TFT: Do you have the right Sales Culture?
How Your Sales Team’s Culture Impacts Growth and Customer Relationships
Building a successful sales team is crucial to keeping revenue flowing into your business. When you start out, you are the sales team along with product development, customer service, and everything else. But as you grow, developing a strong sales culture becomes just as important as hiring great salespeople. A toxic sales culture leads to internal competition, poor customer service, and short-term wins at the expense of long-term success. A well-balanced sales culture, on the other hand, ensures your team collaborates, plays to their strengths, and truly serves your customers.
Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Which is really what inspired this TFT. So, what is your sales culture? And how can you build a team that works together to win?
Avoiding a Toxic Sales Culture
If your sales culture is solely about individual commissions and competition, you risk creating a team that fights over deals rather than working together to serve customers. While a little healthy competition is good, a cutthroat environment leads to:
Salespeople prioritizing their own wins over what’s best for the company.
Customers being pushed into deals that are not the right fit.
A focus on quick sales instead of building long-term relationships.
Instead, foster a culture where:
Salespeople see themselves as trusted advisors, not just deal-closers.
Keep in mind in some cases this may mean they help a customer buy another product in the short term. The key is they are putting the customer first with a long term win in mind.
Team members collaborate, sharing leads and insights to benefit the company as a whole.
Some customers will gel with one team member over another, or maybe that engineer came from a different customer. You do not want to force sales people on a customer just because that is how the accounts were assigned. Find the best fit for both parties.
Customers feel valued and return for repeat business, rather than feeling like a transaction.
You want to keep focusing on helping the customer solve their problems. That way you are the one they call with questions. This will lead to more sales over the lifetime of that customer.
Your sales culture defines your customer experience, so set expectations early especially when hiring new sales reps.
Different Sales Styles: Who’s on Your Team?
Speaking of different sales reps. Not all salespeople sell the same way, and that is a good thing. Different customers prefer different engagement styles. A well-rounded team will have a mix of these personalities:
The Winers & Diners:
They connect effortlessly with people, making relationships their superpower.
You will often find them at dinners, sporting events, and conferences, building connections that lead to opportunities.
Expect lots of potential deals from this salesperson but also a few that just result in great networking (and a hefty dinner bill).
You also are likely to not see them in the office a lot because they are out late and tend to come in later.
Best for customers who value personal relationships and long-term partnerships.
The Technical Experts:
They go deep into product details, ensuring customers get the perfect solution.
They are in the office late, tweaking configurations or troubleshooting issues.
Their sales volume is lower, but the deal quality is high because they build trust through expertise.
Best for customers who prioritize product functionality and technical depth over relationship-building.
The Resourceful Connectors:
They are not quite a winer-and-diner, but also not a full-on technical expert.
Their strength is knowing the right people both inside their own company and within the industry.
They are high-volume sellers, leveraging their network to match customer needs with solutions quickly.
Best for customers who want a responsive, knowledgeable sales rep who can get things done fast.
Matching Sales Styles to Customer Needs
Not every customer wants the same experience from their salesperson. Some want VIP treatment, some want deep technical discussions, and others just want a rep who answers the phone. The key to success? Ask your customers what they prefer.
Do they want dinners, events, and personal engagement?
Do they value technical expertise and problem-solving?
Do they want a responsive, reliable contact who helps navigate solutions?
As you scale your sales team, think about your own strengths and weaknesses including:
What type of salesperson are you?
Who do you need to hire to balance your team?
Also, keep in mind that some engineers move into sales for the money, but that does not mean they will enjoy it. Be upfront about expectations both for your sales team and for your customers. A strong sales culture is about more than closing deals. It is about building a team that understands your customers, works together, and drives long-term business success.
Action Step:
Take 30 minutes this week to evaluate your current sales approach:
What kind of sales culture are you building?
Do you have a mix of different sales personalities, or is your team one-dimensional?
Are your salespeople engaging customers in the way they prefer?
Write down one improvement you can make to your sales hiring, culture, or customer engagement strategy this quarter.
Additional Readings:
Here are three additional readings that complement the themes discussed in your article:
10 Sales Personality Types: Which Type of Salesperson Are You? - The Sales Optimization Company
Sales Culture: How to Build a High Performance, Healthy Sales Team -Hub Spot
The 8 Styles of Salespeople - DISC Profiles
Are you looking to improve your sales process or hire your first sales professional?
Are you a technical expert ready to transition into sales and need guidance?
If so, we’re here to help! Reach out to us with your specific challenges, and we’ll schedule a time to discuss how we can develop a customized plan to meet your goals.