Ah, the start of the year.  New Goals, new aspirations, new puppy dog calendar that you got from your Aunt Judy for your birthday!  SKOs are in full swing and salespeople everywhere are getting back into the groove of selling.  So, how do you put your team in the best position to really hit the ground running and nail their Q1 (and beyond) number?

We asked 5 top B2B revenue leaders about how they ensure their sales teams get out of the gate strong in the new calendar year.  Here are their answers:

Keegan Chapman, VP of Sales at Victory Lap

Typically in sales, we are moving so fast that we forget to reflect on last year’s wins prior to catapulting forward. I have seen success when I have had my team take a bit of time to reflect and share on their proudest moments and biggest accomplishments from last year, what actions they took to achieve these things and why these moments or achievements made them feel proud! From there, they are more equipped to set goals for the new year that they actually WANT to accomplish, therefore they are more intrinsically motivated and more likely to reach and exceed them!

Josh Kumin, VP of Sales at ASUG

There are a handful of tactics I’ve always used. Recognize in PUBLIC both the results and individuals of accolade for the prior year. Communicate the new expectations in a clear and concise manner. Utilize conversion ratios to provide the activity roadmap towards success based upon new expectations. Articulate what achieving the new expectation means specifically to each of your team members’ personal motivations. The theme is it all comes down to transparency and communication.

Emily FitzPatrick, Global Director of Revenue Enablement at Culture Amp

Set a coaching cadence with your teams to focus on development and taking their careers to the next level in 2021. As a leader of sales people, it is easy to fall into patterns of running 1:1’s as reporting meetings, telling reps what to do instead of guiding them, and stepping in to save deals and make the close rather than focusing on skill development. If you start the year with a coaching mindset with your team, that sets the expectation that growth will be a theme of the year. Get the time on the calendar for the year now, and start as you mean to go on!

Rick Ramos, Chief Marketing Officer at Healthjoy

Refresh your sales collateral! The beginning of the year is a perfect time to do a Marcom review. Over time, communication points change, features are added and brands evolve. It’s easy to find old sales sheets that are still being used in your organization. If you have a central depository, go through everything (especially if it’s Google Drive) over time; it can get messy without some cleaning. Read everything from the customer’s point of view, throw out or archive old documents, refresh the design, and rewrite everything that needs it. Our sales team always gets excited afterward to use our new materials.

Jim Pattermann, Chief Sales Officer at Contelligent

Don’t accept or allow the holiday hangover. Many reps sit around and wait until SKO to talk about who made club, what comp plans will look like, etc. We set up “business as usual” on our Monday rally and put reps back into top of funnel pipeline building mode. We’re also working on a mid-year “pacers club” to get folks focusing on closing business early.
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