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Managing sales forces is a challenge for most companies, and retail brands are no exception. And with good reason: sector managers are often promoted to sales or regional directors on the basis of their results, without receiving any managerial support. Yet there's a big difference between selling and getting people to sell!
A shame, because as a DC or DRV, it's you who are responsible for motivating your area managers! As a result, you sometimes find yourself at a loss when faced with salespeople lacking energy.
That's why Sidely has compiled a list of best practices that will turn your area managers into sales machines!
Spoiler alert: you must embody motivation 🥇
It's a golden rule: a manager who scrupulously follows the rules will be more easily respected and naturally followed. On the other hand, banish the "do as I say, not as I do" type of management. No one is above the law, and leaders must embody the rules that underpin the way we live together in the company.
But exemplarity is also the energy you instill in your salespeople. By instilling your salespeople with your values of positivity, integrity, respect and collaboration, you share a climate of trust and commitment. Energy that's all the more important when you consider the levels of pressure to which field salespeople can be subjected during sales operations!
Remuneration is the most important factor in motivating employees. For field sales staff, a well thought-out system of variable bonuses makes it possible both to seek out optimum performance and to reward the efforts of the most deserving.
And if your company's financial resources are limited, variable pay is also a good financial strategy, allowing you to pay by results. In fact, it's common practice to establish tiers to encourage outperformance by sector managers.
Exceptional rewards can also be added to challenges decided during the year, for example when the aim is to sell pirate operations to as many stores as possible.
Coaching is another powerful motivator for field salespeople. While many managers are aware of the importance of meeting juniors to teach them how to sell, many don't think of doing so when their area managers are in difficulty. Testing is not always the best way to boost motivation, and salespeople sometimes need support on the battlefield!
It's also a way for you to reconnect with the field, assess the evolution of distribution policies of brands and sales outlets, and become aware of the day-to-day life of your traveling sales force.
Lastly, your experience may lead you to make different analyses when it comes to implementing action plans, merchandising or product layout on shelves. Department managers may have a slightly different attitude to you as a seasoned salesperson. In short, there are plenty of opportunities to inspire your sales staff and show them your commitment to their performance.
What's more, as you know from experience, salespeople don't become seniors overnight. For a stable and successful rise in competence, proceed in gradual, controlled stages:
In this way, you make sales people feel that they are supported and monitored by their superiors. This support allows them to see that they can count on you to help them progress. Once you've reached senior level, learn to let go and give Area Managers healthy autonomy so that they feel responsible for their assignments. Involve them in decision-making related to their sector to reinforce their sense of belonging and usefulness.
And for all the things you don't know how to pass on, invest in external training to enable sector managers to develop the skills they need to sell.
To identify the sources of motivation or de-motivation for each individual, it's essential to know your employees well. After all, not everyone is sensitive to the same rewards, which go far beyond mere remuneration.
Setting up local coaching means you can communicate with every member of the team, so you can boost them as soon as they have a slump, and never let demotivation set in. In this way, your sales staff will feel considered and supported by their superiors.
Yes, the lack of recognition is a real scourge for your sales force's motivation! It's up to you to be aware that actions which may seem insignificant to you actually make a big difference: greeting each of your colleagues when you arrive at the office, checking up on them, and above all, noticing when something isn't going right.
So you need to remedy the feeling of non-recognition. Sending encouraging e-mails or congratulating your colleagues on their successes are meaningful gestures. You can also set up a monthly or quarterly ritual to celebrate individual or collective successes.
Finally, remain accessible, so as to facilitate communication and let energy and good ideas flow. Accept constructive feedback, and encourage innovative ideas from area managers.
An ill-defined, unattainable or too distant objective can work against sales motivation. To avoid this painful trap, work on your objectives using the SMART method (Specific / Measurable / Achievable / Realistic / Time-defined).
In addition - and few managers are aware of this - it is entirely possible to include your salespeople in the setting of objectives; this is a tried and tested technique within the framework of a return-to-performance plan, and consists of asking the salesperson to define his or her own objectives for the next three months, in a gradual manner. Although counter-intuitive, this method has the immense advantage of encouraging salespeople to take hold of the objectives they have set themselves, and to fight to achieve them. When they fail to do so, they will more often than not be able to draw the necessary conclusions on their own.
Another unavoidable subject in network sales is sales sectorization. Each area manager inherits a portfolio, which can be defined by a geographical area, a list of accounts, a brand name, etc. This allocation can seem random or unfair to sales reps, who don't have all the data to justify your assignment decisions. But this allocation can seem random or unfair to sales reps, who don't have all the data to justify your allocation decisions.
To understand the impact of these allocation decisions, keep in mind that the allocation of a territory reflects the level of competence, trust or merit you give to the sales rep. That's why it's not enough to find the right distribution of prospect and customer accounts; you also need to convince your area managers of the relevance of the choices you've made.
Never forget: the most important principle of management is fairness!
For many brands in the retail sector, sales staff spend most of their time on the road. Inevitable in this sector, this practice limits social interaction between colleagues and complicates the mobilization of individuals around common objectives. That's why it's important to organize team events, motivation seminars and team-building activities.
Don't fall into the trap of systematically rewarding collective sales performance. And think of the opposite mechanism: it's by creating moments of exchange that you can energize the desire to succeed collectively and pursue the objectives set by sales management.
Sometimes, the multiplication of tedious and time-consuming tasks undermines team motivation. Most area managers say they feel they spend too much time on non-sales tasks: too much time in the car, on their planning, on the shelf taking their shelf readings (often on loose sheets or unsuitable mobile applications). Not to mention CRMs that still require synchronization, or a connection, which prevents them from writing their reports during the appointment. What salesperson wants to stop at a freeway service area to enter his or her meeting minutes?
In short, you want the best from your area managers? Start by rising to the occasion, and equip them with a CRM designed for supermarket sales.
And finally, keep this in mind: employees stay for managers, not for companies!
