In business, the assignment is simple: generate sales revenue.
Sales are the biggest, and often only, source of income for most small businesses. If your enterprise’s goods or services aren’t moving, it’s only a matter of time before the money dries up. This is why businesses of all types and sizes focus on building sales teams that can get sales numbers trending upwards.
If you’re in the process of building a sales team, there isn’t room for error. Put together an ineffective team and you blow through your budget without seeing any tangible results in your bottom line.
So, what does it take to build a sales team that will deliver?
1. Define Roles for Your Sales Team
What role first comes to mind when you’re thinking of a sales team? Sales representatives, no doubt.
While these reps are the engine of every sales team, there are other roles that are just as crucial, such as account executive, sales consultant, customer success representative, and sales manager.
A mistake some business owners make when crafting a sales team is hiring more sales reps than necessary, or just sales reps and ignoring other sales positions. If you do this, you’ll create an unbalanced team that won’t deliver the results you’re eyeing.
Therefore, start by defining the roles in your sales team. Create a job description for each role and establish how many people you need to hire for each role. With the structure in place, you’ll have laid the foundation for building a high-performance team.
2. Find the Right Sales Talent
Roughly 13 percent of jobs in the U.S. are full-time sales positions. Although it’s a popular profession, there’s no guarantee that you’ll find the best sales talent every time you’re hiring. If you’re not careful, you could make bad hires.
What’s your strategy for finding the best talent?
If you’re planning to post job ads and wait for applications to roll in, you aren’t giving yourself the best chance of finding excellent sales professionals. Scouring through applications can take time and your choice will be limited to the people who apply.
It’s best to use a sales staffing agency that specializes in your industry. For example, if you’re a pharmaceutical company, outsource recruitment to a pharmaceutical sales recruiter. They already have a pool of vetted candidates, so they’re in a better position to find the best sales talent for your company.
3. Invest in Sales Team Training
You’ve assembled the best sales team, and your business immediately starts to make more sales. However, after some months, your sales grow at a slower rate or even decline. What’s happening?
Perhaps the market conditions changed and the sales team was unable to adapt accordingly. This is why smart business owners invest in sales team training. By constantly upskilling your sales employees, you’re equipping them with the ability to better respond to sales challenges.
Check out sales training at Janek to see how regular sales training will benefit your team.
Build a Sales Team That Performs
The sales team is the force behind the financial performance of every business. But the efficiency of your team largely depends on how you assemble and manage it. Identify the sales roles your organization needs, find top talent, and focus on team training.
