Venkataraman Subramanyan’s Post

At The Sales Collective, we are big fans of core competencies for sales reps. We are even bigger fans of showing what good vs. needs improvement looks like and highlighting these as positive & negative indicators of the core competencies. We use a highly accurate and predictive Sales DNA test. It's comprised of 21 core competencies that we have built a competency framework around. It aligns all competencies to their own positive and negative indicators i.e. what does good and needs improvement look like. For example: Competency: Reaching Decision Makers - Navigating an organization's hierarchy to engage with the person who has the authority to make purchasing decisions. It requires persistence, interpersonal skills, and understanding of business structures. Positive Indicators: ✅ Ability to communicate with decision makers one-on-one and they show genuine interest with engaging discussions or asking relevant questions ✅ Ability to successfully get through gatekeepers ✅ Can successfully multi-thread ✅ Understands differences between decision maker, champions and influencers Negative Indicators: ❌ Consistently schedules meetings with others who are not decision makers ❌ Does not multi-thread ❌ Leads sitting too long in stage 0 Why is this important?! Coaching to metrics is not acceptable. You must coach to a competency, to a behavior change. If you do not outline the good/needs improvement behaviors, how else can you fix it? How will your sellers be able to identify their areas of behavior change opportunity?! Here's a hint: They won't. They will become disengaged, unmotivated, blame failure on others, create toxicity in the culture, and ultimately leave or get fired. Facts. Sound familiar? Yes, it's a heavy lift to do this on your own, we aren't going to sugar coat it. We have a way to assess and benchmark where your reps are today backed by 30+ years of scientific data and the ability to give you the positive and negative indicators for all 21 core competencies. Your leaders can learn how to coach to the competencies, these behavior changes, so they aren't continuing coaching to deals and metrics which ultimately leads to failure. Change the behavior and see the results.

How to Motivate Your Sales Force for Peak Performance Motivating a sales team goes beyond targets; it involves understanding their psychology, aligning their values with the organization’s mission, and providing continuous engagement. Here’s how to build a high-performing sales team: 💡 1. Understand the Psychology of a Salesperson: Salespeople thrive on achievement, recognition, and autonomy. Celebrate wins, recognize individual efforts, and give them the freedom to strategize. 💡 2. Align Personal and Organizational Values: Link personal goals (like financial growth or career advancement) with the company’s vision. Show them how their success contributes to both personal achievements and the organization’s larger purpose. 💡 3. Continuous Engagement and Development: Equip the team with market insights and offer ongoing feedback through structured coaching. Continuous learning helps them stay motivated and sharp. 💡 4. Stay on Par with Market Trends: Provide the latest tools, technology, and industry updates to empower them in a competitive landscape. Encourage them to adapt and innovate as the market evolves. 💡 5. Team Building for Collective Success: Sales success requires teamwork. Promote collaboration with team-building activities and peer recognition to foster unity and trust. 💡 6. Deliver Results through Clear Goals: Set SMART goals and celebrate small wins. Regularly monitor KPIs and adjust strategies to stay on track. Motivated and aligned sales teams achieve sustainable growth while driving personal and organizational success! 🚀 #SalesMotivation #SalesLeadership #TeamBuilding #PersonalGrowth #MarketTrends #EmployeeEngagement #SalesSuccess #LeadershipDevelopment #GoalAlignment #BusinessGrowth

