How to build a top-notch sales culture

As a Fractional VP of Sales, I have the good fortune of observing sales teams at various stages of development.

I see successful teams that want to become even more successful.

I see teams that need to be built from scratch.

I also see struggling teams that need direction to get back on track.

However, there is always one common aspect: either they have a great team culture or they do not.

What is a Sales Culture

We often talk about the culture of a team or company.

Essentially, company culture is the personality of an organisation.

It includes the shared beliefs, values, practices, and attitudes of the people who work for the company. All the interactions, communications, and experiences that shape the way people think, feel, and behave at work contribute to the company’s culture.

A sales culture, on the other hand, is the set of shared values, attitudes, behaviours, and practices that define a company’s approach to selling.

It includes everything from how salespeople interact with customers to how they collaborate with their team members.

Why a Sales Culture is Important

A sales culture is important because it sets the tone for how your sales team operates.

The sales culture is crucial to guide your team when nobody is looking and encouraging people to do the right thing. It helps to establish a shared vision and purpose and provides a framework for decision-making.

A strong sales culture can drive performance, improve employee engagement and retention, and foster innovation.

It can also help to differentiate your company from competitors by creating a unique selling proposition that resonates with customers.

How to Build your sales culture

Starting from scratch can be challenging. However, it is crucial to establish a sales culture early on.

CEOs and founders often arrive late to the culture’s train, thinking (wrongly) that because they are still ‘small’, they don’t need a sales culture.

As mentioned earlier, having a sales culture is essential to guide your team.

Therefore, it’s recommended to sit down with your co-founders and understand three main aspects of how you want your sales team (present or future) to work, specifically:

• How we Sell

• How We Work together within the team

• How we Interact with other stakeholders and teams

How we Sell

Here we have to define how we interact with our prospects and customers.

It includes our discount policy, our interaction with prospects during heated moments such as challenging moments, churn mitigation and moments of attrition.

Try to understand how you want your sales team to behave and write it down in your playbook. Mostly this is the interaction with customers and prospects.

How we work together as a team

By definition, sales are very competitive.

Sales teams are different from other teams, and there is always a bit of healthy competition. However, if not managed well, this can derail your team’s morale.

As a leader, it’s crucial to set an example and make sure your team knows how to treat each other, especially during challenging times.

Compassionate management is crucial for interactions between team members.

Compassionate management means looking at the world through each person’s eyes, even during heated moments. This approach teaches your team to challenge each other while never crossing the line into unacceptable behaviour.

In addition, it’s essential to have the right meetings scheduled. This is particularly important if your team is hybrid or remote, as regular interaction can help maintain the sales culture.

Here are the recommended meeting cadences to manage your sales culture well:

• Sales Meeting: Once a week. Use this meeting to bring the team together to discuss the most important things, such as general updates, product updates, performance, and roadblocks. Have your team leave this meeting inspired, not hammered.

• Sales Coaching: Once a week. This is a valuable opportunity for the team to get together and learn from each other.

• 1:1s: Don’t skip these meetings. They are potentially the most important meeting to help you manage your team. Try to be helpful and always assume good intentions during these meetings, but don’t be too nice. 1:1s are meant to open up conversations even if they are difficult. Use this time to manage performance and address any issues that need to be discussed.

• Celebration time: Try to have a bi-weekly moment of celebration time. Celebrate the top performers, those who did the most prospecting or delivered the best demo. Celebrate every small win possible.

How to interact with other stakeholders and teams

Although salespeople may sometimes think that they work alone, this is not true.

Successful sales teams require support from other teams, such as customer service, customer success, engineering and product teams.

You can help your team build collaborative and productive behaviour when interacting with other teams.

It is fundamental to demonstrate collaboration and proactivity when working with other teams. For example, how you pass product feedback to the product team and how you hand it over to customer success for a new customer.

Make sure your team treats with respect everyone they interact with.

Final Note

As I mentioned earlier, I have seen many sales teams with the wrong sales culture.

While you can fix a sales cycle, dashboard, or hiring process, it’s challenging to fix a sales culture that has already been established.

You don’t want to wait until it’s too late and have to fire people to change the culture.

Every hiring decision, interaction with other teams, or prospects should be guided by sales culture principles.

If you leave it up to chance, your team may succeed, but it’s a risky proposition.

Sales is not a gamble; it’s a process, and sales culture is a crucial component of that process.

Start building a strong sales culture now.