Do you feel like 2020 lasted ten years instead of just one? If you do, you’re not alone. With everyone anticipating a new year’s turn, it can be difficult to keep your sales team engaged, especially with all of the zoom fatigue and pandemic burnout. As a leader, you can’t just rely on your team being intrinsically motivated, leaving it up to them to engage. Sometimes your team may be inherently motivated. But what happens when they aren’t as engaged?
If they are not careful, it can take anywhere from three months to a year for a new sales leader to burn through all their political capital, and it’s hard to gain it back when they do.
Coming into a new sales organization Mason as a sales leader has political capital. Political capital is defined as the trust, goodwill, and influence you have with organizations, teams, and individuals. It is also connected to the amount of “unbudgeted” spend you have. In layman’s terms, your “pull.”
Mason is a driven sales leader with an excellent track record of improving sales teams and increasing revenue. He has 17 years of sales and sales leadership experience and recently applied for a new role, a step up, with more responsibility with Widgets Inc.
When you first establish your business, you do it all; marketing manager, human resources, product or service expert, finance analyst, sales leader, etc. But there comes a time when you want to grow your business, and you know hiring a sales leader is a step in the right direction. Here are signs it’s time to hire a sales leader.
Sales runs on relationships and communication. From the opening pitch to closing a deal, your sales team needs to communicate with their customers. What about with you or the team? Do you find it frustrating that your sales team is not speaking up during your meetings? Here are some ways to get your team engaged in meetings.
For some sales leaders approaching you, the CEO, can be nerve-wracking. They may think some questions are better left unsaid, either because they “should” know the answer but don’t, or because they are nervous about how you’ll react, or they may think it’s a dumb question.
Whether you were hired brand new to the company, or started out as a salesperson and were promoted to sales leader, you need to build credibility with your sales team. Establishing credibility as a leader is not something that happens overnight. It’s a process that involves time, effort, and patience, and is worth the investment for successful leadership.
Outside sales and inside sales have traditionally played in their own arenas. Outside salespeople regularly meet with clients or prospects in the field. Inside salespeople typically sell over the phone and web. But in today’s “new norm,” outside salespeople have had to stop meeting with clients face-to-face. They have now started to invade the turf of the inside salespeople. So, is this the end of the outside salesperson?
It’s no secret that remote work arrangements have become more prevalent this year. As more companies are considering physically going back to work, many salespeople are asking the question, “do I have to go back to the office?” The answer? It depends.