Sales effectiveness often relies on getting everyone aligned around the same set of objectives and priorities. However, in large sales organizations there are always competing priorities vying for time and attention. Within this confusion and clutter, the must-wins and must-do’s essential to your success can get lost in the shuffle of lesser-important activities. Communications can get everyone focused on getting the most important things done first as long as the message is effectively cascaded through the organization.
When management relies completely on top-down messages, their direction can be diffused or distracted with competing directions from line managers. It’s been proven time and time again that the typical employee takes direction first and foremost from his or her manager. So in order to get everyone of the same page, it is critical to make the manager a primary messenger of business priorities. The best way to do that is by cascading messages to sales managers first, and then empowering the managers to cascade the messages in a relevant way to their own people.
When cascading a message, a manager needs to do more than just pass along the information. Effectively cascading the message means making the message specific and relevant to the team while maintaining the focus on the overarching goal. Important techniques for cascading communications include:
- Clarifying general objectives by providing concrete examples relevant to your team
- Turning “corporate speak” into everyday language your team understands
- Helping the team embrace the objective by explaining “What’s in it for me?” (WIIFM)
For this to work, sales managers must be treated as a separate audience and informed in advance so they can be effective messengers. They in the best position to ensure the priorities are well understood and embraced by their teams.
To get everyone on the same page, empower your sales managers to be effective messengers.
