Let’s face it: sales is a very misunderstood field of work. From the way media portrays salespeople to the way most pigeonhole salespeople, most don’t truly recognize what it takes to be a successful salesperson. And as such, most often misunderstand what it takes to manage sales teams. In fact, as much as working in sales requires a very specific personality, so too does managing sales teams. So, how can you know if you’re meant for managing sales teams? And how can you overcome the most common challenges sales managers face?
This week, we asked President of Sandler Training in Portland, Oregon, Jeff Schneider for his expert advice on common challenges in sales and sales team management. Here’s what he had to offer!
Top 3 Biggest Challenges for Sales Managers
Having spent over 17 years in sales training and consulting, Schneider has seen all the ways sales teams miss out on closing. Most of the time, Schneider says, salespeople miss closing deals because “they’re trying to close deals that aren’t qualified in the first place.”
When this happens, Schneider makes clear, salespeople spend more time and money quoting clients. But notably, these salespeople are not closing their sales. They’re hearing that their clients will “think it over” rather than hearing a “yes” or a “no.” And even a “think it over” will cost them time and resources that a “no” won’t.
This is where consultants like Schneider come in. Via the Sandler method, Schneider considers the gaps in sales teams to determine where teams may improve and to what extent. He characterizes this gap, however—quite pointedly—as a pain point. That is, it’s only when this gap becomes a pain that companies often seek out professional help from folks like those at Sandler Training.
He says, “people only change when the pain of their current situation exceeds the pain of change.” But are you too going to wait until this pain becomes greater than the pain of hiring a consultant and implementing change into existing teams?
Instead of waiting for this breaking point, consider if you are already experiencing these challenges to some degree by considering if you too experience the following challenges.
1. Finding Employees Who Are Meant for Sales
According to SalesDrive, LLC, many millennial and Gen Z workers have lost interest in working in sales. Specifically, they suggest, these workers are no longer interested in working in sales because they find sales exploitative. But, pointedly, they note that these workers among other generations are also becoming more interested in jobs that offer work from home options. And sales fits nicely into this category.
Nevertheless, as Schneider makes clear, even if someone wants to go into sales, not everyone should. In fact, Schneider says that “Most people shouldn’t be in sales. Sales is very difficult.”
And oftentimes, because of stereotypes and stigma surrounding the position, many assume that those who are extroverted and maybe a bit pushy are always going to be good salespeople.
The reality is, Schneider notes, “You shouldn’t have to put much pressure on a prospect to make a decision.”
Your ideal salesperson, then, is one who will recognize this and implement this tactic into their sales practices everyday.
2. Making Sure Your Team Can Meet the Needs of Your Clients
Having a good rapport with potential clients is important, there’s no denying that. But especially when making sales online or over the phone, it’s often important that salespeople know how to cater or be available to their clients.
Often, this means requiring a strong presence on one’s own website or even on LinkedIn. But, of course, this is not always the case. Schneider says “the big question is: is your ideal client a heavy user of LinkedIn?” If so, a strong LinkedIn presence is crucial for letting them find out who you are as a person, so they can see if they want to speak with you or not.
And not having an online presence, in this way, might be detrimental. So, if your clients are on LinkedIn—namely, those who are entrepreneurs or business owners—a thought-out LinkedIn presence can be ideal for showcasing the personality and abilities of a salesperson.
With this said, some B2B (business-to-business) transactions do not require an online presence, but rather, a strong in-person impression. So, know your client(s) and make sure you and your team are catering to their needs before they become clients.
3. Knowing How to Measure Success
For Schneider, “success is in the eyes of the beholder.” That is, success is measured very differently from one person to another. So, finding it first requires knowing how to measure it.
When taking on new clients, then, Schneider asks clients what their “pain” is—what is going wrong in their process, and why they’re seeking out a consultant. He’ll ask them questions like: what is your current closing rate? What do you want your closing rate to become? And what kind of time frame are you looking at to accomplish this?
If the goal is either unmeasurable—i.e., simply “better”—or impractical, Schneider may help these teams better inform their goals and ways of approaching them. But crucially, Schneider says not many companies are making measurable goals right now. And of course, without measurable goals, he cannot accurately guarantee better sales results.
Instead, he suggests looking at everyday processes and goals as a kind of “cookbook” or measurable practice.
This might look like sending out 25 invites on LinkedIn in order to receive 10 conversations. Then, from those 10 conversations, making three appointments—one of which becomes a sale.
It’s all about making measurable and consistent routines to ensure your practices are reliable long-term.
How to Build a Better Sales Team
Instead of waiting for your problems to grow so great that they require better solutions, make sure your employees are up for the challenge from the very get-go.
This means making sure you’re only ever hiring those who have the ambition and drive needed to succeed long-term in sales. Specifically, Schneider suggests considering the following of candidates in an interview:
- What motivates the candidate?
- How badly do they want the things that motivate them?
- Do they have a tendency to steer the conversation towards pain to make decisions?
- How good are they at quickly establishing trust with clients? How much can they get clients to easily know and trust them?
- Are they able to not get too caught up in empathy to get at the hard questions or to close without needing the client’s approval?
But, as Schneider makes clear, it’s not enough to simply ask these questions. In order to find the best suited salespeople, you’ll need to specifically design your interview questions to get beyond what candidates will *think* is the right answer to your question.
To do so, Schneider suggests asking questions that ask for specific examples in previous workplaces. For instance, he suggests the following prompts:
- Tell me about a time you wanted to give up but you kept going
- Tell me about what specifically you say to clients over the phone?
- Tell me about your previous job by explaining what you are used to doing day in and day out. Tell me what was hard about this.
From these prompts, you’ll get to better know not just in theory what the candidate would do, but rather, in practice what they have done in the past and if their tactics will be successful.
Summary
Photo courtesy of Jeff Schneider.
After meeting with President of Sandler Training in Portland, Oregon, Jeff Schneider, we conclude that a successful sales team takes much more than just the right sales people. It also takes the right sales management. The most successful sales managers are those who recognize pain points or gaps in their sales practices, measure their procedures and goals, and achieve those measurable goals in a sustainable manner.
Special thanks to Jeff Schneider for the expert advice in this article. For more information on finding and managing sales team to their maximum potential, visit the Schneider Sandler website or read more on their blog page at www.schneider.sandler.com/blog.
