Hiring + Retention
Ultimate Sales Promotion Workshop: How to Get Promoted in Any Role [Webinar Recording]
Ultimate Sales Promotion Workshop: How to Get Promoted in Any Role
[Video Recording]
The Different Inside Sales Roles Explained
Years ago, we had two kinds of sales reps: inside and outside. Thanks to awesome technology like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, in the near future we’ll have one: rep.
Focusing on the last five years, we’ve seen a trend in role specialization. And it’s a good one. If you’re growing or starting up a team, you’re wise to spend time researching the type of rep that will best suit your sales process, talent pool, and customer preferences. And if you’re researching roles in sales, even better. Let’s dig in – starting with the top of the sales funnel or the beginning of the buying process.
BDR/SDR
Also called the business development rep, lead generation, sales development rep, appointment setter, marketing development rep, entry-level selling, cold caller, data cleanser, and sadly, the empty seat. It’s the most junior person on your team with the highest turnover.
The BDR role is sometimes broken out to exclude those handling inbound leads, and these are typically referred to as SDRs (sales development reps). But asking a company to clarify the difference between BDR, SDR or any other of the titles is never a stupid question. Everyone does it differently, and the demarcations between them may be based on more than lead type – like reporting structure, industry, product set, or customer type.
You’ll find BDR/SDR roles reporting to Marketing about as often as to Sales, but the growing trend is moving them out of marketing and into sales. Primary SDR responsibilities include accepting inquiries (e.g. lead forms or inbound calls), qualifying, and routing them to the appropriate sales channel. The outbound BDR team may call on lead lists, prospect for new customers, or even work on internal lists like re-activating old customers. Consider them a bridge between Marketing and Sales, converting tire-kickers to Marketing Qualified Leads or MQLs to Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs).
The role is high-activity and driven by metrics like number of calls, talk time, appointments/leads generated, show rates, acceptance rates, and ultimate conversion. You’re looking for hungry, competitive, outgoing, and confident people who can multitask like a working mother and handle rejection like an over-eager barfly without being phased.
This role is key if your charter is growth, you have large available lists to work, your customers are used to a separate appointment for a demo (SaaS really made this role popular), and if your other reps have account bases to manage and upsell that would prevent them from acquiring new business.
Set the team up for efficiency with investments in demand-generation marketing, lead lists and data sources like ZoomInfo and Seamless + a quality dialer if it’s not already included in your toolset, and call recording for their ongoing coaching (I like Chorus, Gong, and ExecVision).
Staff with an experienced manager who can develop these green reps, keep them motivated and provide some semblance of fun and security for this high-turnover position. Also, invest in different training for this crew than your full-cycle sellers and go heavy on the “first base skills” to help them get more initial conversations. If you have a high price point, pilot human-assisted dialers like ConnectAndSell will triple the times they land on first base. Whoa, a little heavy on the advice. Let’s move on.
DOWNLOAD: Top Virtual Sales Challenges
Account Executive
Our next position is the AE (Account Executive). This could be called an Inside Sales Representative (ISR), Closer, Sales Executive, Rep, or any other general sales position term. If the title doesn’t designate top-of-funnel or existing account management, it’s probably this role. Again, just ask. Totally normal.
The AE will typically accept (or deny) the lead passed to them, perform the discovery call, conduct the demo, run follow-up, and close the sale. Some AE positions will generate their own leads to supplement the BDR/Marketing Leads. If they fully own capturing new business and closing it, we often refer to these teams as Acquisition reps – but their titles will be the same as the AE/Sales Executive title roles (confused yet?).
Typically, AEs aren’t great at juggling prospecting and working passed leads. In fact, the advent of the BDR and an uptick in inbound marketing has made tenured AEs VERY happy. They reject leads that aren’t ready to buy today or where the Decision Maker isn’t served up perfectly. I lovingly call this Silver Platter Syndrome and frankly, it’s a great problem to have. If you’re not happy with what’s passing through your funnel to the proposal/contract stage, investigate your lead acceptance rate and open/close your pipeline faucet by adjusting lead-acceptance criteria used by your AE team.
The AE is typically a more senior role than the BDR. They are trusted to work high-opportunity deals, uncover needs, match your product/service to the leads, uncover customer values to generate excitement and close the business. They spend their day doing system demos, and the great ones spend more time talking to customers than touring your product. That skill is displayed by more advanced AEs who can climb the tree for the more difficult or hidden fruit vs. simply basketing what’s on the ground.
Measure AEs with pipeline revenue, velocity, and close rates through pipeline stages and ultimate revenue for measurements here. Opportunities will stay with AEs until closed-lost or closed-won, meaning a need for excellent follow-up and nurture skills for deals postponed or gone dark. That means these folks need more product training, more business acumen training, social media, and more robust sales skills. (We like Vengreso for social media skills). Customer expectations are higher here and the goal is for AE’s to actually consult, not just pitch. Won the business? Congratulations. The next role in line is an Account Manager or Customer Success Rep.
Account Manager/Customer Success Rep
For Account Manager or Customer Success Rep, also look for titles like Client Engagement Rep, Client Success Manager, Existing Accounts Rep, Key Account Manager, or you may see Account Executive used here too (naturally).
