🚀 Commercial Team Management: Avoid Classic Pitfalls for Enhanced Performance 🚀
By Jean-Charles Spanelis – November 27, 2023
As commercial managers, we often face unique challenges in managing our teams. But, are we sometimes guilty of repeating the same mistakes, thus limiting our teams’ potential?
🔍 In-Depth Analysis of Challenges in Commercial Team Management
Managing a commercial team goes beyond simple sales supervision. It involves a deep understanding of individual and collective dynamics, as well as the ability to navigate in an ever-changing commercial environment.
Understanding Inherent Complexities
- Profile Diversity: Each team member brings a unique set of skills, experiences, and motivations. Understanding and valuing this diversity is essential for creating synergy within the team.
- Market Evolution: Markets are never static. They are constantly evolving, influenced by technological trends, consumer preferences, and economic conditions. A commercial team must be agile and adaptable to remain competitive.
Conducting an Operational Commercial Strategy Audit
- Auditing and evaluating to align Sales and Marketing Teams and drafting a diagnostic report and establishing commercial priorities
- Audit of current practices: analysis of written documents, website, buyer persona, social networks, communication techniques during calls and meetings. Refocus and generate qualified leads: sell today as in 2023, not as in 1998!
- Evaluation of responsiveness and actions taken in case of non-response post-initial contact over a two-week period.
- In-depth review of presentation materials and product or service demonstrations
- Organizing, reorganizing, or even restructuring the commercial department to save significant budgets and precious time for your internal teams
- A simple organizational study of your commercial and marketing department (via interviews and immediate analysis & recommendations) can save you tens of thousands of euros in a few weeks and avoid unnecessary recruitments. Often, this study will allow you to understand the options available to you between recruitment, outsourcing, and/or training.
- Team Alignment: At Finelis Coaching, before launching a project via a kick-off meeting, it is common for us to participate in numerous meetings with the Sales & Marketing departments, as well as with the Finance and Operations activities to ensure the alignment of operational teams with the Management. What action(s) to align Sales & Marketing?
Lengthening of sales cycles and team seniority: In 2023, the sales cycles of commercial outsourcing projects (execution and/or consulting) have lengthened (8 weeks on average compared to 6 weeks in 2021) and we systematically involve C-level executives in the kick-offs and sectoral Account Managers (or Customer Success Managers) whose role is essential. This is necessary to guarantee the alignment of the teams and therefore the success of a project. Often the cost of an outsourcing project has already been amortized or reimbursed on the day of the kick-off due to the savings made (see previous point of the organizational study).
Evaluating Operational Prospecting and Continuous Training
Strategy and Lead Optimization:
- Immediate action recommendations for optimized lead management and ensuring quality B2B commercial prospecting.
- Division of leads into strategic groups with specific action plans.
- Interactive audit with clients and prospects to gather insights and benefit from external perspectives.
Training and Skills Development
- Personalized training & coaching sessions in prospecting and sales, integrating tools, processes, and methods: How does Coaching work?
- Focus on main channels: emailing, phone calls, and LinkedIn. For more information on multichannel, we recommend this article (Multichannel, dream or reality)
- Regular follow-up of knowledge handover to ensure the effectiveness of sales practices.
Navigating a Competitive Landscape
- Sales Objectives Pressure: Sales objectives can create intense pressure. Managing this pressure while maintaining a healthy work environment is a delicate balance.
- Innovation and Creativity: In a world where competition is fierce, encouraging innovation and creativity within the team is crucial to stand out.
Building a Performance Culture
- Inspirational Leadership: An effective leader does not just lead; he inspires and motivates. Adopting a leadership style that fosters engagement and passion is fundamental.
- Talent Development: Investing in talent development is not only beneficial for individuals but also for the entire team and the company.
As the leader of Finelis Coaching, I have repeatedly seen the positive impact of thoughtful and strategic commercial team management. Let’s share our experiences and learn together to meet these challenges for optimized commercial performance.
🚫 Avoiding Common Pitfalls in Commercial Team Management
Effective management of a commercial team requires constant vigilance to avoid certain common mistakes that can seriously impact the performance and morale of the team.
Lack of Continuous Training
- Permanent Skills Evolution: Training does not stop after onboarding. Continuous development is crucial to adapt to changing market trends and new technologies.
Change management & Resilience
- Change is the first concept that every commercial strategist learns! Change is part of the normality of every sales cycle and knowing how to approach it will already place you in the leading pack of commercial forces. Entrepreneurs, do not fear change, do not be prisoners of your habits and beliefs!
- Adaptability and Resilience: Regular training programs help teams stay resilient in the face of challenges and quickly adapt to new marketing web situations.
Ineffective Communication
- Clarity and Transparency: Clear and transparent communication is essential to align objectives and expectations. Misunderstandings can lead to a decrease in motivation and performance.
- Precision and written communication : “The devil is in the details” means that nothing should be left to chance. At Finelis Coaching, even though we are also very specialized after nearly 15 years of working mainly for a clientele of innovative software publishers that make our (Finelis’ DNA), we fight against all these acronyms that complicate final messages for clients and end-users.
Let’s take a concrete example to explain clear and transparent communication: a “qualified lead”: We recommend the following process to avoid any misunderstanding between 2 parties on a “qualified lead”:
- Write the definition and share it between the 2 parties
- Discuss it orally to ensure good understanding. Indeed, a Marketing team may have a different definition than a Sales team (SQL or Sales Qualified Lead for a Sales team, MQL or Marketing Qualified Lead for a Marketing team)
- Write a short report following the verbal discussion and share it between the 2 parties.
- Request written validation.
