Patrick Johnson

Background

About Patrick Johnson

The two most important things you can give your sales reps are great morale and focus. Morale is so important because if your salesperson believes they are the best person in their market their confidence carries over to the customer. Some of the ways you keep your sales staff's confidence high is by recognizing their accomplishments on sales calls. Call them and tell them they're doing a great job. If a good salesperson is having a bad stretch let them know that you are glad they are in that market right now because no one knows it better and can get it turned around faster than them. There are many more ways to get them fired-up to work hard for you that I have learned over 30+ years. Focus is just as important because it contributes to a salesperson's morale (To get your best results, a salesperson should have 1-2 goals. Trying to hit a half dozen goals means they will never be able to give you 100% of your main goal.closing deals and making your company money). There are a number of ways a salesperson can lose focus. One way is "paralysis by analysis." They can forget that reports are a means to an ends and not the other way around. You need to remind them that you don't get paid for how many reports you look at but by how many sales you make. Spend your first hour (and only one hour) looking at reports in the morning and then go capture that business. Another way they can lose focus is when they have too many tasks. A good sales director will do everything they can to keep their goal making money for your company. Salespeople will always have compliance i.e. continuing education, mandatory exams from Corporate, etc.but these should be the exception not the rule. Don't assign tasks that will keep them from maximizing their pay plan. Some sales managers think they are impressing their boss with extra work and reports they make their salesforce do vs other managers. In the end, the sales manager who crushes their goal every month will always be the one who moves up. Please feel free to use these techniques and watch your sales grow!