Five Actionable Steps To Elevate Your Sales Skills For The New Year
The past several years have certainly tested the mettle of even the most experienced salespeople and sales managers. With a new year already upon us, questions still remain about the economy and other external factors, but regardless of those outside variables, there are a number of steps sales teams can take to build up sales skills that will lead to a strong foundation for success in the months ahead.
As one of our annual traditions here at Integrity Solutions, we like to check in with some of our leaders and subject matter experts for a pulse on the trends, practices and potential speed bumps they’re hearing about in conversations with clients and industry leaders. Prioritization. Focusing the critical. Ignoring external noise. Here’s a round-up of these and other the key ideas that have stood out to them as well as advice on new year’s resolutions for sales leaders and team members that will deliver the biggest impact this year.
Make Reinforcement a Habit
We all know what onboarding is, but have you heard of “everboarding”? It’s a key goal of one of Brian Snader’s clients this year, and as he explains it, “Everboarding helps address the issue that one-time exposure to information through training is rarely enough. Is the training ever finished? Is it only done at corporate? Sales skills have to be practiced and reinforced to truly take hold.”
Companies are usually well-organized when it comes to exposing sales teams to both new and foundational sales skills during onboarding, but they often have less clarity and process around whose responsibility it is to consistently apply and reinforce what was learned. Considering studies repeatedly show that new skills and habits are quickly forgotten without reinforcement, this is a huge blind spot — and it most likely means you’re not getting the full return on your training efforts.
Everboarding threads the focus, intention and philosophy of onboarding throughout the year, and your sales managers play a key role in this. They’ll need to sharpen their coaching skills — and then own their responsibility for actually doing it. While most sales leaders recognize the value of coaching, that doesn’t mean they necessarily do it effectively, consistently or frequently enough.
By the way, employees aren’t the only ones who need regular reinforcement. “We must also look at our customers’ ability to use the products and services they’ve purchased from us,” Snader says. “They need ongoing training and education regularly as well, since only so much information can be absorbed at any given time.”
This is an opportunity to not only add more value but differentiate your organization and strengthen your client relationships.
Embrace Holding People Accountable
What’s one thing sales leaders can do to help their salespeople have a successful year? “I think the best thing we can do to support our people is hold them accountable,” says Mike Fisher. “The first part of that is making sure they come to you with their plan and their goals. Goal setting is a sales skill in itself. They need to write it down to own it. But then we have to hold them accountable to hitting the goal.”
Over the course of your life and career, you can probably point to specific people who’ve held your feet to the fire and held you to a higher standard than you may have believed you were capable of. Whether a teacher, a parent, a mentor or a boss, these individuals help us move outside our comfort zones, stay on track and achieve more.
Fisher believes some managers are hesitant to hold people accountable because they think of it as micromanagement. “But what I’ve seen is the opposite,” he says. “When people do the things that they’re asked to do, they want to tell you what those are. We need to see it as an opportunity to let them shine, not as micromanaging.”
Just as important, don’t get trapped into thinking that it has to be a major time commitment. In a recent episode of the Mental Selling podcast, productivity expert Matthew Dicks pointed out that it only takes a couple of minutes to do this well — and that can make all the difference.
“A two-minute phone call from your manager who calls to say hey, here’s the thing you did great and here’s a couple things to work on, and that call ends in 200 seconds, that’s a fantastic phone call,” Dicks says. “That’s exactly what people want in this world.”
Optimize the Sales Engine with Metrics and the Human Element
With myriad technologies, platforms, tools and inputs swirling around, the discipline of filtering is more important than ever. What really delivers the best return? Where should the sales organization and salespeople be directing their time and resources? How can you optimize everything you’re doing to reach your most important objectives?
Bruce Wedderburn has previously written about the importance of determining the right sales training metrics. Understanding and measuring what matters is key, he says, and the same applies to the sales organization as a whole.
“Be more metrics-driven in 2023 to better clarify where individual salespeople should be investing their time, energy, resources and priorities to maximize individual and team results,” Wedderburn advises. “The better we understand the details about our opportunities, clients and revenue, the better we can identify specific places to emphasize/prioritize sales skills development and set goals to help each person confidently exceed their goals in the coming years.”
It’s also a good time to get clear about the role technology plays in the sales ecosystem. Technology’s job is to take the transactional, repetitive and otherwise inefficient tasks off the plates of your salespeople so they can be freed up to contribute at a higher level, providing clients and prospects with the kind of personal value that only humans can.
