Make People First | Create a Winning Sales Culture

Create a Winning Sales Culture – Key Growth Strategies – Make People First

The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.Make People First | Create a Winning Sales Culture

– Harvey S. Firestone 

In the next five articles, I will review summaries for key strategies that have been proven to drive business growth immediately and over the long-term:

  • Make People First – Disciplined Coaching, Employee Development and Committed Support
  • Maximize Overall Team Performance – Collaboration and Sharing Best Practices
  • Create a Business as Usual Environment for Stretch Goals – Joint Planning and Ownership
  • Demand Excellence – Accountability, Visibility, and Consequences
  • Inspect What You Expect – Systematic Inspection and Review Processes

Each of these strategies can be developed and implemented independently; however, they are most effective when harmonized and integrated together into a winning sales culture.

Let’s begin our journey with a summary of Strategy #1, Make People First:

Business Opportunity:

Employees are the most important asset in the business. They are the face of the enterprise to the marketplace. With proper training, development, and support, they will help build a strong business reputation and increase customer loyalty; thus providing the foundation for sustained revenue growth and profitability.

Key Advantages:

  • Sustained, long-term improvement in business growth
  • Extraordinary customer experience and increased loyalty
  • High employee satisfaction, engagement, and reduced attrition/turnover rates

Critical Success Factors:

  • Business leadership must make employee development a top priority and set expectations and commit resources accordingly.
  • Sales leaders must be trained and developed so that they become skilled and competent coaches. Coaching is a discipline of its own and requires knowledgeable and capable management for proper and effective execution.
  • Sales leaders must be held accountable for building supportive relationships with employees while helping them to develop necessary key skill-sets, and yet challenging them to meet high expectations for performance.
  • For optimal results, leaders must create customized plans for the development of each. Each person brings a different set of variables to the table: distinct personality traits, capabilities/talents, experience, skill sets, etc. And thus, “one size does not fit all: Managers must create customized plans for the optimal development of each individual.  These coach/employee relationships are developed and nurtured on a one-on-one basis.

Let me reiterate the importance for Business leadership to regularly inspect the execution on expectations for rhythmic, systematic employee development for the creation of the right habits. The name of the game here is practice, practice and then more practice to ensure that the salesperson acquires the prowess to perform smoothly and fluidly, under most stressful situations and with even the most difficult customer.  Behavioral science supports the benefits of diligence relative to deliberate practice and role play for developing solidifying the skills and expertise for successful interactions with clients. We owe this to the employee, the client, and the business.

And finally, to be clear, the “Make People First” strategy is bigger than coaching, and employee development. To derive maximum benefit from this strategy, there must be an environment committed to employees on a personal level, characterized by mutual respect, trust, and open, two-way communications between senior management and the front line. Leadership has a high expectation of performance along with an acknowledged commitment to employee overall well-being. Including helping employees be the best, they can be in current roles and to aid in preparation for new ones as well. These are the attributes of a winning sales culture, a business that is built for success!

Of course, this is all easier said than done; however, we can help you with that!  Should you need assistance in developing and implementing a plan to Make Employees First, please contact me at (281) 817-7391 or adam.vital@avbgs.com.

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