Sales Culture: The Ultimate Guide

Sales culture is a fuzzy concept. You can’t measure its quality like you’d measure your team's monthly revenue, email activity, average tenure, or quota attainment — but that doesn’t mean it’s not important.

您组织的销售文化在所有这些因素中都起着巨大的作用，其中包括其他几个因素。您的销售人员出售多少，它们的生产力以及与您公司在一起的时间都是您销售文化质量的功能。bob全站app

在这里,我们将探讨销售文化是什么,solid one looks like, some best practices to refine yours, how to build one at a startup, and how to scale yours as your company grows.

What is sales culture?

Sales culture is effectively the sum of the attitudes, values, and habits that characterize your team — and it can usually be summed up in 10 or so words.

Those words could be something to the effect of:

• Competitive
• 激烈的
• Independent
• Merit-based
• 支持
• Transparent
• Democratic
• Social
• “努力工作使劲玩”

While those descriptors are all at least somewhat positive, not every sales culture embodies them. And in many cases, a sales culture can be characterized by words like stressful, cutthroat, drab, or unprofessional.

There's no definitive blueprint for a successful sales culture — they come in various shapes and sizes. But while the ingredients of a healthy, productive culture might vary by company, the indicators of one are relatively consistent.

Let's take a look at what those might look like.

What does a successful sales culture look like?

A successful sales culture brings out the best in your salespeople. That means:

• Healthy competition
• Low rep turnover
• 能够快速识别销售过程中问题并根据需要进行调整的能力
• 协作和知识共享
• Trust and communication (both within the team and the greater organization)
• A common vision
• Continual learning and development
• Accountability

现在，该列表似乎很强大而广泛，您的销售文化可能并没有表​​现出所有这些特征的全部（甚至一半），但是解决每个点并非不可能。为了帮助您，我们将详细研究每个人。

Sales Culture Best Practices

1.鼓励友好竞争

大多数销售人员在比赛中蓬勃发展。关键是要检查它 - 如果您让“竞争性”变成“ Cutthroat”，您的代表可能会开始扣留有用的建议和信息，互相吵架或试图窃取机会。

那么，您如何在不互相打开代表的情况下保持健康竞争的精神呢？

First, give your team an external rival. Having a common "enemy" causes them to work together and grow closer. You can spur them on to outperform another team or outsell your biggest competitors in the market.

Second, encourage them to beat their own records. Direct their competitive energy toward outdoing last month's or quarter’s results — by shifting their competitive energy to their own numbers, you'll make them less likely to resent their peers.

Third, pair newer reps with more experienced ones. Having a go-to mentor won’t just accelerate the ramp-up period and give your new hires a sense of security and comfort, it’ll also cut down on feelings of isolation.

Finally, use a variety of sales contests and incentives. But be careful not to run the same contest again and again — not only will the same people keep winning (leading everyone else to eventually stop trying), but you’ll make the winners natural targets.

Try something like hosting a contest for the rep who can book the most meetings during the first month. Then, reward the person with the fastest average sales cycle the next. The month after that, give a bonus to the rep who signs the most deals with a specific type of prospect.

By consistently shaking things up, you’ll give everyone a chance to win and keep things interesting.

您也可以举办全队范围的比赛。例如，您可能会挑战整个团队，以达到最新产品发布的配额，或者以特定百分比增加活动。

2. Low Rep Turnover

Constantly losing salespeople is a major red flag for prospective candidates. Plus, finding and training new ones is extremely expensive — and an ever-changing "roster" is bad for morale.

要减少销售代表的营业额，请确保您仔细选择了最好的销售人员。选择性不可避免地会扩大您的招聘过程，但从长远来看，您可以节省金钱。

Your reps should have plenty of coaching support from their managers — not just when they first begin, but throughout their tenure at your company. Implement a structured coaching routine, and consistently poll your salespeople to see if they’re getting the training and management they need.

