Spark For Managers

Build a High-Performing Sales Team in 12 Months

Achieve consistent sales growth with a proven 12-Month Sales Improvement Plan. This guide equips sales managers with actionable steps to boost team performance through incremental, sustainable improvements.

1. Preparation and Communication

Lay the Groundwork for Success

Hold Kickoff Meetings: Establish a recurring time to discuss last month’s progress and introduce new goals.
Know the Plan Inside and Out: Review the full 12-month roadmap before presenting it to your team.
Set Clear Expectations: Emphasize how incremental improvements will drive long-term sales success.
Create and Share a Timeline: Provide a clear 12-month schedule so everyone knows what to expect.

2. Secure Team Buy-In

Motivate and Engage Your Sales Team

Communicate Benefits: Explain how the program supports individual growth and team success.
Create Incentives: Foster competition with a war board, monthly prizes, and team rewards like gift cards or lunch outings.
Drive Accountability: Make progress visible by publicly tracking individual and team successes.

3. Implementation

Turn Plans into Actionable Steps

Track the Weekly Tasks: We break down each month’s objectives into manageable weekly goals.
Use the essential Resources: Work together to build the best scripts and sessions for your team.
Lead by Example: Model enthusiasm and execute tasks alongside your team to inspire participation.

4. Monitor and Support

Track Progress and Keep the Team on Track

Use the KPIs: Make sure you highlight and reinforce the weekly and monthly goals.
Hold Weekly Check-Ins: Discuss progress, celebrate wins, and resolve challenges during team meetings.
Provide Coaching: Offer guidance to team members needing extra support.
Mid-Month Check-In: Ensure alignment by meeting two weeks into each objective cycle.

5. Customize the Plan as Needed

Adapt and Refine for Maximum Impact

Customize the Objectives: Tailor the challenges to align with team and individual goals.

6. Celebrate Success

Keep Morale High with Recognition and Rewards

Celebrate Wins: Acknowledge milestones and individual accomplishments.
Share Success Stories: Highlight examples of exceptional performance to inspire the team.

7. Embed Habits for Long-Term Success

Turn Short-Term Gains into Sustainable Growth

Reinforce New Habits: Incorporate program learnings into daily sales routines.
Journal for Growth: Encourage reps to document one practice they want to continue each month. At year’s end, they’ll have 12 habits driving their success.
Promote Continuous Learning: Challenge your team to reflect and pursue new strategies beyond the program.

Program Overview:

Our program is designed around three core objectives, with each month dedicated to one specific goal:

Outbound Engagement: This focuses on purposeful outbound activities, encouraging sellers to actively engage with potential clients and enhance their outreach efforts.
Sales Acumen: Certain months will emphasize refining presentation skills, helping your team articulate your offerings more effectively.
Prospecting Innovation: As prospecting methods evolve, we dedicate months to exploring diverse strategies, challenging your sales team to experiment with new approaches to connect with prospects.

Program Modules - this will not be available on the website.

Outbound:

Goal: Make 1 extra call a day

Task: Identify one new lead to call a day

Weekly Breakdown:

Week 1: One extra call per day.
Week 2: Five calls first thing in the morning.
Week 3: Five calls over lunch.
Week 4: Five calls after 5 PM.

KPI:

Track the number of extra calls completed (goal: 20 calls).
Track new leads or meetings generated from these calls.

Example/How to Execute:
Make these calls at different times to reach prospects when they’re most likely available. Use your CRM to track time zones and previous engagement history, and aim to experiment with different approaches (e.g., new scripts or personal messaging).

Goal: Re-engage with old leads.

Task: Identify clients who said "no" last year. Call them to reintroduce your offering and see if their needs have changed.

Focus on clients who were close to closing but didn't proceed.

KPI:

Track the number of re-engagement calls made (goal: 1 to 2 per week 4 to 8 calls).
Track any meetings or opportunities reopened from these calls.

Example/How to Execute:
“Hi [Prospect], I’m revisiting our conversation from last year. I understand timing or budget may not have worked back then, but I wanted to check in as we’ve made a few improvements and are helping companies like yours with [specific solution]. Would you be open to discussing this again?”

Goal: Reconnect with Former Clients

Task: Connect with one former client a week, ask what they liked best about your service and request a testimonial.

KPI:

Track the number of calls needed to re-engage old clients.
Track and disburse quotes, testimonials and learnings amongst the group.

Example/How to Execute:
“Hi [Client], it’s been a while since we last connected. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how things have been going with our service, especially what’s been working best for you. Would you mind sharing a quick quote we can use to show potential clients how we’ve helped?

