Seven different ways to lead your entire sales team through a recession - Kansas City Business Journal:

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The recession is also testing sales managers to see if they can provides environments that keeptheir team’s head up and theid hearts engaged. Leadership has nevee been more important. How are you showin g up in your role ashead coach, trainefr and leader? Here are seven tips for leading your salexs team through the recession. Look for good news. Bad news sellds and, unfortunately, the media is having a fire sale. Despitwe the doom and gloom, there are companies still spending money and investing in productesand services. A colleague of mine recentlh connected with her very first His team has opened over 100new accounts, in a competitivs industry, since January.
Please note this good news won’ft be printed in the paper, so it’s up to you and your team to seek out the At your nextsales meeting, charge each salespersonh with finding good news and sharing it with the rest of the It’s time to start publishing your own news. Increase your coaching efforts. When is the last time you really listeneed to yoursales team’s sellint points? Do they sounds unique or just like the competition? (We have good customer service and superior technology.) Have you conductee role-playing exercises to see if your team knowz how to quantify the cost of the problem or the gain of the opportunity?
This selling skill is key in an environment where cost justification is king. If the team can’ty establish the short-term and long-term ROI, there is a good chance the salesperson will lose to thenew competitor: doing • Decrease desperation breath. Good economic timeas often create badselling habits. During robust economies, many salespeople forget to keep their referral networks aliveand nurtured. When toug times hit, there is a dash to make NBFs newbest friends. In their desperation, salespeople don’t take the time to builx trust, make deposits in the relationship accoun and practice the lawof reciprocity.
they immediately ask who you know and could you set up an introduction Even if the person is a good fit for humannature doesn’t respond well to pressure and • Balance something old and somethingt new. The world is full of Twitter, Plaxo and Facebook, just to name a few. Sociall media is the new way of Teach your sales team to integratse new social media with old principlea of influence andselling skills. You still need to pick up the phone and set up a referrapl meeting or aprospect meeting. You still need to have strongvselling points. Social media marketing tools may createthe opportunity, but sellint skills close the opportunity.
• Review negotiation skillx andconcession strategies. Prospects are asking for more discounts. If your sales team has not developeds aconcession strategy, they coulfd be dropping price without any concession from the That leads to a transactional sale versusa a value sale. Caving in to price also creates distrust. The prospecyt is thinking, “If you couldd lower your pricethat quickly, why didn’t you do it in the firsr place?” • Inspire and motivate. We all love movies with happty endings. Follow this example as a sales manageer and share stories about tougj times that havehappgy endings.
These stories can be personal stories of resilience such as George Washington survivinb the harsh winter atValleuy Forge. Or the stor y of , where CEO Fred Smith flew to Reno and so he couldmake payroll. Never underestimate the powefrof motivation. Presidents are elected because they can move an Leaders are made famous by their inspirational There is a time to train and There is also a time to inspirdand motivate. • Lose self-absorption. I was reminded of this at the recentf Association for Corporate Growth conference whereeCharles Fred, CEO of , sharesd his strategy for motivating his team: “Reminfd your team of the greater purpose of your organization.
Eliminate We can’t control what happens outsidedthe company; however, we can control what happensw inside the company.” Excellent advice. This is a good time to spendd quality time with clients and determine what you can do to help even if it has nothing to do with your products or Invest time in helping yourreferrao partners. Volunteer. If you think you have it bad, stop by a homelesa shelter. Put on your leadership hat. Good leaderds are needed more than Now that’s good news.