A sales team differentiation strategy lends a fresh perspective to managing team dynamics and outcomes.
Most sales teams aren’t “real” teams at all. They are a bunch of folks segmented into local, regional and national groups. They compete with each other and with the rest of your company’s sales teams.
What a missed opportunity to differentiate your team to your collective customer base.
As the manager, how about creating a brand strategy for your sales team as a whole? That strategy allows everyone on your team to look at themselves with fresh eyes. You may find that your team truly does pull together as you broaden their bandwidth to your customer base.
The 2015 CSO Insights Sales Productivity Optimization Study predicts a 22% churn rate in your sales force by end of year. It is difficult to gain team momentum when management is on a continuous cull mission.
Your sales team differentiation strategy can help you offset personnel churn. With a shared mission, your team can improve their productivity as they learn to work together cross-functionally.
Start by learning to leverage the communications platforms you use. Your sales team differentiation strategy is amplified when you use professional communication tools. Move beyond platforms with inconsistent quality of delivery.
There are logical and agile software tools and platforms which enable screen grab, share and video. These nimble platforms enable you to engage and poll your entire customer base. Consider the value you create when reporting back collective qualitative and quantitative insights.
Here are five considerations when creating a sales team differentiation strategy.
Tip #1 – Build teams with collective clarity of purpose that goes beyond making their numbers.
Tip #2 – Ask a big question. Then answer that question together.
Tip #3 – Include pre-sales and post-sales folks. They are part of your customer retention team, aren’t they?
Tip #4 – Create a sales team project that has social purpose your customers can relate to. Soup kitchen? Clothing drive?
Tip #5: – Explore high quality screen grab and video platforms. They make all the difference between so-so communications and offering impactful insights. TechSmith® and their Camtasia® and Snagit® platforms are rock solid options.
Creating and implementing your project allows your sales team to collaborate with each other, instead of compete. They round out their insights by listening and learning from internal co-workers and external recipients of their outreach.
Generate sales team value propositions from your insights. Plant a bigger idea with your customer base than: “Sign on the dotted line. See you at renewal next year.”
Deliver relevant and valuable insights that aren’t just about your product’s features and benefits. What does your sales team outreach project tell your customers about your entire team, not just the person who sells to them this quarter?
My mantra: Depending on where you sit around the table, you all see the same things differently.
Continue to communicate your insights (not pitch or sell) to your customer base throughout the year. Go beyond 140 characters and email blasts. Everybody’s doing that, anyway. Your customers delete these one-size-fits-all messages before they read them.
Your sales team differentiation strategy creates a tremendous resource from which to pull relevant and insightful content, on a monthly basis. Tie team insights back to emerging trends you see in the marketplace. That strategy differentiates and brands your team’s insights.
Your sales team differentiation strategy showcases your team to your customer base in a new light. Grow more than your team’s sales skills in the process. Engage and motivate your team. Start everyone on the path towards leadership.
Babette Ten Haken started out her career as a scientist. Early on, she was asked to bring clarity to the chaos of stalemated conversations between engineers, sales, IT, quality, legal and marketing folks. She focuses on building collaborative, innovative and profitable teams who are focused on excellence in the hand-off of strategy for execution. Her Playbook on leadership and business strategies, including tools, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com.
This post is sponsored by TechSmith®. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Leave a Reply