Organisational Culture – Sales
Pete Crosby – CEO Pete Crosby Revenue, NED Kluster; Coach at Sales Impact Academy
Following the excellent presentation from Pete Crosby when CRO at Ometria, we need to think about sales culture.
The sales culture of an organisation has an incredible impact upon a number of issues and can be a major contributor to levels of stress, mental wellbeing and absenteeism within the workforce. It is, therefore, essential you get the right leaders in place in your sales department.
Your Brand
Brand reputation is important in terms of the customer’s perception of the organisation and also employer brand. Who wants to work with an organisation that has a reputation for failing to deliver the sales promise? What is that sales promise and what levers does your sales team use to close the sale?
Companies with a reputation for pressure selling and failing to deliver the sales promise (part of that ever-so-critical Value Proposition), have an ever-decreasing potential client base and negligible repeat business. A recipe for eventual failure.
Pressure selling rarely starts with the salesperson. It begins with the setting of unrealistic targets and pressure from the sales management to achieve them. That internal pressure is transferred to interaction with the potential client base and results in disaster.
Pressure Selling and Employee Wellbeing
It is well-known that too much pressure upon sales staff results in poor mental wellbeing, long hours culture and high absenteeism, but what about the effect upon other areas of the company? Accounts and the credit control function are badly impacted by pressure upon the sales team. Customers are over-promised. Hard-closing sales techniques result in clients cancelling orders. This often ends up with the sales function arguing with credit control to save the deal and get the invoice paid. The credit control cash collector is then put in the difficult position of being a sales negotiator but, this time, with a client filled with much greater doubt. The credit controller will also be under pressure from sales to save the order. This creates great stress and ill-health. I have witnessed this.
Staff within the organisation who are customer-facing. but not salespeople, are often the first port of call with complaints. Again this leads to poor mental health, lack of faith in the company and increasing levels of absenteeism and attrition. The greater the number of complaints, the more employee wellbeing is impacted.
The Wellbeing of Sales Staff
It is well-known that sales positions carry pressure. They are target driven, often to the week. A salesperson who does not sell is…redundant. However, a balance must be achieved. Salespeople are people and although they tend to be resilient, they also need to be looked after. Targets need to be realistic. A salesperson who is unable to achieve a target will lose motivation, worry, and work hours that are too long. It is a recipe for ill-health and higher staff turnover (attrition). Training and support must be constant and sales materials have to be prepared well in order to support the sales process.
If sales are slow, then the reasons for this must be analysed and dealt with via good management. There is little point in shouting at sales staff for not achieving targets when obvious external influences have had an adverse effect upon sales. The pandemic is an excellent example of this. I am aware of true reports of the most appalling treatment of sales staff who were not furloughed during this period.
Although terrified of Covid-19, due to being in a high-risk group, a telephone salesperson forced to work from the office because their sales were slow one week. This is despite the fact most of her potential customers were not working or working from home.
A salesperson who worked from home quite effectively, not being allowed to do so when the office opened again, despite the having a child who could not attend school due to ill-health.
After long-term absence with poor mental health, a salesperson given increased targets ‘to make up for their time off.’
These cases are real and are far from isolated. The video from Pete Crosby displays the way sales managers should think and act. Ensure yours does.
