GREAT SALES CULTURE.

What does it feel like?

13 global sales leaders share how they built great sales cultures.

There’s one key ingredient common to all: sales team happiness.

‘Sales team happiness.’ Sounds fluffy?

Harvard Business Review Analytic Services asked over 300 sales leaders to rate their teams’ happiness on a scale of 0–10. Leaders who rated their sales teams’ happiness from 0–7 were considered ‘less happy’ and those who rated their teams 8 and above were considered ‘very happy’.

Survey results: The very happy group was more likely to outperform the less happy group across every business metric:

Percent of sales team hitting quota: +29% points
Opening new business: +26 points
Customer satisfaction: +25 points
Annual sales: +22 points
Productivity: +21 points
Conversion rate: +20 points

"We drive results through teamwork. The best salespeople are the ones who feel comfortable leveraging their entire organizations." Rob Idink, MD, Netherlands, HP Inc

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"More than focusing on activity levels or pipelines, managers need to be talking with the team about their headspace and how confident they feel." Bethany Ayers, Chief Customer Officer, Peak

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"A great sales culture is like a high-performing sports team. They play loose with an undercurrent of responsibility to bring their A-games every day." Greg Brown, CEO, Reflektive

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"The sales teams are happiest when individual contributors feel like drivers and people in support functions are fully aligned." Arvinder Gujral, MD, South-East Asia, Twitter

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"Authenticity is an important component of great sales cultures. When you bring your authentic self at work, you build trust within your team." Jennie Drimmer, Enterprise Sales Head, EMEA, Coursera

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"At the core of great sales cultures, you feel trust. It's okay to fail. It's okay to try new things." Henrique Moniz de Aragão, Vice President and General Manager, EMEA, G2

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"Set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, and allow your team to take responsibility. That sets a team up for consistent wins." Simon Johnson, General Manager, UK and Ireland, Freshworks

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"A happy sales culture leads to a high-performing team because it minimizes stress. Stress can be endemic within sales organizations." Lauren McGuire, Senior Director of Sales, Forecast

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"About 97% of salespeople do not hit their targets. I believe that leaders must be emotionally available. You need to provide support so your team can thrive." James Ski, Founder, Sales Confidence

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"Great sales culture recipe? Teamwork, craftspersonship — that is, always seeking to do our best, and autonomy." Raymond Hüner, General Manager, Benelux and Nordics, Freshworks

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"You can’t focus on numbers only and expect people to change. You need to focus on the people, give them what they need and the performance will follow." Greg Meehan, CRO, Supahands

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"My vision is that great sales culture flows from everyone to everyone in a peer-to-peer model." Christopher Wiltberger, General Manager, Southern Europe, Freshworks

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"Creativity is the most obvious clue of a great sales culture, which is also an engaged culture." - Brogan Taylor, Enterprise Sales Head, North America, Freshworks