Is your sales team targeted on what you are targeted on? Make sure your telesales, telemarketing or lead generation team is targeted on what you are targeted on. Obvious advice in theory, but not every organisation with a telesales or telemarketing team follows this. It can be easy to overlook the need to do this as the management team looks after the commercial elements for instance. I have worked with companies in the past who only target their team on sales and then have to manage a large volume of unprofitable orders.
I started a programme with a client just outside Birmingham earlier this year. They have a large team selling items business to business over the phone. I carried out a team audit with them recently.
Is it profitable?
The team actively promotes the fact that the goods are free on approval and “if you don’t want them, we’ll simply pick them up from you free of charge.” Also phrases such as “no obligation” appear frequently. Clearly this strategy is intended to get as many products out as possible which is great – but there is no sense of them being selective at all with who they mail out to. The result is that the company feels that too much of it’s sales activity is unprofitable.
The team is targeted on products sent out. It doesn’t take into account how many products come back.
Work out what your business needs. Ensure at least some of this is fed through to the telesales or telemarketing team on the front line. It pays to make sure everyone shoulders the responsibility for the overall success of the company. The danger of keeping any part of your team in the dark is that first they don’t understand what is important to the organisation they are working for. Worse still they may not realise that what they are doing is counterproductive. Furthermore, how can you ever discipline someone for poor performance if they have every reason to believe they’re doing a good job?
Do the numbers stack up?
Similarly it’s important to ensure that the numbers stack up. So for instance if you manage a team of 6 and your target is £600K for the year, the target that they each have should equal at least £600K. Sure you might have different targets for different team members. Sarah who has been with you for 5 years and is very experienced may carry a target of £200K. Her input makes up for Jess and Aaron who are both new and still on probation. Their target might be £60,000 annualised at the moment. You might want your team’s aggregated target to exceed your own target. That way you have a little headroom. A little margin for error!
A sales manager’s conundrum
I worked with a company a few years ago where the sales manager’s personal target – as set by the sales director was x. So he divided it up amongst his team. There was a substantial bonus riding on achievement of his personal target. Not to mention the pride in being seen to be successful. However, 4 of the members of his sales team just scraped their own personal target. That’s something I’ve learned over the years about sales people. They will sometimes just about achieve their target and carry some business over to the following year. It also ensures their manager / director targets them more ‘realistically’ the following year. It’s great being a hero and achieving 140% of target but next year when the budgets are set………!
In the example I’ve used above, 4 members of the team were successful. However one problematic member of the team underperformed by about 40% and that was enough to make the manager miss their target. Shortly after they got rid of the underperforming member of staff. So that’s 4 happy bunnies with an unhappy manager.
As part of our management series of audio CDs we have a range on team management. They contain many tips and advice on how to manage telephone based teams. Priced at just £34.99 each, there are deals available on multiple orders. Just enquire through our contact page.
Have a look at the article on the sales funnel which is another key element to managing a successful team. You can find our more at sales funnel.
We all want sales now of course. But it’s also important to manage the funnel and spend time nurturing leads and accounts for future sales.
For all of this and more discussion and support on sales team management for your telesales, telemarketing or lead generation team contact us through the contact page.
To Market provides interactive telephone communications training in-house for teams across the East and West Midlands as well as the East England. Training courses run in Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Coventry, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Cambridge, Northampton, Kettering, Corby, Wellingborough, Warwick, Nuneaton, Hinckley, Stratford-on-Avon, Leamington Spa.