There are a variety of reasons why sales reps fail, from bad company onboarding to a wrong cultural fit. But perhaps the number one reason sales reps are unsuccessful is a lack of sales leadership. This can be prevented by hiring sales executives that can train and lead your sales team.
Not having strong sales leadership means you’re losing out on potential revenue from sales reps who are repeatedly missing their numbers. That doesn’t even include the high cost of hiring and turnover that occurs when trying to replace underperforming sales reps.
And to make matters worse, many of the companies who have underachieving sales reps aren’t aware the problem is often due to the absence of a good sales leader. They continue to hire and fire sales reps thinking they’re just not getting the right candidates.
The best way to determine when your company needs to hire a sales leader is to evaluate your current sales team. There are 4 questions that will help you examine whether or not your company would benefit from hiring a sales executive.
WHO IS LEADING YOUR CURRENT SALES TEAM?
The first question you should ask when evaluating your current sales situation is, Who is leading my sales team?
When small businesses start growing and adding sales reps to their team, oftentimes the CEO or Founder will act as a sales leader.
While this may work in the beginning, it will be harder to maintain as more demands are put on the business. Could your time be better spent on developing a new product instead of training and coaching these sales reps?
If the answer is yes, then hiring a dedicated sales leader to spend time with new hires would make more sense, and money, in the long run.
ARE YOU LOOKING TO GROW YOUR TEAM?
You should also consider where you see your business heading in the next month, year, or even two years. Are you planning on significantly expanding your business and your team?
The more sales reps on your team, the harder it will become to manage them. If you can’t devote enough time to coaching and training your reps, then ultimately they will fail.
Also, how qualified is your current sales leader to manage a large team of sales reps? It may be time to hire a more experienced sales manager to get the job done, instead of relying on someone less qualified who can’t devote as much time.
ARE YOUR SALES REPS UNDERPERFORMING? IF SO, WHY?
After you’ve evaluated your sales team as a whole, it’s time to assess your sales reps’ individual performance. Are your reps underperforming?
If the answer is yes, then look into why they aren’t making their numbers. Is it something that can be fixed with more coaching or training, or is it a lack of motivation from the sales rep?
Basically you’re trying to determine if the sales rep has potential, but could benefit from more coaching and one-on-one assistance.
IS THERE A BIG PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SALES REPS?
Now that you’ve identified the underperforming sales reps, you should then look to see how big of a difference there is between them and the A players on your team.
While it may be tempting to overlook underperforming reps when you have a few reps who are performing exceptionally well, you’re actually missing out on a lot of potential money. Try to figure out why all of your reps aren’t exceeding quota. It may be that the top reps have learned to plan their week more efficiently, or they are better at talking to prospects. Some of this may be due to natural ability, but a lot of it can be taught.
Before you decide to hire more sales reps or fire your current underperforming sales reps, first evaluate your sales leadership or lack of sales leadership. The solution may not be to hire new reps, but instead, to hire a sales executive.
Hiring sales executives is hard work. Learn more about our retained sales executive search services.
