Open Book Selling Helps Businesses Creates Sales Athletes

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - April 13, 2023 - PRLog -- In recent months, we've written about pipeline(s), CRMs, a common language for your sales team, KPI's (Key Performance Indicators), and sales results.

Great athletes and other performers such as actors and musicians have coaches, and often have more than one. Why not take this approach with your salespeople? Sales leadership, sales management and sales coaching all play an important role in creating sales athletes. Sales leaders and managers can set the stage for success where sales coaches can get into the nuances of sales.

Some of the approaches we discussed last month can be applied at the salesperson level with answers to the following three questions:

1. Are the results you are getting on target with your individual sales goals (YES or NO)?

If NO, how strong is your pipeline (with a good number of viable opportunities at all stages of the sales process)?

2. If the pipeline is weak, what regular activities is the salesperson is engaged in?

With answers to these key questions, we can probe for greater insight. It's really easy to put people on the defensive, so with leadership and management, sales team members must understand that they are important players and that asking for information about their results, their pipeline, and activity are the norm. The reason for gathering this information is critical to the success of the organization and so is the impact of their individual sales effort – success reaching a sales goal. Information sharing between salespeople and management/coaches should happen on a regular schedule.

If information sharing hasn't been a part of your sales efforts, then when it's first introduced, it may feel foreign and awkward both at the salesperson and at the management levels. We suggest standing appointments at regular intervals – schedule the whole year in advance! Persistence in holding information sharing meetings will win out in the long run.

Learn more: https://www.openbookselling.com/sales-management-creating...

About Open Book Selling: As business and sales coaches in Southeast Michigan, we've helped many local businesses get their sales process and efforts on track. If you're not happy with your organization's sales results, coaching can be a great option. This may be the perfect time to examine or re-examine your sales efforts, the process, stages, pipeline(s), language, and KPI's you're using. So don't wait - proactively evaluating your entire sales function will lead to better results.