Accountability – an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility.
Let’s face it…we have a love/hate relationship with this word. On one hand we would love if we could effectively hold people accountable and on the other hand we hate having to hold people accountable…its just not fun.
In Sales Management it is vital that accountability play a significant role. If you can’t hold your sales people accountable then there is a high likelihood you will not make progress on your sales goals. So how do you manage accountability in an effective way?
First, you need to accept that when you got dressed in the morning and showed up to work it is not to “just be there.” We often walk through the office door and say “I’m here” and subsequently that’s the way we run our sales teams. A better way to show up is to say “Here I am!” This let’s the team know you are here to play.
The next step is to be crystal clear on your expectations and get acknowledgment that each sales team member understands and accepts the expectations (i.e. agreement). Many Sales Managers struggle with this part. If you don’t get the acknowledgment and agreement then accountability doesn’t exist and cannot be managed effectively.
Just to be clear I am not just talking about the numbers such as; “I expect that as a team we will reach our sales goal of $1.0mil by the end of the year.” I am talking about specific accountability. For example….. “Bob…our goal is $1.0mil by the end of 2011. My expectation is that for each prospect call you go on you will put together a pre-call plan that includes the following:
- The objective of your call and outcome you would like to achieve
- Questions that will help you identifying 1-2 other products or services we could offer this prospect/client
- The top 3 priorities for this prospect (short-term and long-term)
- Other organizations this prospect /client is considering to solve their business need
Bob I would to monitor the effectiveness of this approach. Let’s plan to meet each Monday at 9:00am to review the pre-call plan to see what parts are generating successes for you and what parts are not”.
You can see that the approach is very specific and has clear accountabilities. This is not about “micro-managing” anyone its about “managing” the accountabilities so that the sales person can become successful in meeting expectations.
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