How to Scale Up Your Sales Team Successfully

As your business grows, so does your need to scale sales efficiently. Scale can be your best friend, or the elephant in the room threatening to knock your growth off course. Your sales team needs special attention to scale efficiently. They’re a huge part of why your company is successful, don’t lose the magic that makes you special. Here are the areas to pay attention to when it’s time to scale your sales team.

 

Sales Training & Mentorship

Training a small team is easy. You know exactly what works and how to communicate it. Communicating the skills and strategies your team needs as a big organization becomes much more difficult. You won’t always get 1-on-1 time with each rep who talks to your customers.

It’s important to develop internal training systems to pass along your best practices. Make guides for every process, refine them constantly. Teach your original team how to be leaders for new hires.

Your veterans, the future leaders of your company, might need less training but more mentorship. As your responsibilities grow, you need to learn how to delegate. Pass along your wisdom and teach them how to teach. Discuss where you want the company to go so they have a clear idea on what they need to do. Reward accomplishments and incentivize goals.

The hardest part about being a CEO is letting go. You’ve been wearing a lot of hats, see how some of them look on other people.

Customer Relationships & Sales Success

Technology becomes more necessary as you grow. Especially when it comes to your CRM systems, your team can’t work off the same spreadsheet forever. Incorporate technology in the areas of your business that are hardest to scale.

Customer relationships are the lifeline of your business. Maintaining the customer support that got you this far is the easiest way to get further.

With a little preparation you can maintain the customer support magic your original customers fell in love with. A support platform like Zendesk helps you answer customer questions as they come in and according to priority.

Use a CRM to keep track of each customer and deal in the pipeline. If you don’t, who knows what opportunities you’re leaving on the table? Tracking deals has the added benefit of giving you metrics to analyze (and improve). A CRM is an efficient way to measure the momentum your sales team creates during scale, which is when it matters most.

Your CRM needs to reach your customers too. Enable your sales team with a territory management application like Badger Maps. Badger acts as an extension of your CRM; visualizing business data, mapping customers, and generating leads in the field. Giving your team an application to organize their sales activities

Sales Productivity & Profitability

You’re well aware that the two go hand in hand, but will they scale sales along with your team?

Hiring right-fit candidates is the best way to ensure your team stays strong. Recognize the qualities of your top performers and screen for them during the interview process. Ensure any new hire is a good fit culturally as well.

Don’t underestimate the importance of culture. Culture is the guideline of office behavior, shape it efficiently. Encourage friendly competition and reward the results it creates. Incentivize behavior that grows your business naturally to promote productivity.

Your sales process must remain repeatable, and profitable, as you grow. Your VP of sales can’t speak to every customer, but your sales team can put the same dedication into each customer interaction your VP would.

Enable Your Sales Team to Scale Profitably

Scaling sales profitably is only possible when your sales process is repeatable. If you understand why your customers buy you’ll know which areas need the most attention when growth is around the corner.

Delivering the same customer experience every day, without missing a beat, is the ultimate test of scale. Start preparing your sales team now and your growth will be inevitable.