How effective are you when it comes to sales performance management? To be an effective sales manager, you need to do more than just monitor your team’s performance. You need to inspire them to go the extra mile and close deals daily. Here are 7 habits of effective sales managers:

1. They lead by example

How do you contribute to the success of your team? If you want to take your team’s performance up a level, you need to be part of the action. Effective sales managers don’t give orders from behind a desk — they show their team how it’s done.

2. They know how to calculate sales targets

How realistic are your sales targets? Are they achievable? Are they ambitious? Your sales targets need to push your team, but they also need to be within reach. This is a delicate balance and should be the driving force behind your sales performance management.

3. They’re smart about sales performance management

Sales performance management isn’t a box-ticking exercise. When it’s done right, it provides a framework to motivate each member of your team to success. Effective sales managers know this, and dedicate time to getting it right.

4. They’re flexible with their sales team

Each member of your team has something to contribute. Effective sales managers give their team some flexibility in their approach, enabling them to bring their own strengths to the table.

5. They take responsibility for both success and failure

How accountable are you? Effective sales managers know they are ultimately responsible for the results of their team. Not getting the sales you need? Start by looking at your own performance.

6. They use sales commission software

Sales performance management is a time-consuming process. Effective sales managers don’t have time to calculate commission manually each month. Instead, sales commission software is used to automate the task.

7. They create an inspirational working environment

Finally, effective sales managers work hard every day to create a working environment that inspires their team to take action. One that prioritises collaboration, communication and friendly competition.

Which of these habits can you implement today?

Earning sales commission is about understanding objections.

Overcoming objections is still considered key to successful calls and earning sales commission. However, time is often wasted using information or specific techniques in the wrong way. This occurs when the salesperson hasn’t truly understood the situation that the catch-all term ‘objection’ is masking.

The four things prospect objections actually are:

1. A simple question

All this prospect actually requires is a piece of information. But the salesperson misinterprets and turns it into a problem. Here’s a simple example. A customer asks: ‘How much is that xxxx?’ The person simply wants to know, but the salesperson interprets it as a price objection!

2. A doubt

This isn’t the same as a clear reason for not being able to go ahead. Gently question the doubt and an answer can often be found that provides the reassurance the prospect is looking for.

3. A misunderstanding

Here the problem requires you to correct the prospect without annoying them. One great technique to remember is the 3Fs: feel, felt, found. For example, ‘I understand why you feel that way. Others have felt the same. Here’s what they found…’ If appropriate, a specific example can be used. You’ll find a more detailed explanation here.

4. A genuine limitation

If there are areas that your product or service does not cover, or there are other alternatives, the key is to outweigh what can’t be done. You can do that by making what you can do more valuable, or less risky, than the alternative.

How sales commission is truly earned.

The first step is recognising where your prospect’s objection truly lies in the above four possibilities. The second is dealing with it effectively. The third is to move past it towards completing the deal. It’s not unknown for the third stage to be replaced by a question asking if your answer helped – simply encouraging the prospect to stay in that moment!

Just as these tips can help overcome the problems of ‘objections’, Commissionly solves commission payment challenges in many industries. Contact us now to request a demo or start a free trial.

There are more variables at stake in sales than just your company, your products and your prices. Many of these variables are actually essential to success, but vastly unappreciated by most sales teams. Here are the five essentials that will help you close more deals than ever before.

1. Hard work

Hard work is key to success in sales. Not just showing up at work, but being willing to outwork your competition. That means working hard on really understanding the product that you are selling, and working hard at getting to know your clients. If you are prepared to give your work your full focus and attention, you will see results.

2. Study to improve

Statistics suggest that if you read even one sales book, you will have studied more about your line of work than most of your competitors. Furthermore, you can make yourself stand out as an industry expert and trusted advisor by keeping up with current information on prospective clients.

3. Be persistent

Persistence can sometimes be the key to getting your foot in the door with a prospective client. If you are disciplined, varied and sensitive about your approach, over time, a prospective client is likely to give you the opportunity to pitch to them.

4. Communicate (in the right way)

Many people believe that email alone is an effective medium of communication, which is a big mistake. Face-to-face meetings or video conferences are much more powerful mediums of communication, as the prospective client can get a better sense of whether they want to build a business relationship with you.

5. Have the right backing

If you are not in a decision-making position, make sure that you have the backing of someone who can go forward with decisions before lining up the deal with the prospective client. Nothing is more likely to derail a deal than having to stall, while you try to get hold of someone who can actually give the go ahead.

At Commissionly, we’re really proud of our cloud-based commission software, so much so that we’d love you to try before you buy! To book your free, no obligation 14 day trial, contact our friendly team today.

