Developing Your Team
WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL SALESPERSON?
N
ot sure how to create a team of successful
salespeople? Start by hiring the right candidate.
Making a bad hire will set your team off on the wrong
foot. So, how do you know you’re making the right
decision? Look for these six traits or the potential
to cultivate these characteristics in candidates. A
good manager can coach their employees and help
encourage these soft skills in the workplace.
Guide your sales reps in developing these six habits of
successful salespeople.
Hyper-Focus
Maintaining focus is beneficial for any employee
but is crucial in a salesperson. A sales job includes
many facets like prospecting for leads, checking in
on clients, preparing sales presentations, planning
sales meetings and team meetings, and handling
paperwork, etc. At times, it may be difficult for
an employee to stay focused on what’s important.
However, this is the habit that can boost a sales rep’s
effectiveness.
You can coach your employees to hone their
focus and achieve success. Help them outline
which accounts they need to focus on by
providing comprehensive guidelines, qualifying
and disqualifying criteria, and reinforcing their
understanding of the ideal buyer persona.
Set your sales reps up for wins by determining
what works for them, which activities should be
done when, and what tasks are highly essential to
accomplish.
Active Listening
Individuals who tend to listen more than they talk
accomplish more than those who don’t. This can be
a hard habit to form though, so it may be difficult to
find a candidate who fits this category. However, as
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a manager, you can train salespeople with the right
questions and strategies, and reinforce them through
coaching.
By listening fully and allowing your customers
to answer thoroughly, your sales reps will learn
additional and vital information. This information
can drive your sales reps’ next move.
Networking Master
Salespeople who are continually building
relationships go beyond just following up. These
individuals take every interaction as an opportunity to
strengthen trust and improve their relationships with
customers.
As a coach and manager, you need to ensure your
salespeople have strong customer relationship skills.
This characteristic will benefit the customer and your
team in the long run and could help turn them into a
loyal customer.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
There’s no need to “reinvent the wheel” for
every need. When a salesperson approaches each
engagement as a brand new idea, they’re wasting
time, energy, and resources when it’s not necessary.
Instead, subject-matter experts should create
playbooks to help salespeople accomplish more in
a timely manner. Sales techniques that work should
be included in the playbook because typically
salespeople who consistently use them will be more
successful than those who take a more unstructured
approach.
Plus, a consistent process will aid salespeople in
staying focused on balancing their tasks. This will
help avoid the effect of being too “busy” so they
complete all tasks on time.
KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER | March - April 2019 |
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