Does your office have some fun activities to offer to your sales team? A Ping pong table, maybe? A big TV to watch the favorite sports games? Office-wide outings? Well, if it does not, it might be the first sign of an environment that does not attract and retain the best sales experts.
How do you keep the sales team happy in the office and increase the profits of the company at the same time? It is possible by creating a positive sales culture that attracts strong sales individuals that can help you achieve the needed volume of sales. Many companies brag about having good cultures that make a positive impact on their employees, but the culture is only a part of the effort. The main signs that the culture is working for sales team are the actual sales figures and turnover rates at the organization.
Want to know if the culture of your company can contribute to increasing sales? You need to check if the environment is suitable first. How? There are several signs that say you need to do something.
Signs of bad culture for sales teams:
- Lack of respect for management
- Obvious tensions among members of sales teams
- High turnover in sales teams
- Lack of willingness to spend time together outside the office
If you have noticed any of these signs, you need to change the working environment in your company to promote cohesiveness, trust, and effectiveness. Here is how you do it.
Change hiring techniques
Building a sales team is not an easy task. According to Ken Thoreson of Sales Gravy, the right candidates should not only have great sales skills but also an appropriate attitude for success, which includes team playing skills. To select these candidates, one must develop a consistent and systematic interview process that will provide special consideration for a team playing.
As the result of a new recruiting process, you will select real team players that put team’s success before personal success. This way, you will eliminate many problems, such as the tension between employees and negative culture.
Acknowledge the success and failure
If the team delivers its very first sales goal, have a celebration. It is very important to acknowledge the success because it helps to build a stronger team. As this Coach Federation article explains, acknowledgment is a cornerstone of appreciative inquiry, which is a proven method of positive reinforcement. It reminds the sales team about their skills and perfectly relates to the long-term goals. Moreover, a little celebration always contributes to bonding between the team members.
Promote collaboration
Some members of the sales team may have advanced expertise than others. Naturally, they may not be willing to share them with others, which might be a sign of lack of trust and commitment to each other’s personal growth. You should encourage these more skilled members to share their wisdom for mutual benefit, thus promoting the collaboration inside the team, says Rick Paul, a team building expert from Pro essay writing. If the knowledge is shared in one group, it can adopt specific techniques for various situations and act cohesively and collaboratively, which is a dream of any sales team manager.
To promote sharing of knowledge, you need to arrange some friendly sales matches and team building activities that stimulate teamwork, collaboration, and demonstrate the benefits of mutual effort.
Effectively communicate
You are a boss of a sales team, which means that every member will turn to you in case he or she needs help with issues they encounter during work. If you are unavailable to them in these situations, they might feel uncared for and even abandoned, which may lead to a lack of trust. To fulfill the team’s needs and ensure that everything is going well, you need to have open lines of effective communication with every member of the team. This means you are available when they need you.
Have fun
Remember about that ping pong table at the beginning of this article? It helps to create a positive environment and even a winning one. Have you ever been to one of those auto dealerships where they ring a bell after a sale is made? Those people clearly know how to have fun at their jobs and it keeps them happy. You should do the same in your office. Have a ping pong table installed, buy a cowbell, a gong, and other office activities that will allow having some fun during selling. Your team will certainly appreciate it.
So to summarize…
Creating a great environment for sales teams that attract the new sales experts and retains the existing ones requires some effort from the company. If you have some difficulties with your sales, start with changing your recruiting process and continue with nurturing teamwork and collaboration for mutual benefit. Use these tips to create an effective environment for your sales team and do not forget to have fun in the process!
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