Sales Team Leadership Challenges in 2023
People often ask me, “What’s changed the most for your clients since the pandemic?” My answer: Everything!
Leading a sales team post-Covid has presented a lot of new challenges. Adding to the situation is that the new generation of sales teams hasn’t been given the guidance they need to develop communication skills that would make them stand out.
Understanding the challenges is the first step. In this post, I outline what I believe are factors contributing to a difficult business development atmosphere. Thankfully, there are solutions. Over the next few posts, I will go into detail regarding each challenge and provide steps that can be taken to overcome them.
For now, though, here is the situation as I see it:
Challenges Leading Sales Teams Post-Covid
- Less team interaction due to the work-from-home virtual lifestyle
- Lack of debate/discovery between teammates and supervisors due to lack of interaction
- Value propositions have not been redefined, leaving associates to use stale conversations that commoditized the business offering
- Significantly decreased opportunities for managers to mentor by illustrating a best-in-class sales maneuver in real-time
- Less direct, face-to-face engagement with customers, relegating associates to vendors rather than advisors
- An over-reliance on phone-only communication
- Disconnection leads to a scatter-shot approach to selling rather than a tailored, defined program
All of these challenges have the potential to undermine a company’s growth. It can result in weakening a client’s loyalty to your company. As noted in a recent article on sales practices, McKinsey states:
More than 70% of businesses say they will happily consider other vendors if their core “must haves” are not met during their buying journey or if their experience is poor.
In my next blog, we’ll begin to address these challenges. Never forget that the sales process is where your company first creates your company’s reputation. Ongoing interactions build upon that reputation. And in today’s age of immediacy, it can all go south quickly if your team isn’t meeting these challenges head on!
