3 Ways to Get More Production Out of a Sales Team

Are you feeling like you're wasting money by paying your sales team to work your leads?  After all, you did start the company yourself and you've been the full time salesperson before, even while completing all of the operations for your business.  You know you have an amazing product/service, and you know a well trained sales team should be able develop your business; but, why can't you get more production out of your sales team?

1) Training: Like you said, a well trained sales team should be able to develop your business.  On the contrary, a poorly trained sales team will bring your development to a screeching halt.  They must know the product/service better than they know their left hand, and they have to know the pain points that they will be solving by doing business.  Good training includes ongoing training, and regular performance reviews.  Help your sales staff develop on a personal level, and they will deliver for you professionally.

2) Tools: This implies software tools, but also includes a particular skill set that has become vital for successful sales people in 2014.  I'm talking about the teaching the sales team how to do their homework, or research their leads.  A good online marketing specialist has the tools to make a great private detective because of their ability to research information quickly using the internet.  These days, a sales person needs to be able to do the same.  Use Facebook to find their hobbies, use LinkedIn to find their credentials, and use their website to learn more about their history.  Any one bit of information found could be that one common ground that initiates the sale.  In addition to detective tools, a sales person needs a high quality CRM; and, preferably, a marketing automation suite to work with the CRM.  This way they are able to handle more leads, and handle them more efficiently.  Warning: software tools require great training, or they will prove to be a burden as well.

3) Polish: They say that in sales, you have to sell yourself.  They're right, of course.  The majority of decision makers will figure out who has the right solution; and, of those companies, they will select the company whose sales person made the strongest impression.  There are many deals a sales person will lose because their personality doesn't gel with that of the buyer; so, don't miss out on the deals that were in your control.  For many buyers, an annoying tone of voice, a stained suit, or non-groomed facial hair could be a deal breaker.  A bad pitch, a lack of confidence, or forgetting your belt could also lose you a deal.  The same goes for bad breath, crooked glasses, or a shirt that is just too tight.  Get the point here?  It's not that a polished sales person will earn more business, but that a salesperson lacking the polish will lose deals that they'd already earned.

In conclusion, take some time to assess your force.  Do you need to get more production out of your sales team?  Make some changes, and watch the results.  Just remember, they are on your team, and they want to sell.  Help them sell and everyone wins.