If you ask business owners about the top challenges for their companies, you will hear three things loud and clear – hiring new employees, increasing profits and growing revenues. Building a star sales team sits right at the nexus of those three challenges since it requires hiring talented sales people that can successfully build relationships with clients — fueling revenues and profits.
In its 22 years of recruiting sales professionals and leaders for companies of all shapes and sizes, Naviga has had the pleasure of working with companies that successfully grew star sales teams and thus their profits and sales. What these businesses have in common are owners that do what it takes to overcome five key obstacles that cause many businesses to stumble, namely STARS:
- Selling the Opportunity
- Time to Recruit
- Access to Top Talent
- Retaining and Elevating Star Performers
- Selection Skills
In this post, we will outline each obstacle along with options to overcome it. It is possible for any business to build a star sales team, but it takes a determined owner to address each obstacle – either personally or through others. Failing in any one of these areas puts the sales team and its organization on a shaky foundation.
OBSTACLE 1: SELLING THE OPPORTUNITY
A key obstacle companies encounter when trying to build a star sales team is positioning the company and the job opportunity in a way that will attract and retain star salespeople. Companies often think about how to sell to clients, but not always about selling to current and future employees.
A few key steps you need to take in order to properly position your company as an attractive employer for star salespeople are:
- Research the market around you and understand what candidates are getting from other companies
- Have a crisp elevator pitch of why star salespeople would want to join your firm
- Offer a competitive compensation program that rewards results
- And, sell the candidate during all interactions – don’t just evaluate the candidate. Successful companies realize that star candidates have choices – including staying where they are!
DO YOUR RESEARCH
If you are going to sell the opportunity, you must understand the market environment around you. Sales position titles, duties, salaries and cultural expectations are changing frequently so you need to stay up to date with the current trends.
Start by researching trends with other companies in your field with regards to salaries, titles, responsibilities, and other benefits. Dig deep to find out what your talent competitors are doing culturally to stand out.
Once you identify the overarching trends, realign your offerings and carry the thinking through to your entire hiring process. For example, if you are planning to build a team of millennials who value a collaborative team environment, don’t emphasize (or build) a culture of hyper-competitive individualism.
CREATE AN ELEVATOR PITCH
Next, you need to create an elevator pitch that would entice star sales reps to leave their current employer and join you. Do you have excellent benefits and bonuses? Are you located in an up and coming segment of the industry? Is the culture amazing?
The bottom-line – you need to have a succinct response to the question “Why should I work here?” In answering this question for star sales reps, don’t forget to think about how you are going to present your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Most likely you’re not going to have every single benefit a sales candidate is looking for in a company, but find a way to turn those negatives into positives.
COMPETITIVE COMPENSATION PLAN
While compensation is not the only factor that star sales reps consider when exploring new career opportunities, offering a salary and commission plan that is not competitive with today’s market is not going to cut it if you want to entice them to join you. Your total compensation must be competitive and follow current market trends – and your plan should offer a realistic chance for sales reps to increase their earnings within the first 1-2 years.
There are compensation consultants and even recruiting companies that can help you create a sales compensation plan. Sales recruiters are a great resource to use because they know the market and what compensation plans are being offered and accepted. They can also help you find the right mix of salary, commissions, benefits, and perks that will attract the best in the market.
Avoid using generic salary websites like salary.com because those estimates are geared toward the lower end of the market, not top performing sales reps.
Taking the time to craft your elevator pitch and a strong sales compensation plan will help you hire star sales reps and retain them as well. If your current reps have a rewarding compensation plan, enjoy the benefits your company has to offer and have clarity of what your company has to offer, they have no reason to look for a new position or accept an offer from another company.
ALWAYS BE SELLING
Throughout your recruiting process – from the job description to the job posting to candidate outreach to the interview process – follow the old adage “Always be Selling”. Star sales representatives have opportunities. One of the biggest opportunities you have to overcome is staying with their current employer. Counter-offers are common with this crowd! You have to build excitement to the level that a person is willing to risk their own well-being and the well-being of their family to join your company.
You must perform a balancing act when recruiting star salespeople. You are evaluating the reps to ensure they fit your needs, but you are also trying to provide candidates what they need to be able to make an informed decision about a career with your company. It is important to stress this mindset to your entire team. It only takes one person in your recruiting process to unsell a star salesperson. We have too many examples to count of interview team members intentionally undermining the process, mistakenly sharing information better left unsaid, or thinking their job is only to evaluate and not answer candidate questions.
