"WHAT SELLING ACTIVITIES DID YOU UNDERTAKE TODAY?" Managing the team's selling time.

Time management can be a killer in sales. It is one critical area where a sales manager or sales director can be totally blind. It is even a worse situation for a sales or business leader with little experience in managing a sales function, with no sales technology to support the team and a CEO who is wondering why he or she continues to invest in the sales team.

The sales team on the field needs constant direction and focus and as a sales leader and the business manager/ owner, it is your job to provide direction and focus.

1. Do you really know where your sale team members are spending their time?

2. Do you know what they are spending their time on?

3. Have you observed them to see what they are doing in front of customers and prospects?

What can your do about this situation?

Going around this huddle of visibility is a massive step in ensuring your sales targets will be met. The sales figures are on the field but without the focus and direction, without the time management, without the visibility, the results will remain as mere forecasts and an uncertain game of chance.

1.Employ sales technology to help you have visibility.

Selling in these times is greatly enhanced with the use of sales technology. Sales persons are guided to take leading actions and progress opportunities through the selling cycle. This is the sales manager’s paradise; complete visibility over the meetings held, the documents sent, the scheduled activities, the solutions offered, the sales data gathered.

With a sales activity management technology, a sales manager has the ultimate eye and from there, all the guidance can be made available to lead the opportunity to a successful close. With this "Big Brother" mode activated, the sales manager/ business leader is fully in control of selling activities by the sales team.

2. Set a cadence to do coaching.

Move out and visit on sales calls with your team members. Remember, coaching is specific to the sales person but employing the use of a coaching guide will ensure you assess indicators across the team, measure result levels and plan improvement interventions on common indicators.

Set the right activities for coaching; both in-house and on field. Set the success metrics that should direct your sales function in any coaching and guidance provision goal.

3.Have the team members track their own time and review it in weekly meetings.

The use of a simple time and activity tracker would be very helpful. The reporting tools should be developed to take input from leading indicators so that sales planning feeds into the results being measured. This is where sales technology becomes an asset.

Within the sales culture you are building for your business, we suggest you redirect focus on the right selling activities. Move from Results Based Selling to Activity Based Selling. This way, your sales opportunities progress one step at a time and within set time, you should be reaching the endgame!

4. Introduce leading indicators to get the sales team member plan their days properly.

Leading indicators push the sales persons into projecting how their days would be and if properly done, it becomes a great guide for giving the sales team the focus and direction they require from the sales leader.

Allow the leading indicators to direct the activities. What are your activity results? How many of such results do your need? And in what time do you require them. Remember, have the goal in mind but focus on the everyday activities.

What should your next steps be?

The people management aspect of administering your sales function is a fundamental catalyst to ensuring you hit the targets. You would require the help of experts to provide the needed support in setting up the right environment that make sales people management as objective, focused and results driving as possible.

If you are open minded about getting an expert to partner you to develop your sales team management, contact us and let’s schedule an engagement.