6 Steps to Build a Sales Team for Long-Term Growth

Tips for finding, training, and keeping the best and brightest salespeople to help your business grow

Chances are good that, when you started your business, you didn’t give a ton of thought to sales. After all, you probably created it to solve a problem you identified in the marketplace, so maybe you figured your product or service would just sell itself. Didn’t quite work out like that, did it?

This is why salespeople exist. You know why what you’re selling is fantastic, but you need folks who will be able to articulate this to potential customers. But more than that, you need a team that will be instrumental in growing your business. This guide will help you build that team, train them, and maintain them so your business can reach its full potential.

1. Determine who you need

What kind of sales will be required for your business? Will they involve calling customers from an office? Maybe salespeople will actually need to get out into the field? Perhaps it’s a combination of the two? Figuring out the type of sales team you need will point you in the right direction when looking for talent.

2. Hire the right people

So, what does “right” mean, anyway? First of all, they should have experience with the kind of sales you’ll need them to do. They also must be a good fit for your culture, salespeople tend to be outgoing and may have more impact on the workplace environment than other employees. It will certainly be helpful if they have a passion for what they will be selling. 

Finally, focus on hiring a diverse team that can bring different points of view and can help expand your market reach. People from different backgrounds and industries will tend to have different networks and know how to reach different types of clients.

3. Offer the proper training

When your sales team members are first hired, giving them the right training is essential. However, this can’t be a one-and-done scenario. As the market changes and evolves, so too should the training you provide. Employees also need to be given consistent opportunities to upgrade their skills and develop new ones.   

4. Give your sales team access to the best tools

Even excellent salespeople – the ones who can sell a fridge to an Eskimo – need the right sales tool and platforms to achieve their selling potential. This may need to include a customer relationship management (CRM) system as well as tools for things like prospecting, analytics, and market intelligence. In addition to making things easier for your team, having access to powerful tools will boost morale and productivity. 

5. Track their progress

Once everybody is trained and using the right tools, it is time to see what they can do. Whatever goals you have set for your sales team, it’s important to monitor their progress as they try to meet them. With a tracking system, you can keep a close eye on key performance indicators (KPIs) to see exactly how things are going. 

6. Do things to keep your salespeople around

Good salespeople drive revenues, so they are in high demand in every industry. One of the worst things that can happen to a business is losing a great salesperson just as they’re starting to make quota after spending a lot of time (and money) onboarding and training them. This is why you need to ensure they’ll stick around for a while. 

While money is certainly a good motivator, especially for salespeople, you shouldn’t stop there. After all, a company trying to poach your salespeople is going to throw money at them, too. Regularly giving them fresh challenges can be helpful. Offering opportunities to advance is another good tactic. You should always be looking for ways to improve engagement and boost morale, as well.

If you’re building a sales team for the first time, these steps may seem difficult to accomplish. With the help of MetaGrowth Ventures, they don’t have to be. Tell us about the sales team you’re looking for, and we will find the right candidates — you can leave the interviewing to us, too. We can also streamline your training process and set up a performance tracking system. Learn more about us to see what we can offer your company.