Tips to Manage a Successful Sales Team

Want to boost your business? It's time to set your salespeople free.
As economic times become more uncertain, companies are increasingly seeking to boost their sales operations to try to capture more market share. But properly running a successful sales department requires a special touch and technique.
Great salespeople also tend to be into solving problems and driving for results. They're positive in their attitude, powerful and authoritative.
The traits that make them so great at sales also can lead to traits that present difficulties for managers. They can be impulsive, demanding and unrealistic in their expectations. They may lack attention to detail and are often disorganized.
If you are more methodical, analytical or process oriented, you may get easily frustrated running a sales department. But those who are good at running a sales department learn how to manage around these issues.
There are certain styles of management that I've often found are a good fit for sales departments. Here are four tips for managing successful sales pros.

• Avoid rulemaking. Great salespeople generally want freedom. They want autonomy. Compliance doesn't work for these people. The better you're able to remove the obstacles and set them up to produce those results, the more successful they will be -- and you will be. Don't ever tell them what they can't do, because they will simply focus their creativity on finding ways to overcome your rules.
   
• Become a coach. That means asking, not telling your high performers what to do. Ask them to put themselves in your shoes over a particular issue, and discuss a variety of possible options. Let them own the solution to whatever obstacle is at hand.
   
• Let them do what they do best. In order to motivate and lead salespeople effectively, you want to think about what's important to them and what drives them. If you have employees who are not great at details and writing proposals but they're great at selling, then let them sell. Find someone else to compensate in some way to support them on the detail.
   
• Give them pats on the back. You need to recognize them. Especially with top-performing salespeople, money isn't often the main driver. It's really about being respected. It's achieving and getting those results.

If you adapt your management style to meet their needs, and understand the behaviors needed to do it, you'll have a lot fewer headaches. And your salespeople will thrive.

Stop Procrastinating - NOW!

It seems that no one is immune to the tendency to procrastinate. When someone asked Ernest Hemingway how to write a novel, his response was "First you defrost the refrigerator." But putting off tasks takes a big hit on our productivity, and psyche. Procrastination is not inevitable. Figuring out why you postpone work and then taking concrete steps to prevent it will help you get more done and feel good about yourself.

What the Experts Say
According to Ned Hallowell, a psychiatrist and the author of 12 books, including Driven to Distraction, delaying work is often a symptom of how busy you are. "We procrastinate because we all have too much to do," he says. And of course, we want to dodge things we don't like. "Many people procrastinate because they fear the drudgery or the difficulty of the task they are avoiding," says Teresa Amabile, the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and coauthor of The Progress Principle. But, as you have likely learned, it doesn't pay to dawdle. "Putting it off doesn't make it go away. Getting it done does," says Hallowell. Here are five principles to follow next time you find yourself deferring important work.

1. Figure out what's holding you back
When you find yourself ignoring or delaying a task, ask yourself why. Hallowell points out that there are two types of tasks most often deferred:

• Something you don't like to do. This is the most common one. As Hallowell says, "You don't put off eating your favorite dessert."
• Something you don't know how to do. When you lack the necessary knowledge or are unsure of how to start a job, you are more likely to avoid it.

Once you've identified why you've put something off, you can break the cycle and prevent future bouts of procrastination.

2. Set deadlines for yourself
One of the simplest things you can do is create a schedule with clear due dates for each part of a task. "As soon as you get the project, chunk it down into a few manageable segments that you can complete in sequence," Amabile advises. Then, assign deadlines for each piece. "Put an appointment in your calendar to work on a small piece of the next segment each day to allow yourself to get it done a bit at a time," she says. These "small wins" make the work more manageable and contribute to your sense of progress. And achieving them is much easier than trying to barrel through a complex project.

Setting deadlines also makes sure the project doesn't get buried. For things that you are likely to put off, add reminders in your calendar or put a Post-It on your computer screen. Use whatever visual cues will ensure you don't avoid the project.

3. Increase the rewards
We often dally because the reward for doing a certain assignment is too far off. Regina Conti, an associate professor of psychology at Colgate University and an expert in motivation, provides the example of doing your taxes. "A person may want to complete their taxes to avoid the legal penalties of not doing so, but because those penalties are far in the future and the task is a boring one, they will not have much incentive to get started with the project," she says. To make a task feel more immediate, focus on short-term rewards, such as getting a refund. Or if there aren't any, insert your own. Treat yourself to a coffee break, or a quick chat with a co-worker once you've finished a task. You can also embed the reward into the task itself by making it more fun to do. Work with someone on a particularly difficult project or set up a game for yourself so that doing the task isn't so boring or onerous.

4. Involve others
One of the principles Hallowell often repeats in his work is "Never worry alone." If you don't know how to do something, ask for help. Turn to a trusted colleague or a friend for advice. Or, look for an example of the project you are working on to use as a starting point. "Others are a great source of extrinsic motivation," says Conti. Asking someone to review your work can spur you to get started knowing they will expect it. You can even enter an anti-procrastination pact with a co-worker: share what you are working on and hold each other accountable to set deadlines.

5. Get in the habit
"People throw up a hand and say 'I'm such a procrastinator' as if they have no control," says Hallowell. "You do have control over this and you'll be very proud when you change it." Hallowell says that he used to be a procrastinator but trained himself to stop. "I don't procrastinate at all now. I just do it," he says. There are immediate benefits when you start getting things done right away, and it's a habit you can cultivate. Amabile suggests tracking your improvement. "Spend just five minutes a day to note the progress you made, any setbacks you encountered, and what you might do the next day to enable further progress," she says. She recommends you do this in a work diary. Then see yourself, and talk about yourself with others, as someone who gets things done. "The most powerful event, for maintaining positive inner work life, is making progress in meaningful work," says Amabile.

