a sales team meeting with a business coach to improve performance

How to Improve Sales Team Performance

October 18, 2022

Bob Lobos

How to Improve Sales Team Performance

Sales drive your business; that’s why the performance of your sales team is vital. When your team starts underperforming, you’ll start encountering some challenges. Wolf Creek Business Growth Institute will help you learn how to improve sales team performance while also building an action plan that develops the skills of your salespeople.

What is Sales Team Performance?

Before you learn how to improve sales team performance, you must have a firm understanding of the concept. Sales team performance measures sales activity and results compared to sales expectations and quota. These measurements are essential as it helps leaders in your organization determine the effectiveness of your overall team as well as individual team members.

You can measure your sales team’s performance in various ways depending on your business and goals. For example, you could measure the following:

  • Sales revenue goals
  • Customer retention rate
  • Number of net new accounts
  • Number of cold calls per day

As long as you keep an eye on those performances or set key performance indicators (KPIs) for your staff to track, you can improve sales team performance, leading to increased sales and greater profits.

[Related: How to Choose the Best KPIs For Your Business]

How to Start Improving Your Sales Team’s Performance

Now that you know how to measure their performance, it is time to start developing your team. When learning how to improve your sales team’s performance, you need to start thinking about how to motivate your team.

First, take a look at company culture. Is friendly competition a part of your company culture? If so, you can motivate your sales team by holding contests, featuring top-performing salespeople in your company newsletter, or nominating a salesperson of the month. You could also create a reward system based on commissions if that is important to your salespeople.

Another way to motivate your team is by getting to know each sales team member. Doing this will give you a better understanding of their personalities, goals, and what motivates them. From there, you can work with them individually to build your people, capitalize on their strengths, and learn what skills need improvement. This could be an insightful process for you and your salesperson and could go a long way in improving overall sales team performance.

Lastly, you’ll want to make sure your sales team has the resources and knowledge needed to succeed. Point them to sales decks, newsletters, networking groups, brochures, etc. that will provide continued education. Make your team aware of specific data to maximize their performance, such as:

  • Conversion rates
  • The average sales cycle length
  • Total revenue
  • Sales for specific time periods
  • And more

You could also hire a coach to continually work with your team to develop them with the latest techniques and diversified sales philosophies. Coaches can tailor your sales coaching experience to focus on an individual’s strengths and overcome specific challenges within your team.

[Related: Why Sales Force Development is Important]

Determine an Action Plan to Improve Sales Team Performance

To create a plan to help improve sales team performance, you must craft a strategy that addresses your team member’s goals while keeping your business objectives in mind. Determine your sales goals for the year and work with your sales team to determine how you will best achieve those goals.

A great way to figure out if your sales team is on track with the company’s goals and their goals is to review their progress periodically—plan mid-month meetings and calculate how they can hit their monthly goals. You can also work out ways to help them achieve it if they fall behind.

Encourage your salespeople to give customers to other team members if those individuals are experts on a specific product or service. Not only will this help salespeople focus on their other customers, but it can help other team members and your business reach their goals.

Stay on top of everyone’s goals, and you will see a vast improvement in your sales team.

Don’t Know Where to Start? Call Wolf Creek BGI for Sales Team Training

If you need professional guidance to help you learn how to improve sales team performance, call Wolf Creek BGI. We have expert coaches that can analyze your sales team, work with them individually to hold them accountable for KPIs and provide coaching that will develop their skills. Call us today at 225-219-8866, and we will build sales superstars in your company.