CEO Advisor Newsletter May 2015
Hiring, Building and Managing
a Sales Team
In many small businesses, you may be the sales manager, marketing director and salesperson all in one. As you grow, you have the need for additional people to handle specialized jobs. One of the most critical positions you will need to hire is a sales manager, because sales are what drive your company's growth and profits. All other things being equal, the more well-managed salespeople you have the more sales you will generate. Adding sales people and improving your sales staff team with training and managing are essential to growing your company. Measuring Sales Productivity
Tracking sales by salesperson is an essential part of effective sales management. To track your sales team properly, you will need to set goals by creating a Sales Plan with sales goals by salesperson by month for the fiscal year. Then, communicate these goals to each salesperson regularly and hold each of them accountable for meeting their goals. A Custom Relations Management (CRM) software that is kept up to date, used daily by your sales team and monitored regularly is critical to meeting your sales goals.
Hiring Salespeople
Adding salespeople can result in steadily increasing sales. This can free you up to better manage the sales team and spend time and energy on other critical tasks. Hiring salespeople could also hurt sales, erode profits, damage valuable customer relationships, and destroy your image in the marketplace. The difference between these two scenarios is the difference between hiring the right salespeople and a potential disaster. CEO Advisor, Inc. has a 10-step approach to assist its' clients in making sound, profitable sales hires.
Salespeople have the most daily contact with your prospects and customers. They need to be pre-screened, interviewed three times, have their references checked and have a background check performed on them. To hire the right salesperson for the job, you have to have a clear understanding of what you are looking for with a concise job description. Do you want someone who is a closer or someone who takes more of a consultative sales approach? Do you need someone fully trained and experienced, or hungry and willing to dial 100 times a day to secure appointments.
Good salespeople want to be treated fairly and with respect. This starts with disciplined and consistent training. Misunderstanding your company's compensation plan is one of the main reasons for sales staff dissatisfaction and turnover. For all potential new hires, explain precisely how they will be compensated. In addition, clarify the territory, your sales goals and performance expectations, the training you will offer, and the sales tools you will provide including a CRM software solution, target lists and leads. You should also provide candidates with a thumbnail description of the market and the competition.
Once you initiate the salesperson search, consider the following:
Look internally. You may have technical, support, operations or administrative people who would and could successfully move into sales. Post the ad internally or discuss the opportunity with employees that represent a realistic fit. Ask for employee referrals. Chances are your existing employees know the kind of people who would be great salespeople and happy working for you. Network with suppliers, customers, colleagues, advisors and social contacts. This can be cheaper, faster and more reliable than advertising to the general public. Check with professional associations. They may have job lines to help members find employees. Online advertising. The speed, freshness and searchability of online job sites make them attractive options for both candidates and employers. Check with your local universities. You may be able to hire a recent graduate who's enthusiastic, effective and less expensive than a seasoned professional, or an intern for lead generation or sales appointment setting. Types of Salespeople Direct Sales TeamThis is the heart of your sales team and where you will leverage your sales for growth. Be disciplined in your hiring and training to increase your odds of successful hires. Make sure you hire salespeople that are hungry to get on the telephone, aggressive to gain meetings and close sales, motivated by money, are professional, coachable and experienced.
Manufacturer's Reps or Independent Contractor Salespeople Manufacturer's representatives and agents are terms used to describe independent contractor salespeople who work on commission. Independent contractor salespeople are not on a base salary, they receive a percentage of what they sell. They offer a practical, cost-effective alternative to a direct sales force for many growing companies. There are more than a half-million reps in North America, most selling to targeted markets in select geographic regions.
Telemarketers/Inside SalespeopleTelemarketers who contact prospects and customers by telephone can provide customer service, perform sales, as well as, take orders. One of a telemarketer's most useful jobs is generating qualified leads. Because you contact customers by telephone, it's easy to track results from a telemarketing effort. You can build your own telemarketing operation in-house by implementing a CRM software and secure lead lists, setting goals and managing the sales effort.
