What makes a business successful? One of the key factors is having an excellent sales team. Although it is important for entrepreneurs to master sales, having an equally successful sales team will help drive a company’s growth at a much faster rate. The process of building a sales team requires time and patience, as business leaders have to hire the right people, provide training, and manage the team.
Creating a sales team from scratch is a challenging, but rewarding experience. To ease the process a bit, I have developed a five-step guide to help business owners build a stellar sales team and see a drive in sales.
1. Hire Wisely
A good sales team is made up of talented individuals able to make a noticeable impact in a company’s revenue growth. Two expert salespeople will likely outperform four novices. Therefore, it’s important to remember quality trumps quantity, when building a sales team.
Choose candidates wisely by having a detailed job description and a competitive interview process. The interview should focus on the candidate’s sales experience, past sales results, their sales competency, and sales disciplines. You’ll also want to be sure they have a winning spirit. This recruitment strategy will bring forward skilled candidates fit for the team.
2. Provide Training
As the leader of a company, it’s crucial to educate the sales team on the company’s mission, values, culture, and products. However, that’s not enough; your sales team must also be trained on sales.
Although some entrepreneurs can provide sales training themselves, no leader should be afraid of asking for help from sales experts. Whether it’s advice from a sales coach or formal training sessions, providing professional guidance will help supply the sales team with the right tools to close more sales.
3. Build a Solid Sales Plan
Leaders and their group of sales professionals can collaborate to create a good sales plan. The plan should include sales tactics, goals, and a follow-up process. Through collaboration, plans can include proven sales strategies designed to show results.
4. Track Progress
Many companies will only track the revenue numbers, but you’ll also want to track the performance that drives the revenue results.
Ask questions like:
- How many proposals need to be submitted for a closed deal?
- How many meetings need to happen in order to secure the business?
- How many days does it take from start to finish to close a sale?
Once the team is applying their training and making sales, regular meetings or internal discussions will bring everyone up to speed and create more effective sales plans and strategies. Communication is key, but overly communicating wins and losses will make the sales team smarter and more successful.
5. Listen to Feedback
Sales teams tend to work with customers more closely than business leaders. Therefore, sales teams know exactly what customers think about the products, and the concerns they have. By listening to the sales team and customer feedback, leaders can work toward improving products and making more sales.
Building a sales team is no easy feat. However, the guide above can help toward making more sales and managing an even more successful business. By taking the time to build and manage a winning sales team, leaders will have more time to focus on other important matters and will be happy to watch their business grow before their very eyes.
About Stephanie Chung
Based in Dallas, Stephanie Chung and Associates offer sales coaching, sales training, and executive mentorship services nationwide that help you work smarter, not harder. As a former sales executive in the aviation and private jet industry, Stephanie has mastered the art of high ticket selling and has mentored, coached and developed some of the highest paid, most elite, sales professionals in the country. Serving business leaders, sales executives, and sales professionals, Business Coach Stephanie Chung uses her proven executive coaching and sales training expertise to get the job done. Chung is an executive coach, trainer and advisor backed by more than 25 years of team management, business development, and sales leadership experience. She counsels sales executives and business professionals in a diverse array of strategies and tactics. Chung is also a public speaker, contributor of The Change Book Series and author of “Profit Like a Girl: A Woman’s Guide to Kicking Butt in Sales and Leadership†and “Embrace the Suck: How to Grow and Succeed in Businessâ€.