"Sales are contingent upon the attitude of the salesman, not the attitude of the prospect."
We all have sales goals that we have to meet – and it seems that we all have managers breathing down our necks to achieve these goals. While having goals is important to motivate us, there's a problem with this scenario: salespeople become so stressed out with trying to close a deal that they forget about all of the other more important parts of the sales process, including generating more business.
Here's what sales really means: sales is meeting the needs of your clients or prospect with the services that you can provide.
And, clients will generally choose to use your product or service because at some level they came to trust you and to connect with you enough to close the deal.
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If you are a sales manager, just telling your team to reach such and such goals is not enough, on your part. Rather, you need to be sure that your mindset is more focused on directing them and coaching them through the sales process, and not just telling them, "I need these numbers by this date". Another downside to this approach is that when a salesperson is so focused on making the sale, the customer may pick up on this during their meetings and through questions asked, and may be turned off by this "feeling pressured" approach.
Your sales team consists of people – not machines – and giving them some support through the process will only work out favorably for all involved.
Are you providing them ways on a daily basis to "lead nurture" or to find new clients? Are you helping them to sharpen their sales process "skills", such as having a clear value proposition statement, and asking the right questions? As manager, you have the ability to make a positive and lasting impression and impact on your team. Lead by example, not just with an iron fist. All of these little gestures of support will help to further solidify your team's effort.
If you perform your sales process efficiently, the rewards will be there in the sales that you make. You cannot rush the process, so be sure to keep this in mind for every prospect that comes into your pipeline.
Make sure that you have some type of " daily schedule" that you follow that will help you continuously monitor and measure what you have done to keep you moving towards your goals.
Being aware of and involved in the process gives you the ability to recognize and to celebrate your accomplishments along the way to the finish line. Setting goals comes with the knowledge that there will be a lot of hard work involved in reaching it, and it's important to remember how valuable all of the "lead nurturing" is in helping you achieve your goals. And once clients come to really know who you are, and how hard you worked for them, your reputation will then be a key factor in getting you to your goals even faster.
Here's another quote I found about reaching your goals:
Enjoy the ride.
Marco Giunta
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Barbara Greenwald • There isn't the slightest doubt in my mind that with some of my former employers, they were so goal focussed that they denied the realities of people and life.