The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

Buyer-first mentality is simply defined as it’s a buyer’s world, and sellers are just living in it.

In the past, traditional sellers could easily come in and build a case because they were a superstar, had great product knowledge, and were able to support the buyer’s organization. In essence, they were selling what they could accomplish for the client without ever knowing anything about them.

Technically, those days are over now. Buyers expect you to know more about what their company is all about, what they do, and potentially what they’re trying to accomplish.

Do you ever wonder if you could be getting more out of your sales team? What if you could better understand their strengths and weaknesses and coach them to reach their full potential?

Understanding the talents of each person on your team and coaching to these talents allows you to grow the individual and the organization.

But how can you tell how a person is wired and what their natural talents are?

This season on Improving Sales Performance, we’re analyzing the findings from our latest Media Sales Report. With data collected from surveys conducted in Q4 of last year, the responses from sales managers and salespeople alike will help us chart a solid path forward through the media sales landscape.     

In each episode, Matt is joined by a rolling roster of outstanding experts from our team here at The Center for Sales Strategy.   
 
Here, Matt breaks down the Sales Department Section of the Media Sales Report with SVP/Senior Consultant Stephanie Downs and Senior Consultant Susan McCullin.  
 
Together, Stephanie and Susan give their insightful takes on some top questions that arise from the report, like: 

• Why does recruitment continue to be one of the hardest parts of a sales manager's job? 
• Why does the average size of sales teams seem to be shrinking? 
• With recruitment being a perpetual sore spot, how should sales managers maximize the performance of their small staff while also trying to find and hire new talent?

According to Fortune, 65% of US workers are looking for a new job. If you’re looking to fill a position, that sounds promising, right?

But wait — LinkedIn found that 76% of managers admit attracting the right candidates is their greatest challenge.

With so many workers looking for new jobs, why are managers still struggling to attract talent? The answer is recruitment.

Starting a new job can be nerve-wracking, especially in sales, where the pressure is on to deliver results from day one.

As a manager, it's your job to not only set your new hires up for success but also to ensure they are a good fit for your team and company culture.

While experience and skills are important, don't underestimate the power of raw talent — it's often the key ingredient to a successful salesperson. But once you've hired a talented newbie, how do you turn that potential into actual results?

There are many habits that successful salespeople share. Some of the most common ones include:

• Setting clear goals
• Time management
• Planning
• Persistence
• Communication skills
• Empathy 
• Adaptability
• Continuous learning

Here are more detailed explanations from our experts at The Center for Sales Strategy.

Everyone you manage is uniquely wired with differing drives, values, and motivation levels. If you take a moment to reflect on your team, you can probably identify those who only need a little spark from you to light their fire and motivate them, while others require you to gather kindling, get down on your hands and knees, and rub sticks together before they’re fully motivated with fire in their bellies.

One of the questions I love to ask salespeople is simply – what motivates you to get out of bed and go to work in the morning? I’ve collected a variety of answers over time. Below are some of the most frequent answers I’ve received, along with tips to help maximize each motivation.

During a recession, businesses must strategize their talent management to weather the economic downturn. 

Here are some of the best recession-ready recruitment tactics as it becomes harder to find talented people.

Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods are all known for their exceptional talent and success in their respective sports. However, they also have something else in common: they all had coaches who played a significant role in their careers.

Some might argue that it was their coaches — Bill Belichick, Phil Jackson, and Earl Woods —  who helped turn their natural talent into the greatest athletes of their sports. It's clear that even the best of the best need and value the guidance of a coach.

Trust is fundamental in any highly engaged, high-performing team. Without trust and integrity, people question why they want to work for a company or manager who doesn’t have convictions. When asked, highly engaged employees describe their companies and leaders as “authentic” or “genuine.”

Building trust takes time. Whether in person or virtually, it can take months or years to build a solid base of trust, but it takes just minutes to lose it. Trust is ever-evolving and something you need to be mindful of every day.

When you’re doing it right, recruiting the best candidates for your open salesperson positions can take weeks or even months. That’s not even factoring in the costs of not having someone close new business while the position is vacant, the money lost during onboarding, and the risk of losing the new hire if they or your team determine they’re not the best fit for the job. 

That’s why it’s critical to both know your Employment Value Proposition (EVP) and make sure it’s clear to your candidates right from the outset, even if they’re not looking for a new job. 

In the past year, recruitment has been an issue that has been part of every client call I have. It seems the biggest challenge is where to find the best people and how to attract them to leave their current position and join your team.

Here are some recruiting challenges I consistently face and some tips to overcome them.

At our company, our employees crave growth and development. One way we add to this focus is through our quarterly book club. Our business book club is different from most, as we all read a book we are interested in, not one we all read together.

Having a book club where we all read different business books exposes us to a huge library to explore that we may not have thought of before. It also allows us to grow in areas that appeal to us.

Reading is one of the major habits successful people have in common. For instance, Bill Gates reads 50 books per year, Warrant Buffett reads 500 pages every day, and Mark Cuban reads 3+ hours a day.

As a sales leader, it’s your job to analyze the market and make decisions based on the data available. You must then pass your wisdom and experience to your sales team to develop their skills and motivate them toward success. 

Sales leaders must understand product fit, as well as the company vision, mission, and culture, to lead their teams to success. 

Here are nine tips to help lead your sales team to success in the coming year.

It’s hard to recruit the right employees or find great people willing to invest time in their careers.

We’re facing a talent shortage, but it isn’t like employers are doing themselves any favors. A bad candidate experience mixed with a lack of feedback once hired leaves employees unmotivated and disconnected. Improving sales motivation is hard-earned but definitely worth it in the end.

A 2021 Gallup report found that over half of US employees were actively searching for a new job because they were disengaged. A revolving door of employees severely affects your ROI.