Honesty and openness are important with star sales candidates. The good ones know how to ask questions to help understand the environment and they know when they aren’t getting the whole story.
OBSTACLE 2: TIME TO RECRUIT
Possibly the biggest obstacle to building a star sales team is time to recruit top talent! Dealing with the day-to-day business of working with clients, running the operations and handling emergencies often encroaches on the time needed to hire new sales reps. If you or a dedicated resource can’t devote enough time to hire, then you will inevitably settle for mediocre candidates.
So how much time is actually required to properly execute a recruiting process?
On average, the time it takes to fill a given position is 42 days, according to the 2016 Human Capital Benchmarking Report. And, those days aren’t spent sitting idly waiting for candidates to apply to your position. You’re working the entire time on the following tasks:
- Developing the job description and advertising online
- Searching LinkedIn or other sources for top sales reps in related fields
- Reaching out to targeted candidates and applicants multiple times by phone and email to present the opportunity
- Scheduling and performing in-depth interviews with interested and qualified candidates
- Conducting in-person, team interviews
- Checking professional references
- Scheduling and reviewing online sales assessments for candidates
- Crafting and extending the offer
- Engaging with the candidate during their notice period, and planning for a successful onboarding experience.
If you don’t dedicate sufficient time and resources to doing all of these activities, you are likely increasing the time it takes to find a great candidate or settling for a less than ideal candidate to get the position filled.
You really have two options to address the time to recruit obstacle: namely:
- Do it Yourself
- Pay a Professional
We share below some of the things to consider with each of these approaches.
DO IT YOURSELF
With a solid plan and execution, it is reasonable to hire star sales candidates in 45 days. However, it’s going to take time, money, and effort to achieve great results. The table below summarizes some of the costs associated with Do It Yourself:
| ACTIVITY | TIME FRAME | POTENTIAL COST |
|---|---|---|
| Advertising Jobs | 4 hours per position | $200 – $1,500 per position |
| Identify 100-150 Candidates on Target Databases | 10-15 hours per position | $1,200 to $6,000 annually |
| Screening Potential Candidates for Fit and Interest | 30-40 hours per position | |
| Team Interviews with Finalist Candidates | 12-15 hours per position | |
| 3rd Party Sales Assessments Tools (DISC, OMG, Tri-Metrix) | $100-400 per candidate |
For more details on the steps, time and expenses outlined here, check out our 45 Day Action Plan to Hire Star Sales Reps.
While we outline the tactics and costs associated with doing it yourself, the other considerations include the skill of the person or persons that are completing the tasks and their relative availability to put sustained effort on these tasks. Recruiting star salespeople takes professionalism and responsiveness. If time is not applied consistently and professionally, you risk losing the interest of top talent due to delays or lack of follow-up.
HIRE A RECRUITER
Your second solution to the time challenge is using a specialized sales recruiter. This approach will also cost you money, but you won’t have to devote nearly as much time or effort to the process. Just from the quick snapshot above, you can see that hiring a recruiter will easily save you 50 hours of time and energy on promoting the position, reaching out to targeted star reps and screening potential candidates for interest and fit.
The benefit of using a recruiter is that you’re paying them to do all the heavy lifting – leaving you time to focus on your business. With a recruiter, you will also know your expense as most recruiters tie their fees to the pay for your hired candidate.
Another consideration is the expertise you get when using a recruiter. A professional sales recruiter is searching and interacting with sales reps every day and has become an expert at what to look for and who to weed out. They will also have an understanding of the latest trends in the industry and what it will take for a sales candidate to accept a new position at your company.
Finally, a recruiting firm will manage all the steps it takes to close the candidate. From the offer stage to checking references, all of these tasks will be completed by the sales recruitment firm.
OBSTACLE 3: ACCESS TO TOP TALENT
Top performing sales reps are hard to find, especially if you don’t know where to look.
Businesses often rely on job ads to attract top performers to their positions and will choose the sales reps solely from this candidate pool. However, the chances are small that star sales candidates that meet your specific requirements will apply to your position. Top sales candidates are most likely employed and being rewarded for achieving results – so they are not likely seeking other positions or looking at job ads.