“Spending More Time Helping Things Go Right vs. Preventing or Changing Things That Have Gone Wrong” in the context of sales and sales leadership. The Value of Primary Spending Philosopher Cheshire Calhoun distinguishes four ways of spending time: Primary Spending: This involves dedicating time to activities that are valuable for their own sake. For sales professionals and leaders, primary spending might include building strong client relationships, developing innovative strategies, and nurturing a positive team culture. Filler Spending: Sometimes, we spend time on things simply because we have nothing better to do. It’s like filling the gaps in our schedule. In sales, this could be administrative tasks or routine follow-ups. While necessary, filler spending doesn’t contribute significantly to our sense of purpose. Entailed Spending: To achieve primary spending, we often need to invest time in related activities. For instance, if a sales leader’s primary spending involves coaching their team, the time spent on training sessions or performance evaluations becomes entailed spending. Norm-Required Spending: Social norms and expectations dictate certain time expenditures. For example, attending mandatory meetings or completing paperwork falls into this category. While necessary, norm-required spending doesn’t always align with our personal values. Balancing Prevention and Growth Preventing or Changing Things That Have Gone Wrong: Sales leaders often find themselves dealing with challenges: missed targets, dissatisfied clients, or internal conflicts. While addressing these issues is essential, spending too much time here can lead to burnout and frustration. Effective prevention involves setting up robust processes, training, and risk management. It’s about minimizing the chances of things going wrong in the first place. However, dwelling solely on prevention can stifle growth. Sales teams need room to experiment, learn from mistakes, and adapt. Innovation and progress thrive when leaders encourage calculated risk-taking. Helping Things Go Right: Primary spending in sales leadership includes activities that directly contribute to success: coaching, strategic planning, and fostering a positive team culture. Sales professionals benefit from mentorship, skill development, and motivational leadership. These investments pay off in improved performance and job satisfaction. Striking the Balance Sales leaders must strike a balance between prevention and growth-oriented activities. Set aside dedicated time for both prevention (addressing challenges) and growth (nurturing success). Delegate and Empower: Empower your team to handle certain challenges independently, allowing you to focus on high-impact activities. Learn from Mistakes: Instead of dwelling on failures, view them as opportunities for growth. Encourage a culture of learning and resilience within your sales team.

Do you sell the way you buy? Unlock success with a tailored sales process! 🚀 Putting value at the core of your conversations ensures sales teams align with how customers buy, not just how they sell. It’s the leaders job to make sure the Sales Team is set to succeed. The leader needs to adjust the sales process to suit the strategy of the company. The leader needs to make sure that the team is equipped with a winning playbook. Have you set your sellers up to win? Creating accountability in a sales team involves setting clear expectations, providing support, and implementing effective monitoring mechanisms. Here are three steps: 1. Set Clear Expectations: Clearly define sales goals, targets, and performance metrics for each team member. Ensure everyone understands what is expected of them and how their contributions contribute to the overall team objectives. Proposal Volume and Close Rate should be monitored weekly to ensure monthly goals are achieved. Sales people need rules of engagement that include Gross Profit and Revenue Per Hour targets for each deal so that they sell the right revenue for the company to reach its goals. 2. Provide Support and Resources: Offer ongoing training, coaching, and resources to help sales team members succeed. Address any skill gaps or challenges they may face and provide guidance on how to overcome them. Encourage collaboration and teamwork to foster a supportive environment by working on the process together. Practice makes perfect, use sales role play Q&A meetings to improve your skills. 3. Implement Monitoring and Feedback: Regularly track progress towards goals and provide feedback to team members on their performance in a weekly 1:1 meeting with each person. Hold people accountable for their actions and results while offering constructive criticism and recognition for achievements. Utilize performance reviews and metrics to identify areas for improvement and celebrate successes. #ValueDriven #SalesSuccess #CustomerFirst #landscaping #hardscapedesign

What Makes Sales Leaders Stand Out 🌟 Ever wondered if leading a sales team is different from other types of leadership? It feels like it sometimes! This is because of the difference in their responsibilities. Revenue driven Sales Leaders: Directly responsible for generating revenue. Their performance is often measured by sales targets, quotas, and revenue growth. Other Leaders: May not have direct revenue responsibilities. Their success might be measured by other metrics such as operational efficiency, employee satisfaction, or project completion. Here’s what I think sets sales leaders apart: 🎯 They Have a Bias for Action: Sales Leaders they know that 50 % of the deals go to the vendor who responds first. An immediate response keeps lines of communication open with the prospect and ensures they stay "warm". Immediate action beats delayed perfection any day. 🎯 All About the Customer: At the heart of sales is understanding and connecting with the customer. Great sales leaders see the world through their customers’ eyes—making every decision about filling their needs, not just selling a product. 🎯 Masters of Emotions: Sales can be a rollercoaster of ups and downs. The best sales leaders know how to manage their own emotions and tune into their teams’ and customers’ feelings to build real connections. 🎯 Tough and Resilient: Rejection? No problem. Pressure? Bring it on. If you are a top sales leaders, you learn to use every challenge as a stepping stone to do better. 🎯 Natural Coaches: Sales leaders don’t just lead, they coach and mentor. They’re always there to guide their team, giving feedback that motivates and transforms potential into performance. 🌟And a new must for Sales Leaders: Data Literacy! These days, navigating through heaps of data to not just track sales but also to uncover deeper insights into what customers really want is key. What do you think—are these skills unique to sales leadership, or universal? Let’s chat about it! Drop your thoughts below or share how these skills have played out in your leadership journey!

