If you work with business customers – as an account manager, an owner, a consultant or a customer happiness representative – you know that great service doesn’t mean that friendliness fixes the problem. Results trump even the most friendly interactions. For business-to-business client relationships especially, customer satisfaction isn’t driven by a one-time issue resolution. Instead, it’s about forming and maintaining real, long-term relationships.
The sales team is the life force of every business. If it’s a healthy team, the business will thrive and grow, but if the sales team is weak and not united in their efforts, the business will without a doubt suffer in the long-term.
What makes an executive successful? Consider traits such as risk taking and never relying on the status quo.
Leaders is not complicated, but it does require us to be proactive and develop the right skills.
Listen more and talk less.
It used to be the day and life of a sales person was defined by how many sales calls they made. Productivity was king. If a great sales person could get a prospect on the phone, it was highly likely that a deal would get done. Having been a sales rep, who ‘dialed for dollars’, a manager who pushed my teams to constantly be working leads to someone who is constantly on the lookout for sales best practices – I was pleasantly surprised to find some compelling new research tackling the topic of what makes a winning sales discovery call.
Many of the most successful people had to fight tooth and nail for opportunities to learn new skills and advance up the corporate ladder. That’s often because what they wanted to learn and achieve wasn’t in sync with what their bosses wanted for them. You’re not a data scientist. You’re not cut out for engineering. Sales isn’t what you do. Lines like this are still used all too frequently when employees tell their managers that they want to move in a new direction.
If developing your employees isn’t at the top of your list of priorities, here’s why that needs to change.
Sales and marketing must embrace these principles to stay relevant with customers and close more deals as our inboxes get even more crowded.
For many people, actually being promoted is a huge achievement. Being promoted to a managerial position is a goal for many workers. Those that move into this type of role often bring along with them grandiose ideas on improving the workplace quickly. Not everyone can manage employees effectively, but even those who become great leaders make mistakes along the way. Perfection is not achievable, but the following mistakes are most often made by new managers and should be avoided in your career.
