179: Managing A Sales Team In Covid-19 Lockdown

<p>Managing A Sales Team In Covid-19 Lockdown</p> <p> </p> <p>Farmers and hunters in your sales team represent a type of harmony in peacetime.  But Covid-19 has us all on a war footing and that balance needs to be looked at.  Isolation of sales staff at home allows farmers to hibernate.  There is nothing happening and they just sit around in their pyjamas, going through the motions, waiting it out, expecting the clouds to pass and the sun to emerge.  Of course, they expect to be paid their base salary, despite the tumultuous times. </p> <p> </p> <p>Hunters come into their own, because they understand what it means to be proactive, to shake the tree and make things happen.  We can’t just ignore them though, leaving them to their own devices and concentrate on the farmers.  Everyone needs to be managed in their own way.  This is the point – a lot more hands on management is needed, a lot more checking in and checking up, needs to be occupying the sales manager’s  daily activities.</p> <p> </p> <p>Time management, scheduling regular meetings, frequent reporting sessions become the higher priority items.  If there is a big enough list of To Dos on everyone’s calendar for the day, then things will happen.  The start of the week needs to set the strategy for the week.  Who will be doing what, what will be the reporting frequency, how will Key Activity Indicators be tracked – all need to be clear and confirmed with everyone.</p> <p> </p> <p>The daily cadence of contact between the sale’s manager and the team needs to be set.  Some of these will be group on-line huddles at the start and the end of the day.  Other contact will be one-on-one.  This means the amount of manager communication time with the team goes through the roof.  If you are a player-manager, that will complicate life quite a bit.  Your own selling time is substantially diminished, because you need to be driving the team sales process more than in peacetime.  That is one of the costs of doing business in lockdown and the adjustment needs to be factored in