{"id":11999,"date":"2019-10-22T10:23:21","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T10:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandler.dsstaging2.com\/case-study\/holding-your-sales-team-accountable\/"},"modified":"2022-10-24T22:28:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T22:28:21","slug":"holding-your-sales-team-accountable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/holding-your-sales-team-accountable\/","title":{"rendered":"The Neglected Art of Holding Your Sales Team Accountable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Holding salespeople accountable: This is one\nof the major challenges of managing a sales team \u2013 regardless of whether it\u2019s a\ntraditional team where people show up for work at a central physical location,\nor a team working remotely, or a team at a call center. What, exactly, is the\nbest way to do this? And how <\/em>do you\ndo it without falling into the trap of micromanaging people?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE\nCHALLENGE OF SALES ACCOUNTABILITY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales accountability can be a tough challenge\nfor any sales leader. Most of us who lead teams can relate to these statements:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m\nfrustrated with the need to chase salespeople and their quotas each month.\nTheir projections never seem to match up with reality.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m\nunsure about what my people are REALLY doing every day.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\nalways seems to be pushing on the last week of every quarter to hit the numbers.\nWhy can\u2019t we have a more even keeled approach?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am\nnot sure my team knows how many appointments or proposals they need to make to\nhit quota.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We may convince ourselves that these kinds of\nproblems \u201cforce\u201d us to jump into the fray in an effort to fix things ourselves\n… as though we <\/em>were the ones\nresponsible for prospecting and executing the sales cycle. Perhaps we tell\nourselves that we have no alternative but to take the helm so we can make sure\nthings are on course … and find out for ourselves what\u2019s really going on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is that really holding them accountable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Sandler, we would say no. We believe the\nkey to holding team members accountable in the sales process is making sure everyone knows what the process is\nand what it takes to move from what stage to another. <\/em>And this starts with the sales\nleader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, let\u2019s look at the problem of\nforecasts that never seem to connect to reality. If this is a consistent issue,\nit\u2019s highly likely that unqualified \u201cprospects\u201d are sneaking into team members\u2019\nprojections. So: Why is that happening? At the end of the day, it\u2019s because we\nhaven\u2019t built a strong enough definition of \u201cqualified prospect\u201d into the\nprocess that people follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s our job to set these standards for the\nteam. That means that in our onboarding, in our process documents, and in our\nverbal interactions, we need to get a message like the following across:  \u201cWe need the following three pieces of\ninformation \u2013 (X, Y, and Z) \u2013 before we can do a proposal. And if you haven\u2019t\ndelivered a proposal, then please don\u2019t project income from that opportunity.\nThat\u2019s the standard.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Problem solved. Once people know <\/em>that\u2019s the standard, we can hold\nthem accountable for hitting it, and stay out of the remaining 95% of the\nconversation. We don\u2019t have to go through every element of planning for every\nsingle opportunity. All we have to do is show people clearly where the lanes\nare and let them drive. Yes, we will hear all kinds of reasons why a given prospect\nis different and the salesperson needs to divert from the process. Sometimes,\non rare occasions we\u2019ll even agree. Our job is to know when we\u2019re making an\nexception, and not to confuse the exception with the rule. Our job is to stay\nthe course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too often, salespeople don’t have a clear\nprocess to follow because we, the leaders, haven\u2019t\nset up the process for them. <\/em>That\u2019s when things go all over the place.\nTelling ourselves, \u201cIf I want it done right, I have to do it myself\u201d is\nactually the opposite of holding people accountable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHAT IS\nTHE WRITTEN PROCESS?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I hear managers say things like \u201cThey\u2019re\nforcing me to get involved,\u201d or \u201cIf I want it done properly, I need to be the\none to do it,\u201d my instinct is always to ask to see the written process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n