has developed the ability to get beyond gatekeepers and wastes little time in the process. They know that nothing of substance happens until they are talking to the right person.
• Gets Introductions from Customers and Network - Getting introductions doesn't sound like hunting, but it is a by-product of the hunting activity.  They do more than simply suggest their current client ‘think of them’ if they encounter someone who needs their service, they pro-actively ask for names and expect introductions.
• Uses Social Selling Tools – The successful banker uses technology to aid and assist in the traditional methods of prospecting: pre-approach mail, direct mail, social networking, and prospect facing networking opportunities.  The key here is to understand that a prospector does not rely solely on social networking and technology to build their pipeline.  They do not sit and play catch hoping for when someone responds to a connection request on LinkedIn.  They use current technology applications to supplement and enhance their current prospecting efforts.
• Attends Networking Events – A true prospector understands the importance of getting face time with many people that have an affinity of some sort related to their expertise, and also has a consistent strategy and execution plan to attend events and turn events into prospects.

How will you and your bankers survive and thrive in the future of finding and building banking relationships?

• When this is a Weakness, an individual might believe that coaching means helping salespeople with pricing and technical questions on an ad hoc basis.
• When this is a Strength, an individual might schedule multiple coaching conversations with salespeople each week to improve their skills and help them win more sales.

If your company needs to grow, it is worthy of your time to focus on the importance of sales coaching, how to improve in this area and how effective coaching can drive sales growth for you and your organization. Skilled coaching helps drive sales growth by:

1. Empowering Your Sales Team:

Coaching is about empowering your sales team by providing them with the tools, knowledge, and skills necessary to excel. It's not just about telling them what to do but leading them through a self-discovery process; a more effective way to teach them how to sell better. Effective coaching involves asking many questions of your salespeople about what happened on the sales call to uncover what happened, what was missed and what needs follow up. For example, instead of asking “who will make the final decision?” an effective coach will ask their salesperson “what did they say when you asked them about their decision-making process?” This approach initiates a broader discussion with more coaching opportunities and builds the salesperson’s confidence and competence, helping them to perform at improved levels.

2. Improved Sales Skills:

In theory, Coaching helps sales professionals hone their skills, whether it's prospecting, handling objections or closing deals. But coaching sales tactics is not always effective because it does not address the underlying problem or reason for lack of performance. For example, if a salesperson is not making the prospecting effort that was agreed upon, it may be that they do not recover well from rejection, so just coaching them to make more calls is not going to be helpful.  However, uncovering if rejection is a problem and coaching them on how to be more resilient will improve their skill levels, not just for today but in the future. Selling is fraught with rejection and unless your salesperson can bounce back and go on to the next prospect, a salesperson will forever struggle with prospecting. Given regular feedback and guidance, they can refine their techniques, resulting in more successful interactions with potential customers.

3. Customized Approach:

There are 21 Sales Core Competencies that a salesperson must master to be an “elite” salesperson. That is a long list for any coach to effectively address, however, that is the goal. Some of these competencies are inherent in the person such as desire to excel, commitment to do what is necessary to achieve success and taking responsibility for their own actions and results, not blaming others or the organization. Other competencies however, must be coached such as how to get to the decision maker, how to overcome need for approval in order to ask the tougher questions and in today’s world, how to utilize the many social selling skills to connect, build credibility and find new relationships.  One size does not fit all in sales. Coaching allows you to tailor your approach to individual salespeople's strengths and weaknesses. By understanding their unique needs, you can help them reach their full potential.

4. Feedback and Accountability:

There is a 5-step process that every Coach should follow when coaching their salespeople.

• Gaining insight is all about what is happening in the field on a sales call or what is not The Coach can gain insight firsthand by observing a call or gather it from huddle data where you review sales behaviors and results. For example, how many calls and appointments are your salespeople supposed to make, and what were their results in a certain timeframe? Then, most importantly, what behaviors did your salespeople exhibit to get those results and if not to goal, how will they change their sales behaviors
• Giving Feedback is when coaching sales behaviors gets more difficult. Here are a few tips:

1. Makes sure feedback is timely and specific
2. Review the Good, Bad & Ugly (find something good to point out)
3. Ask questions to help them self-discover
4. Gain agreement on the real problem

• Demonstration of the sales behaviors you want and expect can be hard for many Coaches because they may not have come out of a sales role but they can demonstrate the questions needed to be asked and the sales approach that should be followed. We call this the Shadow of the Leader.
• Practice - Roleplay is never anyone’s favorite activity but once the sales manager has demonstrated the sales behavior, it is important to have the salesperson role play. Don’t call it role play, just name it a practice session but make sure they do it. Muscle memory needs repetition!
• Action Plan is putting the learning into action. Is the salesperson going to call the prospect back and ask those additional questions about their current provider? Make certain to identify specific actions that will take place, set a follow-up to discuss the outcomes, inspect, then coach their sales behaviors again. And don’t forget to celebrate the success and address the failures.

Effective coaching involves regular feedback and accountability. It helps salespeople understand where they can improve and holds them responsible for their performance. This accountability can drive better results and encourage a culture of excellence.

5. Measurable Results:

The impact of coaching on sales growth is not just theoretical. It can be measured through key performance indicators such as larger account sizes, improved conversion rates, revenue per salesperson, and customer satisfaction scores. In order to ensure that coaching improves sales results, it is important to establish the metrics that will be measured and tracked in order to provide insights as to the coaching effectiveness.

We work with companies establishing Success Formulas that reflect the effort needed at each step of their sales process. For example, a company could track dials to contacts, contacts to appointments, appointments to sales opportunities, opportunities to presentations and presentations to closed sales. Many of these stages can be reflected in a company’s CRM. If these are tracked regularly, it is an ideal way for a Coach to identify at which step a salesperson is struggling. With strong coaching, many skills and the results of these steps can be improved, resulting in improved sales results.

Conclusion:

To fully harness the power of coaching, it's essential to foster a coaching culture within your organization. This involves making coaching a part of your company's DNA and encouraging all levels of management to engage in coaching activities. By implementing a coaching program within your organization, you can tap into the potential of your sales team and drive sustainable sales growth.