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Tag: sales team

  • Apple lays off part of its sales team

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    Apple has laid off dozens of employees across its sales team to streamline the organization and eliminate overlapping roles., according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. “To connect with even more customers, we are making some changes in our sales team that affect a small number of roles,” the company told Gurman, though it didn’t say how many people were affected. Apple also said that it’s hiring for new sales roles and that laid off employees can apply for them. They have until January 20 to secure a new position within the company, or they will be let go with a severance package.

    Some of the affected workers told Gurman that while Apple’s official internal reason was to streamline its organization, the layoffs were primarily driven by its plan to shift sales more towards third-party resellers. By relying on third-party channels further, Apple could lower costs like its spending for people’s salaries, especially since it eliminated longtime employees. They reportedly include managers and other staff members who’ve been with the company for 20 to 30 years.

    Apple’s government sales team, which works with the Defense and Justice departments, was one of the biggest groups affected by the layoffs. It’s not quite clear if it was a direct effect of the recent US government shutdown. As Gurman notes, the layoffs have taken place in the middle of a record-breaking period. After posting a $102.5 billion revenue for the quarter ending in September, it’s now on track to make $140 billion in sales for the quarter ending in December.

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    Mariella Moon

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  • Want to Sell More? Make Your Team Less Competitive, Not More | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As someone who has coached several sales teams over the years, I’ve seen how traditional competitive sales environments run leaders down. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of managing this particular group of personalities is that they’re extremely competitive. This competitiveness can be both a boon for your company (e.g. the sales will keep coming) and a burden for you (e.g. you’re trying to keep high-achievers from acting aggressively or impulsively).

    I’ve seen top sales performers clash over territories and go to war with each other. Their sales manager then has to move from focusing on strategic leadership to constant conflict resolution. The stress is overwhelming not just for the manager, but for the entire organization.

    This experience led me to explore alternative approaches to sales team structures, studying companies that had successfully reimagined their sales cultures. The organizations I observed transformed their sales department by breaking down traditional silos and changing their compensation models to reward collective success over individual achievement. These models showed me that there’s a better way forward.

    Related: How Collaboration Can Help Drive Growth and Propel Your Business to New Heights

    Why collaborative selling works for everyone

    The natural go-getter attitudes of your sales team are a benefit to you, but when they are at odds with each other, it’s a drain on their time. If your salespeople are constantly trying to outdo each other, they won’t be as focused on outdoing the competition. They will also have trouble working together to meet shared goals.

    One way to fix this is to switch up your internal selling framework and move toward one that rewards collaboration. When they collaborate, they can pool their talents and have a better chance of beating the competitors.

    But beware. You can’t just say that you’re going to collaborate and then let the discussion end. Instead, you have to strategically revisit several aspects of your sales culture to drive more collaboration in a systematic way that you can still measure and control. You can start with the following suggestions.

    1. Allow sales representatives to have more flexibility

    Are your salespeople assigned to strict territories, verticals or product lines? This may be causing unnecessary tension between your salespeople and their customers. Sometimes, this friction can stem from team members feeling that certain assignments are less favorable than others.

    To increase cross-divisional synergy, think about ways you could drop some of your barriers. For example, Nexus Power bucks the traditional sales model by organizing into five separate but collaborative divisions across 11 western states. Rather than only incentivizing each sales team for the products for which they are directly responsible, their sales reps have the ability to tap into expertise from any division when customer needs span multiple product categories or require specialized knowledge. This approach not only provides a more seamless customer experience, but it also positions the sales team as the customer’s “go-to” resource for all their needs.

    To implement this concept, map your current territorial or product barriers, then pilot a “flex territory” program allowing cross-boundary collaboration on qualifying deals. Establish clear revenue-sharing protocols and regular knowledge-sharing sessions between divisions.

    Also, most importantly, adjust your compensation structure to reward collaboration alongside individual performance, ensuring that helping a colleague close a deal doesn’t penalize anyone’s commission.

    Opening up more opportunities to your salespeople won’t mean your stressors will vanish. However, you won’t have to play the role of referee between unhappy salespeople as much.

    Related: A Guide to Hiring the Right Type of Salesperson for What You’re Selling

    2. Incorporate a group commission into your compensation model

    Conventional sales-comp structures built almost entirely around individual quotas can choke off collaboration. That’s why 91% of companies said they will tweak their incentive plans this year, according to the Alexander Group’s 2024 Sales-Compensation Trends survey.

