Trust Modern Evidence-Based Methods To Build Teams Of Sales Superstars
(3 minute read)
If you
- would like to identify top sales performers before they join your business,
- are fed up with wasting money on the same old training methods, and
- are keen to get a better return from your sales team
please read on…
We’re all far too used to settling for a team that has a one or two sales superstars, an acceptable number of patchy performers (who somehow pull something out of the bag on the last day of the month!), and a few people who used to show potential but have slightly lost the plot and failed to shine. We’ve all worked in these teams and you might even be at risk of putting together your own version of such a team right now.
Well, I say ‘Why knock your head against that brick wall again?!’
Imagine the impact on your business if you could develop a team which performs at the level of your best sales people, throughout the team. And, that there is substantive evidence that means you can be confident this approach will deliver a 23% sales improvement. That’s right almost a quarter more sales added to your top line.
This isn’t just possible. It’s proven by some of the UK’s most successful sales teams.
Despite decades of investment in sales training, methodologies and processes, the simple fact is that the same old approaches are failing to shift the dial on performance in most companies.
But why?
Simply because they miss the real issue, which is one of sales capability.
Without the right core capabilities in your sales team, no amount of generic training or templated methodologies is going to help. Sounds obvious, but taking the time to really research, codify and evidence the sales capabilities which are essential for success in business-to-business selling, and to link this to a proven way of recruiting and developing sales teams will deliver success on a scale you need to win.
In simple terms, for great sales teams ‘capability eats process for breakfast’.
Firmly rooted in modern business psychology, we call our proven approach the Acuity 360 Sales Talent Audit. Companies such as Global Media, a major player in commercial broadcast with growth brands like Capital, Heart and LBC in its portfolio, are seeing the benefits of this approach every day.
Of course, we’d love to talk to you about how we can help to bring this success to your business but there is plenty you can do without even picking up the phone. Here’s my quick to guide to raising the performance bar in your sales team, four things that will help you go far:
- Measure and analyse current capability
Sales organisations measure sales performance, but do you really know the individual behaviours that differentiate your top performers from the rest? Knowing what these key capabilities and behaviours are is the crucial first step in ensuring that you improve overall sales performance.
- Analyse your people and performance data
Statistical analysis of sales behaviours versus individual sales team performance provides clear and specific direction, illuminating and clarifying the performance of your team into something meaningful and actionable.
- Define the key priorities
The above actions pinpoint critical capability gaps and development needs for individual team members. In our experience there are a few key capabilities that your sales superstars will exhibit more than the rest of the sales team. Focusing on building these capabilities across the wider team will deliver a strong return on investment.
- Close your capability gaps
By demonstrating through statistical analysis that certain behaviours drive greater sales, you can be confident that closing these gaps will deliver a bottom line benefit, something traditional training approaches and methodologies simply can’t do.
The beauty of this approach is the ability to iterate over time, re-assessing your team as their capabilities develop. Thereby not just narrowing the gap between your best performers and the rest, but also raising the bar of performance overall.
If you’d like to know more about the Acuity 360 Sales Talent Audit discover more here.
Bloojam are business psychologists helping clients to transform their sales teams. Find out more about the Acuity 360 Talent Audit case study which pinpointed the sales capabilities that would drive a 23% increase in revenue at Global.
Jim Bloomfield is a Director of Bloojam Consulting with 20 years’ experience of using business psychology to develop salespeople and leaders. He is a member of the Association of Business Psychology (ABP) and the British Psychological Society (BPS) and has successfully helped some of Britain’s best-known businesses exceed their sales goals.