With the excitement of England’s dramatic win in the recent Cricket World Cup and Ashes 3rd test, I thought I would compose a quick ditty about what sales teams can learn from cricket, to help understand the dynamic of working in a sales team.
I would like you to consider this first, from the salesperson’s perspective, and then from a management view.
I have worked in sales in for over 20 years, and regularly use the analogy of cricket to explain the dynamic of working in a sales team. (or baseball, if you are Yankee Doodle Dandy)
In fact, I have often completed morning briefs with a cricket bat in my hand. Trust me, it can defo heighten the teams attention span.
You see Cricket is the perfect sport to understand sales teams….
In essence, a salesperson’s has an individual accountability to walk out to the crease, with their bat in hand, and score runs (the target). If they don’t, another team member has to pick up the slack or the team loses.
So, unless you go out clubbing on a Saturday night and whack someone, your future position in the team is generally measured on your batting average.
Top cricketer’s spend hours each day in the nets, perfecting their technique against different types of bowlers – spin, fast, medium swing etc… This builds their capability at the crease.
Nets practice for the salesperson is practising sales cycle, looking at all the KPIs they need to hit and improving their technique and capability.
Howzat for simplicity!
So how does the sales team management perspective differ, rainbow trout sniffer?
Have a look at this…
As a management function, sales teams need to hit the all important numbers, and equally need to ensure this is done ethically and sustainably, with agreed P&P.
One of the key observation I make, when looking at managers in sales environments, is understanding where their default focus lies..
In short, is their bias towards batting or bowling?
As a quick test, I observe on a morning, when they are setting up for the day, do they gravitate to commercial or operational task first?
Here is the important point?
Both areas are required to run a sales team, but there needs to be balance!
- Teams with management who are just batting coaches, leak so many runs they come unstuck regardless of how many sixes they hit
- Teams with management that are just bowling coaches, are operational tight but can’t score the boundaries they need to win
I would urge any sales manager to immediately review the management balance within their team!
I personally, have always wanted to be star batsman so always made sure I worked with another manager who was a world class bowler. We are clear on our strengths, and help each other build overall commercial and operational capability, so the team prospers.
- What is the batting average of the individuals within your sales team?
- How much time are they spending in the nets to improve their run rate?
- How are you measuring improvements in batting averages?
- What is you default comfort zone – Batting or Bowling?
- What plan have you in place to get better at both?
- How much balance is there in your management team to ensure optimal long term performance?
