What Sales People Want? Survey 2017
We spoke to 350 (sales + sales managers) participants to understand their needs and wants, aspirations, motivations and frustrations of the sales people. This Research conducted on “What sales people want?’ bridges the gap between what sales people want and what their leader’s expect.
What motivates a Sales person at daily work?
Recommendations:
Delegate responsibilities like resolving queries when the team leader is not available.
Holistic training should include general, simple management topics for effective development for a sales person.
Follow best practices such as deploying courses and linking them to points. On crossing a level of points, a sales person gets Badges: 3000- Silver Badge; 6000- Gold Badge; 9000 – Platinum Badge etc.
Clear communicate on their salary and incentives. Communication about incentives received (% of incentives) will help the team to understand the levels of compensation – at least in the initial phase.
What are the goals of a salesperson for next few years?
Recommendations:
Develop a career plan for sales people like moving them to a larger outlet or handling some part of the team’s function.
Guide them to move up the ladder.
Get benefit from the entrepreneurial energy (who wants to start their own business) by hosting internal entrepreneurial competitions, where winners can have their ideas implemented into retail outlets or can even receive monetized compensations.
Heads Up:
With a rise in the startup culture several salespeople are motivated to start their own own company in the same sales service or various other services that would complement their experience in sales.
What are the goals of a salesperson for next few years?
Recommendations:
It is essential to conduct training on product specifications and soft skills in regular frequencies.
This helps salespeople leverage their skills and furthermore gives them a chance to experiment and practice whatever they have learned.
What are the methods used for training a salesperson?
Recommendations:
Use of online applications – to share product specifications i.e. intricate details of a new product. Leverage multiple file formats such as video, audio, documents to impart online training.
Adopt Continuous learning that enhances skills and knowledge of sales team.
Heads Up:
The use of online applications are sure to rise in the forthcoming years as:
Several companies are already blending into the online application revolution.
With the introduction of AI and machine learning, face to face training obsolete session might decrease and the use of online applications will be a forerunner in sales training.
How often do sales people have internal sales competitions and does this help them to sell better?
Recommendations:
Daily feedback should primarily be given to new comers or individuals those are new to the sales environment, this can be in the form of e-mails, f2f meetings etc. This helps acknowledge their services and keeps them motivated on a regular basis.
Increased frequency of feedback will help keep salespeople in sync with brand expectations and individual expectations. It also helps them understand their weakness and gives them an opportunity to rectify their mistakes and improve in a holistic manner.
What are the sales tools used to accompany a salesperson to complete a sale?
Recommendations:
Equip sales people with applications and database that help them show customers the benefits that the company offers when compared to competitors would be a good option.
Sharing E- brochures with customers through an email.
How often do sales people have internal sales competitions and does this help them to sell better?
Recommendations:
Internal sales competitions help foster teamwork (through team based competitions) and build healthy a competitive spirit.
Conducting competitions during a new product launch help sales people familiarize themselves with the intricate details of a product and come up with product pitch.
This can also happen online by integrating leaderboards into online applications.
Internal sales competitions and leaderboards that track the progress, keep the salesperson on their toes.
What Do Sales People Fear The Most?
Inadequate Compensation
Lack of Benefits
Lack of recognition
AR and VR technology might soon replace them
Make your sales team great: Overcoming the Challenges
Enable learning off-field and train sales people on continuous basis, be it skills training or product training
Connect with sales people regularly, send and receive information seamlessly
Introduce leader boards – encourage Entreprenaural competitions
New features added to a product or product launch, communicate to whole sales team at one go
ONE STOP SOLUTION
To Sum up
Greater job roles and responsibilities keeps the sales person motivated.
Creating a career roadmap for each sales person and guiding them towards it helps.
Conduct frequent product training sessions and keeping sales team updated about the product helps them sell better.
Equipping salespeople with tools that helps them share product information with customer is essential.
Using online platform to share information (training modules), collect information (reports on sales) and to give feedback is advantageous.
About the author
Eric D’Souza was a summer intern at Bsharp in the summer of 2017. Eric is studying business at the Schulich School of Business, Toronto, Canada.
Great Article.