It’s not uncommon for a sales team to struggle. It happens to the best of us. In fact, even the best teams have trouble living up to their reputations. Taking a look at recent results in the NBA Playoffs will tell you that. When it comes to your sales team, however, it’s important for you to be able to find ways to inspire its members when they are at their lowest. When members of your team haven’t performed particularly well, your feedback can do a lot to turn things around.
Here are six of the best ways to provide feedback to your team:
1. Offer private feedback sessions. It’s important to remember that everyone has feelings. And when particular team members are struggling, it’s wise to speak with them privately so as not to put them on the spot or embarrass them in front of their co-workers. Offer kind and encouraging words in the privacy of your office and let your team members know that you are there to help them improve upon their performances. They will appreciate your respect for their privacy.
2. Be upbeat. Even when your employees are performing at their worst, negative feedback shouldn’t be delivered too harshly. Making your team members feel even worse about their struggling performances is counterproductive. Do your best to avoid making statements that sound like threats to the safety of their employment. Use an upbeat tone to communicate that you’re willing to help them improve for their sake as well as for the company.
3. Be honest. Okay, we’re going to be honest with you – stop beating around the bush! Some supervisors and managers are scared to hurt the feelings of their staff members – and that’s a good thing. It’s great to be sensitive to people’s personalities. However, it is important to be direct and to-the-point when offering feedback. Saying “you did a good job” when the rep did not won’t help to foster improvement. Be clear about what improvements you wish to see.
4. Be specific about what you expect. It’s not enough to say, “you need to improve” or “you need to bring your sales up”. Look at the areas where your reps are struggling and be specific about the changes they can make to their approaches to doing their jobs. Are they adequately answering customer questions? Are they properly resolving customer complaints? Be specific about the various ways your reps can improve their individual performances.
5. Don’t take forever to offer your feedback. Immediacy is necessary in all businesses when it comes to feedback. You don’t want to procrastinate and hope that certain problems will just work themselves out. That only encourages problems to continue. To nip certain issues in the bud, you’ll have to address them right away. Pull a rep off the phone right after a call and go through it with him/her. It will improve the very next call he/she takes!
6. Utilize modern technology. In 2016, feedback can be given with greater ease than ever before! MeloTel’s Monitor/Whisper Control Panel allows call centre managers to listen in to the phone calls their reps are taking live and as they happen. It also allows them to subtly drop in to the phone calls and coach their agents without the other parties hearing them. It’s a revolutionary tool for monitoring employee performance and offering feedback.
For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-888-MELOTEL or use the “Live Chat Support” feature on our website!
