9/7/2003
Building The High Performance Team
There are many principles we could discuss
in building the high performance sales team.
In working with owners and managers, however,
the three areas outlined below will give you a good starting
point in evaluating your system for attracting and growing
top sales performers.
Timing:
When do most owners/managers hire
a salesperson?
I find too often it is when the owner/manager is
in crisis mode. They start interviewing when:
· The salesperson has been
fired
· The salesperson has decided to quit
The problem with this methodology
is obvious. Managers rush
into a hiring decision and act out of desperation
because there are accounts to be serviced
or a territory quota that
is in jeopardy. The result is a manager
settling for mediocrity because they
did not have an effective recruiting
system in place. Just like
good sales people are always prospecting,
a good manager should always
be recruiting sales people. I have
my “eye” on
a top performer in Denver and call her
periodically to see how things are going
in her current position.
Although, I am not ready to add another
associate, I am keeping my “people pipeline” full.
Recruiting sales people should be a continuous
process not an event. How many recruiting calls
are you conducting each month?
Skills vs. “heart”:
If you ask a manager what they
would choose in a potential sales
candidate, skills or attitude, the
resounding answer is attitude! However,
take a look at your hiring practices.
Many managers conduct a “skill” based
interview versus a “behavior” based interview.
Interview questions are focused on prospecting, building
relationships and closing skills instead of asking
questions that focus on initiative, tenacity, integrity
and adaptability. As a former Vice President of Sales
for a company, I found that my young, inexperienced
sales representatives often out performed
some of my veteran sales representatives. Why? The new representatives
were eager, coachable and committed. Experienced
in sales....no. Experienced in doing whatever it
takes to succeed...yes! What are you hiring? Skills
or “heart.” We can shoot for both but
I will always aim for “heart.”
Expectations:
Missed expectations can be a major source of frustration
between management and sales teams. A misunderstanding
of specifically what was expected is at the core
because most organizations use fuzzy words such as
commitment, hard work, activity, customer service
without a clear definition of what this word specifically
means in their organization.
I often go to the athletic world
to make my point in clearly defining
expectations. For example, a
track star knows specifically when they
have run well because the expectation
is clearly defined for
them. Run “X” number of yards in “X” amount
of time. That performance will equal poor,
average or great because we have specific
measurements in
place to define high performance. How
do you specifically define high performance
for your team? Does your
team clearly know the difference between
average performance and high performance?
Take a closer look at your team building process.
You are only as strong as your weakest link.
Colleen Stanley is President of
SalesLeadership, Inc., of Denver, Colorado.
