How to Grow Your Business by Empowering Your Commercial Teams

How does it look to customers and suppliers if the team you send into deal and negotiate with them, have no commercial authority?

Customers will probably feel insulted and see your business as too inflexible to deal with. The suppliers would have similar views and both could seek to gain commercial advantage!

Your business could potentially suffer through poor dialogue and contractual agreements,  through your team being confused on what they could or couldn't agree to! I'm sure when they got back to the ranch the management may not be pleased with the outcome.

Although actually, the fault would lie with that very same management. I've managed and coached numerous commercial teams globally and across many industry verticals.

Where I gave accountability to the individuals and incentivised on results,  I had high performance teams.

In businesses where delegated authority was reserved at the most senior levels,  that same positive impact was diminished. All the experiences I described at the outset were more apparent.

It's really perfectly simple to have that high performance permeating throughout your organisation.

Empowerment to come up with commercial innovation and enabling much more effective strategies. Facing outwards the customers see you as soon more professional organisation who aligns the empowered to deal with them.

The suppliers know that an effective empowered commercial team will similarly expect and hold them to deliver.

The table is set, it just needs executives to serve up the meal!