The hardest thing to create in sales is MOMENTUM! Momentum is like a new born baby, so precious and sweet at times and so hard to wrangle and figure out other times Most sales leaders kick the feet up and ride the wave when they have momentum and... Get all "micro managy", cranky, and over bearing when momentum is slow Instead, zoom out when momentum is slow, and zoom in when momentum is high Zooming In with Momentum: - The truly elite leaders have a nuance and grace about them. They strike the perfect balance of growth and improvement without being overbearing and pushing for pushing sake 1./ Culture - Do you have the right people? - Do your people know why they are doing what they are doing? - Can you go deeper on a personal level individually and as a team? 2./ People development - Can you enhance the way you coach in 1:1s. - Can you increase the effectiveness of team training? - Who besides yourself can help them develop? think about pairing them up with other successful AEs in a buddy system 3./ Performance - Do you and your people know why you had success? - Do you have best practices documented to replicate success? - Are you practicing as a team to commit execution to muscle memory? -------------------------- Zooming out to build momentum: 1./ Culture - What do you stand for? Do your people know? - Do you have the right people? - Do you have a shared mission? 2./ People Development - Do you know your people's strengths and development areas? - Are they bought in to the idea of your coaching? - Do they know how to properly plan their territory? 3./ Performance - What part of the process are you struggling in? --> To keep it simple, I think of this in 3 buckets (getting meetings started, progressing opportunities, closing deals) - Whats your plan to implement a program to improve that 1 part of the process? How are you all thinking about ways to build and keep momentum?

These are trying times for sales leaders, as sales targets, in many cases, aren't being achieved. Unfortunately, many sales leaders have a knee jerk reaction to this and take flawed approaches which exacerbate declining sales. Below are a few of the mistakes sales leaders make in trying times and how to fix it. -Micromanaging: One of the most common mistakes sales leaders make is micromanaging their team. While it's important to provide guidance and support, constantly hovering over your team members can create a culture of distrust and stifle creativity. I've had a few tech clients, where under duress, their manager made them do a forecast call every day around 4pm. Obviously, with that pressure, they completely neglected coaching their reps, as they had to work on a bit of "fiction" for the late afternoon forecast call. Micromanaging also prevents team members from taking ownership of their work and developing their skills independently. Instead, focus on setting clear expectations, providing resources and training, and empowering your team to make decisions. -Neglecting to Develop Skills: Sales leaders sometimes focus too much on short-term results and overlook the long-term development of their team members. Investing in training and skill development is essential for ensuring your team remains competitive and adaptable in a constantly evolving market. Neglecting to provide ongoing training and coaching can result in stagnant performance and missed opportunities for growth. Make sure to prioritize skill development and provide opportunities for your team members to learn and improve continuously. -Failing to Communicate Effectively: Effective communication is critical for building trust, aligning goals, and fostering a positive team culture. Sales leaders often make the mistake of either overcommunicating or undercommunicating. Overcommunication can lead to information overload and confusion, while undercommunication can result in misunderstandings and missed opportunities. Finding the right balance and using various communication channels, such as team meetings, one-on-one sessions, and digital platforms, can help ensure that your messages are clear, timely, and well-received by your team. By avoiding these common mistakes and focusing on fostering a supportive and empowering environment, sales leaders can help their teams achieve greater success and drive sustainable growth.

