The Game-Changer for Driving Sales Growth in Tough Times
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The Game-Changer for Driving Sales Growth in Tough Times

Facing the Brutal Reality: Are You Ready to Overcome the Sales Slump?

Let’s face it: Sales growth isn’t easy right now. If your team’s numbers are slipping and the pressure is building, you're not alone. Across New Zealand and Australia, businesses are grappling with shrinking pipelines, longer sales cycles, and tighter budgets. It’s not that most salespeople now have terrible conversion rates (from proposal/quoting to sale), it’s much more common that decision makers are DELAYING DECISIONS. We’ve done some digging and found that it’s more to do with their buyer and business confidence than it is to do with money by itself. 

Here’s the truth: hoping or waiting for the market to turn is NOT a strategy! This newsletter is to encourage sales managers and senior salespeople to step up and take the lead. 

After 20 years and 20,000+ hours working with sales managers and salespeople, we’ve learned a few things. Firstly, we’ve heard every possible sales and sales manager excuse invented. Secondly, we’ve learned that the teams that go from survival to thriving tend to master a few core behavioural areas better than others. 

Now is the time to act, and accountability is your most powerful tool to navigate these uncertain waters. In this newsletter, we’ll share actionable strategies to build a culture of accountability within your sales teams—so you can drive growth, even when the market feels against you.

Transforming Accountability from Buzzword to Your Bottom Line

I highlighted this during our last free sales manager masterclass: Accountability is not just a buzzword. It's the backbone of a high-performing sales team. Ask any Olympian also: self-accountability is likely one of their core differentiators also. But how do you take this principle from theory to practice in your business?

You Need a Multi-Layered Approach to Accountability 

We advocate for a comprehensive strategy that includes three types of accountability, each vital for creating a culture of ownership and driving results:

1. External Accountability: Establish clear goals and regularly track your team’s progress against these targets. Transparency keeps everyone aligned and focused. If you can’t do it internally - get external help to keep your team accountable. This has quickly become one of our core business ‘purposes’ with our clients these days, with many preferring stronger and stronger accountability from us. One recently said: “you guys are like a trip top the dentist: it’s a bit painful but it’s needed!”  

2. Peer-to-Peer Accountability: Encourage team members to hold each other accountable. Regular peer reviews build trust, camaraderie, and a commitment to shared goals. This type of accountability was especially strong in our lives when we were at secondary school. It still works today. 

3. Self-Accountability: This is the most powerful and most durable form of accountability. Sadly, it is not often considered by sales managers and business owners. In fact, many managers end up micro-managing their teams, which dis-empowers them, which reduces self-accountability. Instead, you need to install a mindset where your team members take personal responsibility for their performance. Equip them with the tools and confidence to set their own goals, measure their progress, and address any gaps.

Your Immediate Steps to Driving Accountability:

1.Know where your team is, your starting position. If “a journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step”, how can you know where to step if you don’t know where you are?

Start with your Sales Power Score™: Our Sales Power Score™ Calculator helps to pinpoint where your team stands today, in terms of team health/strength. This helps you identify the gaps to fill to confidently set realistic, achievable goals. Click here to uses the Calculator!

2.Create a Culture of Action: Don’t let training go to waste. The vast majority of managers and salespeople do allow such expensive waste. Make sure your team is in this minority by setting clear deadlines and celebrating quick wins.

3.Commit to Continuous Improvement: Accountability is not a one-time initiative, it's an ongoing commitment. Our Sales Mastery Academy keeps your team on track with regular coaching, feedback, and support, ensuring sustained growth. You need to take the same approach to leading your sales team. 

4.Watch for trends: the B2B sales landscape in is more complex than ever. With economic pressures mounting, the need for a strategic, accountable approach has never been greater. Key Trends to Watch:

  • Value-Based Selling Takes Center Stage: Clients now demand more for less. Focus on demonstrating clear ROI and how your solution addresses their specific pain points. Try leveraging their pain points respectfully. 
  • Use data analytics to gain deeper insights into customer behavior and refine your strategies to align with market demands. 
  • Use social proof, in the form of case studies, testimonials and referees. While 99% of sales teams know this, we estimate that fewer than 30% maximise these. 
  • Resilience Is Your Secret Weapon: A resilient team, committed to adaptability, and relentless continuous improvement, will not only survive in tough times but they will thrive long term. Too often we hear of teams not embracing change because some of those changes are “too small to be significant”. However, even small changes help. 

By fostering a culture of accountability and adopting a forward-thinking strategy, your business and sales team can rise above economic uncertainty and achieve sustained growth. In fact, during tougher economic times you have the greatest opportunity to grow your market share. You just need to know what to fix and how to fix it. 

Book a FREE sales strategy zoom here!

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We’ve trained over 15,00 businesses in over 20 countries. No two businesses are alike. We’d love to learn about your specific business. Share your details below. We will get in touch soon.