Will the real sales team please stand up? (Implications for learning.)
Often we hear the phrase, “The Sales Team”. The word “team” implies a group of people who strive to achieve a common goal, using communications, planning, a common strategy, and combined effort. In fact, you might be surprised to discover who constitutes the real sales team! The lines of communication may provide a clue. Learning strategies should be adjusted accordingly.
So let’s look at one example of a sales team. The team covers the market and could be anywhere from 10 to 1200 strong. This team may cover one city, or cover the nation. Each member probably works alone while seeing clients. Each team member may never see fellow sales team members outside of a sales meeting. It’s possible he may never communicate with them. He may follow a different strategy. In fact, in certain situations, he may even compete with other team members for production time! That is an interesting definition of a team!
Let’s look at a hockey team as another example. There are 6 team members on the ice. Their job is to keep the puck out of their own net, and place the puck in the opponent’s net as often as possible. They work with each other, passing the puck, setting up plays and defending against opposition attacks. They communicate during the play, and you can often hear them shouting to each other. They wear the same colours, and when it’s time for a line change, a new group comes in with the same colours. That is my idea of a team.
So let’s get back to our sales team. With whom does the sales person most often communicate? Other than the customer, it is the person in the office who handles the orders. It could also be with the people who will be performing any work contracted, such as designers, speakers, or technicians. He may talk with the people who are actually in charge of these performers, such as a plant manager. The conversations may sometimes include the shipping department when very last minute instructions must be conveyed and normal channels are not available. In certain cases he could be talking with other departments such as research, compliance, testing, etc.
Now, let’s bring a new component into this situation: the customer. Who does the customer perceive as being the team? I am willing to bet it’s the people with whom there is the most communication. For certain, it is the salesperson. It could also be the customer service person. Perhaps it is the specialists who may be performing the work, or the first person who answers the phone, which could be reception. It may even include the shipping foreperson, or even the delivery person. Imagine: the UPS person could be on your team and you might not realize it! The perception of who the sales team really is depends on the point of view.
These other team members could be described as being the extended team. They actually work together more as a team than the separate sales team individuals who never really work together at all!
What are the implications for learning?
Team building activities might need to include the salespersons’ support staff, rather than just the other sales people with whom he has minimal contact.
For customer service training it might be appropriate to invite members of the extended team to participate in some of the sessions. Training on personality types would be good example of this because the extended team could even relate to some of the common customers.
Rather than pull the entire sales team off the road for a day, you might consider having one sales person in for training along with some of the extended team. Business would be less disrupted as customers could still be serviced and you would avoid a noticeable loss in sales for the day.
For sales presentation training, having some of the extended team involved could be useful so that they would have a better idea of what the sales department is trying to sell and they may even inject a dose of reality into an overly enthusiastic presentation.
A course in negotiation training would actually give the extended team the chance to contribute ideas that might make for future breakthroughs in customer service.
Conclusion
Sometimes the team you imagine is not the real team. The people in the communication channel may provide a better indication of the real team. Customers could verify this. Learning strategies should be adjusted accordingly.
Brett McBurnie Brett McBurnie comes to coaching from a diverse and unique background. Born in Toronto in 1951, he attended school in East York and eventually went on to study Classical Studies (Greek and Latin); at the University of Toronto , with the purpose in mind of pursuing a general but well rounded education. Full Profile & Contact Information...