Sometimes this can get lost in the mix, especially when so much emphasis is being placed on the next big tech innovation. If the tools aren’t truly value-add, then they’re just one more distraction.
Randy Leiker’s advice: “Focus on the human element. Take a look at your current sales enablement tech stack to identify the key tools really needed and look at how the human element fits in. On average companies have 15 to 18 tools, yet salespeople only use an average of 8. That creates inefficient processes and wastes resources, time and money.”
A key question to ask when evaluating your tech stack: Do the tools facilitate better conversations that lead to better customer experiences?
Create a Supportive Sales Culture
Many organizations say they’re entering 2023 with high optimism and momentum as a result of a concerted effort that involves revisiting and emphasizing the desired culture from day 1 onward.
“I’m so impressed with new ‘startup’ teams and divisions who want to create a culture of coaching from the beginning to invest in the success of others,” Terri O’Halloran says. “It’s also exciting to see highly successful organizations taking a fresh look at their cultures. One way they are doing that is through a culture survey around the HBR 8 Distinct Types of Culture Styles. Armed with those results, corporate leaders are being very intentional and purpose-driven to align everything they do around creating an elite culture for the future.”
Patty Gaddis is also hearing a renewed commitment to culture as a foundation for sales success, particularly in light of the changes that have rocked the workplace over the past few years.
“As people are being told to return to the office after three years, they feel their psychological safety threatened,” she says. “I have had two conversations with HR leaders who are focused on creating a positive work environment that is psychologically safe. This includes developing leadership to create an environment based on trust, where employees are encouraged to speak up without fear of retaliation or negative consequences. The outcome the HR leaders are looking to achieve is a happier, healthier, more engaged and more productive workforce.”
Beyond Sales Skills: Invest in Your Own Broader Professional Development
As Johnny Walker reminds us, “Professionals practice their craft every single day.” Whether you’re a sales leader or a sales rep, new to the team or experienced in the role, there is always more to practice and more to learn, especially in a world that’s constantly changing.
The people who succeed year in and year out are those who commit to being lifelong learners and continually investing in their own sales skills development and growth. They stay adaptable and keep the forward momentum going despite the shifting landscape beneath them.
Of course, that can be easier said than done, particularly when you’re dealing with the demands, pressures, and ups and downs of the sales profession. But as Dave Larter notes, “In this ever-changing economy with its constant volatility, how we feel isn’t always a good reference point for what we should do. Sometimes we need to respond to something uncomfortable and difficult. Be responsible and embrace the discomfort and do it anyway. Win the inner battle against your default emotion.”
It’s all part of building up your emotional intelligence, something Steve Schmidt emphasizes as well:
“The world around us, and the environment in which we operate, is choke-full of distraction. Too often these distractions cause unnecessary and unwanted mental traffic. Strong emotional intelligence allows us to label these often-negative distractions, thereby diluting their power. Those with better mindfulness and clarity in thought and action win the day, so choose your distractions wisely.”
We’re lucky to have so much content and learning material right in the palms of our hands these days, but as Steve says, that can also be overwhelming or counterproductive. Johnny suggests setting aside 20-30 minutes each day to invest in yourself. Here, he shares some ideas for what you might do during that time:
- Listen to a podcast (like this one!).
- Practice developing great coaching questions.
- Read a chapter in a self-development book.
- Research online in an area you want to grow.
- Be still: We all need to declutter our minds on a regular basis.
- Review your goals.
“Don’t just be well intended this year; take action,” he urges. “Scheduling your professional development at the same time each day will help you develop the habit.”
And remember, your mindset and level of emotional intelligence will influence what you ultimately accomplish. Those inner beliefs can either lift you to new heights or permanently hold you back. As such, approach your learning and growth with a positive mindset about the possibilities available to you. We all need coaching, feedback and training at different points in our lives and our careers. Embrace the opportunity to continually grow and achieve more for yourself.
As Jim Ryan says, “Sometimes we need new training because something needs to be improved or we’re on a losing streak and seem to be losing ground to our competitors. And sometimes we want to engage in training not to fix things but to ‘up our game’ … to take us to the next level. This is simply a check on the fundamentals of sales skills development to be sure we are intentional to practice the things that work. Either way, the important point is to never stop growing.”
It’s good advice for each of us as we head into a new year, with all of its uncertainties and possibilities lying before us.
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