7 Ways to Help Salespeople Sell More

As a vice president of sales, your job is to remove obstacles and point your organization toward success, because while you can't make sales for them, you can set up the conditions where they're more likely to win. Here are seven straightforward ways to help your sales organization and sales team close more deals.

1. Give clear goals
Giving clear goals will take you further, as people sell more when they know exactly what success looks like. Vague targets don't work; if you tell your team to "sell more this quarter," they won't know whether to focus on getting new customers, selling bigger deals, or closing faster. Instead, be specific by setting targets like "we need five new customers this month" or "the average deal size should be $50,000." When goals are crystal clear, salespeople can measure their progress, adjust their approach, and stay motivated knowing exactly when they've succeeded. Help them write and share these goals so the entire organization understands what they are working toward, which removes confusion and gives everyone a concrete target to chase.

2. Listen to their problems and help navigate them
Your salespeople know what's getting in their way, so ask them and actually fix it rather than assuming you know what's holding your team back. Talk to them to find out if they are spending too much time on admin work, lacking product knowledge, or feeling frustrated with a broken process. Listen without interrupting, take notes, and then take actual action, whether that means speeding up a slow contract approval process or setting up needed product training. When salespeople see that you listen and act, they will trust you enough to be honest about what's really happening on the ground, ultimately helping you make better decisions.

3. Show them how others do it
When your team sees what a successful sales conversation looks like, they will naturally copy it. Your best salesperson is your biggest teaching resource, so ask them to walk the team through how they open a call, ask questions, handle pushback, and close deals. You can also share recordings of successful calls, write up a case study of a big win, or have your top performer mentor newer salespeople, since seeing success in action is much more powerful than listening to abstract advice. People learn by watching, and when they see a real conversation that worked, they gain a working template they can easily adapt to their own style.

4. Let them know where they stand
Salespeople perform better when they can see their progress and how they compare to the rest of the team. Make numbers visible by posting pipeline reports and showing who has hit quota, because while letting people see their rank sounds harsh, healthy competition actually drives performance. When salespeople check the board and see they're behind, they work harder, and when they see they're ahead, they are motivated to stay there; progress is motivating while mystery is demoralizing. Share these numbers and trends in team meetings while keeping things factual rather than personal, ensuring everyone knows where they stand so they can adjust without feeling shamed.

5. Give them time to sell
Reduce meetings and paperwork so they can spend more time talking to customers, because every hour in a meeting is an hour not spent selling. Audit how much time your salespeople spend on non-selling activities, then cut or consolidate unnecessary status meetings, ensure the required ones start and end on time, and simplify your system so you aren't asking for more data than you actually need. Every rule and process should earn its place by making selling easier, so fiercely protect your salesperson's most valuable resource, their time, since the more time they spend talking to prospects, the more they will sell.

6. Celebrate the wins and make them visible
When someone closes a deal, make a big deal out of it so others know exactly what good looks like. Instead of letting wins go unnoticed, publicly recognize the salesperson in team meetings by sharing the story of how they won and explaining what made the difference. This dual approach makes the winner feel great and stay motivated, while simultaneously teaching the rest of the team what success looks like and what behaviors get rewarded. Furthermore, celebration builds team morale, because seeing peers win creates positive energy and shows that winning is both normal and rewarded.

7. Help them learn from losses
After a deal falls through, talk through what happened so they don't make the same mistake twice. While losses hurt, they are your best teaching opportunities, so schedule a quick debrief to discover what went wrong, what they would do differently, and where the process broke down. Make sure this conversation is about learning rather than blame, exploring whether they missed a signal, ignored a concern, or pushed too hard. Help them see the patterns so you can fix recurring mistakes or individually coach different people, ultimately using these losses as the raw material for team improvement.

While vice presidents of sales help others sell, they build an environment where salespeople are much more likely to win. Providing clear goals, removing real obstacles, making success visible, and ensuring plenty of selling time all combine to create the ideal conditions for higher sales. If you listen to your team, celebrate their wins, and help them learn from their losses, your salespeople will simply sell more.