Structuring a sales team isn’t that different from a sports team. In any sports, the coach analyses the talent and sees who fits best to each role. The aim is to win, the structure is to support that objective.
Although it might not be as simple as that, a sales team structure runs on the same principle. This becomes even truer when your sales team is made by millennials. Their ambition, energy, hunger for learning, and potential are untapped reservoirs. Millennials have unique strengths and weaknesses and as a coach, your job is to identify the positives build on the improvements.
With the right sales team structure, millennials can put any product over the top. Without the right structure, you might be faced with a group of 20-something who can’t deliver.
Here are 3 top tips on how to structure your sales team for millennials:
1. Guidance, Not Instructions
Sales reps, especially younger ones, excel when they have a clear structure to work within. However, millennials don’t want to feel trapped in “the system”. They need flexibility and at the same time, they need to feel that they can add their own personality to whatever structure they operate in.
“Millennials are at their best in the sweet spot between micro-management and free range,”
Content marketing specialist Jared Lasonde at Bullhorn writes.
2. Training Is Not A One-Off Thing
Constant training and coaching motivate millennials. Like any other sports team, the best way to achieve perfection and success is by constant training. In a sales team, you can alternate traditional training with personal coaching for professional development.
As Heinz Marketing CEO Matt Heinz says in B2C:
“it’s scientifically proven that repeating the same information to people at intervals over time is the best way for them to retain that information and keep it fresh in their minds for the duration of their professional careers.”
3. Money Alone Won’t Work As An Incentive
The promise of an extra bonus at the end of the year won’t necessarily motivate millennials to operate at the best of their capabilities. Workplace quality instead is a huge motivator. Even more, millennials respond to a sales team structure that provides immediate rewards.
As Jeremy Boudinet notes on Business 2 Community, companies with younger sales teams are asking:
“What cool things can we do for our employees that ensure they love working with us?”
Remember, you don’t need to do a major pivot on your sales team structure. Millennials aren’t aliens. However, like any other sports coach, you need to tweak that structure until you get the best out of your young team.
Do you manage millennials? How do you make sure they stay on top of their game motivated and engaged? Do you implement different strategies in your sales team structure? Let us know in the comment section below.
