Sales Managers: Here’s How to Help Your Reps Achieve Their Boon

BY C. Lee Smith
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Every sales rep dreams of making their BOON – the one big sale that makes their career and their future. If you’re a sales manager, you likely had such an event. Now, it’s up to you to help your reps score the same kind of deal. In a recent Manage Smarter podcast, Michael Tracy, of Sales Journey, explains how he coaches teams to “double sales in 90 days.”

Tracy likens the sales journey to the hero’s journey outlined by Joseph Campbell in his famous book. There are multiple steps to these journeys. As a manager, you can nurture your reps at each step. You might encourage your reps to qualify prospects properly. Make sure they're getting enough information during their discovery calls.

In Tracy’s experience, sales organizations should figure out which key performance indicators (KPIs) are important and start tracking them. For example, maybe face-​to-​face meetings are key. If sales reps know they have to hit the goal of two face-​to-​face meetings a day, they’ll “be creative about how they’re getting those appointments.” With so many digital natives now entering the professional world, we can expect to see a video call count for a face-​to-​face meeting. The point is, your people will know they have to hit specific numbers and they'll try to do it if they know you're tracking them.

To be truly effective, sales managers must “inspect what you expect, and really spend time and mentor each person individually for their own skills and weaknesses. I find that sales managers like to do it all at once, but it’s really important to take the time to do one-​on-​ones with individual reps.” If you have members of Gen X and Z on your sales team, feedback is critical. Tracy reminds us that these employees have grown up in a continuous feedback loop. After they accomplish something in a given day, they get nervous if they don’t hear anything from their manager.

If you truly want to help your reps reach the next high point in their career, explain exactly what you want them to do, measure it and meet frequently to give them feedback on what’s working and what needs to change.


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