Can Resilience Increase Sales?
In tough times a job that is traditionally hard gets harder. Sales has more ‘no’ responses now, and each one chips away at the resilience of your team.
Resilience is needed, but it can be linked directly to increased sales results when you choose the right things to work on. Beyond the usual subjects such as stress management and a positive mindset (all important), sales-focused approaches will pay dividends.
Table of Contents
The leader’s attitude
The leader’s attitude plays a pivotal role in the success of the team. If the team is to be buoyant, then the leader must remain positive and always find the good in every situation.
Even a rejection or being told “no” should be viewed as an opportunity to learn. A leader should consistently focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure that the foundational tasks are executed regularly and efficiently. By doing so and maintaining faith in the process, the team can confidently expect to see an increase in sales.
Training and skill development
Now is the ideal time to sharpen your sales techniques and deepen product knowledge.
When team members are confident in their abilities, they tackle challenges more effectively, seeing them as hurdles, not mountains. Prioritise skills that make the most of every opportunity. Ensure every call is well-prepared, and always explore all possible options instead of focusing on just one.
Double team to increase sales
All sales professionals have strengths and challenges. You can often counter these by double-teaming the right two people and putting a very effective team in the market.
This also allows a buddy system in the field and the ability to have one listen to the other and give coaching ideas for improvement.
Adaptability training
Changing direction in the middle of a sales call is an immensely valuable skill set. However, this does not happen automatically for everyone and often needs to be taught.
Uncovering opportunities skill sets
Many will stick to what they know even though it no longer works. Realistically, you either have to do a lot more of what you are doing now, modify what you are doing now or change to try something new. There will always be resistance to change, but training to do things differently and pushing the effort into opening new market niches will pay off.
Celebrate the wins
When the team wins, then they need to be celebrated fully. Recognise and reward the people trying hard to get the job done every bit as much as those who actually make the sales. Reward the effort and dedication, not just the outcome, to motivate people to keep working hard.
Accountability
In hard times the weekly sales meeting and the one-on-one catch-ups have never been more important. Every week, go through the prospect list and see who needs help in some way. Look at the deals that are likely to close and ask, “What help do you need to get this over the line” often.
The end result is that success breeds success and the best way to keep a team up and running is to put numbers on the board. That takes all the small actions coming together to create the big result, and the leadership has to lead this effectively.
Don’t think, if you are a leader, you have to do this on your own. You have to take care of your own internal resource to make sure you have enough to give to other people.
If you do this, you can keep a highly motivated team in hard times and be the exception when everyone else complains about their lack of sales.
Curious about elevating your team? Get started with our comprehensive sales training.