Sales leaders sabotage their team with call reviews Most managers don’t even do them, so start there… If you are doing them, here are 5 key mistakes to avoid: Mistake 1: It's Not a Fight One of the biggest mistakes sales leaders make is turning call reviews into beatdown sessions. Pointing out every mistake can demoralize your team and create a culture of fear instead of continuous learning. Instead, focus on constructive feedback. Every call, whether successful or not, holds valuable lessons. This will create a culture where your team wants more call reviews and development. Mistake 2: Ignoring a Structured Approach Without a structured approach, call reviews can become unfocused and subjective. Implementing a scoring system brings consistency and clarity to the process. Rate each part of the call on a scale of 1-10 to provide clear, actionable insights. Here’s a breakdown of the key components to score: - Setting the Frame of the Call: Did the salesperson clearly set the agenda and expectations? - Discovery: How well did they uncover the prospect’s needs and pain points? - Presenting the Offer/Solution: Was the solution presented effectively, highlighting key benefits based on the problem? - Overcoming Objections: How adeptly did they handle objections and concerns? - Enrollment Process: Was the closing process smooth and confident, leading to a clear next step? Mistake 3: Neglecting Individualized Coaching Every salesperson is different, with unique strengths and areas for improvement. Avoid a one-size-fits-all approach. Mistake 4: Skipping Positive Reinforcement Positive reinforcement is crucial for maintaining morale, motivation, and hunger for development. Highlight what was done well on each call. This not only boosts confidence but also reinforces successful behaviors that should be repeated. Mistake 5: Infrequent Reviews Call reviews should be a regular part of your routine, not an occasional activity. Consistency helps build a culture of continuous improvement and keeps the team aligned with best practices. Pro Tip: Encourage self-assessment. Have your sales reps score their own calls before the review. This promotes self-awareness and engages them in the learning process. #SalesLeadership #CallReviews #SalesCoaching #ContinuousImprovement #SalesSuccess #Sales

The Future of Collaborative Intelligence in Sales Part 7: Utilizing Your True Personal Strengths Discover the transformative power of AI and Personal Leadership in sales. This series, based on the upcoming book "Satisfaction Selling: How to Become a Trusted Advisor in High-Value Complex Sales and Build a Movement of Positive Activists Using The Satisfaction Cycle," explores how leveraging your true strengths and mastering AI can revolutionize your sales performance. Join us as we delve into practical strategies, personal experiences, and the synergetic potential of Collaborative Intelligence. Marcus Buckingham, known for his work on strengths-based development and leadership, emphasizes the importance of identifying and leveraging individual strengths for personal and organizational success. His ideas include: True Strengths: Activities that make you feel stronger, things you are good at and enjoy doing. Strength Identification: Recognizing your natural talents and strengths through self-reflection and feedback from others. Focusing on Strengths: Instead of fixing weaknesses, maximize and utilize strengths, leading to higher engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction. Individual Differentiation: Valuing unique strengths in personal development and leadership. Strength-Based Leadership: Leaders should create a culture that recognizes and utilizes employees' strengths, assigning tasks that fit individual strengths and supporting professional growth. Positive Feedback: Regular, positive feedback based on strengths is crucial for maintaining motivation and engagement. Team Composition: Building teams based on diverse strengths to leverage unique abilities and talents. Question for reflection: What are your true personal strengths, and how can you utilize them more effectively in your sales role?

As a sales leader, you've worked tirelessly to build a high-performing team. However, despite your best efforts, you've noticed a concerning trend - some team member is consistently sabotaging sales efforts, undermining the team's productivity and morale. It's time to take action and regain control. Identifying the Problem Before addressing the issue, it's essential to understand the root cause of the problem. Is the team member: - Unaware of their impact? - Struggling with personal or professional issues? - Intentionally sabotaging efforts? Assessing the situation will help us develop an effective strategy to address the issue. Regaining Control 1. Set Clear Expectations: Reiterate sales goals, roles, and responsibilities to ensure everyone is on the same page. 2. Open Communication: Schedule a private meeting with the team member to discuss concerns and listen to their perspective. 3. Performance Metrics: Establish measurable goals and track progress to monitor improvement. 4. Team Re-Alignment: Re-focus the team on shared objectives and encourage collaboration. 5. Coaching and Development: Offer training and support to enhance skills and address weaknesses. Boosting Productivity 1. Lead by Example: Demonstrate a positive work ethic and lead with integrity. 2. Motivate and Incentivize: Recognize and reward outstanding performance to boost morale. 3. Streamline Processes: Eliminate inefficiencies and optimize sales workflows. 4. Foster a Positive Culture: Encourage open communication, empathy, and teamwork. 5. Continuous Feedback: Regularly solicit input and adapt strategies to maintain momentum. Conclusion Regaining control and boosting productivity requires a thoughtful, multi-faceted approach. By addressing the root cause, setting clear expectations, and fostering a positive culture, you can overcome sales sabotage and unlock your team's full potential. 😊