Build a Sales Team

Need to build a sale team? An efficient and flawlessly functioning sales team can do wonders for any organization. In fact, such teams are considered to be the “backbone” of most businesses. Understanding this practical truth, every business is keen on taking various measures to build a sales team that delivers numbers. However, if a particular company intends to build a sales team, there are several important facts to consider.

 

Things to Consider when it is time to build a sales team

 

If you need help, ask.

Take a look at your contact list and check for resource persons (every professional must have at least 2-3 resourceful contacts) and ask for some help. Most of the industry experts are willing to help someone out; so make use of it. Your ex-co-workers are one of the best choices in this case. They will come up with practical strategies to build a sales teamthat can bring revenue.

 

Gather knowledge by doing researches

If you are completely out of knowledge, you can’t build a sales team. You will never know even to start the process. So, it is compulsory for you to do some researches and educate yourself. There are various books and magazines to read on related topics. Get off your chair, stop grumbling and do your research first! 

 

Implement a good strategy for hiring

It is critical to hire sales team members that can operate with old common sense. Remember, you shouldn’t just hire people, but empower your sales force with enthusiastic professionals. Otherwise, all the efforts you put to build a sales team can be in vain. In fact, when you hire a salesperson, you need to adhere to a different strategy that consists of several particular questions for the candidate. This questioning process will help you to weigh the candidate accurately.

 

Is he/she trainable?

Unfortunately, most of the experienced salespersons believe that they know all the aspects of sales and are hardly willing to absorb anything new. So, if you want to build a sales team with sheer dynamism and flexibility, you need to avoid these experienced “stubborn” ones.

 

Can they sell a “bottle of water?”

You can observe their approach entirely after asking this type of question. See if they are willing to take up the challenge in an innovative way. Sometimes, they may have incredible inner strengths to utilize in situations like this. 

 

When has he/she performed any entrepreneurial flair?

Check if he/she has taken any initiative of a club, organization or something similar. This is a good way to test their leadership and organizational skills.

In addition to that, you need to check if the candidate has some product knowledge. This will help you to shorten their training process. 

 

Never hesitate to fire

Even after the toughest interviewing process, you are vulnerable to make some mistakes by hiring candidates that have low-performance and fake enthusiasm. When it comes to sales, you do not have any time to waste looking for such employee. Such employee can ruin the spirited of the entire sales team and hinder the process of grabbing potential opportunities. So, you shouldn’t hesitate to let such people leave you at their earliest.

 

Empower your sales team with essential tools

Thanks to modern technology, you can make use of some modern tools to optimize the performance of the sales team you built. This must-have toolkit should contain a project management tool, a comprehensive sales analytical software, CRM software, cloud storage (like Dropbox or Google Drive), a text expander that provides customizable templates for emails and messages and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Also, Build a sales playbook to help the new salespeople get acclimated with your products and products as fast as possible.

 

Establish clear, measurable goals

It is critical to set up solid KPIs when you build a sales team that works. If not, the team might not have a clear idea about the process. Be sure to obtain daily and weekly sales summaries in addition to the monthly basis reports. Call monthly meetings and discuss the statistics. These statistics are the best way to measure the efficiency of a sales team. Remember, this process is COMPULSORY. 

 

Be realistic

It can be hardly possible for the new sales team to achieve a monthly target from the beginning. Therefore, it is wiser to give them a four-month ramp period. Analyze the revenue at the end of each ramp while monitoring the monthly performances as well. 

 

Offer a base salary

Assure the sales team members’ peace of mind by giving them a basic salary in addition to the sales commission. This simple guarantee of a base salary helps them to pay off monthly bills and allow them to focus on selling. Even if you can get away with offering little or no salary, try to avoid it. You want the salespeople to be as motivated as possible to win.

 

Believe in communication

Facilitate the team members to work remotely about two days per week. This increases the communication skills within the team. Thanks to modern technology, communication is better than ever. Use video, voice or text chats and conferences whenever possible.

 

Invest in continual training

In addition to the training sessions carried out to build a sales team, it is important to update the group consistently with adequate training. These courses will establish a better bond with the team and keep them aware of the latest trends in the field. Make these sessions interesting and refreshing by using strategies like roleplaying, call shadowing, Screencasts, etc. In addition to that, options like weekly learning days would be great.  From the company’s perspective, these training sessions are vital to monitor the developments of sales team members.

Also, do not forget about ongoing product training and feature release updates. Keep your team informed and in sync.

 

The bottom line

After all these steps, at a certain point, you might feel that things are perfect. However, that isn’t necessarily a reason for you to minimize the focus on the team. In fact, you should put more efforts to maintain the gained confidence and efficiency. Remember, a single weakness of your sales team will open up an ocean of opportunities for your competitor. Keep communicating with them and provide the necessary encouragement. Show them the power of teamwork via workshops and fun events. After all, building a sales team is not just employing some people; it is a process of developing a mechanism to generate more revenue.