Instead, you need to seek out star sales reps.
There are generally two ways you can do this, and both involve expense and connections:
- Pay LinkedIn for access to advanced search capabilities to find targeted candidates and assign dedicated resources to reach out to candidates
- Hire a specialized Sales Recruiter to access their database and connections
PAY FOR LINKEDIN RECRUITER OR SALES NAVIGATOR
Many owners and professionals already use the free or premium versions of LinkedIn to connect with other professionals in their industry. Let’s face it – LinkedIn is the defacto database of professionals in the U.S. However, they only give you visibility to a slice of the database – generally, those closely linked to your own network. In order to find the best sales reps, you will need to look outside of your own network as well.
To go beyond your network and to get advanced search for finding candidates by industry, seniority and other key factors, you will have to upgrade beyond premium to either LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator or Recruiter editions. In addition to advanced search abilities, these licenses include the ability to send messages (InMails) without being connected.
While LinkedIn Recruiter or Sales Navigator are great options to find sales candidates, there are some things you need to consider first. The paid version of LinkedIn Recruiter is expensive and could cost you up to $6,000 a seat, and Recruiter Lite over $1,000 per year.
Also, you’re going to need a lot of time and resources to reach out to these candidates. On average, you will need to contact 100-150 candidates for a new position multiple times, screen them for interest in new opportunities, and move them through further discussions if they are. This outreach effort takes extensive time and experience.
PARTNER WITH A RECRUITING FIRM
Access to top talent is a key benefit of working with a recruiting firm. A professional recruiter will already have subscriptions to LinkedIn Recruiter, other 3rd party databases, their own established network, and an internal database of thousands of pre-screened candidates. Plus, they have already gathered personal contact details such as phone numbers and email addresses that aren’t readily available on LinkedIn.
Not only do recruiters have access to a database of qualified candidates, they also have experience with gaining the interest of candidates that are not actively seeking positions. Whether it is proven scripts that work, methodologies that have been refined over time, or understanding of how to request referrals, specialized recruiters know how to use their access to engage the right star sales reps for your position.
OBSTACLE 4: RETAINING AND ELEVATING STAR PERFORMERS
Hiring and recruiting top sales reps is only one piece of the puzzle when building a star sales team. Leading your team in a way that retains star talent and elevates the performance of your players is critical to building an enduring and thriving business.
In our experience working with many different sales organizations, there are a few key actions high-growth companies take to retain and elevate their star sales performers, including:
- Providing strong dedicated leadership
- Providing CONTINUOUS sales training and coaching
- Pruning your poor performers
- Supporting the team with lead generation activities
PROVIDE STRONG SALES LEADERSHIP
When your business is just starting out, it’s normal for the business owner to wear many hats, including sales leader. However, if you really want your business to grow from a 7-figure business, for example, to an 8-figure business, you’re going to have to make a change.
At some point, you must shift your emphasis from managing every department of your company to leading the vision and direction of the entire organization. You can make this transition possible by bringing in leaders to help manage different facets of the business.
And as your company continues to grow, these leaders are going to be essential to managing your team when you don’t have the time. One of the main reasons top sales reps leave is they’re not getting the support from leadership that will enhance their success. Often, that comes when the owner is still acting as the sales leader and isn’t able to spend enough time leading their sales team. If you can see this happening in your own company, perhaps it’s time to consider hiring a sales leader to manage your team.
ONGOING SALES TRAINING
Just because you have a team of top sales professionals doesn’t mean they won’t need any training or additional coaching.
You should provide sales training – internal or external training program, accountability meetings, and the right tools and technology for them to be successful. And sales training should be continuous, not just a one-time session. It can be difficult for people to learn a huge chunk of information in a short period of time. Try to spread out these sales training sessions and future sessions to help your sales reps retain the information and brush up on their skills.
Also, sales training and onboarding are especially important when new sales reps join your team. While the new hire orientation can be done relatively quickly, onboarding is a process that can take up to 12 months. And this onboarding training is not something you want to skip. With a robust process, the right tools, and effective measures, you will help your team become sales-ready quicker and start closing deals faster.
Many of your sales professionals have also had different sales training experiences and backgrounds with other companies and you will need to teach them what works and what is expected for your company. Sales training can teach your sales team the proven methodology to be successful in your company.
