How to Adapt Your Company’s Sales Culture for Today’s Markets
As millennials and Gen Z make up more of the workforce, companies must adopt a sales culture that meets the needs and preferences of these generations. Your sales team is integral to your organization—everyone depends on the revenue it generates. So, your salespeople must perform to the best of their abilities and that performance depends entirely on the culture you put in place.
To develop a sales culture that resonates with a younger sales team, you must first understand what millennials and Gen Z want in a sales job. Then, put strategies in place that cater to those wants. Let’s learn how.
Why Should Your Company Cultivate a Sales Culture?
Building and sustaining a positive sales culture doesn’t happen spontaneously. It continually evolves to reflect the behaviors, beliefs and values that best represent the current crop of team members. But at the same, the sales culture should uphold the company’s promise to provide exceptional products and services to its customers.
This is why cultivating a strong sales culture is critical in keeping everybody on the same page. From their first onboarding session to their last client presentation, salespersons should keep the company mission, vision and values with them whenever they speak or act on behalf of the organization they work for. This makes it easier for each member to maintain a positive mindset despite the pressures of the job.
It also creates a strong sense of purpose within the company. This is essential for driving sales and achieving long-term business goals.
What Today’s Salespeople Are Looking For
In 2020, millennials and Gen Z each made up a one-fifth share of the entire US population. Unlike their older counterparts, the new generation of sales workers are digital natives. This means they recognize and appreciate the use of technology to become more productive and efficient.
Working with millennials and Zoomers also means playing by new rules. Companies now have buyer teams with an average of eight decision-makers. And because millennial and Gen Z buyers are comfortable conducting their own research, today’s buyers prefer dealing with sellers only at the end of a sales journey.
Accepting a more information-driven sales process will help companies better adapt to the changing environment. A sales culture that reflects this will embolden the team to adapt as well. If your organization promotes the adoption of technology to make work better and easier, your team will see greater results.
In short, a sales culture for the new generation of sales reps prioritizes:
- An increased adoption of technological tools to improve work output
- Dealing with informed buyer teams instead of hierarchical decision-makers
- Open communication to fully understand the customer’s needs and requirements
Improving Your Sales Culture to Adapt to Today’s Needs
Millennials and Gen Z will continue to grow their share of the workforce. So, companies should start building a winning sales culture now. Take these steps:
Get Everybody to Buy Into the Team Dynamic
It’s crucial to enlist the support of each team member. Managers should go over each objective and make sure everyone understands, accepts and owns the responsibilities that come with being a sales team member. In addition, emphasize that the team as a whole will always be greater than the sum of its parts. This can help everybody focus on the right path.
Make Trust a Two-Way Street
Millennials and Gen Z are the most stressed-out generations in the US. As a result, they crave the stability of working for trustworthy organizations. They also tend to be more transparent and vocal about their work performances and expect the same from their leaders.
Be honest with your sales team about your successes and failures. By championing two-way transparency within the sales culture, managers can set a standard of trustworthiness. If your salespeople know they can trust you to support them, they’ll perform at their best.
Celebrate Victories, Learn From Defeats
The most successful sales teams recognize accomplishment. They celebrate winning moments and give credit where credit is due. Sales members who get recognized for their victories are more likely to maintain their winning ways. Recognition also provides an extra confidence boost to sales reps even when presenting to new clients or exploring new markets.
In contrast, dwelling too much on defeats can have the opposite effect on today’s sales teams. Instead of playing the blame game, the team should collectively learn from these situations. Meet to identify the problems or bottlenecks in the process. When everyone learns from setbacks, they’ll be better equipped to handle similar situations in the future.
Enhance Your Winning Sales Culture With Ingage
The new cohort of sales representatives is more dependent on technology than ever and seeks a sales culture that reflects this. It’s not about making work easier; it’s about making processes more efficient and producing better results. Take presentation software, for instance. Creating a great presentation is only half the story. Millennial and Gen Z presenters also want to easily share a document and get measurable results so they can continuously learn and improve.
Ingage is cloud-based presentation software that specializes in creating dynamic and interactive presentations. Don’t restrict your brand story to a linear slideshow. Ingage provides the tools to easily create an interactive presentation featuring text, images and video. The best part is teams can collaborate on a single open file.
The cloud-sharing capability also removes the need to upload large files, which can clog up email servers and annoy clients. Instead, users can send a link to an online presentation clients can review at their leisure. Ingage analytics track audience reactions to the presentation so you can measure the impact of each slide. With this information, users can adjust their presentations as needed to increase engagement.
The new generation of sellers needs the right tools to engage the new generation of buyers. Ingage helps you create dynamic, interactive presentations that build a strong company message and lead to a solid sales culture. Schedule a free demo today.