Let’s take a concrete example of the sales cycle: your client has defined several phases of the sales cycle and determined that one phase corresponds to MQLs and another phase corresponds to SQLs. We recommend describing for each phase of the sales cycle (6 steps):
- The phase: Connect, MQL, SQL, Evaluation, Selection, Negotiation, Contract, Client.
- The Responsible for each phase (or the “Owner”): Marketing, Sales Manager (SDR or BDR), Account Executive, Business Consultant & Account Executive, etc.
- The activities concerned: PR, Social, Search, Campaigns, Qualification form, Demo performed, Commercial proposal sent, etc.
- The criteria for moving from one phase to another: downloading a white paper on the website. BANT commercial criteria (or other methodology such as SCOTSMAN, MEDDIC) OK, The client has selected us among their 3 preferred suppliers to carry out the workshop or “Proof of concept”, the client has accepted the proposal, etc.
- The abandonment criteria per phase: no interest, no fit product/market, Not accepted, No decision, etc.
- The key data per phase: name, email, company, country, source of the opportunity, knowledge of competitors, etc.
Constructive Feedback:
- Encouraging an environment where feedback is given and received constructively strengthens the trust and efficiency of the team. During our sales force outsourcing projects and our Coaching and commercial team training sessions, the experts at Finelis Coaching provide 360° feedback covering both technical and interpersonal skills.
- Finally, we offer an external opinion returned to the manager and the salesperson trained by us, focused on practice rather than product. The advantages of outsourced commercial management (Interim Management, Transition Management or Business Development as a Service) are numerous.
Lack of Recognition
- Valuing Successes: Recognition and rewards are motivation drivers. Ignoring the team’s successes is a missed opportunity to encourage excellence and loyalty.
- Innovative Reward Programs: Well-thought-out and personalized reward systems can greatly improve employee engagement and satisfaction.
Rigid Top-Down Management
- Flexibility and Autonomy: A too directive approach can stifle creativity and initiative. Encouraging autonomy and decision-making within the team fosters innovation.
- Participative Leadership: Adopting a leadership style that values each team member’s contributions and encourages collaboration can transform the team’s dynamics and improve results.
At Finelis Coaching, we understand the importance of avoiding these pitfalls to build strong and resilient commercial teams. Share your experiences and let’s discover together how to overcome these challenges.
✅ Key Strategies to Maximize a Commercial Team's Performance
To build a highly performant commercial team, it is essential to adopt management practices that not only strengthen skills but also motivate and value each team member.
- Personalized Motivation
- Understanding Individual Needs: Each team member has unique motivation drivers. Understanding these individual factors allows for more effective and personal motivation.
- Individualized Career Plans: Offering growth and development opportunities tailored to each member’s personal aspirations strengthens their commitment and loyalty.
Continuous Training and Development
- Investment in Learning: Regular training programs are essential to keep skills up-to-date and prepare the team for market evolutions.
- Blended Learning: Using a combination of online training, in-person workshops, and mentoring to cater to different learning styles within the team.
Open Communication
- Feedback Culture: Encouraging an environment where feedback is welcome and valued promotes continuous improvement and proactive problem-solving.
- Regular Meetings and Check-ins: Regular team meetings and individual check-ins help maintain alignment and strengthen team cohesion.
Recognition and Rewards
- Impactful Recognition System: Implementing a recognition system that values significant contributions and celebrates successes, big and small.
- Personalized Rewards: Offering rewards that are meaningful to individuals, whether it be bonuses, promotions, additional training, or public recognition.
At Finelis Coaching, we apply these best practices to transform commercial teams into performant and motivated units. Let’s share our experiences and successes to inspire and elevate our teams to new heights of performance.
At Finelis Coaching, we firmly believe that the key to a performant commercial team lies in balanced management, continuous training, and motivation tailored to each individual.
Conclusion: Towards Optimal Commercial Team Management
In summary, managing a performant commercial team is an art that requires a delicate balance between leadership, understanding team dynamics, continuous training, and recognition.
The challenges are numerous, but with the right practices, it is possible to transform these challenges into opportunities for increased growth and performance.
Sales outsourcing itself can represent an opportunity for European and non-European SMEs looking to sell their products in Europe.
At Finelis Coaching, we are passionate about guiding commercial teams towards excellence. We firmly believe that each team has unique potential, and our mission is to help you unlock it. Whether through personalized motivation strategies, innovative training programs, effective communication, or impactful recognition systems, we are here to guide you at every step.
We also have some surprises in store for your internal teams (which can be overloaded and subject to minimum staff constraints during the year) with a Sales Mentor as a Service that will meet all the needs (we have listed 22 needs in total!) that we have consolidated in more than 15 years of experience since the company’s creation. Among others and within these 22 needs, to name just 4:
- adoption and use of CRM,
- personalization of the commercial approach: you could combine web design, digital marketing, and generation of good quality leads.
- commercial pipeline management (do you know the “blue sheet” and all the methodology behind it?)
- evaluation of commercial maturity
Take the Next Step Towards Your Team's Success
Would you like to explore how these strategies can be adapted and implemented within your commercial team?
Our field expertise will allow you to value practical know-how in the sales strategies deployed. And remember: Having a CRM is good. Knowing how to evaluate the quality of the relationship with your potentially convertible prospects into customers is better (debates of our experts in video here).
We invite you to make an appointment with us for a personalized coaching session with our experts. Together, we can analyze the specifics of your team, identify areas for improvement, and develop a tailor-made action plan to boost the performance and morale of your team.
👉 Make an Appointment Now for a free consultation and discover how we can transform your commercial team into a dynamic and performant sales force.
At Finelis Coaching, your success is our passion. Join us on this journey towards commercial excellence!