Inside Sales Lead Management Featured Article

It’s summer and much like our kids, we want to take some time off. Before that scheduled vacation time arrives, we tend to want to move at a slower pace. Meetings can get pretty brutal if everyone in attendance is feeling the same pull, especially on your sales team. If you’re responsible for inside sales lead management, how do you get your reps excited during the summer months?

For many, that boost of inspiration comes from the mid-year meeting where you gather your inside sales lead management professionals and talk about your losses and wins up until that point and your strategy for hitting your year out of the park. The reality is, if you haven’t hit your first two quarter numbers, you’re not likely going to make it up in the second two.

Still, you want to make that summer meeting count for something, deliver some level of value to your organization. If you’re ready to shake it up a bit, let’s take a look at a list recently posted by Deidre Moore in a Business2Community blog. She’s compiled a few secrets that may help you take that meeting to the next level and either continue the momentum of a strong year or help your team make up for lost time.

Be clear on goals – it’s not enough to invite your sales team to a meeting and then talk about the challenges you’ve faced and where you would like to go. Instead, do your homework ahead of time and know the challenges and opportunities at your doorstep. Then be clear on what you want to communicate and how activity will be measured.

Celebrate the new, while holding on to the basics – this is the opportune time to talk about what’s up and coming, but it isn’t an opportunity to forget about the basics that really drive results. You have your bread and butter that help you secure that healthy profit margin. Don’t let the excitement of the latest and greatest get in the way of the tried and true.

Your team has a short memory – they will forget the things you talked about in your meeting, even if you put them into high production. The point is consistency after the meeting, hitting on expectations, measuring performance and making adjustments. This includes implementing the right training and coaching where it’s needed, so make that a priority as well.

Recognize and reward – even if it’s a tough year, you still need to acknowledge where some of your team members are really setting themselves apart in terms of performance. While you may need to hit on areas that need improvement, no individual involved with inside sales lead management wants to spend the entire meeting getting beat down for hard work, even if they are falling short.

If you’re planning a summer meeting to boost the spirits of your sales team to drive performance, take these tips to heart. Your people are your best assets – it’s your job to motivate and teach so they perform according to expectations.