How to manage and scale a 7-figure sales team to grow your business?
You have the best of the best on your sales team.
Now you have to manage and lead them.
Do you understand your team’s weaknesses and strengths?
Do you have a reliable system to assess their performance?
Is there a training protocol in place?
What does their career growth look like?
How will you grow this from a sales team to a sales organization?
1. Managing the sales team
Performance metrics
This is a good place to start. The first 30 days target is to get the reps to a 15% close rate. There will be rockstars and underperformers. The idea is to optimize your team, with an average close rate of 25%.
Training
Ramp-up is more about teaching the rules of the game to the sales rep in the first 30 days. The idea is to build the salespeople’s muscle memory of how to sell and find their groove. Calibration is about acquiring the confidence to break these rules and raise the yardstick constantly.
Leading the sales team
Nothing succeeds like consistency. The leadership needs to not only focus consistently on metrics but also communicate in formats while retaining the underlying values of the business. This creates a culture of safety that allows sales reps to put their best foot forward.
Clarity and accountability
Data and numbers keep things simple and transparent. A poor data tracking process may instigate micromanagement, which in turn creates mistrust and drops morale. Therefore, it is important to have clarity in numbers so no one can hide. Everyone is accountable.
Coaching underperformers and top performers
Leave the top performers alone. They’ve got it all figured out. As for the underperformers, data is a starting point. Listen to calls and understand if it is a poor understanding of the procedure, a life issue showing up on the call, or they have poor-quality leads? Find out the crux of the matter and take action accordingly.
Support your sales rep
An entrepreneur has to wear multiple hats to run a business. The size of the problem they resolve will also possibly determine the size of their revenue. Your team needs to trust you implicitly to the extent that if they have an issue, personal or professional, they can count on you. Safety and trust are the words that keep a team together and help them succeed.
2. Scaling your sales team
Hire a sales manager
When you have a team of 4 to 5 salespeople, hire a full-time sales manager whose job is to coach the sales reps. A sales manager will conduct pipeline and call reviews; weekly and daily meetings to talk about goals, metrics, and concerns; and one-on-one meetings with sales reps. This structure will help sales reps perform at their best.
Create pods
Scaling isn’t about increasing the headcount. “Pods” or mini teams are a set of sales reps playing different roles in the sales function. It is impossible for a sales rep to perform every role and be great at each one of them. Some may be great at setting appointments while others are great at closing. You’ve got to leverage the skills of every sales rep and assign appropriate roles. Architect your organization in a manner that allows every sales rep to master their domains, and watch how your performance output accelerates.
Catching bigger fish
Affiliate programs, joint venture partnerships, referral partnerships, and getting you booked on stages (or podcasts) are the longer sales cycle and bigger deals. Consider hiring a business development manager to manage these deals effectively.
Hiring the right sales team is as important as managing it right. If followed, the tips shared in this Coaching Sales blog can help entrepreneurs transform the way their sales teams operate and make business revenues soar through the roof.
Why Coaching Sales?
It’s simple: we’ve solved the problem of attracting, training, and managing 7-figure sales reps for businesses that aim to grow exponentially.
Whether you’re looking to hire your first salesperson or scale up your sales operation, our team can help you get the results you want. We’ve helped 150 businesses (and counting) go from 6- to 7-figure run rates by scaling their sales. We can help you do the same.