    A proof point comes from Pfizer, whose 4,500 U.S. customer-facing colleagues are mapped into seven business lines and hundreds of micro-territories. Each territory rolls up into a regional collective, and once that region crosses 100% of target, the entire cohort participates in Pfizer’s Global Performance Plan, an annual bonus pool that adds roughly 20% of base pay on top of any individual incentives. Territories are re-mapped quarterly to keep workload and opportunity balanced, so no one feels short-changed yet everyone is invested in pushing the region over goal.

    Related: How to Create a Pay Structure That Promotes Team and Company Growth

    3. Empower sales professionals to work their unique skills

    Another way to boost collaboration is to give your processes a complete overhaul. For example, you could use a test like the Clifton Strengths assessment to pinpoint what each of your employees is best at doing. You could then use the data to figure out who on your team is a rainmaker, a relationship builder, a closer, a specialist, etc.

    After determining the strengths of your team, you can then position them to shine. Maybe you assign your networkers to make it rain and then hand off leads to your communication masters who can build connections. By making the most of the skills of your current team, you may be able to help everyone achieve more — just make sure your new compensation model aligns with this shuffling of roles.

    A nice side effect of turning your team into a cohesive unit is that you’ll be able to see any gaps right away. When you do, you can fill those gaps with the right talent. Plus, you’ll be able to easily adapt your team to market changes because they’ll be working in tandem.

    You have enough stress. Rather than continuing with work as usual, consider the advantages of downplaying competition and encouraging collaboration for you and your team.

    As someone who has coached several sales teams over the years, I’ve seen how traditional competitive sales environments run leaders down. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of managing this particular group of personalities is that they’re extremely competitive. This competitiveness can be both a boon for your company (e.g. the sales will keep coming) and a burden for you (e.g. you’re trying to keep high-achievers from acting aggressively or impulsively).

    I’ve seen top sales performers clash over territories and go to war with each other. Their sales manager then has to move from focusing on strategic leadership to constant conflict resolution. The stress is overwhelming not just for the manager, but for the entire organization.

    This experience led me to explore alternative approaches to sales team structures, studying companies that had successfully reimagined their sales cultures. The organizations I observed transformed their sales department by breaking down traditional silos and changing their compensation models to reward collective success over individual achievement. These models showed me that there’s a better way forward.

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    Peter Daisyme

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  • Unlock the Strategy to Building a Thriving and Scalable Sales Team | Entrepreneur

    Unlock the Strategy to Building a Thriving and Scalable Sales Team | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Success in sales isn’t just about meeting quotas. It’s about fostering a culture where teams thrive, customers are delighted and growth is sustainable. Yet, many organizations struggle to strike the right balance between scaling their sales operations while ensuring the happiness and effectiveness of their teams.

    So, how do organizations cultivate happy, scalable sales teams and strike the right balance for success? Some core elements contribute to a fulfilling and successful sales environment.

    Related: Don’t Scale Your Sales Team Until You’ve Done These 4 Things

    Defining “happy” in sales processes

    All too often, when we meet with prospects, we encounter salespeople who feel overwhelmed by the pressures of their roles. The stress of meeting quotas and generating leads can take a toll on their well-being and effectiveness. Salespeople without clear direction and support from leadership cannot succeed. They may struggle to navigate these challenges effectively without guidance. Happiness in sales extends beyond hitting targets and growing the bottom line. Here are some of the competencies we’ve seen in happy, successful sales teams:

    Individual/team effort and efficiency: How much effort does it take to get the deal done? Minimizing manual tasks and streamlining processes can help alleviate stress and improve productivity across the organization.

    Transparency and support: Are sales reps given the direction and support they need to succeed and maintain traction? Obtaining clear guidance and resources from leadership is crucial to growth.

    Sales cycle length: Is the sales cycle overly prolonged and unnecessarily complicated? By shortening the cycle through efficient processes and effective lead management, companies can reduce stress and increase success rates.

    Leadership satisfaction: Are leaders equipped with the insights they need to make informed decisions? Having visibility into the sales pipeline and performance metrics is essential for effective planning and resource allocation.

