Sales teams need to be fixed; they stop performing, the market changes, the company launches new products, the team becomes complacent, the organization grows too fast and becomes beauracratic. There are a number of reasons why sales organizations need to be fixed.

If the sales team is broken, there are two places to look to fix it, the environment or the people. How to determine where the problem lies traditionally escapes sales leaders. Sales management culture almost always makes it a people problem.

The three areas were sales organizations break are the systems and processes, the people, and the activities the team focuses on.

If you want to fix your team assess what is hapening in these areas.

Systems and processes is a situation problem, not a people problem. People are people problems and the activities the people focus on could be either.

To get it right evaluate all three.

Does the CRM System make it easy to manage an account? Are good training and educational systems in place? Does the sales process enable sales? Are the systems the problem?

Are the right people in place? Do they have the skills necessary for the job? Is there a talent gap? Is the sales team hunters when it needs to be farmers? Does the team have the right people on it?

Is the team doing what it’s supposed to? Is it making enough cold calls? Is it spending more time doing admin work than selling. Is the team partnering or playing lone wolf? Is the team engaging in the right activities?

To fix a sales team the right levers have to be pulled. Evaluate each of the areas independently. Sometimes it’s a people problem,sometimes it’s a behavior problem, sometimes it’s a situation problem. Sales leaders need to know which it is. Not knowing makes it a people problem.