There are tried and true must-have’s that all successful Inside Sales leaders have in place. Go ahead, don’t believe me, ask your Inside Sales Leader peers and you’ll find each and every one of them have the following must-have’s in place. These artifacts speak to Leaders who have a clear and deliberate path; they treat their career with care and intentionally move through their day, leading their teams to victory.
Onboarding Program: Probably the most critical and under used tool in your arsenal. Think of onboarding as playing Host/Hostess to your new hires. You just spent time getting to know each other and now, the mutual decision has been made to have this extraordinary person start with your organization. This is the perfect opportunity for everyone to continue putting their best foot forward
(Sales) Training Program: There is a distinct difference between Product Training and Sales Training. Definitely have both, however, keep in mind that having your Product Person download to a sales person does not insure success. *Remember: The purpose of Onboarding and Training is to get your New Hires up to speed with the goal of getting them to productivity within 4 months.
Leader Playbook: A Sales Leader Playbook exists for you as a Sales Leader and serves as a “you-are-here dot”. This document or power point is also used in your Training and Onboarding program, is revisited and tweaked on a regular basis, and leveraged heavily in your communication with other departments and your manager.
Sales Playbook: This is your team’s Bible and also used in your Training and Onboarding program. This is the single source of truth for your team when it comes to information, messaging, and leveraging tools and technology.
Ongoing Coaching and Mentoring: Employees are looking for more than a paycheck, they are looking for purpose in their everyday lives and at work. The key to this being successful is consistency; and having objective success criteria in place. Here’s what that means, your 1:1’s are consistent and meaningful; an agenda is set and expectations are clear.
Dashboards: As the saying goes, you can’t win if you don’t keep score. While some folks like not keeping score, Sales is not for the lover of ambiguity. We either do or do not make our number. We either do or do not make phone calls. It’s very clear cut and the numbers reflect our effort and skill. Make it easy for your team to know how they’re doing.
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