For a startup business, one of the most important things is being able to consistently generate revenue. The precarious financial situation that most startups face means that being able to hit the ground running in terms of generating sales and sales leads is paramount.
There are several steps to follow in putting together a sales team to make sure that you have all the right people and tools you need for your startup business to succeed. In this post, we’ll break down what startup businesses need to do to build a sales team that will drive revenue growth for the business.
Hire a Sales Team Manager
Rather than blindly hiring a sales team and trying to set them out to bring in sales, time and effort are better spent hiring a sales team manager. The sales team manager can then handle the responsibility of building out the sales team based on the specific needs of your business.
Hiring the sales team first can be wasteful and inefficient. Sure, you will eventually need a sales team, but you should have logistics in place first, namely a marketing strategy, your goals, and leadership roles to guide the sales team in the right direction. Your sales team manager will be responsible for identifying the right individuals for the job based on criteria formed by the business. That’s partially why you shouldn’t hire a sales team right out of the gate. Yes, you want to get started generating revenue as quickly as possible, but going in blind is going to cost you time and profit in the long run.
Build Your Sales Structure
How are you getting your product or services to the customer? Are you focused on viral marketing and hoping that customers will adopt? Chances are you should be focused on a sales-driven approach that shows businesses and people the value of your products so that they will get started buying right away.
This means that you’ll want to tailor your sales team around that structure. Whether through inbound or outbound sales, having a structured system of how to demonstrate, sell, and retain customers is crucial to a successful sales team.
Hire With Intent
By this, we mean that you should buckle down and do your research. What do you need in a good sales employee? This will likely depend a lot on your own business model, but hiring willy-nilly will only lead to firing willy-nilly.
A thorough hiring process with clear incentives, goals, and repercussions will attract high-quality talent that will be valuable assets to your company. It’s also important to diversify your team. All types, skill levels, genders, ethnicities, and orientations have something of value that they can add to your sales team. It will be the responsibility of the manager to handle getting everyone on the same page, but having a diverse staff ensures unique ideas and perspectives that will benefit the sales process.
