Believe it or not, this is the fun part.
Scaling your sales team – growing it to meet your company’s increasing demands and replicating the same success at each new level – will come with challenges; that’s unavoidable. But it also gives you the opportunity to create a super-team that’ll deliver closed deals and peak sales numbers for years to come.
Intrigued? Keep reading because it gets better.
Your sales team is yours to mold and shape to fit the needs of your organization. Based on the goals you target, your strategic approach to turn your team into sales gurus will vary, but the end goal is the same: to scale your sales team successfully, thus exponentially grow your business.
But that’s not always how it goes. Instead, sales leaders and managers get lost in the process, and they lose their ability to align teams around common missions.
That doesn’t have to be you, though. And if it already is, no biggie – by the time you get through these easy solutions, you’ll wonder why you were stuck in the first place.
7 Key Ways to Squash Common Scaling Problems for Sales Teams
Getting back on track after your attempt to scale your sales team goes wrong is easier said than done, I know. Still, it’s far from impossible. All you have to do is understand your problems, then get gritty and creative to tackle them.
Start with these seven solutions.
1. Only hire all-stars
You could have the best playbook filled with quality tips about how to scale your business, but it won’t mean much with a subpar sales team.
The employees you invest in are just that – (major) investments. Rather than settle on a warm body because they kind of understand insurance sales, play the long game. Sometimes, finding the best talent requires you to broaden your search beyond your local area, particularly if you have plans to expand globally. By expanding your horizons, you may have a better chance of finding a perfect match rather than simply settling for a convenient hire.
When you define your hiring process and search criteria, it’ll be easier to find a driven team member who fits your company culture, isn’t just after a paycheck, and understands your business goals.
Plus, they won’t budge when the going gets tough or leave you hanging for the next hot opportunity.
It benefits your team and your bottom line to skip the shortcuts and take your time to find the right, high-quality fit.
💡 Pro-tip: Keep in touch with the runners-up, that is, the candidates who almost made the cut. When a position opens up, you can tap into your VIP list to hire quickly.
2. Put more effort into training your team
After you bring on a new sales rep, you might be tempted to throw them into the deep end right away, but that’s a scaling problem you always want to avoid.
Here’s what lies in the balance if you don’t train your reps but still expect them to succeed: team morale, employee retention, and sales numbers.
Without proper training that helps them navigate roadblocks, your sales reps won’t feel empowered to push through challenges, and you darb sure won’t see the results you’re looking for.
- Shadow more experienced reps on sales calls.
- Conduct mock calls and roleplay difficult scenarios.
- Study product knowledge bases and demos you provide.
- Practice outreach with company email templates and sales scripts.
If you ease your reps in slowly, they’ll learn how to close faster.
While they’re in training, new hires should learn more about your product, culture, sales process, software, and more – this may seem like a lot of time to dedicate to onboarding, but trust me when I say it pays off.
To successfully scale your sales team, create a comprehensive training program for new reps. For example, have your reps:
3. Create a structured sales process
You know how you won’t see any gains if you don’t hit the gym consistently? The same goes for your sales team – no defined sales process means no close rate gains. And if you and your teams aren’t closing deals, then what are you doing, and how do you expect to scale?
Don’t reinvent the wheel for each new prospect your reps contact. Instead, develop a simple, repeatable sales process that’s built to streamline sales activities and improve productivity. You should also have tools and systems that support your process and your reps as they try to deliver results.
An essential aspect of scaling your sales team is to create measurable and trackable processes. I mean, why would your reps trust something that’s not guaranteed to succeed?
If you don’t want your sales reps to waste their efforts on the wrong prospects and revenue-generating activities, create an organized sequence of steps to follow that you track and refine consistently.
💡 Pro tip: This scaling problem is similar to undefined sales roles – for a smooth and speedy sales process, spell out duties and roles across your team.
4. Let data guide your performance standards
What benchmarks and key performance indicators (KPI) should you set for with your sales team? Should you close 20% or 30% of sales-qualified leads?
After you build some steam with the scalable business channels that best complement your business goals, rely on patterns in the data you measure to highlight which realistic targets to aim for. Remember: Well-defined KPIs take your sales process from basic to iconic.
Besides assessing your reps’ performance with current objectives, you can also conduct research to scope out the industry norms.
For example, sales organizations in the computer software industry have an average close rate of 22%, says Niti Shah, the senior growth marketing manager for HubSpot for Startups.
5. Break the barriers of communication
Communication is 🔑 for any kind of relationship, including the one you have with your sales team – that’s why this #1 rule has no exceptions: You’re never too busy to communicate with everyone in your sales organization.
If you are, you’d better have a management staff that helps keep your ship in tip-top shape; otherwise, introduce a communication cadence ASAP, then maintain it.
You can meet with your team daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Still, these group and one-on-one chats give you the chance to boost team harmony around processes, motivate your reps through positive reinforcement, and ensure everyone understands KPIs and key goals.
Plus, your reps can voice any feelings or concerns, which always goes a long way in employee satisfaction.
6. Don’t get stuck in the admin work vortex
Yup, something as simple as data entry is a scaling problem that could hold you back.
Why?
Because it’s so time-consuming!
Administrative tasks, like record keeping, are black ice to the speeding car that is your sales process – if you’re not careful with them, you can spin out and lose control of your end goal.
The key to getting your sales reps to focus more on sales calls and business development is to outsource, i.e., automate your workflow or hire a sales support employee.
With machines or hired help that’ll ensure these important (but albeit soul-sucking) activities are executed accurately, you’ll also make it easier for sales reps to do what they do best – sell.
7. Avoid poor compen$ation
To solve this scaling problem, all you have to do is care about your sales reps’ personal lives as much as you want them to care about growing your sales.
One way to do that? Align your pay structure with the quality of work you want your sales team to produce.
In an article, Hubspot’s Managing Editor Megan Prater wrote, “A misaligned compensation plan can affect the direction and productivity of your sales team. Regularly check your plan and ensure it aligns with quarterly business goals.”
That means when you adjust your needs, like expand quarterly priorities, Prater recommends you shift your compensation structure (including bonuses!) to reflect those changes. If you want to encourage prospecting, for example, “you might offer $100 to every rep who gives more than ten demos in a week.”
Bonus: 3 pro-tips to set your sales team straight
Even if it feels like scaling problems have gotten the best of you and your team, they haven’t, and you’re not as vulnerable to them as you may think.
You have tons of options to get your sales team back on the right path, including these bonus three:
🎯 Get in alignment with marketing.
🎯 Give your team the same quality and quantity of leads.
🎯 Be intentional every step of the way.
No matter how you build your sales team, don’t forget the importance of growing a foundation in your business that supports future scaling and opportunities to steadily earn more revenue.
Take the thinking out of sales and check out this playbook to learn the right strategies to increase insurance sales. (Your sales team will thank you!)
