Recruit, Hire, Train, Inspire and Monitor...

The five things sales managers must be consistently doing is Recruit, Hire, Train, Inspire and Monitor.

Once these five actions are underway and consistently taking place (the plates are spinning), momentum will take over and managing a sales team becomes more of a joy and less of a pain.

Recruit - Finding people that will be the right fit at the right time is the first step. Accepting the fact that team members will transition, even when you are doing things right is important to maintain your SANITY. Turnover is part of business and happens more frequently in sales than accounts payable!

Hire - Selecting people that will be the right fit at the right time comes next. Your best bet is to see as many prospects as possible (gee, sounds like sales to me) so you can make the good selections. Just like turnover, making the wrong selection happens A LOT. I don't know why, but sales professionals sell really well during the hiring process. The longer you recruit and hire the better you'll become at knowing who is the real deal and who is blowing smoke up your butt.

Train - Most sales professionals love good training. Training should be consistent, relevant and with topics that cover attitude and skills. If your team doesn't want to come to training do the following then you are stale or they are stale. You can fix your training but you cannot fix someone who just isn't interested (this is why you recruit, hire etc.)

Inspire - If your product or service doesn't inspire your sales team... you've got to inspire your sales team. Without inspiration, the negative impact of consistent rejection will push your sales team over the edge. Why are your sales people representing your product, service or company? What benefits are they bringing to their clients? If you've got something really special - make sure your people know it! If you don't have a special product or service (say garbage collection...) you better make your organization a haven of personal development and growth.

Monitor - I attended a meeting a few years ago where Brian Tracy was lavishing praise on an individual for selling his company for a few million dollars. Brian asked the gentlemen, "give everyone here the secret to doing well in your industry..." without hesitation the guy said "know your numbers - always know your numbers."

He was referring to sales people. As sales managers we need to make sure our team members know their numbers. It's the key to accountability. It's the key to success.

These five things have made a difference in our business and hope they will help make a difference in your efforts to help your team achieve great success.

TK