As many businesses will know, a happy employee = a successful employee. In fact, research suggests that happy employees are 12% more productive than their less happy counterparts. Ensuring that employees are content in their roles all comes down to making sure the workplace is a great place to be; it’s about having a great workplace culture. But is your workplace culture helping or hindering your sales performance?

Types of Workplace Culture

Things get a little complicated when you consider that there’s really no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to company culture. In fact, although it is generally said that there are 4 different possible workplace cultures — clan culture, adhocracy culture, market culture, and hierarchy culture — it can be argued that there are actually lots more. We can include startup culture, leadership culture, mission-driven culture, and task-oriented culture amongst the possibilities, for example. However, for sales-based businesses, there is one type of workplace culture that will perhaps be most beneficial overall: a sales-driven culture.

Creating a Sales Culture

Here are 4 ways to build a successful sales culture in the workplace and boost your sales statistics:

1. Encourage Communication

Technical sales proficiency isn’t something that can be learned in the classroom; it comes from real world situations. Providing a place where your team can chat informally and learn from each other is essential for building a strong sales culture. It removes the need for outdated, scripted ‘talk tracks’ which are losing their relevance in a world where customers are becoming more knowledgeable.

2. Reward Activity… Not Just Results

Results are great, but in the sales world there is very little control over whether a prospect will convert or not; it’s a remarkably different situation to project-based businesses where results are based more firmly on employee performance. Therefore, don’t just reward results; reward those who take action and undertake the necessary activity to increase the likelihood of achieving goals, aims, and successes.

3. Focus on the Bigger Picture

Sales can be demanding, and for reps who only see a small snapshot of the overall picture, it can also be difficult, tiring, and emotionally draining. A good sales culture is one that shows teams exactly how their efforts are contributing towards the success of the company, so transparency should be a focal point. There needs to be a clear end-to-end success pathway that is accessible to sales reps.

4. Be Accessible

The sales world is one which is constantly evolving, and the techniques that are successful today may not always be those that work tomorrow. Therefore, a good sales culture is one where employees feel they are able to share their concerns openly, and where they feel comfortable requesting additional training as needed, in order to ensure they are always using the most efficient and effective sales methods.

Seeing Results

Not only is it important for businesses to offer their employees a great place to work, but it’s also essential to ensure that the workplace culture perfectly matches the nature of the business. For sales-based businesses, building a strong sales culture can have a significant impact upon both employee performance and sales statistics. If a nurturing environment is there, performance will follow.