Round Peg Learning and Development

Wakey Wakey !!!

Well it’s the second week of the New Year, the office decorations are put back in a cupboard and the half drunk bottles of sherry poured down the kitchen sink. Everyone is back seated behind their desks and raring to go yes? Well gearing up maybe? Ah. The after Christmas blues are so common within sales departments and in my experience of Media Sales departments it’s like a black cloud for a couple of weeks and difficult to get the team back up to it’s normal break-speed gusto. We are now in a position where the ‘ I can’t get hold of anyone’ excuse is wearing thin and the we need some action. So here are 5 ways you can kick-start your new year and see some results quickly:

Set team objectives for the month- setting objectives is a sure fire way of regaining much needed focus and enabling the team to have something to aim for. As with all objectives making them tough but achievable is the key and monitor them. Don’t just have the meeting, distribute them and then neatly file them in your bottom draw. Give everyone on the team a role ( these objectives are probably in addition to existing quarterly ones) so that it is not left to one or two people to deliver.

Set an additional target – Getting off to a flying start in January is always challenging so set an additional target with an incentive at the end for the whole team. It doesn’t have to be huge, most teams are happy with the traditional team night out, what ever it is it will propel your team into action and get you ahead.

Increase productivity- In the dark ages, our team was set super call targets to achieve during the month of January. If I am honest having our then manager leaping around the office shouting ‘sell sell sell’ wasn’t really conducive to our already flat mood, but it worked. We increased productivity by double and our revenue. Instead of the normal target of 25 effective calls a day increase it to 40.

Give them something to aim for ...

Introduce bite-sized training – take some time out each day and talk about an area of sales, for example, closing or objection handling. Not only does it refresh tired sales effort, but it’s highly motivating too. You lead the team and as a leader it is important that you demonstrate your knowledge on occasion – I think you’ll be surprised by the reaction you get. Don’t give an oratorio, keep it simple and limit to 20 minutes a day.

Have an award – If you don’t already have a sales person of the month award then introduce one from January. Set a criteria, It might be based on revenue or calls or even the person who motivates the team that month. It’s not elitist and it gives everyone something additional to work towards. In previous companies we gave a prize, dinner for two or theatre tickets but the thing each individual winner prized the most was their certificate of achievement. It’s such a cost effective way to increase results and most importantly motivation.

These are just five example but there are so many different ways to kick start the New Year. January doesn’t have to be a ‘dead month’ It can be a fresh start and everyone can have fun whilst they are exceeding their targets.

For more information on how we can help with motivation or training needs for your teams please email or call 07738703450 for your free consultation.