Acumen:

Goal: Upsell Opportunities

Task: Identify and upsell one client per week.

KPI:

Track the number of upsell conversations initiated and needed to accomplish this goal.
Track successful upsell opportunities and revenue.

Example/How to Execute:
Hi [Client], I noticed you've been using [service/product] for a while, and I believe there’s an opportunity to enhance your experience. Have you thought about adding [additional feature] to improve [specific result]? I’d love to discuss how this could bring more value to your business

Goal: Develop or Refine Features and Benefit Statements

Task: Take time to evaluate your features and benefits. Try new variations each week.

KPI:

Find what features were most important and why
How did the benefit impact the organization and how they measured that impact.

Example/How to Execute:
We’ve recently added a [new feature] to help companies like yours handle [specific challenge]. I think this could really benefit you because [reason]. Would this be something you’re interested in learning more about?

Goal: Revise and Update Objective Questions

Task: Identify common obstacles to closing or moving deals along. Have each seller craft a story about a customer who overcame that objective with your offering.

KPI:

Ensure each story is shared and tried at least weekly.
Track improvements in overcoming those objections.

Example/How to Execute:
That is a serious issue we hear often. The only information I can potentially supply is what I have heard from my clients. Client Y said the same thing, and we did a test to ensure we were able to deliver. How they handled it was xyz.

Goal: Promote Exciting Future Developments

Task: Generate excitement about your business and the future of working together by calling prospecting to generate buzz and interest.

KPI:

Track number of calls and emails that the team uses to promote future products or services.
Track what resonated with the prospects, and if that moved the sales along.

Example/How to Execute:
Hi [Prospect], we’ve got something exciting coming up—a [new product/feature] launching soon. I thought you might be interested, especially since it could help with [specific need]. Would you like to hear more?

Prospecting:

Goal: Referral Focus

Task: Each week, call one existing client and ask for a referral.

KPI:

Try to get at least four referrals over the month
Track the close rate of the referrals

Example/How to Execute:
If you had a client recently where you had an issue, and you were able to fix it, it is a good time to ask. Plus, it also ingrains your offering to your clients once they give a referral.

Hi [Client], I hope we are delivering everything we promised during our calls. I know you are well connected, do you someone else who could benefit from our solution. Is there anyone you can recommend who I can reach out to and use your name?

Goal: Social Media Engagement

Task: Connect through a social media outlet, LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Industry Site

KPI:

Track who gets the most engagement and from which platform.
How many closed or the sales process is moving.

Example/How to Execute:
This may be a buddy program, where as one seller is more comfortable using their social media account to engage.

DM: Love your insights. I work for (X), and I want your feedback on what we are doing to see if you think it is a valid solution.

Goal: Find a New Lead Source

Task: Identify a new lead source that is not common channel for your team. Consider both in person and digital networking. This can be local clubs, to niche blogs, reddit communities and more.

KPI:

Track the number of sources tried and the number of leads generated
Ensure they all get at least one new lead that month from a new source

Example/How to Execute:
Attend industry-specific forums or groups, post valuable insights, and initiate direct conversations: “I noticed you were discussing [topic]. We’ve been helping businesses in your field solve similar issues.”

Recommended Track

Month 1: Increase Calls

Goal: Make 20 extra calls this month.

Weekly Breakdown:

Week 1: One extra call per day.
Week 2: Five calls first thing in the morning.
Week 3: Five calls over lunch.
Week 4: Five calls after 5 PM.

KPI:

Track the number of extra calls completed (goal: 20 calls).
Track new leads or meetings generated from these calls.

Month 2: Referral Focus

Goal: Build client relationships through referrals.

Task: Each week, call one existing client and ask for a referral.

Focus on clients who have had a positive experience with your service.

KPI:

Track the number of referrals received (goal: 4 referrals).
Track the number of referrals that convert to prospects or leads.

Example/How to Execute:
“Hi [Client], I hope you’ve been satisfied with our services. I’m reaching out because we’ve been helping [Industry] clients achieve [specific success] and I thought you might know someone else who could benefit from our solution. Is there anyone you’d recommend who I can reach out to?”

Month 3: Revisit Past Prospects

Goal: Re-engage with old leads.

Task: Identify clients who said "no" last year. Call them to reintroduce your offering and see if their needs have changed.

Focus on clients who were close to closing but didn't proceed.

KPI:

Track the number of re-engagement calls made (goal: 1 to 2 per week 4 to 8 calls).
Track any meetings or opportunities reopened from these calls.

