A recent Time magazine study found that 45% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs, which is the lowest percentage since these surveys began in 1987.
If 45% are satisfied, that leaves 55% dissatisfied!
They also found that 17% of workers are actively disengaged.
Can you imagine the lost dollars if 55% of your team is dissatisfied and 17% are actively disengaged?
Keeping your sales team engaged is easier than you think if given a purposeful and consistent approach.
And why wouldn’t you want to make this effort given that these are your front-line people?
What they do matters to everyone else in the company – if they don’t produce – others don’t have jobs!
Let’s put this into dollars: The retailer Best Buy, found that every 10th of a point in improved employee engagement created $100,000 increase in a stores’ operating income.
That’s just 1/10 of a point – you can do that, right?!
One of the best ways to engage your team is to make the invisible visible.
You know the sales quota for your team. Who else knows it? You, the president, the comptroller? Do the sellers know the big goal? Do they even know their specific contribution?
Some of you may be shaking your head thinking that’s silly to even mention. However, you’d be surprised at how many teams we come in contact with that don’t know the big goal number and sometimes don’t even know their number!
Here’s an example of making the invisible visible.
A director of new business development at an e-learning software company launched their first new business development team.
She let the team know about her big dreams and goal of $10 million dollars in the first year. Mind you this was a new department to the company and she wasn’t given a dollar goal to meet.
She set the goal and articulated it over and over again. A tracking board was set up and reports given out weekly. This made the goal visible to all. They were clear and visible and everyone felt involved.
And guess what? They made the big dream goal of $10 million dollars to the surprise of everyone else!
Think about how your goal message is being conveyed to your team: the entire team and each one on the team.
Are the numbers under wraps (invisible) or being screamed from the rooftop (visible)?
When making the invisible visible, let everyone know where they are going and you will be amazed how the will to make it happen expands.
What are some other examples of invisibles you can make visible to your team? Let us know in the Comments section.
———————————————————————————————————-
Top performing and top producing sales managers whose sellers meet sales quotas consistently conduct Field Ride Alongs, One-on-One Coaching and Sales Meetings to build skill and will. Clone yourself for some one-on one-coaching or own the latest done-for-you sales training with these special offers only available here.
