Tweet

Building A Phenomenal Sales Team Without Going Insane In The Process

Written by: John McEntyre

Article Overview: If you are looking to start a sales department or simply build the team you already have in place, there are some things you should do to make sure you hire the right people and take care of them once you find them. Here is a short guide to building a sales team.

Building A Phenomenal Sales Team Without Going Insane In The Process

If you are looking to start a sales department or simply build the team you already have in place, there are some things you should do to make sure you hire the right people and take care of them once you find them. Here is a short guide to building a sales team.

Hiring

This stage of building your sales team is one of the most critical. If you hire the wrong person, you can motivate them to Timbuktu and back to no avail. Many people are turning to Chet Holmes, who screens large applicants for you and produces a small selection of interviewees, saving you the time and hassle of finding candidates who may not be qualified.

Interviewing

No one likes to make others uncomfortable, but in the interview process it is critical. You will have to ask the candidate difficult questions before you will understand whether he or she has the critical thinking skills you are looking for.

Do not be concerned about putting the candidate under pressure. People will show their true colors when great demands are made on them, and you want to make sure each individual of your sales team can work well even when under stress. If they balk at the first sign of it, they are not going to be able to function at the level you need them to.

Training

Many employers assume that selling ability is natural. While this is true to some extent, training is a crucial aspect to building a phenomenal sales team. You must create two focal points for your training: product education and sales education. Your team must know your product inside and out, and be able to deal with the curve balls they may encounter from potential customers.

Training is so important that there are programs written specifically for companies to use to educate their teams. Again, Chet Holmes has a system of training programs to help the business owner create his or her ideal staff. There are many other plans available out there, and a good day of research to find the right one will be a day well spent on the future of your company.

Motivation

So you have found your candidates and trained them thoroughly. Yet after a while their production plateaus and you don’t know what to do. Remember that they are human beings, and you will need to do the same thing with them that you do with other staff--reward them, create contests, and praise them in public. Then give them higher challenges. As long as you recognize their achievements then raise the bar of performance, you can keep them performing.

Most importantly, remember that your appreciation of them is first reflected in their paychecks. If you don’t pay them well, your competitors will. Again, finding the right level of pay for your individual team members will require some research and possibly some consultation with business specialists. You may want to interview some human resources specialists to help you with this--they are well versed in salaries, benefit packages, and legal concerns in hiring.

Like any other workers, sales teams need constant grooming and support. As long as you do this, you will have the phenomenal sales team you desire.

Related Articles
  100 Ways to Succeed #96
  Building A Phenomenal Sales Team Without Going Insane In The Process
  Collaboration & Team Building for Sales Force Management Growth
  Building and Organizing a Virtual Team - Strategies that Work
  Faith, Hope And Insanity - The Three Reasons People Turn To Life Coaching

Article Tags: avail, business owner, chet holmes, critical thinking skills, curve balls, difficult questions, extent, hassle, interviewees, product education, sales education, stress, true colors, wrong person



Related Forum Posts
Need help in Team Building Activity.. - Hi! I am tasked to organize a Team Building Activity in the office. I would like to seek help from you guys on ideas on how to make it worth the time and effort. I want the team to ask for more team building activities after this one. Thanks! jane
Re: Need help in Team Building Activity.. - Team Building Activities are my favorite part. Last time our team was out for an expedition. We got a map and had to find the cave were we also slept and on our way there were other activities. It was an extreme team building and it was organized by a specialized company.
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Don't give up 40%! - Congrats on this milestone Evan... I agree with outsourcing any function that makes the business owner a Front-line worker as this is not best use of your time. I also agree with Louis that 40% is too much to give up. 40% may work if you have surpassed your income goals from the website and after you pay the 40% you are still within your monthly income goals. Would an RFP/RFI (Request For Proposal/Information) to companies like this Website Sales Team be a call you need to make?
Type of business with building - If you owned a building and Wal-Mart was opening its doors across the street in a previously unoccupied area (along with 12-14 small shops), what type of business would you start? Here are the considerations: 1. Money is a non-factor 2. Building is fairly large (10,000) square feet 3. Building is on the corner of a busy intersection (about to get much busier)


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Time management for DIY PR

20 MORE Must-Have Search Engine Marketing Tools

What I Really Want Is...

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.