I went home on Friday feeling pretty good about where things were. The team was selling more – the economy seemed to be a little better – I was much closer to hitting my targets.
In traffic, I thought about what got me there. Sure, the economy was better……but we had some other changes. When I got to it, I had these two opposite-sounding tactics that seemed to work.
First and foremost, we had good people on the team. The best thing I could do as a manager for my company was to get good people. The next thing we did was to build a system for selling – we had a standard sales process with a lot of focus on finding the right accounts for us to sell to.
These two key ideas always push and pull at each other. The good people I hired are all different, and they all actually sell differently. Part of my focus was to identify how they sold and make sure I could help each one of them be successful. Some liked to run free with little input from me – some liked to talk over deals in detail. I needed to let them run.
At the same time, they all needed to be on the same page. We needed to be headed in the right direction all the time. I guess that part of what makes them good is their ability to work within a system. Part of my focus was to make sure everyone knew what the “plan” was……they all needed to keep hearing where we were headed as a team.
My goals after I got home were simple: make sure I have the best people and make sure I have the right system. I have to keep developing the team so they can sell and also develop my system so that we all know where to go.
Once this machine gets running, selling gets easier and easier.