If you offer your employees plenty of sales incentives and introduce commission calculation software to ensure they receive the correct amount of commission for their sales, but still find you are not meeting sales targets, it may be because you are not utilising manager override commission. Let’s take a look at what exactly manager override commission is, in more detail.

What is manager override commission?

As the name suggests, override commission is the percentage of commission a manager receives when employees, in their team or beneath them, make a sale. For example, if a team has three members and each make 10% commission, a manager may make 1% of override commission from their sales.

How can manager override commission improve sales?

You may be wondering how improving just one employee’s commission can improve the sales of an entire team.

Below are some of the ways that manager override commission can improve sales:

• Hands-on motivation – If a manager knows they are going to receive their own commission from their team’s sales, they will be more likely to take a more hands-on approach in motivating their team and ensuring that the team is working as productively as possible.
• Build stronger relationships – For many salespeople, the knowledge that making sales will not only benefit themselves but so too their manager, they are more likely to feel motivated to work harder and to please their manager. Team members seek managerial approval for a number of reasons; they have a close friendship or they hope to be promoted within the team.
• Greater teamwork – If sales commission is split fairly between team members and their manager, this can be done accurately with commission calculation software. It will create a stronger sense of teamwork within a sales team and with their manager, as they are all working towards the same goals.

If you think your company could benefit from commission calculation software, contact Commissionly.io today!

On the ground level, your sales teams are the ones who keep the organisation running by driving sales to generate income. While some managers may argue against sales commissions and incentives, they are actually important in motivating your team to ensure they are doing their best to earn you revenue.

An organisation that has high revenues from sales is able to meet its goals of expansion since its products achieve their intended purposes. In order to achieve high sales, your sales team have to work extra hard since competition in the current digital age is not easy to overcome.

Below are some reasons why compensating your sales team is important in driving your sales.

1. Motivation drives commitment

A sales job is no easy task. If you understand this as a manager, you will appreciate the struggle your sales team goes through to bring in customers. Sales representatives approach a lot of potential customers daily. Out of these interactions, less than half end up making a purchase. In this highly frustrating job, any kind of motivation goes a long way in boosting sales representatives’ morale.

Since different types of people have different things that motivate them, using a sales compensation software will enable you to identify the best incentives to offer your sales team to achieve the best possible results.

2. They help to identify areas with problems

When sales representatives are allocated commissions, based on their sales, they will be more motivated to do their best. When lower revenue is experienced, it becomes the responsibility of managers to look for other factors influencing the decrease, as they can be sure that their sales team have done their best. Such influencers could be due to a lack of proper training, or the need for product improvement and possibly even a need for better deals.

3. Commissions foster friendly competition

In a firm with a sales team, commissions will give the team members competitive incentives and this will foster friendly competition. The friendly competition aids in collaboration as all team members have the mutual objective of making more sales. While at the same time they will be trying to raise their personal sales goals, to lead the pack. The organisation will profit from higher sales due to collaboration and competition.

4. Incentives bear both short and long-term positive outcomes

While incentives motivate the sales team to score more sales in the short run, they also have the long-term effects of creating long-term relationships with clients, helping with contract renewals and also assisting the company to break into new markets. The sales commission software helps achieve the above outcome which helps the organisation to be more profitable in the long-run.

With the above benefits of sales team motivation through commissions, you will be able to create a more energetic team that is guaranteed to give positive results. For the best sales compensation software to assist you in giving your sales team and customer incentives, feel free to browse our website for the best deals and tips.

Most sales managers spend a lot of time thinking about how to set sales goals. This is important, of course — but many don’t consider how their sales process fits into this task. If this sounds like you, here are five reasons you need to work on your sales process:

1. It provides your team with a framework to meet their sales targets

Whilst it’s important to allow your sales team some flexibility, an established framework makes your team more efficient. It gives them repeatable steps to follow — guiding the customer from a prospect to a sale.

2. It quickly integrates new members of staff into the team

A defined sales process minimises the time it takes to get new salespeople on board. They can observe the process in action, and quickly identify how they will fit into the business.

3. It defines how software fits into the equation

Software, like our sales commission software, can improve your sales process. It reduces time spent monitoring, tracking and calculating commission — freeing up more time for your team to focus on revenue-generating tasks. When you have a defined process, it’s easy to identify to see how software can help.

4. It helps identify areas for improvement

Similarly, a defined process helps you identify areas for improvement across the entire team. Are there any sticking points? Where are most prospects leaving the process? How can you tighten it up even further? All of this will help you learn how to set sales goals that actually get results.

5. It uses a proven approach to generate more sales

When you consider how to set sales goals, do you think about how your team will achieve them? A defined sales process gives your staff a proven approach to follow. This increases the likelihood they will hit their targets, giving you scope to improve them year-on-year to focus on what matters — increasing profits.