5 Keys to Leading Sales During Uncertain Times

In 2020, the economy was rolling along until the pandemic brought the entire world to a halt. Demand quickly plummeted as people were quarantined at home and many workplaces rapidly transitioned to remote work. Now, as things seem to be returning to “normal”, many industries have seen their sales numbers recover.

I am no economist, but it seems that some of the recent problems – worker shortage, supply issues, etc.- just took longer to reveal themselves and the recent interest rate hikes are an attempt to correct things.

One of the many lessons we can learn from the last two years is that your business will face both good and bad times. You’ll celebrate record growth and stare down stunning losses. At the end of the day, week, month, or quarter…

Your job is to weather the storm and lead in uncertain times.

To help you build a resilient sales organization, I’ve outlined 5 key areas where you need to be on solid ground. The concepts discussed below are covered in greater detail in prior blogs but the summaries here will allow you to critically assess if you are well-positioned to succeed in uncertain times.

Do I have the Right People in Place?

Leadership – Are your leaders holding their direct reports accountable to their sales targets and the leading indicator activities that assure productivity is on course? Do they own the team’s success and work to find solutions? Make sure you have someone in place who knows how to get the most out of their people through coaching and development.

Sales Team – Are your salespeople hitting their goals consistently? Do they generate enough revenue and efficiently move prospects through your defined sales process? We all have bad streaks, but if your team is putting in the right activities, sales pipelines should reflect progress that gives you confidence the deals will follow. Sticking to the fundamentals of the sales process and continually working on deal positioning are essential. If your people aren’t doing that, then it’s time to assess if they are the right people on your team.

Platform for Success – Do you have your sales organization set up for optimum performance? For your team to succeed, roles and responsibilities need to be clearly outlined, target markets must be defined, your value proposition needs to enable your go-to-market strategy, etc.