Getting the balance right when it comes to recruiting a great sales team can be difficult. Your sales team is the heart of your organisation: it drives business and brings in deals, so how it performs is a great barometer for the health of the company.
However, with only 20% of Salespeople regularly hitting their quotas, coaxing the best out of your team can be a difficult job. It’s not just about hiring right, though that’s important: with the sales landscape constantly evolving, you need to manage and build a group that can teach and support each other as the sales landscape evolves.
From investing in your team, to improving your company culture, here are five steps you can take to form a winning sales team.
It’s all about the team
Teamwork really does make the dream work. Only 24% of large companies claim to be functionally organised, but 92% of them cited ‘redesigning the way we work’ to be one of their key challenges for the upcoming years. There’s a reason for it: teams that are better organised, and who know how to work together, get more deals closed and have a higher morale than those that don’t.
By increasing your team’s focus on working together, you’ll also be able to elevate the performance of the poor or average sales members in your team: after all, they’ll be able to learn from those who close more deals and won’t feel ashamed to ask for support or advice, should they need it. As a result, team activity and performance will increase.
Hire fast, fire fast
Though of course every sales person hits the dreaded sales slump every now and again, there’s a difference between a poor performing employee and somebody who just needs a little encouragement and training. Everybody should be given a chance to improve, whether that’s in their current position or in one that’s more suited to their skill set: in fact, given that continuous training produces a 50% higher net sales per employee, it’s something that all of your team could benefit from. However, if they still don’t improve, then give it no more than two quarters before cutting your losses. After all, sales is a target-focussed job, and if they’re not making a profit then you need to give the job to somebody who can.
For more information on training great sales people, why not take a look at the great services that we offer at BMS Performance?
Understand your top performers
Sales people are ambitious, and top performers are even more so. 51% of sales talent are already participating in some kind of employee incentive programme at work and given that organisations with a high level of engagement see 50% higher sales and 38% above-average productivity, it’s something that you need to consider when handling your sales team.
High performers care more than average about having their efforts noticed, recognised and rewarded, so make sure you give them what they want. Put some kind of financial recognition scheme in place, offer prizes, or simply give them your time. It can be something as simple as frequent feedback, or even just praise when they close a great deal, but it can make all the difference in encouraging top performers and incentivising others to work harder and receive their reward, too.
Think about your company’s culture
A huge 82% of respondents to a recent Deloitte survey said that they thought that company culture was a potential competitive advantage. It makes sense: having a positive culture in the workplace makes it a more pleasant place to be and makes it easier for employees and team mates to form stronger bonds with each other. As a result, employees feel more comfortable at work, are motivated to do well and are more productive when it comes to closing sales deals.
If you want to form a winning sales team, make sure you do the same. Hold regular feedback sessions where employees can air their issues and work to resolve them; make sure you praise and acknowledge the achievements of your team and invest in training opportunities for your staff. If you want to go the extra mile, why not organise social nights out once a month for your team? It’s a great opportunity for them to let their hair down and bond outside the workplace.
Let BMS Performance help you
With years of experience in the sales industry, and insights from our expert recruitment consultants on hand, we’re the perfect choice to help you pick a winning team. Let’s talk: contact us here, or take a look at our blog for more insights into the world of sales here.
