Shifting Gears: A Guide to Sales Team Role Changes

Explore how shuffling roles and responsibilities can improve your team’s job satisfaction, increase productivity, and bolster the bottom line.

Research indicates that 9 in 10 employees feel stuck in their roles. And for organizations that rely heavily on sales teams, this can be especially detrimental. When your team feels trapped, it adversely impacts their commitment and productivity. And that leads to fewer customers and less revenue.

You can solve this problem by changing your team members’ roles. This approach allows your reps to take on new responsibilities, acquire fresh skills, and progress in their careers. Additionally, it breaks the monotony of routine work, preventing everyone from feeling trapped in an endless rut.

Besides benefiting your reps, role transition allows your organization to boost customer satisfaction and reap the benefits of motivated employees. Of course, the results can only be as good as the process. 

If you’d like to experience the benefits of successfully transitioning your salespeople into new roles, here’s a simple four-step process that can really make it work: 

Step 1: Analyze current roles

If you’re going to move people into new roles, you first need to make sure you completely understand their current roles. Begin with outlining all of the responsibilities assigned to the different reps. Be sure to document everything to avoid any confusion or ambiguity that might negatively impact the process.

Next, identify each employee’s critical responsibilities. If you find someone with unclear responsibilities, consider conducting a comprehensive discussion to clarify expectations and refine their role description. Consulting with managers, supervisors, and other team leaders can make your work easier.

While identifying key responsibilities, focus on tasks that employees holding certain positions must execute and capitalize on. For example, a sales manager’s key responsibilities may include training and mentoring new employees. On the other hand, a junior sales rep may be tasked with prospecting, lead generation, sales negotiations, and closing deals.

Step 2: Select and prepare your sales team

Once you have a good handle on everyone’s roles, it’s time to consider which team members are ready to take on new responsibilities and then prepare everyone for the coming changes. Here’s how:

1. Identify potential candidates

Your sales team might have anywhere from a handful of reps to over a hundred skilled individuals. Whatever the case, everyone won’t be changing roles. That’s just chaos. Instead, you’ll want to identify employees with the potential to step up to the next level. Consider their skills, as well as qualities such as leadership potential. Most importantly, select candidates who are willing to learn.

2. Conduct skill assessment

After identifying potential candidates for role changes, assess each individual's skills. This will help you match candidates to specific roles and responsibilities. Remember, although there are many benefits to moving employees into new roles, including skill growth, it doesn’t always work out – often because people are put into roles they’re ill-equipped to handle. Making sure that everyone has the skills necessary to tackle the responsibilities you assign them is a good way to ensure better outcomes.

3. Select the right team members

Finally, pick the best employees from among the pool of potential candidates by focusing on the finer details, comparing candidates against each other, and isolating those with the best combinations of skills and experience. This is when you also want to assess each rep’s ability and willingness to learn. Taking on a new role isn’t easy, especially for someone resistant to change. And don’t forget to factor in leadership qualities, past performance, and key attributes such as empathy.

Transparency is also important during this process. Be honest about why you chose the employees you did, and make sure everyone else understands what they need to work on to improve their chances of advancement in the future.

Step 3: Transition employees into new roles and responsibilities

According to statistics, up to 49% of employees transitioning into new positions tend to underperform. However, you can improve the chances of your sales reps adapting to their new roles seamlessly using a well-designed onboarding plan.

Once everyone is ready, kickstart the actual transition with the same sort of training you use for new employees. Make sure your reps understand what you expect of them and give them the tools and training they need to succeed. Keep monitoring each individual’s progress in their new roles, and keep the lines of communication open to help address any issues and concerns they may face in their new positions.

Remember that a few of your employees will likely perform suboptimally, and that’s okay. After all, adapting to change can be difficult, so don’t give up – and don’t let them give up. Talk to the affected reps and develop a plan to help them. 

Step 4: Measure Success

After transitioning your sales reps into new roles, it’s important to keep tabs on how they’re doing. You can measure their success by tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) that cover all the essential goals and objectives you expect each member to complete. KPIs should also include elements like expected sales revenue and project completion times.

Also, don’t forget to implement improvement strategies, like continuous training and mentorship, to help your reps meet and exceed expectations. And when you identify employees who are performing exceptionally well, celebrate their achievements. That will show the team that you recognize and appreciate their individual contributions to your company’s success. 

Are you looking to implement role changes in your sales team successfully? We can help

Allowing your sales reps to take on new roles and responsibilities is critical for their motivation and career growth. It’s also a perfect way to fully harness your team’s talent and potential.

But it’s not always easy, especially when you only have your in-house team to rely on. Remember, your reps will need extensive training to succeed in their new roles, and you know how disruptive and overwhelming the training process can get. 

That’s why you should consider partnering with MetaGrowth Ventures for optimal results. Our expert consultants bring thousands of hours of sales training experience to the table, helping you create a robust, customized approach to building the sales team of your dreams. Contact us today to learn more about how MetaGrowth can turn your reps into world-class sellers.