The best and brightest. The most motivated. The people with the people skills.

These are things you look for when hiring a sales team. If you're lucky, you'll land a lot of people who possess these attributes. But even then, how do you make sure they're humming along like a finely tuned Indy car?

Simple. You follow these seven strategies for fine tuning your sales team approach to success:

Provide practical wisdom

Your sales training program might be perfect in theory, but it's much more important for it to be perfect in practice. So after sales training, make sure to observe your team in real-world settings. See how the skills you have taught them translate to their everyday work. If it's not working, it's time to revamp your sales training.

Create competition

Some say competition creates schisms. But the truth is, competition creates an increase in sales numbers. Encourage your sales team to compete. Display sales figures for all to see. You just might be surprised at how quickly your sales team starts firing on all cylinders.

Get to know 'em

Good leaders know their team members' strengths and weaknesses. Great leaders know how their team members process information, make decisions, and communicate. If you want to be a great leader, you absolutely must know how each member of your team thinks – and then leverage their thought processes through your sales training, sales processes, and motivational techniques. If you never get to know your team members (really, really get to know them), you may never realize their real potential.

Establish order

Working hours. Dress code. Clear, concise, and easy-to-understand expectations. These just might be the keys that open the doors of opportunity and success for your sales team. But then again, maybe not. The bottom line is that you have to establish a clear sense of order in order for your sales team to reach its potential. Maybe you don't need a dress code, but you just might need frequent dress rehearsals and sales training to ensure everyone is doing everything expected of them. Don't be afraid to establish a clear sense of order that fits with your company's culture.

Data

Everyone knows that information is power. So why not invest in the best data sources you can? If you can give your sales team clean, accurate data, each member will be much more likely to reach their full potential. At the end of the day, lead generation always comes down to data. So provide the best data you can afford.

Share information

Disconnection is one of the most common reasons people dislike or leave their jobs. They don't feel like they get enough face time with their managers, so they leave. Or, worse, they stick around with bad attitudes and infect everyone else. Lucky for you, the simple act of sharing information is a bad-attitude elixir. All you have to do is meet with your employees on a regular basis, share information, and listen to their concerns, and their engagement is likely to skyrocket. Try it. It's simple and could lead to unprecedented success.

Know your customers

You know your team. You've provided sales training and ensured that it works in the real world. Your sales process includes competition and plenty of data. Now what? You've got to get to know your customers and help your sales team do the same. Give your team as much information about customers (and prospective customers) as possible. Help your team understand how customers think (which comes down to whole brain thinking). And then encourage your team to leverage that information to increase sales.