Last week we posted The Lost Art of Being the Boss. In summary, I stated that sales managers don’t check on their salespeople anymore. For multiple reasons – not wanting to be viewed as a micromanager, avoiding conflict, believing that they “hired adults that shouldn’t need babysitting”, etc. – sales managers don’t hold their salespeople accountable to anything but a number. Although there are a million reasons, I believe one of the main drivers to passive management is that no one has taught them – especially those working at small businesses. So, below are five principals to holding your salespeople accountable in 2020 and beyond.
- One-on-one meetings. Most sales managers hold team meetings, but they rarely schedule recurring one-on-one meetings with their salespeople. These dedicated times can be the difference between success and failure for many salespeople. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that meetings waste time. Bad meetings waste time. Conduct a productive 45-minute meeting every other week with each salesperson and watch their accountability soar.
- Automate. Whether it’s a CRM system, quoting tool, or a simple KPI scorecard, make your accountability tracking as easy as possible. No Word documents asking your salespeople to explain the week’s activity or open-ended questions like “What did you do this week?” Make it easy and it will get done.
- Set short-term activity goals. When I started my career, my boss used the term “break it down to the ridiculous”. Do that with each of your salespeople. How much should they be quoting each week? How many demonstrations should they be giving every week? How many outbound calls should they be making every day? If you follow the previous two ideas, short-term activity goals will be simple.
- Check in throughout the week. You know what salespeople hate more than their bosses bugging them? They hate it when their bosses neglect them. Send a quick text. Leave an encouraging voicemail. Make sure they know that you know they’re out there. They’ll appreciate it and will mysteriously start doing more of the things they’re supposed to do.
- Use the best four words in the sales management dictionary: “Let’s figure it out.” Ask them why they haven’t met their expectations and instead of saying something like “Ok, don’t let that happen again”, use these magical four words. Don’t just use the words but go through the entire process: roll up your sleeves, walk to a white board, pick up a marker, and then enthusiastically announce: “Let’s figure it out.” Your solution is secondary. Your caring is primary.