Sales ManagersIt's never easy to hand over responsibility for an important management job to someone else, but hiring an effective sales manager is a critical step to growth. It's unreasonable to expect you to be able to make 30 - 40 sales calls a day, direct other salespeople and run the company at the same time. Once you hire a sales manager, you'll be able to greatly reduce your sales calls, eliminate managing salespeople, and devote the balance of your time to the jobs you're uniquely qualified to handle, like devising the company's strategy, securing funding, making opportunistic acquisitions, developing new products, etc.
A good sales manager has to be able to:
CEO Advisor, Inc. is a specialist in helping companies build and manage their sales team so they can grow to the next level. Contact us today at (949) 629-2520, or email us at MHartsell@CEOAdvisor.com for a free initial consultation.
Tracking sales by salesperson is an essential part of effective sales management. To track your sales team properly, you will need to set goals by creating a Sales Plan with sales goals by salesperson by month for the fiscal year. Then, communicate these goals to each salesperson regularly and hold each of them accountable for meeting their goals. A Custom Relations Management (CRM) software that is kept up to date, used daily by your sales team and monitored regularly is critical to meeting your sales goals.
Hiring Salespeople
Adding salespeople can result in steadily increasing sales. This can free you up to better manage the sales team and spend time and energy on other critical tasks. Hiring salespeople could also hurt sales, erode profits, damage valuable customer relationships, and destroy your image in the marketplace. The difference between these two scenarios is the difference between hiring the right salespeople and a potential disaster. CEO Advisor, Inc. has a 10-step approach to assist its' clients in making sound, profitable sales hires.
Salespeople have the most daily contact with your prospects and customers. They need to be pre-screened, interviewed three times, have their references checked and have a background check performed on them. To hire the right salesperson for the job, you have to have a clear understanding of what you are looking for with a concise job description. Do you want someone who is a closer or someone who takes more of a consultative sales approach? Do you need someone fully trained and experienced, or hungry and willing to dial 100 times a day to secure appointments.
Good salespeople want to be treated fairly and with respect. This starts with disciplined and consistent training. Misunderstanding your company's compensation plan is one of the main reasons for sales staff dissatisfaction and turnover. For all potential new hires, explain precisely how they will be compensated. In addition, clarify the territory, your sales goals and performance expectations, the training you will offer, and the sales tools you will provide including a CRM software solution, target lists and leads. You should also provide candidates with a thumbnail description of the market and the competition.
Once you initiate the salesperson search, consider the following:
Look internally. You may have technical, support, operations or administrative people who would and could successfully move into sales. Post the ad internally or discuss the opportunity with employees that represent a realistic fit. Ask for employee referrals. Chances are your existing employees know the kind of people who would be great salespeople and happy working for you. Network with suppliers, customers, colleagues, advisors and social contacts. This can be cheaper, faster and more reliable than advertising to the general public. Check with professional associations. They may have job lines to help members find employees. Online advertising. The speed, freshness and searchability of online job sites make them attractive options for both candidates and employers. Check with your local universities. You may be able to hire a recent graduate who's enthusiastic, effective and less expensive than a seasoned professional, or an intern for lead generation or sales appointment setting. Types of Salespeople Direct Sales TeamThis is the heart of your sales team and where you will leverage your sales for growth. Be disciplined in your hiring and training to increase your odds of successful hires. Make sure you hire salespeople that are hungry to get on the telephone, aggressive to gain meetings and close sales, motivated by money, are professional, coachable and experienced.
Manufacturer's Reps or Independent Contractor Salespeople Manufacturer's representatives and agents are terms used to describe independent contractor salespeople who work on commission. Independent contractor salespeople are not on a base salary, they receive a percentage of what they sell. They offer a practical, cost-effective alternative to a direct sales force for many growing companies. There are more than a half-million reps in North America, most selling to targeted markets in select geographic regions.
