There are many versions of blended business teams and each of them offers a wonderful benefit to your company.
When working for yourself you may have the opportunity to join an established in-house team on a freelance basis. This type of blending allows for flexibility and exploration. As the outsourced expert, you get to see things from a different perspective. Your insights are a valuable asset to employers and their employees.
How about the family business that brings in ‘outsiders’ to manage their leadership roles? It can be tricky getting a foot in the door with a business that has been in one family for many generations. However, as in the case of our freelancer, an outsider can see what the family might have missed.
There is, of course, the merging of two or more companies and the necessary blending of employees. How will that impact the business, or rather, how can that improve the business?
Blended business teams are an exciting model as the need for communication and connection is all the more important.
In the family business example, the owners and staff might have established working routines and processes that are detrimental to the business. By bringing in a team member who has worked in a senior corporate position, they will be able to introduce processes that streamline the business, save money, and advance growth.
Equally important is the ability as the outsider to see what matters to business in terms of their values and their roots.
Share the vision
With any blended business team, the first step is to share a vision of what the business goals are for the future and how you are going to achieve these. Taking into account your personal goals is also vital. If you work for a company that doesn’t align with your values you will struggle and this will be reflected in your energy and your language.
Let’s look at some of the elements of that business and personal vision:
- Identifying your values – I talk about values in my book, Live It Love It Sell It, and how important they are to our aspirations, goals, and dreams. It’s important to show up fully aligned with what you are selling and why. As a blended team member, you must be in sync with the company’s values so you feel comfortable and confident.
- Expectations – team members who have worked in a particular way for years may not welcome changes. Explaining the expectations of every team member from the start alleviates any issues and helps the unit work together for the good of the business. How everyone works together will impact the whole team. When I talk about expectations it is such important work, and critical to understand everyone’s thoughts. Yes, you guessed it, the one thing that can totally derail the success of this is…assumption.
What about teamwork?
Here’s an excerpt from my book that sums up teamwork perfectly.
‘With the strengths of teamwork and loyalty, you excel as a member of a group. Loyal and dedicated, you do your share and work hard for the success of the group.
If you have the strength of teamwork:
You work at your best when you are in a group, putting the group’s needs before your own. You feel a responsibility to improve the world you live in and make it a better place for future generations.’
I work with many companies as part of their group and I see first-hand the value of a blended business team. I bring my 30 plus years in sales to the table and use my expertise and experiences to help guide and grow my clients’ businesses. I share an example of this further on in the post.
Can you see any of the following benefits for your own business?
- A fresh perspective – your role can often run on autopilot which means you stop working creatively and become stuck or blocked. Taking on board an alternative idea or contribution from someone who might have a wide variety of experience will boost productivity, sharpen your creativity, and benefit your business.
- A specialised skillset – employing someone who has spent years enhancing their skills will bring something to the business that you may have overlooked. Having new ideas or processes can unlock a new direction or sales strategy for the business.
- Enthusiasm – bringing new viewpoints for the team to consider can provide a boost to productivity. Nothing stagnates a business more than a lack of passion for what you do and why. Blended teams bring blended suggestions.
Combine with Unique Human Proposition for a winning formula
Everything we’ve covered points to the benefits of blending your team members. If blended families can prosper then so too can blended businesses.
Imagine your business is a huge mixing bowl and your in-house staff, external team members, or new recruits/merged employees are the ingredients. This recipe can be powerful (taste great!) for the development and growth of any business. The icing on the top is when you explore the UHP® – Unique Human Proposition of each team member.
UHP® stands for Unique Human Proposition and is a process I created to help everyone realise that YOU are your greatest asset – or in the case of a business team, each individual team member is a vital cog in the company.
What are their stories? How can these stories build relationships with your customers?
Let me show you how the UHP® can make a difference in this example:
Traditional sales methods have always been focused on results, processes, being in control, and ‘steps’ of the sale to the ultimate close – which were all in the hands of the salesperson, not the buyer.
The knock-on effect was that most people never really enjoyed being sold to because they felt no emotional benefit.
Sales models were sterile and results-driven and looked something like this:
- Revenue – required to run the business
- Targets – in place so your sales team knew exactly what they needed to hit
- Strategy – typically covering ideal customer, territory, business sector etc.
- Tactics – volume of activity required to meet targets; often just a numbers game
I have seen this model play out over and over again. Yet I always instinctively knew there was an important element missing. The light bulb moment came after I inherited a sales team who were £2 million short on a £6 million target.
This was their sales model:
- Revenue – down by £2 million
- Targets – team demotivated, under pressure and super stressed
- Strategy – just sell more – literally that’s what the Sales and Marketing Director said – every day!
- Tactics – desperate, ineffective and uninspired
Within 18 months, we as a team turned this around, and we ended up fabulously £180k over our target. How? We achieved outstanding results because we did the right thing rather than just focusing on number crunching and processes.
We added a human, emotional element – the UHP®. We flipped the strategy, and our biggest asset in it – the people. In turn they felt valued, they felt motivated, they felt valued and guess what…our customers knew that’s just how we felt as a sales team, and in turn they felt the same.
How can you flip the sales strategy in your business and benefit from a blended business team?
Learn more about sales strategies
If you want to learn more about values, processes, and your Unique Human Proposition and how it impacts your sales, schedule a virtual cuppa with me, and we can discuss how I can help you.
“The Advantia team began working with Jules in Oct 2020 but prior to meeting for the first time, I read Jules book called Live It Love It Sell It. As soon as I had read it I knew that Jules was the right person to come in and work with the team and I.
Jules doesn’t use jargon, is warm and friendly in her approach and has a really good knack of ensuring that everybody in her sessions feels equally engaged. As with all good coaches, Jules doesn’t give you answers, instead she will encourage you to think through and explore the possibilities as a team. I can’t emphasis enough how good Jules is at doing that.
We worked through the UHP Programme with Jules over a 6 month period and I can honestly say that the team really looked forward to every one of them.
In summary I would say that prior to working with Jules, I had a great team of people at Advantia; now I have a brilliant team and Jules has to take a lot of the credit for that.
I would fully recommend a conversation with Jules and definitely encourage reading Live It Love It Sell It.” – Steve Carter – MD Advantia Group
Alternatively, you can join my newly refurbished Sales Academy and build on everything you’ve learned in this post to create success in your business and deliver an unparalleled sales experience.
“I can say the Sales Academy is great value for money – just the monthly Q&A sessions make the fee worth it. I always leave with valuable insights on sales and business. And the modules (I’ve done so far, at least) are packed with useful info and mythbusting around sales.” Nick Diakanastasis – Public Speaking & Presentation Skills Coach
Want to find out more? Schedule a virtual cuppa with me, and we can have a chat about the membership or my other coaching services.