sales leadership Archives

How to Hire a Sales Leader That Fits the Role and Culture

Posted on February 19, 2020May 9, 2022 by caitlinhoward

Adding the right sales leader to your organization can help accelerate your company’s ability to grow and increase revenue. On the other hand, hiring the wrong sales leader can cost your company a lot of money and lead to a string of negative consequences. In order to make sure you hire the right person, it’s important for the interviewer to be able to determine whether a candidate is just good i...

3 Tips for Managing a Remote Sales Team

Posted on April 13, 2018May 13, 2021 by caitlinhoward

There are many perks to managing a remote sales team, including -- reduced overhead, flexibility, larger talent pools, not to mention reps that can sell from anywhere and at any time. However, managing a remote sales team comes with its own special set of challenges. When your sales reps are spread out, you’re not just managing performance strategy. You’re now responsible for staying on to...

Is Your Sales Rep Your Next Sales Leader?

Posted on January 13, 2017August 12, 2021 by caitlinhoward

A common practice of many organizations is to promote top-performing sales reps into sales leadership roles. But the challenge with this approach is that the characteristics of sales managers are quite different than those of top-performing sales reps. That’s not to say a top-performing sales rep can’t be a sales leader, but you will need to review some of the following softer skills and s...

3 Sales Leadership Tips You Can Learn from Great Basketball Coaches

Posted on March 30, 2016January 6, 2021 by caitlinhoward

We’ve reached the end of March and in a few days, we will find out which teams will be squaring off in the final game of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. As the month-long tournament comes to a close, I can’t help but wonder what separates the top performing teams from the teams who exited early. While talented players, hard work and determination are the obvious answers, it’s also clear that...

Guest Post: How to Identify Future Sales Leaders

Posted on July 17, 2015January 7, 2021 by caitlinhoward

Unless you’re going through the carwash or getting frozen yogurt from a hole in a wall, there’s no such thing as good business without good people. Even that tile-wall fro-yo dispenser was someone’s (obviously) good idea. But even in today’s technology-filled world, nothing truly comes automated in sales. This is a people business, as we’ve said many times. To gain a competitive edge in today...

How Do I Know When to Replace a Sales Rep?

Posted on July 25, 2014January 7, 2021 by caitlinhoward

No sales rep is perfect. It’s expected for them to have an occasional off week, or even a month where they don’t hit their numbers. But how do you know when these mistakes aren’t just the consequence of a rough patch and actually warrant serious consequences? There are four key performance areas you should use to evaluate if it’s time to replace a sales rep or not. Examining a sales rep’s behavior...

7 Questions to Ask When Interviewing Sales Reps

Posted on July 18, 2014January 7, 2021 by caitlinhoward

Interviews are an opportunity to see which sales candidate is the best fit for your company and for the position. Asking candidates specific questions about their skills, job experience, and career ambition will help you match a candidate’s qualifications with your current opportunity. Consider asking these seven fundamental questions in your next interview to help you find your ideal sales candid...

How To Recruit For High Turnover Sales Reps

Posted on June 27, 2014January 8, 2021 by Kevin Steffey

Many companies go through periods of time where they need to hire a large volume of sales representatives, and they need to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Companies are often unable to keep up with these large hiring demands due to lack of process, resources and even time. Whether this need is due to business growth, high turnover environments, or a start-up business, the longer it ...

5 Questions Great Job Candidates Ask

Posted on September 25, 2012April 4, 2023 by KathleenSteffey

By Jeff Haden, INC.com Be honest. Raise your hand if you feel the part of the job interview where you ask the candidate, "Do you have any questions for me?" is almost always a waste of time. Thought so. The problem is most candidates don't actually care about your answers; they just hope to make themselves look good by asking "smart" questions. To them, what they ask is more impo...

7 Things to Look for in a Sales Manager

Posted on September 24, 2012June 16, 2023 by KathleenSteffey

By Lee Salz Many execs put industry experience at the top of their criteria list for sales-management candidates. “The successful applicant will have 10 years experience in the widget industry.” Hogwash! The end result of this approach is that companies hire the industry retreads. Perhaps, employers think that this person will bring along valuable competitive secrets — maybe even some clients. Wh...

Who says great sales managers can’t be found? Dig deep and make the offer sexy!

Posted on August 22, 2008 by KathleenSteffey

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a Fortune Small Business “Ask FSB” column (see “How do I Find a Great Sales Manager” in the September 2008 issue of Fortune Small Business), responding to a reader’s question on how to find a great sales manager to expand his staffing firm’s client base. The business owner said he was willing to offer very competitive pay, but was having a hard time...

Managing the Meeting

Posted on April 18, 2008 by KathleenSteffey

Regular sales meeting are a necessary evil. On the one hand, good sales leaders know that regular gatherings with their team are vital to achieving objectives, meeting goals and nipping problems before they blow out of proportion and threaten productivity. On the other hand, they can devolve into mind-numbing time-wasters that do nothing more than keep the sales team from actually selling. The ...

Actions Speak Louder than Words

Posted on April 11, 2008 by KathleenSteffey

If every motivational strategy in the book fails to turn your team around, it’s time to look in the mirror. The problem may be you. As a sales leader, you may honestly believe that you’ve created an environment that fosters success and encourages innovative approaches to achieving sales goals. But if the numbers aren’t backing that up, or if your team members are rapidly deserting you for greener...