PRUNING POOR PERFORMERS
Your goal is to help your sales team succeed and to prevent turnover of star performers, but it is critical to flush out poor performers – they can be a cancer to your team. Not only do poor performers pull down the morale of your entire team, they consume valuable leadership time that is not likely to pay off.
However, we recommend you have a departure plan in place first before terminating sales reps since they are often the face of your company to clients and longer-term prospects. Those important audiences need to see that you have a well thought out plan for handling them and transitioning to a new representative. Generally, you should plan to have top sales candidates in the pipeline that are familiar with your company that you can hire quickly.
If you’re worried about your current team finding out about a potential new hire, partner with a recruiting firm. A recruiter can find you top talent while being discreet and never having to post the open job on your website.
LEAD GENERATION SUPPORT
Another way to make sure your sales reps are effective is to give them lead generation support.
The world of sales has changed dramatically and there is a lot of research indicating that it is more difficult than ever to get through to prospects solely with outbound sales efforts. Most leading sales teams team rely on marketing and lead generation activities to build awareness and interest in your target audiences. As your target buyers grow in the awareness of your solutions, lead generation activity moves them through a process towards qualified sales leads.
Hiring a lead generation professional to support your sales team is extremely cost-effective, and produces better results for your sales team. Expertise in lead nurturing results in a 50% increase in sales-ready leads, along with a 33% decrease in its cost, according to Forrester Research via HubSpot.
When your sales reps are being supported through training, leadership and lead generation activities, it creates a culture that not only attracts star sales reps but retains them too.
OBSTACLE 5: SELECTION SKILLS
It’s impossible to build your star sales team if you lack experience selecting star sales professionals.
Sales reps are difficult to assess because what you see is not always what you get! A sales rep can be very charismatic in an interview and sell themselves very well, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be a top performer.
To be successful at selection, star sales organizations become really strong in a few key areas, namely:
- Understanding the requirements of open positions
- Involving the team in the interview process
- Asking the right questions during interviews
UNDERSTAND REQUIREMENTS
You first need to identify what that ideal candidate looks like and have a solid understanding of what requirements and characteristics are needed for each position.
For example, what characteristics best match your company culture? What type of selling experience do they need? What level of quota have they carried in the past and have they met plan? If you’re clear about these requirements up front, then you increase your chances of hiring the right candidate the first time around.
After you’ve identified the requirements, make sure everyone on the interview team has a clear understanding of what they are. You and your team should evaluate candidates against these requirements and drill into experience, along with daily and weekly behaviors, rather than relying on personality and charisma.
INVOLVE YOUR TEAM
Many companies don’t involve their team during the interview process and that is a big mistake. Involving your team helps you get a broader, unbiased perspective of your candidate. Plus, who knows the culture of your company better than the people who work there?
One thing to keep in mind when using your team is that not every member of your interview team is going to be familiar with hiring sales reps. Make sure to create an ideal candidate profile for your team members to review, meet with your team before the interviews and set expectations for during the interview. We recommend assigning specific requirements to individual members of the team so that you don’t overlap what you are covering and you get all your requirements covered by someone.
And finally, schedule a time to meet with your team to discuss their candidate evaluations shortly after the interviews are finished so everyone’s thoughts are fresh on their minds.
ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
After your interview team is set and everyone knows which requirement is assigned to them, you need to choose the right questions to ask during the interview. Each interview team member should ask questions based on their specific requirement.
For example, if you want your sales rep to be goal oriented, you could ask them “Are you doing a good job? How do you know?” Or, “How have you gotten around obstacles that prevented you from closing a deal? Describe the obstacle and how you got around it.”
Also, these questions should be open-ended so your team can probe the response and look for behavioral examples.
CONCLUSION
One of the biggest assets of your company is your sales team. After all, they’re the ones selling your products or service, representing your company to clients and prospects, and helping your revenue soar. However, many business owners take their sales teams for granted and don’t put in the necessary effort to build it them on a strong foundation of star performers.
Building a star sales team should be a top priority for your company. You will undoubtedly run into one or more of the obstacles mentioned above, but now you have the knowledge of how to conquer them and help your sales team succeed.
Which obstacle(s) are preventing you from building a star sales team that achieves your desired results?
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