Building a Successful Sales Organization in 6 Steps  

Everyone on your team must understand your vision for the company and its goals. When you are a small business, it's easier, but don't overlook this. Be sure everyone on your team understands why your company exists, why that matters to your market, what you sell, and who will buy it. Then they need to understand the sales goals and how you will hit them. When you are the only one selling, it may not seem necessary to explain, but you are laying the foundation for hiring your first salesperson and probably many more after that.  

How do you generate leads now? Will that lead flow to be sufficient when you hire a salesperson? Salespeople don't magically generate sales. It's your job to provide a lead generation process that includes criteria for what type of companies will be most likely to buy. Including size, geography, industry, and other important criteria that will target who you sell to. Provide a list of companies you want to pursue and what products you want to sell. If you don't have a marketing department, you can do it yourself or outsource, but lead generation is a must. If your new salesperson spends time researching and building a list from scratch, it will be a long time before you get a return on your investment. The better marketing can support sales in the lead generation process, the better your results.  

We think that salespeople will know what to say. Well, they don't. And, if you don't tell them, they will make it up. Before you hire a sales rep, you should have a solid understanding of your market position and the message that will attract your target customer. That message is your value proposition, and that message is focused on your customer's problems rather than your products. You will have that message ready, so you can teach it to your new sales rep and practice it before you send the rep out to talk to customers. This way, you can get a quicker return on your investment because your new rep will be prepared to have the kinds of conversations that build relationships and close deals.  

Your sales process must be clear and documented so others can follow it. It may seem to you the path from meeting a prospect to closing the deal is obvious if you have been doing the selling. Document it so you can teach it. Your new sales rep should not be left alone to figure it out. The process may change, but you need to start somewhere. Your company's sales process should reflect your customer's buying process. How do your target customers buy? Map that out, and then be sure the process you want a salesperson to use is a match. Make it easy for your customers to buy, and you will be able to better predict your sales revenue. If you want an accurate forecast, the process is critical.  

You need a way to effectively track sales opportunities. You may have a CRM that builds a pipeline or funnel report, but that may not be effective. Set your CRM up to mirror your sales process and provide reports that help salespeople effectively pursue leads without missing anything. The more complex your sale, the more information and people there are to keep track of, and the longer the sales cycle. Tracking properly becomes critical. As the sales leader, your sales funnel is your lifeline. At any moment in time, you need to have clarity about what will close and when. Your funnel should provide this clarity if you manage it properly. Download our sales funnel graphic here.