A question I sometimes hear from small and medium business owners is: “Is recruiting the right sales reps all it takes for small or medium business sales organization to succeed?”
Many small and medium business owners do need to improve sales recruiting, which is something we do for our Sales Xceleration clients. However, what many owners don’t realize is that hiring great sales reps is not the entire answer to building a great sales team that can exceed the business owner’s revenue targets. For sales to succeed, the business also needs:
- A documented sales process that illustrates how others in the business support the sales reps moving deals along toward closure
- Sales systems customized for the business, so that a sales manager can manage the reps
- Sales metrics and key performance indicators, again to help a sales manager manage
- Best-practice compensation plans that motivate strong sales reps to succeed
- Finally, capable and experienced sales management to motivate and retain the new sales reps. Other key tasks for sales management to accomplish: (1) ensure sales reps focus the bulk of their time on customer interaction (2) ensuring other departments and the business owner help the sales team as documented in the sales process.
It is no accident that the bullet points listed above are exactly what Sales Xceleration does when engaged to help a small and medium business build its sales team. As part of our integrated services, we also recruit the great sales reps who can change a business by increasing revenue. Without all 3 components—sales systems, great sales reps and strong sales management—the chances of building and growing a successful outside sales operation is low.
