How Lessonly Is Managing Sales Teams *Right Now*

Ambition’s COO and co-founder Brian Trautschold along with Bryan Naas, Director of Sales Enablement at Lessonly joined me on a quick zoom call so that I could ask some questions about managing a remote sales force. Everything from hardware, software, new talk tracks, and coaching methodology was covered.  The whole conversation was full of insight and value, but here are the bite-sized takeaways if you’re in a rush! 

The sales enablement focus *right now* 

1. Build sales rep confidence through deploying specific messaging, training, and team information sharing about what is working and what isn’t. Communication and training for how to sell or shift focus to education in this climate is building confidence.

2. For people who aren’t able to sell full time right now, focus on skill development. Training courses, reviewing old calls, and focusing on their skills and skill matrix keeps them from just “sitting on the vine.” 

3. Control the controllable. Focus on the micro metrics of connects and conversations. Stay in front of your deals and support them from a relationship standpoint. What resources do they need? And try to remember that some buyers may still be struggling with getting hardware setup at home. Someone taking longer to respond doesn’t necessarily mean the deal is dead. 

Coaching reps in a tough climate… while remote

1. There is a lot of personal uncertainty. People are trying to focus on their work, but they may be scared, they may have family members losing jobs, and they may be trying to adjust to working with kids at home. This has to be acknowledged and we should be checking in with temperature checks and emotional check-ins outside of numbers reviews.

2. Don’t let this “new normal” derail coaching frameworks. Performance coaching, skill coaching, call coaching have their place now more than ever. If leads or meetings have slowed, our reps have more time to hone their skills, and managers can support reps through conversion or efficiency metrics to ensure they are making more of the fewer leads they do have. Let’s help reps practice new talk tracks, messaging, and pitches with regularly scheduled coaching sessions. 

Supporting your reps without micromanaging

1. It can be tough to shift to managing remote and strike a balance between supporting your reps to help them be successful without micromanaging. Relying on data push notifications lets you see who is ahead and who is behind so you can step in and coach someone struggling while giving space but publicly recognizing reps who are finding wins.

2. Ask your reps what they need from you. If you come out and ask how to better support your reps, they can explicitly share what they need from you and you can rest assured that you are delivering what they need. 

3. Peer coaching or group practice sessions let your reps lead the question asking and information sharing so they can learn from each other. They will likely take the advice of a peer who has boots on the ground out there and is finding wins. This is more scalable for managers and removes the perception of micromanagement. 

Check out the full recording with Lessonly here:

See more of Brian and Bryan on this recent Webinar "Navigating The Sales Process When Nothing Is Certain"