TEAM building … How-to's

Yesterday we shared the why's of team building. Today, we will give you some practical ideas for creating the synergy of TEAM within your sales organization.

NAME your team.
You don't have to do it yourself; this can be a fun meeting activity.
Naming your team gives you a sense of unity - of working together.
Naming your team also helps you with a theme for team prizes, tee-shirts (for conventions and meetings), etc;
A team name also helps long distance team members feel a sense of belonging.

Define and clarify your TEAM culture. What are you known for? What do you want to be known for? Perhaps your team has always been strong sellers but you would like to focus now on building up the number of consultants and ultimately promoting out new leaders. You need to create that culture into existence by stating that goal often and everywhere.

Your email signature can say Mary Smith, Proud Manager of the Shining Stars - Leaders in Motion

Talk about this to new consultants who join the team. In your welcome letter you might say something like, “Welcome to our team, the Shining Stars - where we help people experience success through upward mobility.”

Lead your team to success with positive role modeling. If you are a strong seller - your team will most likely be strong sellers as well. If you need to round things out and get some team recruiting going - then you first must do whatever it takes to become a strong recruiter. This too will help to cement that culture within your team.

Keep if FUN! Run contests monthly or weekly to create a spirit of camaraderie and mutual support. Some examples of contests you might run for recruiting are:

Who recruits the most long distance team members by the next meeting?
Who is the first to recruit someone in the next 48 hours?

Each one reach one (make it a goal that each team member recruit just one new person in a month's time)

Phone marathons - if your group is large enough - divide into groups of three or four consultants and on a designated evening for a designated amount of time (90 minutes or so), hit the phones and compare results. The winning team gets lots of recognition.

Creating a TEAM atmosphere in your organization will build loyalty, increase longevity of team members and ultimately help everyone to experience success.