尽管资金不是代表离开的唯一原因，但要支付低于市场的费用肯定会损害您的保留率。保持目标收入（OTE）与角色，行业和地区的典型薪酬相符（或更好）。

Finally, feeling stuck is a huge factor in sales turnover. Ensure you have a defined promotion path in place. For example, you might want to have a clearly articulated career trajectory from BDR to AE to Senior AE. That way salespeople can move up as they gain more experience and skills.

3.Agile

In sales, a team's ability to move fast is crucial. For instance, if a company's executives decide they want to move into a new vertical, everyone within its sales org needs to quickly familiarize themselves with a new base, learn some industry-specific terminology to help build credibility with prospects, collectively adjust their sales messaging, and take several other steps to better approach its new target prospects.

If the team is agile, this process will be feasible. If it’s unable to experiment, learn from its mistakes, and adapt, it's bound to fail.

您如何促进敏捷性？借鉴敏捷哲学的原则，例如每天举行10分钟的站立式站立 - 在整个团队范围内举行会议，每个人都将鼓励坚持时限。

让每个成员回答相同的三个问题，没有其他问题：

• "What did you achieve yesterday?"
• "What will you achieve today?"
• “您需要调整才能更有效？”

Make sure your reps have access to the information they need. Individual and team-wide performance should be available to all. Good decisions don’t happen without good data.

最后，鼓励“快速失败”文化。销售人员应该冒险 - 从尝试一种新的勘探技术到使用不同的谈判策略。只要他们记录他们的结果并广泛分享它们，如果他们不成功，就可以。结果将帮助每个人学习和进步。

4.协作和知识共享

Creating a sales culture where salespeople collaborate and freely pass along tips and strategies is essential — but that's easier said than done. Communication roadblocks are one of the more common obstacles obstructing successful sales cultures.

您需要创建一个有利于开放沟通的环境。问问自己，销售代表说话容易，方便吗？这些接触线需要超越休闲水冷却器的对话。

尝试让所有人进入Slack或其他聊天平台，以便宣布类似的内容"Hey, this new combo of CRM filters is turning up some fire prospects!"is as easy as, well, typing it.

其次，确保您的比赛正在帮助协作。您不希望代表ho积他们的学习。尝试举行竞赛，使团队共同工作，而不是个人。

第三，看看您是否专注于想法的质量而不是他们的来源？假设您的SDR有一个很棒的建议。试试看！不要因为它们是新的或缺乏经验而将其击倒。

Fourth, encourage honesty. Perhaps your salesperson criticized the new talk track. As long as they've made good points and expressed them respectfully, you should see their contribution as productive. You never want people afraid to speak up — that’s how bad ideas survive.

第五,知识共享的奖励. Consider giving points for contributing information. For instance, if an AE comes up with a new strategy that makes prospects 40% less likely to cancel their demo at the last minute, they could win a monthly $250 "Innovation Bonus."

5.信任和沟通

Reps rarely thrive in an environment without trust, and it falls on sales managers to establish it. There are three main steps to making that happen:

1. Accept and incorporate feedback.

A great manager listens to their reps — and more importantly, reacts to their feedback. Are they frustrated with the way training is currently delivered? A good manager tries to find a better format.

Do they want less interference with their deals? A good manager takes a step back — within reason. Would they like more transparency with upper management? A good manager works to provide that.

即使销售经理无法遵循一切，也表明努力也会赢得他们的信任。

2. Don’t micromanage.

Building trust is a two-way street. If you can prove to your team that you trust them, they'll be inclined to reciprocate. Unless a specific rep is struggling and needs more attention, sales managers should steer clear of micromanaging.

这意味着要管理结果而不是活动，让代表从最成功的地方进行工作，而不是要求他们在办公室，而不是要求他们花费宝贵的时间来填写毫无意义的报告。

3.保持你的词。

当您作为经理，致力于做某事，请始终保持您的言论。可靠性是信任的支柱 - 一旦您的代表知道您可靠，它们将变得更加忠诚。

It's easy to keep track of the larger promises you make — such as,"I’ll take you all to a steak dinner at Harry’s if everyone shows up to the weekly sales meeting the entire month."

