Inconsistent sales performance is often a cultural problem where process is not respected. To create consistency, mandate that the sales script is followed verbatim. The process must always be valued above the individual player, with no exceptions for top performers.
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Your best reps are often "unconsciously competent" and can't explain their own success. Before an SKO, leaders must help these individuals deconstruct their process and build a prescriptive presentation, translating their individual "art" into a replicable science for the entire sales team.
Reps who struggle with sounding robotic on scripts should not discard them entirely. Instead, they should internalize the core message and structure as a 'foundation.' The key is to then adapt the specific language to one's own natural personality and conversational style, making it authentic rather than memorized.
A sales process isn't a static path; it's a dynamic environment. Just as oil patterns on a bowling lane change, so do market conditions and buyer priorities. Top performers don't blame the "lane" when deals stall. Instead, they read the changes and adjust their messaging and timing within their established process.
Prioritize and reward consistent performance over occasional blowout quarters. Sustained execution, driven by strong foundational activities, is more valuable and reliable than volatile results with huge swings from quarter to quarter.
To maximize impact, every employee—from CEO to janitor—must be able to articulate the company's core message using the same, memorized soundbites. This internal alignment turns the entire organization into a unified sales force and amplifies the message externally through consistency.
When you feel like you're trying to convince or 'push' a prospect during a sales call, treat it as a critical signal. This feeling indicates a flaw in your process—either you're targeting the wrong people or misinterpreting their demand. Use this to diagnose and fix the root cause.
Instead of scrapping your entire sales script after a bad call, make one small tweak. Test that change over a significant number of conversations (e.g., 10) to validate its effectiveness with data before making further adjustments. This prevents overreacting to single failures.
A well-designed management operating rhythm for forecasting and QBRs isn't seen as punitive by top sales teams. Much like an athlete's game-day routine, this structure provides a predictable framework that enables peak performance. Its absence creates chaos, while its presence is a hallmark of a championship-level team.
In many sales organizations, the performance bar is surprisingly low. Reps can stand out and become top performers simply by consistently showing up and executing the minimum required activities, as many of their peers fail to do even that.
When successful reps get bored and start changing their effective talk tracks, their performance can dip. To coach them, anchor the conversation in data from their peak. Review past call recordings and metrics to show them precisely how their messaging has deviated and guide them back to their proven strategy.