One of the most important aspects that will determine the success or failure of a company is the sales team. In today’s economy, this has never been truer. Now, you actually have to sell – not just generate a lot of quotes. Waiting for the phone to ring and giving a price no longer makes the grade.
Unfortunately, ask the owners of most small to medium size businesses what has been one of their most frustrating and expensive problems in growing their business and they will tell you it is the hiring and retaining of good sales people. This was a problem during the good times prior to the economic meltdown, now it is mission critical.
After years of working with small and medium size businesses, I have concluded that the following are primary reasons for the failure of these sales people:
- Lack of a hiring process. Hiring somebody because they seemed like a good sales rep during the interview no longer cuts it. I will let you in on a little secret – sales rep will lie during an interview. I know, it is hard to believe.
- Poor interview technique: A good interview is not telling the applicant about your company and then hoping he/she will come work for you.
- Failure to use Behavioral Assessments: Interviews and reference checks are only part of the hiring process. You need to understand how the candidate thinks and what motivates them. Behavioral assessments give you that knowledge. Again, believe it or not, people will lie during an interview.
- Lack of effective sales management: Asking a sales rep everyday what they are going to close is not sales management. Good sales management can overcome a lack of process, but good processes cannot overcome bad sales management.
- Not managing the sale rep(s) to a set of clearly defined set of expectations:
- 30/60/90 day forecasts
- Key Performance Indicators
- Managing to a Quota
In my next post, I write about what I think is the #1 reason why most sales reps fail in small business. It is probably not what you think…
June 30, 2011 at 8:06 am |
Good points about getting good people. A few thoughts for your readers to consider.
- Hiring a sales pro means getting help from another pro – would you perform your own appendectomy? Do you really know how to interview salespeople and cut through the BS? BTW, not all reps lie in an interview – the best might inflate their true value to past employers. Get help – whether volunteered help like a retired sales exec, or from a current pro on sales staffing.
- Managing sellers is not the issue many think it is. Motivating sellers is more important. You can watch the funnel from a desktop and review reps performance over a cellphone. But you motivate by being in the boat with them – they crave results like you do – but they love leadership. Partner-up with your reps unless you already have a great Sales Manager in the firm.
- Hiring and Retention are separate matters – in fact, new hires can have a retention downside among existing reps. Lots of things go through your existing reps’ minds; are territories or modules being changed to make room for the new rep? I’d this a plan to “upgrade” the force – like hire newbies to raise the bar on others quotas? Bottom line, the existing reps may misinterpret and begin looking elsewhere for their next job even if you didn’t intend to replace them. Communicate well in advance and avoid this unintended consequence.
- Last point, you need to develop your reps to get the best results. This is more than you product or service training – it means broad engagement and regular coaching. Reps know how to get to first base without help from the coach, but if you want to get big results you must be able to coach for long-term success.
June 30, 2011 at 8:41 am |
Excellent points! I appreciate your input!