10 Strategies to Build Sales Teams That Crush Quotas

Building a successful sales team is the basis of any business. Every company wants to grow and cultivate the best people to help with those efforts along the way. When sales performance slows down, however, it can quickly impact several aspects of your day-to-day operations. From causing sales reps to question their confidence and abilities to letting good leads go by the wayside, there are far too many potential side effects of letting performance drop. 

Fortunately, there are equally as many ways that you can build a better, stronger sales team from the start so that you can crush your quotas and generate new business like never before. Sales team performance is affected by things like:

• Sales enablement and training
• Hiring and onboarding 
• Sales productivity
• Customer experiences
• Cross-functional alignment (with marketing, specifically)
• Company culture
• And much more! 

Therefore, it’s important to start from the bottom if you want to build a successful sales team. 

10 strategies to stack your sales team with all the right skills 

If you want to build a sales team that always gets the deal done and is ready for whatever challenge comes its way, here’s what you need to do. 

1. Hire the right type of people 

The better you are at hiring people for your sales team, the less work you will have to do after the fact. Make sure that you create an “ideal sales rep” profile just as you would do for your buyer personas and use that to source your candidates. If there is something you want in your sales team, hire for it specifically. 

2. Invest in sales enablement tools 

Today, there are a growing number of sales enablement tools that are designed to help sales reps get deals done more quickly and effectively. These include your CRM and sales platforms, along with the various tools and resources that you equip your people with before they go out to interact with potential customers. When you have the right tools, the strategies come easily. 

3. Choose a new sales methodology 

There are literally dozens of different sales methodologies and processes out there today. It might be time for a change. Consider the different methodologies that are available and find one that aligns with your business. You can choose from options like:

• Social selling
• Conceptual selling
• Customer-centric selling
• The Challenger Sales Method
• MEDDIC
• SPIN Selling
• The Sandler Selling System 
• SNAP Selling
• Target account selling
• Value selling

Some of the methodologies are specific, named systems that are taught with certain principles and foundations. Others, as you can see, are more generalized approaches that allow you to reach audiences in a very specific way. 

4. Use metrics to make performance decisions 

The biggest mistake that sales teams and leaders make is not using data appropriately. You have a wealth of metrics at your fingertips, thanks to digital tools. You need to take advantage of that to help you make adjustments to your sales team, including the people on it, how they sell, and other details. 

5. Create a standard training process 

Just as you need to hire the right people from the start, you also need to train people effectively from day one. Once you choose a sales methodology and other processes, you will need to come up with a standard training program to ensure that each sales rep understands their role, the tools and systems you use to sell, and so forth.

6. Develop coaches and coach them to success 

Another big reason sales teams don’t do well is because they lack appropriate leadership and support. Your sales team needs coaches, not managers. They need support and advice, not lectures and quotas to meet. Make sure that you have leaders that are ready to coach your sales reps to success and watch how fast things improve. 

7. Foster a culture of engagement 

Disconnected and disengaged employees are not effective. They have no stake in the game and will be much less likely to get things done because aside from the fact that it’s “their job,” your people might not see the reason they do what they do (or why they should be doing it). If your company culture promotes engagement and employee interaction, you’ll have much better success with sales. 

8. Encourage ongoing feedback 

Feedback is often a bad word in the business world. Employees see it as negative, while employers want to use it to improve things for everyone. If you create a feedback culture, you will be able to promote ongoing communication to ensure that your reps are on the right track. This also helps identify issues sooner and gives you the opportunity to retrain or upskill people based on feedback interactions. 

9. Obsess over the details 

There’s definitely something to be said for paying attention to the details. The basic foundation of any sales team will make or break its success. When you are setting up your team, make sure that you stick to a standard process and hire reps that have the best skills for the job. When you have the basics down, the rest comes naturally. 

10. Give sales reps autonomy 

The most effective sales teams are those that aren’t micromanaged and supervised down to the last second. Sales reps often struggle to perform when they feel like they’re being watched and judged constantly. Many sales leaders say that their teams perform the best without micromanagement, so it’s time to eliminate that from your habits if you haven’t already. 

Giving your reps autonomy creates accountability and gives them the chance to take pride in what they do. People will be more likely to strive for success, which means your sales quotas will be met as a byproduct. 

When sales start soaring, is your team ready?

Partner with the virtual receptionists at Smith.ai to make sure that you have a 24/7 answering service to field all these new opportunities. We can also assist with lead intake, appointment scheduling, and even getting your outreach campaigns perfected in the first place. To learn more, schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai. 

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