Business Owners or CEO – Are you a Strong Salesperson – meaning YOU? Have you been successfully selling your product or service for years?

Did you know that this CAN BE a real liability when hiring salespeople and starting to build a sales team so that you can get more time to do other important company building things?

Are you new to building a sales team and having a hard time making the switch from salesperson to sales manager?

Or, have you had a team off and on over the years and you are continually frustrated because they don’t do it like you?

You aren’t alone – I see this all the time in the owners I work with. 3 Things to think about for today:

1.) You have Owner’s Advantage – what I mean by this is – you have an unfair advantage when selling – right? You are the Owner and are often selling “business owner to business owner”. You have the ability to change terms and pricing if you want – right? (Not necessarily a good idea, but you can and probably do). Unless you hire someone with very strong Sales DNA and very solid Sales Posturing, they just will not carry themselves like you and unless you give them a lot of latitude (and I do NOT recommend that because most will discount) they will never sell like you.

2.) 2 Bad things can happen when your salespeople watch you sell – Either they watch/listen and say – “See I could never do that as good as him/her.” or “See, what they say doesn’t work because we didn’t close that sale.” So, you do need to show people what to do and have them listen to good recorded calls, but be careful. It is good to have them listen in the beginning to understand what to do – then start to coach them on their calls and their results with a bit of role play by you just for certain sections or portions of the sales process. Focus entirely on Them… like a Little League baseball coach.

3.) You won’t hire YOU – you just aren’t out there. You are busy running your company. We need to define the Sales Role at your company and Define the Work that each sales role does (there could be more than one) and then hire the right people to fill those roles. This is just like every other department and position in your business. Have clear and high expectations, but know that the people you hire will not do it like you. (Some will eventually do it better)

So..what to do: First of all, just be aware of these things, that is the start. Then, step back and look at the work of Sales in your company without YOU in it…. break that work into Roles, Then look for the right person or people for each role in the Sales process/Buyer Journey, then Tell People What to Do, Show them What to Do, but Mostly Let them Try, give them Feedback and Let them Try again. (I shot that video while with my church group and 14 year old on a Mission Trip) You will have to set aside salesperson Coaching/motivating/training time to do this …. at least until the point where you can hire a Sales Manager to do this work.

Rock it today!

Wayne

PS – These messages are my commitment to those business owners or leaders who want to grow sales via a Sales Team. Many business owners are struggling to make the leap from Doing the Sales to having a High performing Sales team and Sales process with sales automation. Today you are bombarded by the latest “Silver Bullet” or “Golden Arrow” offered by marketers – Advertising, Social Media, CRM, Sales Intelligence, SEO, Sales Training, Tradeshows, etc. and you are faced with a very tight Sales labor market (along with other skilled specialties for most of you)…. knowing what to do to Grow Sales is hard… especially because every marketer comes at you with their own “niche” piece of advice…. they are all working to specialize and make the most of THEIR time and advertising dollars.

My goal is to bring all of this together as a Coach/Consultant/Trainer so that you can have a well-oiled sales process that does incorporate the right tools and technology and people in an integrated fashion. I know too that you have limited time to lead your Sales Team and be the sales manager – most owners with a sales team of 1-20 are “Reluctant Sales Managers” – there are frameworks and tools to help make your time as efficient as possible. I will share systems to help you.