Michaels & Associates

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When it comes to overcoming obstacles related to enabling your company's sales team, here's another prescription for success you can try.

Ailment: So much to do, so little time! There's no way I can provide timely, effective support to my sales team on my own. But where do I turn for support?

Symptoms:

If you suffer from this support resources ailment, you may have the following symptoms:

• When salespeople need immediate support, such as when they are with a customer and don't know how to address their questions, you aren't always able to meet their needs. So, the salesperson makes "best guess" attempts to answer the questions and often provides incorrect information, which increases risk and liability and creates a delicate situation with the customer.


• You seem to be in a constant firefighting, reactive mode, with no real opportunity to a) analyze why the salesperson needs support and b) develop an effective solution to minimize the need for future support.


• Salespeople feel frustrated and unappreciated because they feel they are not receiving the support they need. They show signs of burnout, and turnover is increasing. Quotas are not reached because if the salespeople aren't motivated, they aren't selling. And, sales revenue drops.


• The burden to support the sales team takes away from the sales manager's job of being proactive, strategic and moving the organization forward.

Prescription:

If you are suffering from "not enough hours in the day" syndrome, don't be afraid to ask for help.

• Have you tried contacting Marketing, who may be able to assist you by answering product questions?


• How about Customer Support? They deal with customers' questions and issues all day long, so they might be able to help you with calls from the field.


• Learning & Development might be able to help you identify and create support resources.


• Have you talked to the IT team? They may have suggestions on how to supply salespeople with the resources they need, when they need it.


• How about picking the brains of senior salespeople? Maybe they can help coach and support the salespeople.

All these resources have valuable insight on what customers want and don't want, need and don't need. You may also consider partnering with an external consulting company. They can analyze your existing processes and identify barriers to success. Then they can work with you to identify strategies to eliminate the barriers so the sales team can be more successful and consistent.

Real Life Example:

A Michaels & Associates automotive industry client worked with us to develop a very effective support tool for their sales team. The solution was a mobile iPad app that allowed their sales team access to a video library they could manually share with a customer during their product demonstrations. Because demos usually took place while the customer and salesperson were driving together, the app was also designed to automatically launch a product video as they reached a specific location along the route. Videos were regularly updated using an administrative portal by company managers, as new product information became available. The app became a valuable resource for the sales team, since they no longer needed to rely on outdated documentation or to find time with their managers to obtain the most current product information.

Remember: You do not have to be in this alone. By working with partners outside your department, you can better enable the sales team and also create strong, extensive support systems.

Curing What Ails You

Sales team enablement is much more than just providing the sales team with marketing brochures, a surplus of tools and some lofty goals. You also need to develop an effective communication strategy, training approach, change management plan and support structure that encourage, support and prepare the team for success. Practicing these prescriptions on a regular basis will help cure your enablement woes.

If you'd like to share your successes or ask questions about sales team enablement, we welcome your thoughts.

Continue reading:
Sales Team Enablement: Prescriptions for Success (Part 1) →
Sales Team Enablement: Prescriptions for Success (Part 2) →
Sales Team Enablement: Prescriptions for Success (Part 3) →