There has been a lot of discussion in recent years about companies deploying buying teams. Salespeople say they are less able to rely on establishing strong relationships with one decision maker within a company who calls all of the shots on what to buy and from whom to buy it.
If the customer is going to field a buying team, does it make sense to respond with a team effort on the sales side? And if you go that route, wouldn’t it make sense to field a team of sales all-stars?
A story in the January/February 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review got us thinking about this. Entitled “Making Star Teams Out of Star Players,” the article suggests that it may be time for managers to rethink their reasons for not putting top performers together and sending them out to conquer the world.
“To be sure, managing a team of stars is not for the faint of heart. (The conventional wisdom is there for a reason.) But when the stakes are high — when a business model needs to be reinvented, say, or a key new product designed, or a strategic problem solved [Editor’s note: or a whale of a new client landed] — doesn’t it seem foolish not to put your best people on the job, provided you can find a way to manage them effectively?” ask the authors (somewhat rhetorically), who are all in management positions at business consulting behemoth Bain & Company.
Top teams need top managers
To do their best, the authors state, alpha teams need leaders and support staff who are all-stars too. Are you sending more than one salesperson to pitch to buying teams? If so, we’d love to hear about it.
Send your experiences to paul@salesandmarketing.com and we’ll continue the conversation online.
In the meantime, here are some tips for making the most of all-star teams from the Harvard Business Review article:
Don’t create disincentives for teamwork.
Some companies’ performance assessment methods get in the way of team success. “A” players rarely like to join groups with other “A” players because they fear they might be seen as the weakest members of the team. [Editor’s comment: In sales, you may need
to find a commission structure that rewards the team.]
Choose mission critical projects.
Don’t put together an alpha team for small projects. They’re not worth the trouble or the opportunity costs. Save such teams for initiatives that have clearly defined objectives and are critical to the company’s strategy. [Editor’s comment: Could your all-star sales team land your most elusive prospects?]
Anticipate what could go wrong.
Egos can get in the way of team performance. But they don’t have to. America’s first “Dream Team” — made up of the very best basketball players in the NBA — swept the Olympic Games in Barcelona, defeating its opponents by an average of 44 points. Team performance was the basis for members’ rewards — nobody was going to get an individual medal. Prune anyone who isn’t a team player from the group, regardless of how good that person may be.
