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It’s Only Common Sense: Getting Your Direct Salespeople to Act as a Team

For the most part, salespeople are lone wolves. One of the reasons they choose to be salespeople is the independence; they like to run their own race. I have found that the best salespeople are truly the loners. Think of Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross. While all the other salespeople were drinking together and figuring out how to screw the company to make their numbers, old Ricky just quietly went his own way, always making those numbers and claiming his Cadillacs.

No matter how much your salespeople prefer working on their own, it is not good for the overall company. We should find some ways to get everyone to work together. We are still sales managers and we still manage sales teams. Not individuals.

Here are 10 tips to help you unite your sales individuals into a strong industry-leading sales force: (Please note: These tips are designed for a sales force made up of direct salespeople who reside in their individual territories.)

1. Hold weekly sales meetings. These meetings should be about an hour long and should have a strong and clear agenda, covering not only what is happening at the company but also what is happening in each territory. This will give your sales team a chance to talk to one another about their successes and challenges and exchange ideas for winning more business. This is also a great time for them to communicate with your operations and quality people and find out what is going on in the shop.
2. Require weekly written comprehensive sales reports. Distribute them to each member of the management team, inside sales, and salesperson so everyone can see what others are doing and what is happening with key customers.
3. Develop and maintain an approved vendor list. This is a list of the multi-location customers you are approved to work with. Make sure that each salesperson has access to it. If the company is approved at Raytheon in Andover, then everyone on the sales team needs to know this and use it to win business at their own local Raytheon location.
4. Share good tools. If a salesperson finds a useful sales tool, such as a CRM, database, or research tool, it should be required that he shares it with the rest of the sales team.
5. Share good ideas. If a salesperson has found an effective way to penetrate a customer, he should be required to share that with the rest of the sales team.
6. Sales is not a zero-sum game: Always remind the sales team that sales is not a zero-sum game. Everyone can win, and everyone should be working as hard as possible to help everyone on the team win. The better the entire sales team does, the better it will be for everyone.
7. Discourage sales xenophobia. Don’t allow your sales team to hold their cards too closely; as stated earlier, this is a team sport and sharing is a key to your team’s success. There is going to be some competition and salespeople are going to have to fight to get their customers in line to make delivery dates when the shop is full. But you must demonstrate that the company, and the overall health of the company, always comes first.
8. Hold salesperson-only phone meetings. Encourage your sales team to hold phone meetings on their own. Invite them to use the company conference calls to have team meetings without you. This way they can share leads and solutions to problems they are having. This will go a long way in creating good team spirit. 
9. Take one for the team. Show them that sometimes they are going to have to take one for the team. Because they are direct salespeople and thus employees of the company, their base salary is the compensation for doing work for the company. This means that things like covering house accounts and doing something to support a fellow salesperson are part of their job and the reason they get a base salary.
10. Create team incentives. Of course, each salesperson has is or her own individual compensation plan, but create some incentives that are based on the entire team making a certain goal. Nothing else will create more team spirit.

And finally, one more (always under-promise and over-deliver): Hold an annual sales meeting at the company. Don’t spend money going somewhere cool because that is a complete waste of money and a distraction. Once a year, bring all the salespeople in for a sales meeting. It will give them the chance to meet and talk with one another, visit with the people in the plant, take plant tours and check out the new equipment and improvements, and get briefed on new capabilities and technologies. It will also give the sales team and the management team the chance to review the company strategy and plan for the coming year. It will be beneficial and it will go a long way towards creating a strong bond between the salespeople and the management team as well. Bring everyone together at least once a year and it will be money well spent.

It’s only common sense.