Try to think about the five most prominent, most successful names in your industry today. With their standing with your industry’s market nowadays, it’s easy to assume that they’re already doing everything right and they have the luxury of keeping their place no matter what they do. However, before they all got there, it’s inevitable that they also faced numerous challenges and problems during their growth. This is especially true for their sales department. As one of the most dynamic teams of any organisation, the sales team are always on the move to close deals and convert leads into customers. This exact nature, however, is what also makes them one of the likeliest to face problems over time. While some problems can be relatively small and harmless, others do need additional time, effort, and expertise from your team. In either instance, however, they should still have a strong sense of responsibility and accountability to accept these problems and work on them efficiently.

The Effects of the Lack of Accountability

One of the most tell-tale signs of lack of accountability in your sales department is when the staff within it starts blaming each other, the market, the products or services, or the customers for the problems they’re facing. Instead of looking internally, they begin deflecting the blame to external factors. Over the years, numerous companies have faced this issue — it’s quite a common occurrence no matter how undesirable the situation is within the owner’s expectations. Conflicts are natural in every workplace, but these unresolved conflicts can become a deadly poison for the rest of your department, too. A lack of accountability in a sales team disrupts the compatibility within the entire group. The immediate effect of this in your sales department staff is that they won’t be able to perform as well as they did before the conflict arose. This, in turn, affects your sales figures, as it stands to be the biggest risk for decline. Over time, the conflict spreads across the entire department. If your organisation is small and tight-knitted, it may even spread across the whole workforce. This affects the overall efficiency of the company, which results in deteriorated quality. Customers you’ve retained over the years eventually stop coming back due to these failures on your part and the organisation is left with the inability to acquire more customers.

Solving the Issue

Poor accountability in an organisation can occur for various reasons. It can be due to poor company culture and staff structure, which makes salespeople more likely to blame each other or someone else when they face setbacks. It can also develop due to poor management. Without positive and motivation management, conflicts arise, and the employees will become embittered when under this kind of management. Luckily, building a sense of accountability doesn’t require business owners and their salespeople a degree in rocket science. Here are some tips you and your team can get started with:

• Clear up job roles and responsibilities

People can blame others if their roles and responsibilities are not clear enough. Remove confusion about job roles by explicitly defining them. If there are gaps or new roles and processes, identify them and account for them as well.

• Develop a sense of ownership

When employees feel they are closer to the company, they become more accountable for their professional actions. Conduct team building exercises and programs to bring your sales team closer to your company. Coaching programs can not only help develop the skills and responsibilities of your sales team but also help them understand their company better. When proper structures, cultures, and management have been set, the more your people grow and take ownership of their actions and mistakes. To learn more about KONA’s Sales Training, Call Centre Training, Customer Service Training and Sales Management training in Sydney and around Australia, telephone us at 1300 611 288 or email us at info@kona.com.au.