Said the sales manager to a colleague: “How do I achieve consistent results? I have been a sales leader for a while and can’t seem to deliver on my goals and objectives. How do I make an impact and leave a legacy?”

Successful sales managers develop a routine to constantly review and refine every aspect of the sales engine to ensure it is firing on all cylinders. For many of us, December 31, 2018 marks the end of another financial year. And if you are not far advanced in finalising your 2019 plans, you are late and will need to get it done very quickly. Your efforts will also be concentrated on a strong close for 2018 to deliver your objectives. But that’s the life of a sales leader.

Whatever stage you are with planning, here are a few ideas to help drive performance for 2019 through an empowered sales team and an effective sales system that is nimble and adaptable. I thought through seven fundamentals to fuel your sales machine in 2019.

(1) Practice continuous strategic thinking

Have you ever heard the saying that a leader is just not “strategic enough”? The most valued skill required among leaders is strategic thinking. In today’s environment most managers are required to deliver results with fewer resources. Not being strategic often leads to using short-term methods to solve problems. Instead of taking the time to think through the root cause of an issue and implement systems or processes to address it, we get excited and busy every time something happens, and use the same extinguisher to out it. Why not take the time to employ strategic thinking and realise different results? Here are a few suggestions:

• Be relentless — set aside time for focused thinking.

• Take yourself out of the everyday operations and take a long view. Think deep and think big.

• Learn to spot trends and know which could have the greatest impact on the organisation or your business.

• Be curious, ask questions, avoid surface thinking, and generate new insights continuously.

• Read, talk to new people and broaden your perspective.

• Understand where the company needs to go in this fast-pace environment.

• Figure out which problems or business issues will affect the organisation’s goals and what will prevent the business from achieving its plans.

• Invite alternate views to question what you think.

(2) Develop a realistic sales strategy

Focus on defining who your customers are, where they can be found, how you will reach them, and the value proposition of your offering. Clearly define the approach to be employed to understand your customers’ needs and how your company and products create value by meeting those needs. Focus the attention of your sales force on the right segments and opportunities which should allow you to tailor your sales messages to communicate the difference that your offering creates for your customers. Have a laser-like focus on implementation and results. It is said that an effective strategy is 90 per cent implementation, therefore, it is also important to make tactical sales planning and continuous evaluation a habit. Assess your position in the competitive landscape and identify your unique competitive advantage.

(3) Develop a plan to nurture a winning sales culture

This is the ultimate goal for you the team leader, sales manager, or VP of sales. If you can tap into what makes people tick and provide support for your team members in such a way that they know they are winners personally and professionally, then 70 per cent of the challenge is solved. In his farewell speech President Obama said: “It’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realise your true potential.” As a sales leader you must find a way to get your team to buy into the vision that you all share and get each sales executive to develop an unrelenting passion for their own dreams. So, take deliberate and conscious steps to arm your team with the tools, support, guidance and coaching needed for them to perform. Motivation is an inside job; get your team to believe in themselves and experience phenomenal improvements in your team’s performance. This is possible only if you plan.

(4) Make training a strategic tool & not an event

I have had the unique opportunity to interact with several sales organisations which contemplate whether investment in training is realising the benefits. Sales leaders sometimes think that training by itself will solve all problems. I often ask what will happen in the organisation when training is completed, or who is responsible for ensuring that the benefits are realised. As a leader you should hold yourself accountable for the investment made in training (time and/or money). Develop SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) goals for any training programme and implement a plan that will take learning concepts and bring them to life.

(5) Consistently align customer experience to a healthy pipeline

Quite often the engagement with your brand begins with a sales executive. It is also quite standard that in the process of acquiring a product or service, several persons or teams need to work together in order to complete the transaction, for example, the purchase of a large appliance that requires delivery or a service that requires input from other teams to deliver what was promised. Sales-people sometimes have the tendency to focus on making the sale, and later if something goes wrong (sometimes due to negligence) they avoid getting involved, suggesting that all they do is sell the product.

As a sales, retail or customer service manager it is important to streamline your processes to ensure that the needs of the customer are met at every interaction point within your business. Therefore, you need to enable your sales team to escalate issues but remain accountable. These days the currency of differentiation is service. Everyone in the business, regardless of their role, must feel that they own the customer and is responsible to do whatever they can to ensure complete customer satisfaction. Everyone should know and understand what it means to be accountable to the customers’ total experience. A sales-focused organisation places major emphasis on service and doesn’t prioritise one over the other. Service sells — having a pipeline of good prospects who are obtained through referrals is usually more efficient and have a higher probability to close over other lead sources.

(6) Review the sales conversation and engagement tool box

The business environment is very dynamic. The sales pitch used 12 months ago is probably not relevant now. I only use the term “sales pitch” here because most persons can identify with it. It’s not an ideal term because today’s educated customer prefers an engagement that helps them to understand why the solution is right for them. Re-evaluate what problems the product solves, the unique way in which it solves the issues, why a particular set of customers should buy that product from you, and what differentiates your solution from any other competitor. With this, you can avoid/minimise the price-focused sales conversations and reduce the discounting dilemma. Please note also that sales presentations should answer three questions:

• Why the potential client should buy the product

• Why they should buy it from you

• Why they must buy it now.

(7) Review the metrics that will guide decisions and actions in 2019

Metrics are the lifeblood and yardstick that keep the processes, systems and people accountable to planned KPIs. You want to put in place an approach that helps you to know where things are, regardless of the status. Knowing what has been or not accomplished is an opportunity to make changes and tweak for the desired results. It doesn’t have to be complex and you do not need an elaborate system. Ideally you should have what’s called a dashboard. If you are doing this for the first time or need to track some basic indicators, you could consider the following for starters:

• percentage of sales executives achieving target;

• Revenue per account/product: New and existing;

• Conversion ratios;

• percentage of agents who use established processes consistently;

• percentage of sales executive who plan consistently and use a routine that works.

Beverley Thompson is an award-winning sales strategist and the founder and CEO of Hulaine Strategic Services. She works with sales teams and organisations to optimise their sales infrastructure. Through Hulaine, she provides customised sales workshops and consulting services by going into organisations to develop sales skills, competencies, and leadership capacity. Hulaine coaches sales professionals to streamline behaviours, processes, systems and culture. To prepare your sales leaders to think strategically please connect at bthompson@hulaine.com or (876) 2769905.