Restoring Sales Morale in Struggling Sales Teams
When you must restore Sales Moral in a struggling sales force, where do you begin? Sales numbers are bad enough, but that’s not real problem. Poor sales performance sends moral into a downward spiral, in turn creating a plateau. First and foremost you, begin with you!
A sales team that finds itself struggling does not wake up to find the bottom falling out. This downturn in moral happens over time. Why didn’t you see the signs of decreased self esteem? The signs of a depletion in Sales Moral include excuses for deferring uncomfortable activities such as prospecting, or dealing with common objections. This drop in self esteem lowers the level of expectation for success, which in turn lowers performance. This downward spiral results in lower levels of productivity.
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Business Owners Take Actionable Steps
The first step is that you, the Business Owner must come to the realization that change (sales behavior, routines & mindsets) must occur. It is only until you determine that status quo is more financially devastating than change itself will change take place. The problem is that change is uncomfortable and uncertain. What is certain is that without change you will remain stuck on a plateau.
Upon accepting the fact that change must occur, you then must have the ability to gain acknowledgement from others that change must take place before a change in results can be realized. Human beings unfortunately typically do not change while under stress or when in extreme circumstances. Instead they resort to extreme behavior, meaning that they simply resort to doing more of, what isn’t working. This begins the downward cycle. It is your job as a leader to be the catalyst for change within your own company. If you agree that human beings while under extreme circumstances or extreme conditions resort to extreme behavior, doing more if what used to work, then you must step in to break this cycle. Simply telling your sales team to do more or to work harder only accelerates this downward spiral. The reason is that we have not first changed their minds, in order to change their routines to obtain an increase in effectiveness. If we do not change their routines and method of selling they will simply experience more negativity and rejection faster leading to further depletion of self esteem.
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Keep one thing in mind: people do what they do because they believe that it is the right thing to do, however it is not always the most effective thing to do! Until sales people come to the realization that certain components of their sales routine are positive and productive, and others are not will they realize change is necessary. We all have strengths and weaknesses. When we identify the actual root cause of sales failure (not the symptom, but the cause) and begin to support these weaknesses, the failures we experience in sales lessen beginning the process of increasing self esteem and moral.