Why is accountability so crucial for those who work in sales teams?
Accountability is necessary for sales team members to desire and maintain consistent performance. The key to understanding and increasing accountability is to start with a good, effective sales structure and policy.
Accountability is a huge factor in sales and one you may overlook. If your prospect feels the need to report to someone or justify their actions, they will be more dedicated and successful in closing deals. This will only increase their drive to make the sale because they want higher approval ratings and are being measured by a third party.
As a sales leader, you must always know the process: who the customer was, what the product or service was, the communication plan, etc. Once a sales team understands what success looks like in the defined sales pipeline, it doesn’t take long to know exactly where they are at all times! Then, as a result of clear expectations from leadership and an understanding of their role and responsibilities and their customer’s expectations… they act!
Establishing Accountability in Your Sales Team
That’s what we’re talking about today. Do you want to build a better and more engaged company culture?
Your monthly sales goals are in mind, and you’re happy to see how well your team is performing. But, unfortunately, something’s not right, but your sales goals aren’t being met! Your sales team is doing the work, but you can’t have a sound system to track their achievements.
A sales team is only as good as its goals, and accurate tracking is the key to setting and reaching those goals. A sales accountability system ensures that everyone on your team has a role in meeting your company’s sales quotas and hitting your revenue goals month after month.
Set Clear Goals
The best way to ensure that your sellers are on track is by setting clear goals, backed with objective evidence that they can be achieved. That way, when they fall short of their goals, there’s no room for confusion about whether or not their efforts were successful—and no excuses for why the project failed.
Clear goals also help guide your sellers toward better work habits and practices. If you want them to work toward long-term success instead of short-term gains, everything must be laid out clearly in advance, so there aren’t any surprises along the way.
Give Them Tools to Succeed
Setting goals is a great way to keep your sales team focused on the most critical tasks. It’s also a great way to help you measure the success of each member of your team, as well as their individual performance over time.
But for goal-setting to work, you need to provide your sales team with the tools—like reports and dashboards—that will help them track their progress toward those goals.
You need to make sure they have the correct data, can communicate with each other and their clients efficiently, and have access to any other resources they may need—including training and support.
Specifically, this means:
- You are providing your sales team with the right data. Data should be available at all times for them to be able to quickly assess trends and make decisions based on what’s happening in real-time, rather than having to wait for reports or downloads from other sources of information.
- Giving them access to a communication platform that allows them to communicate effectively with their clients and other members of their team (and vice versa). This can include texting or email as well as phone calls or video calls if needed—whatever works best for each situation!
- Giving them easy access (through an app or website) at all times so they don’t miss out on any opportunities.
Follow Up On Their Progress
Accountability is the key to success. It’s how you know your sales team is giving it their all and that they’re not just coasting on their previous achievements.
But if there’s no follow-through on accountability, the system falls apart. Your sales team will start taking shortcuts, relying on old tricks and gimmicks instead of finding new ones. They’ll get lazy and complacent, which means they’ll stop caring about their work as much as they used to—and then you’ll see your numbers start falling off.
Accountability is an essential part of any business, but it can only be effective when there are consequences for not following through with what you’ve promised to do; otherwise, it’s just lip service.