但是你不能忘记较小的人，例如“I’ll send you my feedback by tomorrow night,”or“I’ll put in a request for new presentation software this afternoon.”

These are just as important and contribute equally to the sales manager's reputation for being trustworthy.

6. Share a common vision.

Salespeople are looking for a bigger reason to show up and work hard every day beyond simply making money. Although a common vision isn’t a prerequisite for success, it keeps reps motivated when times are tough and encourages them to work together.

The mission should be specific and unique. For example, it might be,"Become the most successful team within the company,"或者，“通过X百分比提高保留率。”

If possible, it should be measurable so everyone knows where they stand. You also want a vision that the team is excited about, so consider including them in the planning process.

定期打开您的团队的进步和reference individual contributors. Doing so reinforces the vision and keeps it top-of-mind for your reps. To give you an idea, imagine one of the tenets of your sales vision is,“成为行业思想领袖。”

When one of your reps launches their own podcast, you bring it up in the team meeting by saying,“开始播客的文森特的方式 - 每个人都应该下载它。这将有助于我们的公司认可作为思想领导者。”bob全站app

当另一个重复发布一个收到500多个喜欢的LinkedIn Pulse帖子时，您会在团队Slack Room上放一条线，就像“恭喜朱莉娅（Julia）发表了很棒的LinkedIn文章。

这不仅会使您认识的人感觉良好，而且还会激发其他人效仿。

7.支持正在进行的学习和发展。

Salespeople should always be picking up fresh skills and strategies. Not only does buyer behavior change, but technology enables new tactics and makes old ones obsolete.

Unfortunately, many training programs are:

• 干扰性和一次性：例如为期一周的全天场地。
• 以产品为中心：主要是关于公司的最新产品线或服务。bob全站app
• One size fits all: Generic and not tailored to the industry or niche.

要解决此问题，请进行培训：

• 集成和正在进行：教练应该是销售经理与代表进行每周签到的一部分。他们还应该定期致电评论和损失分析。
• Skills- and product-focused: While product training is important, sales skills usually trump product knowledge. Make sure you’re spending enough time teaching reps how to sell.
• Customized: Whether you hire a training firm or use in-house specialists, the program should be specific to your product, market, and company values.

8. Maintain accountability.

Keeping people accountable is an important aspect of a healthy team. If reps see poor performance go unchecked, quotas will start feeling more like suggested targets than hard ones.

更糟糕的是，如果经理不交流销售人员有可能因失望的结果而被解雇的危险，那么突然的，看似出乎意料的终止将伤害士气，并使团队成员怀疑他们是否是下一个。

To address these trends, clearly define your expectations. Each salesperson should know exactly what they’re supposed to do. That might be a certain number of calls per day, meetings per week, or demos per month, or quota attainment.

拥有客观的标准并确保每个人都知道它们有助于您避免任何令人讨厌的惊喜。

Second, if someone is struggling, don’t wait to see if things will get better. Step in and ask why they’re not performing. Are they feeling demotivated? Are they struggling with a specific part of the sales process? Find out what's going on, and do what you can to address it.

第三，在必要时，将它们制定为绩效改进计划（PIP）。这些概述了代表应该在设定的时间窗口中实现的一组特定的，明确的目标。

有效的PIP诊断了该问题（代表不足），他们将如何解决问题，所需的任何支持或工具以及他们将收到多少时间。

For instance, if they’re only setting four demos per week, and the quota for their role is 12, their actions might be"Call 50 prospects per day. Do one call review per day. Write a new talk track with the manager’s help. Attend a workshop on objection handling."

Support might be:"Meet with manager for call review; get ticket for workshop."

Time frame might be:"Reach 12 demos per week by X date."

Other common accountability pitfalls sales managers fall into include trying too hard to be their reps’ friends, rather than their boss (which makes it harder to get the necessary results and crack down on mediocrity) and never accepting responsibility themselves (which causes their team to ignore them when they try to manage).

如何在初创公司建立销售文化

Building a sales culture from scratch can be exhausting. To help give you some clarity on the process, we reached out to some sales leaders for their take on how to do it right.