Telemarketers/Inside SalespeopleTelemarketers who contact prospects and customers by telephone can provide customer service, perform sales, as well as, take orders. One of a telemarketer's most useful jobs is generating qualified leads. Because you contact customers by telephone, it's easy to track results from a telemarketing effort. You can build your own telemarketing operation in-house by implementing a CRM software and secure lead lists, setting goals and managing the sales effort.
Sales ManagersIt's never easy to hand over responsibility for an important management job to someone else, but hiring an effective sales manager is a critical step to growth. It's unreasonable to expect you to be able to make 30 - 40 sales calls a day, direct other salespeople and run the company at the same time. Once you hire a sales manager, you'll be able to greatly reduce your sales calls, eliminate managing salespeople, and devote the balance of your time to the jobs you're uniquely qualified to handle, like devising the company's strategy, securing funding, making opportunistic acquisitions, developing new products, etc.
A good sales manager has to be able to:
- Manage salespeople and train them effectively
- Develop sales strategies and plans
- Set sales goals for the sales team
- Monitor sales performance
- Personally handle key customers
- Prepare sales reports and monitor and track the CRM
- Report directly to you or a superior
CEO Advisor, Inc. is a specialist in helping companies build and manage their sales team so they can grow to the next level. Contact us today at (949) 629-2520, or email us at MHartsell@CEOAdvisor.com for a free initial consultation.
CEO Advisor, Inc. Advises
Center for New Medicine on Strategy and Growth
- CEO Advisor, Inc. (www.CEOAdvisor.com), a leading business advisory firm in Newport Beach, CA is providing strategy, marketing and growth advisory services to the Medical Director and CEO of Center For New Medicine (www.cfnmedicine.com). Center for New Medicine is an integrative medical practice and leading provider of disease prevention and care serving residents and corporate executives in Orange County, CA.
- CEO Advisor provides business advisory services affordably and effectively with hands-on work performed to assist CEOs, presidents, business owners and principal executives of small and mid-size organizations on growth, business strategy, business planning, business processes, sales strategy, sales team building, sales training, marketing, operations, finance, funding, and mergers and acquisitions advisory services to grow their businesses to the next level.
- As a trusted CEO Advisor® to business owners since 2004, the firm specializes in providing business consulting services in a one-to-one advisory role on a weekly basis to address specific issues and maximize sales, profits and business value to generate a substantial return on our client's investment.
- Mark Hartsell, CEO of CEO Advisor, Inc. states, "Center For New Medicine is a unique and comprehensive medical practice focused on the prevention and treatment of a broad range of illnesses and diseases. Unlike any other medical practice nationwide, Dr. Connealy and her highly skilled staff of doctors and specialists understand the desire for people today to live healthy and stay healthy. The Center is now taking further steps to research and ensure that optimal care is provided to each and every patient, while continuing to grow their practice to the next level."
- Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, Medical Director and CEO of Center For New Medicine states, "Our focus is on disease prevention and health for life, as well as, assessments and treatments for our valued patients. We are continuing to develop and provide the best care possible so our patients live the best life possible. CEO Advisor has provided the hands-on advice to enable us to achieve our goals."
- About Center For New Medicine
- Center For New Medicine is an integrative medical practice located in Irvine, CA that focuses on A) Cancer Prevention and Treatment, B) Heart Disease Prevention, C) Hormone Treatments, D) Diabetes Prevention and Treatments, as well as E) a Health for Life Strategy. For more information, call (949) 680-1880, email info@cfnmedicine.com or visit www.cfnmedicine.com.
- About CEO Advisor, Inc.
- CEO Advisor provides business consulting services affordably and effectively to meet the specific needs of small to mid-size companies in a wide range of industries, including software, technology, media, professional service firms, healthcare, manufacturing and many more.
- CEO Advisor's mission is to advise CEOs, presidents, business owners and principal executives with the needed expertise and focus, coupled with hands-on advice and work performed to grow your business to the next level. Contact Mark Hartsell, CEO of CEO Advisor, Inc. at (949) 629-2520 in Orange County, CA, by email at MHartsell@CEOAdvisor.com or visit us at www.CEOAdvisor.com for more information.