For a team of salespeople to be effective, its members have to share a common set of values. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re at a ten-person start-up or a ten-thousand-person corporation—if the group shares a core set of values and is speaking the same language, you will reap great rewards. These shared values are the foundation of everything good in a sales organization, and yet many sales teams have not yet taken the critical steps of establishing them clearly. When a sales team is aligned—from the frontline salespeople and support staff all the way up to the top executives—great things happen. Team members understand their priorities, thrive on the culture, and understand how and when to engage with customers. Everyone is on message; they know what to say and when to say it.

Sales Team Alignment at Salesforce.com

I saw this firsthand during my time at salesforce.com. The company’s CEO, Marc Benioff, is a master at motivating, educating, and aligning the entire company and the global sales teams with the most important strategies, and watching him was truly inspirational. I fully realized the power of the alignment Marc provided at every internal and external event. I remember one of our clients— the president of a large communications company—saying to me, “I know that everyone at this company is on the same page, because everyone is saying the same thing, but in their own words.” The comment struck me. Salesforce.com employees understood the company’s values so well that they could express them in their own way, and our clients noticed it!

It Starts With You

As I tell nearly every sales manager I meet during my travels, if you can build a set of values in your sales team and get everybody on board with them, the benefits are huge: You get motivated, fulfilled employees; satisfied customers; more sales; and sustainable growth. If you want to transform your team, establishing clear sales values is the place to start. The values will become the foundation of your sales team—its culture and its processes. Push your limits in sales leadership and make it a priority. Take the initiative; no one else will. Sales managers, this is your chance to shine!

Shared Values Makes for a Successful Sales Team

The following was a book from SalesHood: How Winning Sales Managers Inspire Sales Teams to Succeed. To read more you can order the book now. Click here to order the book from Amazon.