The sales cycle is getting longer as buying committees get bigger and buyers manage risks in their buying process. As a result, sales teams are getting more specialized. More roles are involved in identifying, pursuing, and closing opportunities.
To accelerate the buying process, everyone pursuing the opportunity must understand their role in helping the prospect succeed. What can you do to ensure your and others’ teams do well during the sales process?
1- Communicate regularly
Open and honest communication is the foundation of a successful account team. This is true, both face-to-face and virtually, as it helps us build the interpersonal skills necessary for effective teamwork. Sharing ideas, points of view, information, and expertise helps to keep everyone informed and in the loop.
For account teams, this means communicating what needs to be done, the latest successes, and which areas need focus and attention. Communication is also about giving and receiving feedback, brainstorming ideas, and listening to one another.
Touching base with those around you helps establish connections, build relationships, and allow everyone to express themselves and their ideas.
2) Regular Check-Ins
A laissez-faire approach to teamwork isn’t always the best solution. It can be tempting to let people get on with their daily tasks and only check in with others when a crisis hits. Although micromanagement isn’t fun for anyone, regular catch-ups can be beneficial. Progress meetings for projects and personal development can help keep everyone on the same page.
It’s also a two-way process—account team members should ensure the team has access to regular and scheduled support and feedback, and everyone should take an active role in their development.
You should also mentally check in with yourself now and then. Trying to tune in to yourself and how you’re doing can make expressing your needs and ideas easier when the time comes. Practices like mindfulness can be beneficial in identifying and assessing your inner feelings and experiences.
3) Seek Perspectives by Being Inclusive
If you’re trying to support the account team, there is likely a diverse range of people you’ve got to appeal to. Although this range of personalities, mannerisms, and approaches can seem intimidating, these differences must be celebrated.
It can be easy to dismiss or tune out ideas that don’t align with your own. However, doing so can lead to losing sight of what matters most or leave others feeling unheard or disregarded. In the account team, you can support others by remembering the importance of growth—personal growth, account growth, and company growth.
Differing opinions and disagreements should be acknowledged and dealt with respectfully. Often, these can be learning opportunities and a chance for favorable compromise and understanding. Everyone should be confident to be heard, and everyone can make an effort to be inclusive.
4) Learn to prioritize
Planning out the essential tasks can make it easier to manage your work environment. Whether you’re prioritizing your work or your entire team, the process contributes to the overall functioning of the group.
Account teams bring together a wide range of specializations and knowledge. Often, the success of one area of the business relies on a host of other people completing their work. So, by prioritizing your work, you’re making sure that someone else can prioritize theirs. It’s also a valuable way of keeping productive and making decisions.
You can assist those around you by helping them prioritize their workload. This can make their workload seem more manageable and helps to support your team at work.
5) Ask for help
Asking for help from the account team is a necessary skill. When you request help, you allow others to share what works for them, help make decisions, and take action based on your judgment.
It’s a somewhat nuanced way of supporting others, but there are several steps you can take to ask for help. Delegation is often crucial, as it shows trust and faith in them. Similarly, you’ll want to define boundaries and expectations for how much freedom they have.
A crucial part of asking for help is giving appropriate and constructive feedback, ensuring the full impact of decisions and actions is discussed. Everyone on the account team can contribute to an environment where others feel empowered. Supporting discussions, ideas, and a positive work environment all contribute.
6) Work on your emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is one of the most in-demand soft skills employers seek now, and it’s not hard to see why. This skill involves understanding, using, and managing one’s emotions and recognizing how other people do the same. It’s often linked with empathy and social awareness and can help with collaboration and motivation in the workplace.
A recent study found that those with high levels of emotional intelligence ‘exhibit higher teamwork effectiveness (and subsequent job performance). This is one of those people skills that bring all sorts of benefits. It’s characterized by self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.
To improve your emotional intelligence, you can observe how you react to people and try putting yourself in their place. You can also think about your work environment and how you respond. How do you react to stressful situations? And how can you take responsibility for your actions? This skill can help support your team at work, no matter what level of authority you hold.
7) Set reasonable goals
People like to know what their purpose is. In the workplace, collaboration relies on everyone having a shared set of goals and expectations. Working towards a common aim can unite people, engage them with the task, and add enthusiasm to the process. This becomes particularly important when it comes to things like remote working.
Too much pressure to hit targets can have the opposite effect, leaving people feeling burned out and frustrated. Therefore, reasonable goals that the team can work towards are essential. Similarly, each member should take responsibility for setting personal goals, leading to accountability, growth, and career development.
8) Advocate and promote the idea of growth
The workplace should be a place where everyone has the opportunity to improve themselves and grow professionally. To support your team at work, try cultivating an atmosphere where everyone feels comfortable learning and developing.
From a professional development perspective, this could mean creating time for mentoring, training, or learning on the job. By spreading skills among the account team, you can encourage them to learn from each other, solve problems together, and become a model team for others to emulate.
No matter your level of responsibility, you can help create a working environment where account team members are willing to learn and teach. Whether it’s through asking questions, helping others understand, or taking on further training, you can continue to grow.
