Working with a sales person is different than almost any other team member at growing organizations. I presented Growing your B2B Sales team at the Innovation Factory recently. The most popular area for discussion was communications plans for the sales team. It is one of the top areas for improvement for the sales leader. I find that organizations put more effort into their product or service, yet spend little time thinking about how they will work with the sales team to make them better.

For a sales person I feel that there are 4 types of communications that should be used as part of the management process. These include management by walking around, joint calls/meetings, team meetings, and the individual meeting. The individual meeting is the one that has the biggest impact on the development of the sales person, forecast accuracy, and sales wins. I would recommend having an individual meeting 2 times a month.

My suggestions for an agenda for the individual meeting would include:

Funnel Review

One of the most important functions for the individual meeting is reviewing the funnel. Ideally the review is done live within your CRM. There are different components that can be reviewed.

Closed3Revenue:

There should be the revenue target for the company by quarter, then month and a portion should be on each sales person. First start with what was forecasted in the last monthly cycle and what actually closed. Spend some time to understand why there was the miss. If there was a miss then talk about the plan to make up the revenue in the proceeding months to make the quarter.

Opportunities in the Process of Closing:

Start reviewing the opportunities closing in the current time frame and for the balance of the quarter. What needs to happen with each account? The salesperson should understand the decision making process. That process should include how they will decide, who is involved in the decision, and when the order will be placed. There should be a next step by each opportunity. These commitments should then be followed up in the next individual meeting. This holds the rep accountable for the forecast. There may also be next steps that other team members are responsible for. It is the sales leader’s responsibility for helping with those next steps.

Future Opportunities:

Focus on some of the opportunities further up the funnel, with extra emphasis on the larger opportunities.

Take Care of Any Administration

This is an excellent opportunity to check in on administrative tasks that were due for both parties. This could include a rep cleaning up an email list or the sales leader providing an update on a broken customer service process.

Personal Development

There should be an opportunity on a regular basis to identify and get updates on the sales person’s professional development. The skill or competency can be identified by the sales person or sales leader. Sales calls and the funnel review are excellent activities that can help guide the items to be worked on. It can also be something new, like social selling, that the organizations may not have much experience with. The personal development plan can include 3rd party training, in-house work, role playing, watching webinars, or education through free content. I like assigning a focus on a quarterly basis and having specific actions to be completed by the rep as well as potentially by the sales leader.

Hold Each Other Accountable

One of the keys to a successful relationship between the sales person and the sales leader is holding each other accountable. This means that the forecast should be accurate, administrative tasks are being followed up on, and the personal development is progressing. This applies not only to the sales person, but also the sales leader.

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