Month 4: Upsell Opportunities

Goal: Upsell to current clients.

Task: Each week, find one upsell opportunity with an existing client.

Look for clients who could benefit from additional features or services.

KPI:

Track the number of upsell conversations initiated (goal:1 to 2 per week 4 to 8 calls).
Track successful upsells and the revenue impact.

Example/How to Execute:
"Hi [Client], I noticed you've been using [service/product] for a while, and I believe there’s an opportunity to enhance your experience. Have you thought about adding [additional feature] to improve [specific result]? I’d love to discuss how this could bring more value to your business."

Month 5: Reconnect with Past Clients

Goal: Re-establish contact with old clients.

Task: Call one old client each week, ask what they liked best about your service, and request a testimonial.

Use their feedback for future marketing.

KPI:

Track the number of calls made to past clients (goal: 4 calls).
Track testimonials or quotes gathered for marketing.

Month 6: Develop New Features and Benefits

Goal: Enhance your sales pitch.

Task: Each week, create a new feature or benefit and test it in your pitch.

Focus on refining and adapting the pitch based on feedback.

KPI:

Track the number of new features/benefits tested (goal: try it on 1 to 2 per week).
Did the information make an impact.

Example/How to Execute:
When pitching, introduce new features that focus on emerging trends or needs:
“We’ve recently added a [new feature] to help companies like yours handle [specific challenge]. I think this could really benefit you because [reason]. Would this be something you’re interested in learning more about?”

Month 7: Personalized Outreach with Articles

Goal: Add value to prospect interactions.

Task: Each week, find an article relevant to one prospect, send it with a personal note explaining how your business can help.

Personalize the outreach by connecting the article to your offering.

KPI:

Track the number of articles shared with prospects (goal: 1 per week 4).
Track responses or new opportunities created.

Example/How to Execute:
“I came across this article on [topic] and thought it would be relevant to your business. It highlights the same challenges we’ve been addressing for clients like you with our solution. Let me know if you’d like to chat about how we can help in this area.”

Month 8: Social Media Engagement

Goal: Connect through social media.

Task: Each week, find two prospects on LinkedIn or X (Twitter). DM them or engage with their content.

Build relationships by engaging thoughtfully with their posts.

KPI:

Track the number of social media engagements (goal: 2 per week 8 interactions).
Track any responses or meetings generated.

Example/How to Execute:
Engage by commenting on posts: “Great insight, [Prospect]! This reminds me of how we helped [similar company] overcome [specific challenge]. Would love to discuss this further.”

Month 9: Revise Objective Questions

Goal: Improve the way you qualify leads.

Task: Review the objective questions you ask prospects. Create two new ones and test them out during calls.

Focus on questions that dig deeper into client needs.

KPI:

Track the number of 2 new qualifying questions tested (goal: 2 conversations per week).
Measure if the new questions lead to higher-quality leads.

Example/How to Execute:
If you currently ask, “What’s your biggest challenge?”, try adding, “What’s holding you back from resolving that issue?” to gain a better understanding of their obstacles.

Month 10: Overcome Objections with Stories

Goal: Strengthen objection-handling skills.

Task: Identify common obstacles to closing deals. Craft a story about a customer who overcame this challenge and share it during sales conversations.

KPI:

Track the number of stories crafted and used (goal: 1 per week, 4 total).
Track any improvements in overcoming objections or closing rates.

Example/How to Execute:
“We had a client who faced a similar issue. Here’s how they worked with us to overcome it and saw great results. I think this might be relevant for you too.”

Month 11: Explore New Lead Sources

Goal: Diversify lead generation.

Task: Find one new lead per week from a different source than your usual channels.

Consider using online forums, industry groups, niche websites, or local networking events.

KPI:

Track the number of new lead sources explored (goal: 1 per week, 4 new sources).
Track the number of new leads generated.

Month 12: Promote Exciting Future Developments

Goal: Generate excitement about upcoming innovations.

Task: Find one exciting thing happening in your business (e.g., a new product, feature, or partnership). Call prospects to generate buzz and renew their interest.

KPI:

Track the number of calls/emails sent to promote upcoming developments (goal: 4).
Track any renewed interest, meetings, or opportunities generated.

Example/How to Execute:
“Hi [Prospect], we’ve got something exciting coming up—a [new product/feature] launching soon. I thought you might be interested, especially since it could help with [specific need]. Would you like to hear more?”

Questions?

Feel free to email me at pat@Red2blackgroup.com

Sales Consultancy

Building Long Term Revenue

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