The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

NBA Coach Phil Jackson once said, “The strength of the team is each individual member.” His thought holds true within your sales teams.

Each person on your team needs to have the right combination of talent and fit to be successful. But in this competitive job market, how can you attract top talent to your organization?

Today’s consumers are distracted with numerous options and bombarded with loads of information. As a result, they often struggle to find the products or services that best meet their needs.

In a rapidly changing industry, tools, and tactics that enabled sales and closed deals just a few years ago don’t stand a fighting chance today. Innovation and agility are keys to staying ahead of altering consumer demands.

Setting meaningful as well as realistic goals is a skill that all sales leaders know is crucial. When looking at sales goals, let us clarify that they need to be both meaningful, with a focus on hard, not vanity metrics. They also must be realistic to your industry, region, market, team, and organizational capacity.  

One of the best ways for sales leaders to set realistic goals is first to look back. History can offer meaningful data and will provide checks and balances when dealing with projections and not actuals. 

I will often hear sales managers confess that their most tenured, and sometimes best traditional sellers, struggle when it comes to selling more or higher value digital solutions.

As consumers spend more time with digital media and digital marketing budgets increase, it is no longer viable to have your best sellers not participating or fully participating when it comes to digital sales.

So, what is the best way to help your most talented sellers who haven’t found their digital groove?

Costumes, Ghosts and Goblins, Spooky Spiders, and Candy are fun Halloween traditions. 

Each year, children dress up and go door-to-door, exclaiming “trick or treat” in hopes of getting a handful of candy to add to the stash they’ve already collected. To a child, there is no such thing as too much candy… in fact, the one with the most candy by the end of the night wins.

What’s interesting is while children give the choice… “trick or treat,” we all know that they don’t want to be tricked. All they really want is treats!  They want to be delighted with yummy, fun-to-eat candy.

One of the main reasons leadership is challenging is because you are managing a fast-moving conveyor belt of decisions. One decision after another is rolling off the conveyor belt: 

• Should I remove this non-performer even though I have two other open positions? 
  
  
• Do I shift the compensation plan to get the team focused on the right behaviors, knowing it could disrupt the culture and distract top performers? 
  
  
• I just announced our new hybrid work expectations, and now my top performer is asking for more flexibility because of a family situation—do I allow it? 

You can’t obsess over each one and slow everything down, but you don’t want to make knee-jerk decisions, either.

Wrapping up our Women in Sales Month episodes are Katelin Tinley, Vice President and General Manager at Cox Media Group, New York City, and Jaleigh Long, Vice President and market manager at Cox Media Group, Atlanta and Athens.

Together, Katelin and Jaleigh share a ton of essential observations, such as the significance of having an open and transparent relationship with your team, the power of going through the customer journey and knowing potential problems before the meeting, and the importance of being seen as a resource for your team and for your clients to help guide them through disruption.

Tune in now or keep reading for a brief overview.

Candidates are in and out of the job market quickly, particularly those with superstar talent. If you’ve adopted a “we’re always hiring” mentality to help you build and fill your talent bank, you’re likely conducting interviews more frequently.

According to LinkedIn, 83% of talent say a negative interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once liked.

Selection is a two-way street. You’re interviewing the candidate, and at the same time, the candidate is interviewing your company. It’s important to maximize your opportunity to interview candidates while giving them a solid understanding of the job role and your company culture.

October is Women in Sales Month, and to celebrate, we recognize many talented and hardworking women who work in this industry, the valuable contributions they make to it, and their expert insights on the future.

Joining this episode of Improving Sales Performance is guest Stacey Kauffman, Regional Vice President from San Francisco and Sacramento at Audacy.

Stacey has many observations, such as prioritizing your focus amidst the flurry of data that is constantly at our fingertips (Hint, hint, don't beat chain to your desk), how Account Executives can no longer wear all the hats like they used to, and why you can't build a team of unicorns.

Tune in now or keep reading for a brief overview.