    Related: 4 Ways to Stop Getting Distracted and Start Hitting Goals

    Addressing common sales pain points

    We work across a very wide range of industries, everything from manufacturing, distribution, SaaS, finance, healthcare, environmental, professional services and a long list of many others. My company has visibility into multi-departmental and cross-departmental alignment (teams from 1 to 500-plus people), and let it be known — no two sales processes are the same, even when it is within the same industry targeting the same personas. The irony is regardless of size, there is this misconception that because an organization is large, they have everything organized, mapped out and process-driven. Simply put, that’s not always true. Think of it this way: more people, more moving parts, more risk — more room for error.

    We see sales teams structure across territories, business development representatives (BDRs) versus account executives, and sales teams focused on channel versus direct, all of which influence the sales process, hand-off and efficiency for the likelihood to close. One of the best parts is because we are exposed to so many business models and processes, we get to see the best of the best and also easily identify how to improve someone’s process through automation.

    When we get down to the root of the issue, many sales teams face common challenges that hinder their ability to reach their full potential. The most common ones we see are:

    Sales and marketing misalignment: Miscommunication and friction between sales and marketing teams can lead to missed opportunities and finger-pointing, and no one wants that. Open dialogue and collaboration are key to bridging this gap.

    Lack of transparency and reporting: Without robust reporting systems, sales teams may struggle to track progress and identify areas for improvement or clear trajectories for closing deals faster. Transparency in reporting fosters accountability and enables data-driven decision-making on both the marketing and sales sides.

    Resistance to automation: Some sales teams resist adopting automation tools for fear of added complexity or a belief that it will replace human interaction. However, automation can streamline processes, free up time for more meaningful interactions with customers and focus on things a machine cannot do, like close the deal.

    Strategies for scaling sales success

    It saddens me to see talented individuals facing such challenges because they are good salespeople. There is something special about sales. I love their ability to connect with others, come from a place of help in the sales process, and sell collaboratively as a team. They have a super special people-focused gift, and I love to see them flourish and thrive in their roles.

    The concept of success is to remove any frustrating friction points or manual tasks that suck the life out of that salesperson’s main focus, closing the deal. They are measured and paid for this. If you want to lose a great salesperson, watch them continue to miss quotas, become frustrated because they aren’t reaching their financial targets and leave to go to another organization. Things like updating properties in a CRM, manually adding a new lead, sending a reminder email without automation, follow-up documentation, enrolling them in your marketing materials, and so, so many other things that quite frankly distract and wear down a salesperson.

    I’ve seen thriving salespeople succeed in one organization with structure and move to another and miss quotas monthly because they were not given access to the same tools. To build a happy, scalable sales team, organizations should consider the following strategies to keep everyone focused on the big picture —happiness.

    1. Start with setting clear goals: As an organization, defining clear, measurable goals and regularly communicating them to the team is by far the most common misstep we see in organizations. Many times, it can seem like two organizations are functioning within one organization if this is not followed. Teams should break down larger objectives into smaller, actionable steps to keep everyone aligned and on track.
    2. Openly embrace technology: Teams and individuals should leverage automation tools and CRM platforms to streamline processes, improve efficiency and enhance visibility into the sales pipeline. This is not designed to replace humans but to augment activity.
    3. Encourage cross-departmental collaboration: Foster a culture of collaborative team selling between sales and marketing teams. By encouraging open communication, knowledge sharing, and alignment on goals and objectives, organizations can reach goals faster, with less stress and greater rewards. Some examples include adding infrastructure that encourages shared reporting, dashboards, and weekly alignment meetings across teams.
    4. Invest in continual training and development: Organizations should provide ongoing training and development opportunities to empower sales reps with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. These can be done through internal resources or a third party. Training should not be one-and-done.
    5. Prioritize personal well-being: It’s crucial to recognize the importance of work-life balance and prioritize the well-being of sales team members. Companies can do this by celebrating successes, providing support and offering resources for managing stress and maintaining mental health. It goes a long way in finding happiness inside and outside of work.

    Remember, building happy, scalable sales teams requires a combination of clearly defined goals, effective ongoing communication, technological innovation and a supportive, open culture. Organizations that face addressing common pain points head-on and implementing proactive strategies can create an environment where sales teams thrive, customers are delighted, and business growth is sustainable (while still tracking up). It’s time to unlock the full potential of your sales team and drive success in the competitive marketplace.

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    Jennelle McGrath

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