How to Manage a Sales Team in a Competitive Market

Lots of sales professionals thrive on competition. They love to face challenges and they enjoy the thrill of going head-to-head with other sales reps.

Unsurprisingly, managing a sales team in a hyper-competitive market can be difficult. In the worst circumstances, professionals can sometimes resort to cut-throat tactics that reflect poorly on themselves, their team, and their organization as a whole.

Managing and motivating your sales team

Given all that, today we’re going to provide some useful tips for sales managers looking to motivate their team in a positive way. Check them out here:

Hold Effective Meetings

Some professionals dislike regular meetings. They argue that formal meetings don’t produce positive results and instead primarily act to waste time. However, effective meetings are a must for sales managers. It’s crucial that they make sure everyone on their staff is on the same page. This can be especially difficult for “virtual teams” with remote employees.

Keep meetings short, hold them at regular hours, and be willing to speak with your team privately if need be.

Encourage Collaboration

It’s imperative that sales managers remind their employees that they’re part of a team –– not a collection of individuals. At the end of the day, the goal is to close deals; it shouldn’t matter how that happens.

Encouraging collaboration, then, is critical to establishing clear communication between your staff. Consider setting team-oriented goals that everyone can work toward. This should help foster a spirit of camaraderie.

Leader discussing matters with team members

Stay Calm

Sales teams and sales professionals go through highs and lows on a fairly regular basis. Indeed, a particularly lucrative period for your business could be followed immediately by a barren spell that leaves your team rattled. Rather than reacting to good or bad times, business leaders need to remain calm in the face of uncertainty.

A vote of confidence after a few bad days can go a long way toward getting the best from a sales pro.

Use Modern Tech

Advanced lead data. Call center metrics. Digital sales statistics. Managers can use all of these modern tech advantages to direct, educate, and assist their team members.

Don’t be afraid to use new call technology or sophisticated statistics to optimize sales performance. The reality here is that if your company doesn’t, some other business will take the initiative!

Conclusion

Of course, no two teams and no two individuals behave in exactly the same way. Nevertheless, these four tips should prove extremely valuable for inexperienced sales managers.

Keep them handy because, odds are, you’ll want to review them later.