How to Scale Your Sales Team

Way to go! Your company’s sales team is doing great! Sales numbers are up, and the future looks brighter than ever. There is just one problem. All the members of your current sales force are already maxing out their current level of productivity, and it falls on you to fix the issue. Don’t worry. We have six ways for you to scale your sales team while minimizing costs, staff, and waste.

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How to Scale Up Your Sales Team Quickly

Scaling your sales team isn’t easy. But when you use these seven tips, you will find you can get the most from your veteran sales professionals and the newest faces on your team.

Develop a Repeatable Sales Process

To grow a sales team while continuing to get the best results, there needs to be a proven process that is documented and repeatable.

An example of this is where to find prospects, how to reach out to them, and how to follow up. Everything is documented down to the script to use, as well as intervals on when to follow up.

Many of our clients find it useful to develop a sales playbook. Documented inside are the specific processes on how to find, research, and reach out to leads, as well as exact sales presentation and closing templates to employ.

Without this, time and money are wasted, and you’ll be left relying on certain reps to hit targets instead of relying on a process everyone can follow and use to succeed.

Offer ongoing training and coaching to scale your sales team

The training doesn’t end there once the team is trained on your products, services, and processes. Ongoing support and mentoring are needed to keep the momentum going.

I recommend conducting weekly sales team meetings where tips are exchanged, and everyone can learn from their colleagues’ successes and failures from the past week.

To complement team meetings, conduct one-on-one coaching to tackle individual needs and specific strengths and weaknesses.

To get the best results, hold quarterly half-day or full-day training. This allows the team to stay focused on learning and refining their skills in a safe environment where group sharing and practice can happen. While you may be a great sales manager, you may not always be the best trainer for your team. Many companies find that bringing in outside experts has a more positive effect on team performance. If you need help with that, check out our customized sales training programs.

Also Read:

• 7 Ways to Motivate Your Sales Team to Reach Targets
• How to Create a Sales Playbook For Your Team
• Sales KPIs – What Every Sales Leader Needs to Track
• Guide to Sales Enablement Strategies

Acquire and utilize the right technology to help your company grow

If you are still running your sales department like you did five years ago, you have a lot of catching up to do on Technology. Today’s lean yet effective sales team depends on new technology to get the best results possible. Modern tools have changed the sales world, enabling one salesperson to be as productive as two or more people in the past. In addition to using robust CRM software, you want to concentrate on finding ways to automate simple yet time-consuming tasks like answering basic customer questions and locating prospects. 

   Here are some sales tech ideas to get you started

• Outsource the qualifying to artificial intelligence with Saleswhale
• Transcribe and analyze calls with Chorus
• Prospect with LinkedIn
• Email automation with Hubspot
• Track customer data with Salesforce

Set clear roles for your team members to scale your sales team

Members of small sales teams often lack distinctive roles. Instead, they take on multiple responsibilities. However, to get the most productivity from your team, you must assign specific roles to each employee. Consider creating dedicated job titles like Sales Development Reps, Account Executives, Account Managers, and Sales Managers.

• Sales Development Reps work behind the scenes to ensure qualified leads are always in the pipeline.
• Account Executives are your front-line folks and the storytellers of your team. They are experts in sales presentations and helping prospects overcome their initial buying obstacles by focusing on developing custom value propositions. 
• Account Managers are the people who service existing accounts by acting as the main point of contact, answering any questions or concerns, and generally ensuring a smooth relationship. 
• Sales Managers act in a supervisory role by establishing quotas, conducting performance reviews, and handling certain HR activities. 

Hire based on characteristics needed for the role

Scaling your sales team requires hiring new people with the right traits to allow them to flourish. For Sales Development Reps and Account Executives, you want to look for a worker who shows qualities such as confidence, drive, and the ability to overcome setbacks. These individuals tend to be more outgoing and aggressive in their demeanor. However, for Account Managers and Account Executives, you want more nurturing people who can build long-lasting relationships with established accounts.  

Also read these articles on hiring hunters and farmers.

Hire in batches

It takes almost the same amount of time to train 2 new sales reps as it does to train 1. So make sure to always hire in batches of 2 or more at a time. Not only does it reduce training time and costs, but it also allows for the new hire to have a buddy to grow with and compete with.

Measure and Adjust According to Data 

Knowing what to track and how to track is crucial to determining the effectiveness of your efforts. How else can you objectively determine the results of any new initiative? Once you collect meaningful data, you will be able to identify critical areas of the sales process that need tweaking. You will also be able to determine whether your team is making the best use of its limited time. Here are some Sales Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to consider tracking:

• The average length of a sales cycle from identifying potential customers to closing the deal
• The number of times you touch base with a particular client and how you communicate with them
• The total number of open and closed sales opportunities in a quarter, along with the win percentage
• The quality and quantity of leads, along with how those leads are sourced
• A complete breakdown of how your sales team uses their team as a prospect works through the sales funnel

Whether you’re growing your team from 1 to 2 reps or 50 to 100, make sure you are implementing the above steps to keep your team effective and thriving as the team grows.

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