{"id":11884,"date":"2014-10-06T16:12:38","date_gmt":"2014-10-06T16:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandler.dsstaging2.com\/case-study\/how-to-build-a-sales-team\/"},"modified":"2023-11-09T03:23:07","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T03:23:07","slug":"how-to-build-a-sales-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandler.com\/blog\/how-to-build-a-sales-team\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Essential Steps to Building a Winning Sales Team"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

It\u2019s a fact: most organizations need a killer sales force. Business development, marketing, must-have products or services \u2013 these are all essential to meaningful revenue growth. But your sales team is the heart of production. Your salespeople are the ones championing your offer and driving precious profit. Your team should be the best it can. Period.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But how do you build a successful sales team? Buckle up, because it\u2019s no easy task. As long as you follow these seven essential steps, however, you\u2019ll have a team of sales all-stars under your belt.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1. Evaluate the sales situation<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Good doctors don\u2019t write prescriptions without a diagnosis. Following that example, you should treat your sales force as your patient.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Do you have the right resources already? Maybe you\u2019re starting with a team of A-players that only need advanced sales training and a push in the right direction.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Alternatively, your team could be losing to demand. Your team can\u2019t handle the volume of requests, and you need to add a few heads to keep the business growing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Of course, you could be starting from the ground up. That means you\u2019re working with a clean slate. But knowing how to build a sales team from scratch means knowing what to look for and how to find and attract winners.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

2. Know whom you need and what they do<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

You\u2019ve evaluated your environment. You know what you have. Now you need to understand what you\u00a0do not have<\/em>. To realize your next step, determine your sales team\u2019s end goal. Is this a customer care team? Or a pack of aggressive cold callers? What does the team structure look like? Building accurate, functional job titles is critical to building the team itself.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Even if you\u2019re working with existing employees, reexamine each person\u2019s role. They may perform better in a different sales role with different expectations. Don\u2019t be afraid to experiment until you find what earns wins.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

3. Track progress and success<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To build a winning sales team, you need to\u00a0define what it means to win<\/a>. However, understand that measurements for progress and success are different depending on your starting point.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Sales success is a factor of both Behavior<\/a> and results. Focusing only on activity won\u2019t encourage closing. Likewise, it can be discouraging to focus only on results, especially during a sales slump.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Examples for sales performance measurement:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n