Must-Have Ground Rules for an Inspiring Inside Sales Culture

There is plenty of content out there about how to build an inside sales culture. The majority of these pieces reiterate the same points:

• Get buy-in across the organization
• Communication is key
• Have a shared mission
• Etc.

What are those pieces missing? Examples.

I reviewed culture statements from a variety of companies to find the cream of the crop. Here are the must-have ground rules an ROI-driving sales culture:

NJAP — No Jackass Policy (Which Includes Prima Donnas & Divas)

This is the first thing on StormWind Studios’ House Rules and it’s clear why. Great sales teams don’t have time for bullies, Debbie downers, or anyone trying to bring down others. Positivity and good attitudes go a long way in life and sales.

Sharing is Caring

Transparency at all levels of an organization is foundational to a sales culture. HubSpot does this through their Wiki. Their entire team can access presentations, financials, strategic topics, and other business information. Plus, their entire culture manifesto is available on SlideShare (talk about transparency!).

Embracing a culture of sharing is important on the frontlines, too. Find a script or method that outperforms what everyone else is doing? Share it with the team!

Foster Healthy Competition

While there can be a fine line between healthy and cutthroat, sales is naturally competitive. Healthy call competitions can lead to some surprising results for teams and individual reps. Be sure to keep things fresh. Reps become complacent when the same people/teams win every month.

Coaching Isn’t Optional

We get it, not everyone has the time to coach their reps. However, baking call coaching into your sales culture will transform your team. Here at ExecVision, we don’t rely on managers coaching their reps. Instead, we encourage everyone to highlight and comment on calls so we can learn from each other.

I was a guest on the Sales Game Changers Podcast and shared this insight:

“I want to create a positive, productive culture where a lowly quote unquote entry level sales person will give me feedback, and in many cases I take their feedback and I learn from it.”

Make Time to Self-Reflect

Self-reflection leads to self-improvement. Our reps score their own calls before their coaching session. This leads to reps discovering areas of opportunity entirely on their own–leading to real behavior change.

Fostering success by building an incredible inside sales culture doesn’t happen overnight. With the right ground rules for your sales culture reps and the company will flourish.

What ground rules did you build your sales culture on? What struggles have you encountered during cultural shifts?