Building a high-performing sales team that consistently reaches its targets, garners long-term customer loyalty, and paves the way for the future success of your company is a Big Ask. However experienced you are at meeting the challenge, there’s always more to learn.
And where better to pick up some valuable insights than right at the coalface? Today we share valuable insights from sales leaders around the globe – in bite-size – as published by Hubspot.com.
- Identify the skills that matter most. Highlight must-haves and desirable skills in your job descriptions, put them to the test at pre-screening and early interview stages, and embrace the skills-based approach to recruitment with the STAR technique.
Did you know that working with an expert, trustworthy recruitment partner – like ABL Recruitment – delivers significant cost, time, and hiring outcome benefits? We have a vast network of constantly-refreshed, active job candidates on our books, many of whom you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach. We know who they are and we know how to reach them. Moreover, we share the benefits of our bulk discounts on job adverts with you so promoting your vacancies through us is extremely cost-effective. If no candidate is hired, no fees will be charged, so it’s a zero-risk proposition.
- Build a culture of engagement. Find out what motivates your sales team to achieve their goals and deliver.
- Set clear expectations. Put your team’s short-term goals in context as regards the company’s long-term objectives. Empower the team with the tools, processes, onboarding, training, and other support they need to deliver. In other words, set them up for success!
- Set and monitor critical sales metrics. Make them simple, measurable, and visible to keep everyone on track.
- Share feedback regularly to identify what’s working and what’s not. Share successful customer case studies so they serve both as a learning opportunity for the whole team and as public recognition of a job well done. Praise, when warranted, is motivating and makes people feel valued.
Negative feedback also provides an important learning opportunity for the team. If you go public on mistakes, frame them diplomatically or don’t name any names.
- Encourage the sales team to set personal goals, tailored to their individual career aspirations. This serves as an important reference as to where the person’s current role sits within their intended career trajectory. It’s a lot easier to dedicate a full week to cold-calling if you know that it will keep you moving up your personalised career ladder.
- Use data – rather than your intuition or anecdotal commentary – to identify engagement issues.
- Put the customer’s long-term needs and happiness at the heart of everything you do. You’re looking for long-term loyalty, up-selling and cross-selling opportunities, and those magical referrals for new business. So the long-term happiness of your customer should be your goal, not just the initial contract win.
And that, according to Hubspot.com is how you build a high-performing sales team! We hope that you find these tips useful. If you’d like any expert guidance with the recruitment element of the challenge, please get in touch at info@ablrecruitment.com or on 020 7092 3911. We would be thrilled to hear from you!
