How Do I Know if I Have the Right Salespeople?

Is your revenue growing at the right pace to hit your company goals? If you’re like many of the owners and top executives I encounter, you may be questioning whether you have the right salespeople to take your business to the next level.

Sure, your current team knows the industry and generally hits their numbers, but… could they do better? Are you providing them with the tools they need to succeed? How does your team perform compared to other sales talent out there?

The million-dollar question, “How do I know if I have the right salespeople on my team?”, is not one to be avoided.

To answer this critical question, I’ll guide you through four key areas to assess:

• Sales Activity Effectiveness
• Sales Culture Impact
• Sales Structure & Positioning
• Management of Your Sales Team

Sales Activity Effectiveness

While reviewing sales activity is the obvious starting point, it’s important to understand that monitoring activity on a stringent, one-size-fits-all scale isn’t the most effective way to go about it.

Businesses have differing activity contributors of success, so you'll want to assess your sales activity effectiveness through outcomes that align with your defined formula for success.

While a certain volume of activity is needed to fill the sales pipeline, it’s also important to monitor a variety of other key performance indicators to form a full picture of sales performance effectiveness.

Here is a sampling to get you started on developing the mix of metrics appropriate to guide your unique environment:

• Volume of New Prospect Introduction Meetings
• % of Introductions that convert into “next step”
• Quantity of New Opportunities entering the Sales Pipeline
• Speed in which opportunities move through Sales Process
• Average deal size
• ... and many more considerations!

Sales Culture Impact

Once you’ve determined that your team’s sales activities are moving in the right direction, you’ll want to look at how your salespeople interact with those around them.

To create a positive and successful sales culture, you need to have the right attitudes on your frontline.

This doesn’t necessarily mean your salespeople need to be upbeat, gregarious cheerleaders; in fact, successful salespeople can have a wide range of personality styles.

However, having the right mindset is a key attribute that enables sellers to drive productive outcomes internally and externally.

To assess this area, evaluate your sellers’ reaction to sales obstacles or new assignments by processing through these questions...

• Do they have a can-do attitude?
• Are they creative problem-solvers?
• How do they go about conquering roadblocks?
• Do they strive to form win/win outcomes internally and externally?

Have you ever heard the phrase, “One bad apple can spoil the bunch”?

The same is true for team members. It’s important to remember that high-performing salespeople with negative outlooks often times do more harm than good.

Sales Structure and Positioning

If growth targets are not being met after you verify your salespeople are working smart and have the right mindset, it may be time to revisit your sales structure and positioning.

As the market evolves and you make changes in your go-to-market strategy, it’s important to reassess how you have your resources positioned. This could involve your staff structure, competitive positioning, sales process design, or any number of other sales infrastructure elements.

The approach that worked before may no longer be the path to success.

For example, the shift from in-person to virtual selling required the development of new sales skills and the acclimation to new technology.

Now, the further migration to hybrid selling has required sellers to learn the best way to balance customer-facing and virtual interaction while maintaining strong relationships.

When it comes to assessing your sales org structure and positioning, ask yourself:

• Is my sales strategy adapted to what’s currently happening in the marketplace?
• Have I reassessed our sales process recently and realigned it as necessary?
• Am I giving my team the right tools for success to support their selling environment changes?

Management of Your Sales Team

Even the most experienced salespeople need help navigating through difficult barriers. To assess the effectiveness of your sales management practices, consider your performance in these areas:

• Is your team provided with clear performance objectives?
• How do you hold your salespeople accountable to bring out the best in them?
• What is the frequency you are involved in sales calls to gain firsthand exposure to your sales team’s presentation skills, objection handling, next step positioning, etc.?
• Are your sellers provided with timely and productive coaching feedback?
• What is your approach to continuous sales development?

Keep in mind that it can be difficult for even the best salesperson to find their way without committed and skilled sales leadership guidance.

In my previous article, “Why Can’t I Find the Right Salespeople?”, I outlined in more detail how effective sales leadership can set your salespeople up for success.

Additionally, my Sales Leadership Assessment is another resource that can help you identify gap areas holding back your desired growth trajectory.

How to Get Started??

Ultimately, knowing if you have the right salespeople in place can be tricky. As you can see, a multitude of factors come into play when assessing your players and equipping them for top performance.

If you’d like to discuss assessing your sales team in more detail or chat about the improvement you’re looking for in your business, contact me at 978-996-6030 or [email protected].

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I am part of a national group of Senior Sales Leaders who collaborate to share insights like the examples shown in this article. We formed because of our shared passion for helping business leaders exponentially grow their revenue.