Lead with empathy for the customer.

卡里姆·布拉斯（Karim Bouras）, Founder of尼罗河，建议初创公司围绕客户建立销售文化。他说：“专注于客户，并开始建立一种以客户为中心和透明的文化。

“与其花时间在销售甲板上开发推销或追求最新的增长黑客，与您的潜在客户结识并记录您与他们进行的对话，确定最常见的问题，并培训您的第一个销售员工真正地回答所有这些。训练他们表现出同理心和倾听而不是卖出。”

专注于专业。

Fundraise UpChief Experience OfficerSalvatore Salpietrorecommends startups try to thrive via specialization. He says, "Focus on what you do well and only focus on that.

“您应该在一个英寸宽的问题上走一英里。世界缺乏“班级”解决方案，但被所有行业的'杰克淹没了。市场上的其他解决方案。”

Set an example, and sell the dream.

Rakefet Yacoby来自, CMO atMayple，告诉初创公司的创始人和领导力，“一切始于您作为领导者的个人榜样。个人对您的所有期望都很好，并给您的团队成员，如果他们不这样做。”

她还建议您以愿景为准，并鼓励团队从品牌身份获得购买。通过她的帐户，“您的团队成员将不得不整天出售您的品牌。他们不会在没有激情的情况下做正确的事。继续向他们表现出您的品牌。当他们与您做梦时，客户会购买。”

通过认可和开bob全站app放来建立公司范围的尊敬。

销售负责人Nathan Niebergall强调建立全公司自尊心的重要性。bob全站app他说：“专注于认识人。您的团队想努力工作并有所作为 - 因此，请承认他们正在做的辛勤工作和美好的事情。

"Do this relentlessly. Be as transparent as possible with company and team numbers. Everyone likes to know how the new company is doing and how they are contributing to the success."

玩得开心 - 不要只是工作。

Niebergallalso recommends that startup leadership prioritizes some degree of fun within a sales culture. He says, "Find ways here and there to engage with your team that don't have to do with work. That can be as simple as a quick stroll outside to grab a drink and talk."

Foster continual learning and development.

According to贾罗德·格兰特（Jarrod Glandt）, President atCardone Enterprises, encouraging ongoing professional development is essential to building a successful sales culture.

He says of his personal experience, “No matter how long you've been [at my company], we require everybody to train the same way. It's about 45 minutes a day of training in the office — plus probably 20 minutes that they're required to do on their own with our online programs. We want them to be masters of the product.”

如何随着品牌的增长来扩展销售文化

建立销售文化是一回事 - 确保您随着业务的增长来维持这些价值观是另一回事。以下是有关如何正确执行的一些提示。

Have leadership set the tone.

扩展销售文化始于公司领导的承诺。bob全站app您的业​​务高管和高层管理人员需要承诺并投射定义组织销售文化的价值。品牌的文化来自顶部，随着业务的增长，您不能忽视这一前提。

Communicate.

如果您想随着品牌的扩展，您想成功扩展销售文化，则需要在整个组织中保持清晰且易于访问。确保您的员工可以轻松地相互联系，以创建和维持一种凝聚力，交流的文化，以遵守您尝试体现的价值观。

Investing in company-wide communication resources like Slack, encouraging camaraderie between employees outside the context of the workplace, and having managers routinely meet with their direct reports are all ways to help this cause.

Maintain a base of accessible, company-specific content.

随着成长的发展，您可以扩展销售文化的能力，这在很大程度上取决于您将价值和品牌标识传达给组织成员的能力。

到达那里的一种方法是保留集中的公司特定内容基础。bob全站app像公司Wiki这样的资源可以为您提供bob全站app一个论坛，以收集和展示客户推荐，任务陈述，示例性员工的故事，公司历史记录和其他有价值的参考点，以增强您的销售文化。

Building and maintaining a strong sales culture isn’t easy, but it can have a tremendous impact on your employee satisfaction and bottom line. You’ll be able to recruit and train great reps, get your desired results, and make everyone on the team happy to work for your company.