Last Updated on October 2, 2023 by
For businesses focused on rapidly growing, the sales team motivation plays one of the most crucial roles. They directly interact with customers, which can translate into increased sales and loyal clients. Hence, having an effective and motivated sales team is instrumental to your company’s success.
As a business owner, it’s best that you develop your sales team’s potential by defining the overall goal of the business and the role they play in achieving that. To do so, create a sales strategy that delves deeper into their tasks and targets. Then communicate this clearly to ensure that they’re aligned with you and the rest of the team.
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The importance of a sales strategy
No matter what stage your business is in, you’ll need to make sales if you want to grow and profit. But how do you persuade customers to buy your products and services?
A strong sales strategy is what you need. When creating a sales strategy, you’ll need to assess everything about your business and customers before laying out a plan of action.
While thoroughly planning won’t guarantee success all the time, you’re still assured that your strategy isn’t just a random idea that could fail in the end. Moreover, the data and information you gain will be helpful in pivoting your business in the right direction.
Having a sales strategy is also beneficial for your sales team on the ground, doing the job. It provides them with a guide containing objectives, strategies and tactics for success. When they have a clear idea of what’s expected from them, they’ll be able to execute the strategy more efficiently too.
Your team as advisors
While the overall strategic direction will come from you and other key business leaders, the rest of your team members can contribute in crafting the underlying strategies. They’ll be helping you implement whatever plans you’ve made, after all. So, in this case, work with your sales team motivation in developing your sales strategy.
When your members are involved in defining the sales strategy, you can build one that works for them. They can provide you insight into their strengths and weaknesses as well as how they view the different sales methods you have. You’ll eventually arrive at a polished and refined plan after brainstorming with them.
Aside from that, you’ll also get to know your sales team better. When you’re able to connect with them and their outlook on the business, you can manage them better. This is especially helpful once you’re already in the implementation phase of your sales strategy.
What you need to communicate
When talking about your strategy, you have to be as precise as possible. It’s not enough to say that you expect to have new customers through a sales strategy like cold calling. You have to define why this strategy would work, specific targets to meet and how the cold calling should be done.
Here are some items to include when communicating with your sales team:
The business mission and vision
Start with recalling the core of your business. This will help the sales team rationalize the different strategies and tactics they’ll implement. It can also provide them a sense of purpose because they’re reminded of why they’re doing what they’re doing in the first place.
SMART objectives
What do you want your sales team to accomplish? The best way to tell this is by giving objectives that are SMART or specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Once they’re executing their responsibilities, it provides them with a comprehensive guide to check if they’re on the right track.
Implementation plan for strategies and tactics
The ‘how’ is significant in getting your strategy across. If you simply give a broad and general instruction, then the team members might execute it differently. To avoid any misinterpretation, give them a detailed implementation plan from preparation to execution and monitoring.
If you’re having a difficult time figuring out the right strategy and objectives for your business, you can have an in-depth strategic reviews done first with a seasoned expert from Boardroom Advisors.
Why you need to communicate
No matter how good your sales strategy is, it won’t help the business flourish if it’s not communicated well. It’s important to let your team in on what the business is working towards. Below are some compelling reasons why:
Unified goals and targets
Conveying your strategy to all your team members ensures that everyone’s on the same page. Each member is aware of what they are supposed to do and achieve. In turn, your business will run more smoothly.
Empowers members with autonomy
In line with the first bullet point, members will also be able to work well independently. As long as they understand the strategy, then they can do their tasks with confidence. You don’t need to be hovering over them to check if they’re doing their job properly.
Inspires collaboration and involvement
Keeping your team in the dark about the business strategy will limit them to just follow whatever you’ve assigned them to do. On the other hand, when the team knows the strategy inside and out, they’re able to infer how it can be executed and improved. They’ll also be more open to making suggestions and collaborating with the business’s leaders.
How to communicate your strategy
Give a clear and specific message
Before sitting down with your sales team, you have to make sure you have a clear and comprehensible message. This means you need to have a total understanding of the business and its strategic direction. Your sales strategy also has to be well-thought-out beforehand.
Consulting business experts such as a Part-time Sales Director from Boardroom Advisors can be helpful in refining your business’s sales strategy.
What does a Sales Director do? They study your business and customers thoroughly in order to arrive at strategic advice for your business to thrive and reach maximum profitability.
Connect the strategy to your sales team
While the sales strategy is specific for the sales team motivation , they still need to understand how it’s anchored to the business’s main goal. Your sales team has to see where they fit in the picture. Let them know the value of the sales strategy and reinforce why they’re essential in transforming that strategy into results.
Open the floor to feedback and questions
Communication is a two-way street. After discussing your strategy in detail, listen to what your sales team has to say. They might need clarification on some areas or they might have recommendations of their own.
Regardless, an open line of communication allows you to manage your business well. You’ll know if the team has challenges that need to be addressed as well as issues that have to be resolved immediately. It will also be easier for you to get feedback from them about the strategy implementation.
To summarize, meditate on your sales strategy first and then organize how you’ll relay this to your sales team. While you communicate it to them, make sure you give them space to voice out their concerns. If you need additional support in leading your sales team motivation effectively, you can always work with experts from Boardroom Advisors.
Author’s bio:
John Courtney is Founder and Chief Executive of BoardroomAdvisors.co which provides part-time Executive Directors (Commercial/Operations/Managing Directors), Non-Executive Directors and paid Mentors to SMEs without either a recruitment fee or a long term contract.
John is a serial entrepreneur, having founded 7 different businesses over a 40 year period, including a digital marketing agency, corporate finance and management consultancy. He has trained and worked as a strategy consultant, raised funding through Angels, VCs and crowd funding, and exited businesses via MBO, MBI and trade sale. He has been ranked #30 in CityAM’s list of UK Entrepreneurs.
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