In most organizations, your sales team has the biggest impact and is often exclusively your relationship with your customers.  It would be a huge mistake to try to attempt to introduce anything to your customers without having their buy-in.    If your goal is to cut down on sales commissions or to cut back on the size of your sales team, then you are heading down a very dangerous path. 

If your sales team feels threatened by this new technology, why would they support it?  Follow these tips to ensure you get your sales team on board for maximum success.

  1. Sell your sales team: You need them to be on board to have a chance at success.  Explain to them that this tool is not to replace them.   Make sure they know that any sales commission will still be attributed to online orders.   Show them that this will not cost them sales, but increase their efficiency and allow them to take on more customers and make more sales.

  2. Get your sales team involved early:  Your team knows your customers better than anyone.  Who else would be better at consulting on decisions that impact those customers?   Have them involved in the process so they understand the decisions that have been made and how they impact your business.

  3. Train your sales team on the new technology: If they are going to be introducing this to customers, confidence is important.    The only way to instill confidence in the team is for them to be fully trained on how it works so that they can be comfortable showing customers how to use the site or helping them with basic problems that they may encounter.
  4. Make sure you have an open line of communication:  Your managers need to make sure they are receptive to feedback including concerns and complaints from your sales team during the decision making process and continuing after launch.   Having your team feel like they have an open communication and that feedback is accepted and considered makes them feel more committed to the project’s success.