Principles to Remember

Do:

• Identify which tasks you are most likely to put off
• Use deadlines to motivate you to get things done within a certain timeframe
• Reward yourself for reaching milestones

Don't:

• Call yourself a procrastinator as if it is an intrinsic part of who you are
• Tackle arduous tasks on your own — ask others to help you get over the hump
• Try to finish a project in one sitting — break it down into smaller, achievable chunks

How to Narrow Your Target Market

Companies that try to be all things to all customers are sure to fail. Here's a business guide on how to focus on your target market.

Huge, profitable companies like Walmart and Amazon didn't start as the all-encompassing retailers we know today. Each debuted with a very specific focus that helped them find and nurture a strong customer base. Walmart originally catered to shoppers in rural areas where there was a dearth of options for low-cost goods; Amazon famously limited itself to just books for years before expanding into selling everything from DVDs to motorcycle gear.

The process of finding a target market and narrowing your company's focus to appeal to it directly often trips up new businesses, who find it difficult to turn down business opportunities when they arise. But trying to be all things to all people is a sure way to fail in the marketplace.

The Dangers of Being Unfocused

Whatever market you're in, you've likely got a lot of competition and static standing between you and the consumer. Narrowing your focus to one specific demographic or slice of the marketplace gives potential customers a reason to notice you in the rest of the fray.

If you don't know specifically which customers you are speaking to, you are actually speaking to no one.

The big danger is that without a target market, it's like standing in a park shouting in the wind. When you have a target market, its like standing in a park and talking to a specific group of people.

That means you can't be afraid to exclude certain types of consumer from your marketing or to target your advertising at small groups. Some customers will feel left out, but those are the sacrifices necessary for a successful business.

Become an Expert in one Area

One way to hone in on a specific sector is to become an established resource in one area. Starbucks, for example, is able to charge premium prices for its coffee even though it also sells pastries, tea, and accessories, because it has positioned the company as an authority on good coffee.

If you're an expert in your field, people will pay the price tag on whatever product and service you offer

You can build up credibility by offering information for free through your company's website or blog: things like tips, industry information, or niche data that will help consumers think of you as a reliable expert in that area, she says.

Your credibility comes with giving away information. If this is the value I'm getting for free, what will I get if I pay for it?

Dig Deeper: Do the Market Research

Experts give several methods for whittling down the vast expanse of the market to find your ideal target.

Some business owners find their niche first by focusing on the areas in which they already have a strong interest, or by looking at markets that already know about you and your services. Then, look for areas of the marketplace where a gaping need exists that you can fill with your company's services.

Tweak your Marketing

As simple as it sounds, the name of your company is crucial when narrowing your market.

You may have to change your branding strategy or marketing efforts to clarify your mission. Once you find your target, you'll definitely want to alter your advertising efforts to go after the places and media you use to generate new business.

It's not just an advertisement that you do. It actually has to become part of everything you do.

Your marketing needs to highlight the specialization, which improves credibility. You've got to be perceived as the best at something.

Then, once you've identified that base, use it to improve the business through things like social media and interactive marketing to find out more about what the customers are looking for.

Reasons to Sell Your Business Before You're Ready to Retire

You don't have to hold onto your business until your working days are done. Here are some reasons why "retirement" and "exit planning" shouldn't be synonymous.

Have you ever noticed how the terms “retirement” and “exit planning” for business owners are often used interchangeably?

Sometimes it seems as though the only socially acceptable way to exit a privately held business is to hang on until you’re well past your prime, eventually giving the reins to your offspring so you can play golf for a few years before retiring into a home to wait to die. Your children, however much you love them, could be the last people in the world that should run your company. Spending your retirement watching your life's work diminish before your eyes –

I’m sure you have your own reasons for building a business you could sell, and while retirement is a legitimate reason, it’s not the only one. Here are my favorite reasons—inspired by real people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s—for selling a business before you want to retire. You may want to:

• Become an angel investor;
• Capitalize on an unsolicited offer for your business;
• Write a serious check to a charity;
• Get rid of your mortgage;
• Start a bigger, faster and more profitable business;
• Live debt free;
• Take a year off to coach your kid’s baseball team;
• Buy a beach house;
• Get out of a toxic partnership;
• Experience what it is like to work for a big company

When I ask business owners who have sold their company to share the one thing they wish they had known before doing so, many are quick to say they wish they had known to do it sooner.

Don’t wait too long to enjoy the other jobs of life. Allow a good 20 years to do the things you have always wanted to do.

How does the Real Estate Crisis Affect Small Business?

Restoring confidence in the housing market is crucial to restoring economic growth.

It is estimated that 45 percent of outstanding small business loans are collateralized by some type of real estate asset. Many business owners often rely on the equity in their homes and widely use home equity loans and lines of credit.

The housing sector's weakness affects not only home builders, realtors, mortgage brokers, and others directly involved in home sales, but also related small businesses that provide services such as home improvements as well as home products.

Many small business owners in these industries will most likely not to see a turnaround in their own bottom lines until the real estate market rebounds.

The House Small Business Committee is studying a number of tax incentives that benefit small firms caught up in the housing crisis. Among the initiatives being discussed is a Super SBA Small Business Loan Program. It would provide "low-doc," expedited SBA 7(a) loans of up to $250,000, with reduced lender and borrower fees. The government would guarantee 85 percent of the loan. The idea is to expedite loans to small businesses to help them expand and create jobs.

Another measure proposed would grant immediate relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) for the 2008 and 2009 tax years and would increase after-tax income for small business owners by sending rebates directly to taxpayers.

These measures are just being discussed and are not a sure thing.