Tired of hiring sales reps who don’t make the cut? You need to build a winning sales team. This is how you do it.
That’s what I, and most business owners, want to know. In my conversation with Lauren Tickner, a marketing genius and CEO of the Impact School, a coaching and e-learning company. Lauren has an impressive history as an entrepreneur having turned her first side hustle into a seven-figure business by the age of 21. Now she brings her winning methods to other companies around the world.
At the heart of her success is a deep understanding of sales – what to do and how to spot and nurture other people so they can do it too. Having been hiring salespeople for more than 20 years myself and having seen more than my fair share of those who don’t make the grade, I spoke to Lauren about how to find the best salespeople. You can listen to the full interview on my podcast on how to build a million-dollar sales team via this link, but here we wanted to look at the top tips and learnings from our conversation for business owners looking to build a sales force to be reckoned with.
How to build a winning sales team
Create sales frameworks around passion and conviction
Lauren sounds pretty tough in her outlook, but when she explains her methods, they’re underpinned by a potent combination of passion and conviction, translated into carefully considered frameworks. Her starting point for her business was to create something that she not only believes sells but that she knows will sell because she’s done it herself. This might sound obvious but it’s a game-changing piece of advice – you have to have a marketing message that converts before you can expect anyone else to sell it. Lots of companies think that all they need to do is find killer salespeople, but if you don’t have a product and a message that people want to begin with, no salesperson will be able to help you. In short, would you want what you’re selling?
Get your first deals yourself
Part of establishing whether you have a marketing message that converts is doing the leg work and getting those initial deals yourself. Once you know how to sell it you will find it a lot easier to show good salespeople how to tailor their skills to your business. After all, they might be able to sell but there are nuances to each product, service and customer segment. Lauren’s suggestion is pretty straightforward once you think about it, but it takes time and energy to make it happen. She suggests that once you know how to sell your offering, record every step that you have taken from the initial point of contact to close. Then turn everything into a framework for that winning method. If no one converts, it’s because your offer or method isn’t right.
Hire someone who’s hungry
When looking to build a winning sales team. I’ve tried having salespeople on commission only, salary only and a bit of both. In all cases, I have found it very hard to find people who achieve a level of sales that makes them an asset to the company. When it comes to her sales team, Lauren’s process is simple – commission only, but within a structure that provides motivation and security. She begins with a simple premise – salespeople have to be hungry for the sale. Her process isn’t to keep people hungry out of fear; she wants people who aspire to certain life goals and she shows them that those are possible because she’s living them. She says, “complacency is the biggest killer”, and I’m inclined to agree. She wants her team to make the most money, have the best car and live their best life. She shows them the life they want and how to hustle for it.
Set your people up to win
If you want people to aspire to something, you have to know what motivates them. This is where you start getting into whether someone is a great salesperson or a great salesperson for your business. If you’re selling the goal of fancy cars and great restaurants, then look for people who want that. If your business values are more along the lines of quality time with the family, you will need a salesperson with a different mentality. In short, if you want to attract the right people for your team, make sure you’re not misrepresenting yourself to those you employ.
Make sure your sales team aligns with your values
Yes, you want your sales team to want to make money, but you also want them to align with your company values because that’s going to be reflected in how they represent your company when talking to customers. For example, you might want them to be hungry for a sale but you don’t want them to be unethical in their approach. Equally, your goal might be to make money but is it also building long-term customer relationships for repeat income or is it about one-off sales? Your values will impact how you want your sales team to behave and the type of person you employ.
Create a supportive infrastructure
Lauren is clearly a tough businesswoman but she doesn’t just hire people and throw them to the wolves. She knows that it’s about ability, chemistry and, if someone shows promise, having the right framework to learn or tailor their skills to the business. We have already mentioned that she has painstakingly recorded her tried and tested sales process – she has then turned it into a structured methodology by which she trains and supports her team. She introduces new starters to different stages of the sales process over the first couple of weeks, she has a checklist for the way she wants her team to communicate with clients, how many sales calls she wants them to set up in a day, and the points they should be hitting on those calls. If they don’t get it at all, they’re not right for the company; if they show promise, she will invest further in their training and support them to be the best they can possibly be in their role. That’s leadership.
Use technology to your advantage
Technology is your friend when it comes to maximising the skills of your team. Lauren hasn’t just recorded her own training process to help train the team and provide clear guidelines for how to sell effectively, she also asks her salespeople to record their online chats and send them to her to review. They can simply record the screen and she will check them over in her own time in order to offer advice, guidance and support. For example, if someone is struggling with their grammar on chat, she will suggest installing Grammarly on their computer to help them. Tech can be used in lots of ways though – find what works for you and your customers and maximise the benefits.
The buck stops with you
Just because you’ve hired amazing people doesn’t mean your job is done. The best bosses don’t micromanage, but they do remember that the buck stops with them. Review and reflect on your team’s processes, make sure training is ongoing and support your people. Lauren might ask her team to work hard, but she works harder than anyone it seems.
Remember to be human and build relationships
It’s easy in a sales environment to forget that it’s ultimately about people, and for a business to be successful it’s about building relationships – with your team and your customers. One of the really nice things about the way Lauren speaks is that although there is a planned and highly strategic sales process, she does remind her team to be human. That’s in the way they work together, their attitude in the workplace and the culture they create, as well as the way they talk to customers. Yes, she wants them to achieve sales, but she explains the importance of communicating in an authentic and human way. She says, “a beautiful way of doing sales is to make it feel like customer service.” If you want to build a winning sales team, this is excellent advice.
Not everyone is a closer or a manager
Everyone needs incentives to develop within a team, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that everyone wants to rise through the ranks to be a manager. Some people are fantastic at sales but aren’t right to manage other people, and vice versa. When you’re looking at how you incentivise your team, and create a structure, but also look at people as individuals and if you have someone who’s amazing at their job but isn’t right for the next level up, how can you support them in having a fulfilling role?
Look after your people
Lauren’s sales team starts the working day at 10 am, not 7 am. The idea is that she wants them motivated and ready when they come into the office. She wants them to have a great lifestyle so they’re enthusiastic and positive at work, so instead of getting them to work every hour of the day, she wants them to have time to go to the gym, does their daily affirmations or whatever it is that will make sure they’re buzzing when they come to work. That boils down to understanding your people and looking after them. After all, good salespeople are hard to come by, so if you find them, you want to keep them.
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