The Right Way to Manage Salespeople

Another effective tactic for setting and managing sales goals is to step back and evaluate what went right and what went wrong the previous year. After all, if you don’t learn from your mistakes, you are doomed to repeat them. And if you don’t learn from your successes, you can’t replicate them.

“I have my teams write out three lessons from their successes and failures that can guide them as they move into the future,” says Deceuster. On the negative side, he finds that salespeople consistently believe they do not have enough time in the day to get things done, which prevents them from reaching their ultimate goal. The trick, says Deceuster, is getting them to reframe negative associations in a more positive light. For instance, you can’t change the number of hours in the day, but you can always find time to do what is important by prioritizing your tasks and systematically checking items off the list one at a time.

Here’s an example of Deceuster’s method in action. One year, he worked with a small staffing firm comprised largely of women of in their 50s. The firm was losing sales to more nimble competitors that were younger and more tech-savvy. “The message I kept hearing from these women is ‘you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,’” says Deceuster. “The reality, however, is that by leveraging their experience, they could achieve unparalleled success.” By shifting their negative self-image to a positive one, the women were able to gain back their confidence. In just one year, the firm doubled its annual revenue from $3 million to $6 million, says Deceuster.

A Team Effort
Many sales managers employ a consultative approach when helping to set goals for their staff. Schirmer of Reed Business first asks his team members to map out where they want to be financially and how much they want to earn. He then tells them to work backwards from there. “Let’s say a salesperson wants to earn $100,000 a year, and to get that, they need sales revenue of $1 million,” he says. “Together, we’ll look closely at each of their accounts and identify areas of growth where new sales can come from.” He wants his salespeople to be aggressive, but he is also careful that they don’t set themselves up for failure. For instance, a sales target of $5 million might be overly optimistic if the sales representative in question has never surpassed $1 million in his career.

Another effective tactic is encouraging sales staff to share their goals with the entire team and other people in the organization. When goals are shared, people become more vested in the outcome and ultimate success. “We break commitments to ourselves all the time, but once we inform friends, family and colleagues of our goals, the stakes are instantly raised,” says Lori Richardson, president of Score More Sales, a sales effectiveness organization. People are less likely to back away from their goals without giving it a lot of thought and reasoning first. What’s more, by trusting others with your goals, you acquire a support group that can help you stick with it and spur you on to success.

Finally, it’s critical for sales managers to celebrate success and publicly acknowledge outstanding performers who meet and exceed their goals. “Salespeople respond tremendously to positive reinforcement,” says Schirmer. Besides money, his organization rewards top performers with a number of perks such as membership in a Presidents Club and inclusion in the companywide newsletter. “You can never praise salespeople enough,” he says. “It’s not just money that motivates them, but recognition that they’re contributing to the success of the business.”