Customer Success Reps are newer roles and typically align with SaaS. They are managing subscribers and are measured by their ability to reduce churn (account cancellations), achieve high customer engagement/happiness scores, and upsell/cross-sell accounts. You may see them termed as “Renewal Reps” but with the sky-rocket maturation of the SaaS industry, smart companies have their eye on more than just renewals. Their reps are charged with adding more users, selling upgraded packages with more features, and securing longer-term contracts.
Although they are point-of-contact for ongoing customers, work hard to differentiate them from Customer Service or Customer Support roles that handle technical difficulties and inbound requests. Your customers will absolutely confuse the two, and a great Customer Success Rep will maintain relationships and sell while leaning heavily on the support team to keep them free to sell vs. problem-solving.
Beware of not defining this as a sales role and appointing service or junior reps here. Like AEs, they require more business, industry, and product knowledge to quickly add value to existing customers and help them navigate how to use your product optimally (if it isn’t sticky, it isn’t renewing). Sales skills will include uncovering more contacts, building relationships, aligning with business goals, making product recommendations, getting referrals, and overcoming user inertia by making it easy and desirable to use more and more of your product.
Account Managers require similar skills but are likely not selling/managing a software product. Often the most senior role, AMs maintain a portfolio of several hundred accounts and sadly often only talk to the top 20%. They build incredible relationships here, take ongoing orders, suggest new products, send birthday cards, and swear they have 100% of the available business.
Account Managers are a smart role if you have a complex product offering, a deep customer base, or large complex clients. Be sure, however, that you’re still hiring for and measuring the hustle. Skills should focus on consultative selling, growing wallet share, having business conversations, overcoming competition, gaining referrals, and finding new buyers. It’s the cushiest of sales jobs and may cross over into inside/outside roles where Account Managers will visit top accounts occasionally, attend conferences together, and shower top buyers with whatever perks you have available.
Say what? Do you have a Field team too? Just when I thought we were at the end of our Sales Rep Soup. OK, here goes…
DOWNLOAD: How To Budget For Sales Training
Field Sellers
Traditionally, field sellers are the one-size-fits-all sellers like AEs or Acquisition Reps albeit with bigger titles and paychecks. They own the top accounts and the dense territories. But like most reps charged with maintaining business and acquiring new, they farm more than they hunt and here we go back to the growing notion of role specialization.
When combined with Inside Sales, more traditional industries (retail, pharma, manufacturing, distribution…) will have field reps owning the big accounts and/or dense territories (think NFL cities), and inside sellers either support the field, own smaller accounts, or work rural areas. But, as a card-carrying Inside Sales Advocate, I love CDW’s model where the field supports the inside. The BDR/Acquisition teams hunt new opportunities at a rate of 10x the field, the AE or AM works it, and they deploy a field resource for a site-visit is needed to close the deal or love on the customer if needed.
So, here’s our list of the different inside sales roles explained. There are many ways to team up, but alas, that is a different blog.
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
How to Improve the Relationship Between Sales Reps and Managers
With all the economic uncertainty out there, it’s tough to find and keep good reps right now. Data from HubSpot indicates that sales rep turnover is around 35% (even in an economic downturn, attrition is shockingly high).
So how do you keep your star players around? Well, according to our Sales Team Retention Research Project study, the top reason both reps and managers stay with a company is ongoing training and development opportunities to help them succeed in their roles.
In my opinion, the key to a solid rep-manager is: both sides support each other to develop and grow. Here are some tips to put it into action to improve the sales rep-manager relationship.
What should managers do to retain their reps?
READ: How to Hire and Retain Sales Reps
1. Create coaching opportunities outside the normal flow
A lot of managers wait until the pipeline call or the forecast call to coach. While those meetings add value, they focus on specific outcomes. Where reps often struggle is investing in skills that they can apply to a variety of situations, like negotiation and price anchoring. Spend 30-60 minutes with your reps to work on these skills, and you’ll start seeing more engagement from them. As a general rule, newer or underperforming reps should be coached once per week and tenured or high-performing reps should be coached once per month.
2. Create an explicit growth template
Reps can’t grow if they don’t know what their growth path is supposed to look like. This means you need to actually document the basic competencies and objectives you expect. Then monitor rep improvement on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis—not just during an annual 360-review.
READ: Increase Sales Coaching Frequency
3. Don’t be hypocritical
People have a strong B.S.-meter. They know when you’re faking them out. So if you’re going to expect things from them, you better make sure you’re holding yourself to the same standards.
This doesn’t mean you need to be “macho” or push bravado all the time. You’re going to make mistakes, just like anyone. But set the example of always striving to be better, holding yourself to a high standard, and fixing problems when they arise.
4. Drive deeper engagement
The more engaged your reps are at work, the more they’ll stick around. So make sure their work stretches them and helps them grow. Provide opportunities for them to push themselves without setting them up to fail.
When appropriate, let them provide input on the direction and growth of the product and company. They have valuable insights that you can use. Plus, it helps them feel included.
5. Stay hungry and humble
Even though you’re in a management position, there’s always the opportunity to learn more. Don’t rest on your laurels. Stay hungry, and always look for ways to learn, grow, and improve.
DOWNLOAD: Tips for Retaining The New Generation of Sales
6. Don’t expect your people to always copy you
Don’t fall for “mini-me” syndrome. Just because you have a great process for selling doesn’t mean it’s the best for everyone. Instead, think about how effective reps are in driving results and meeting quotas, and focus on helping them close gaps and reach those goals faster. There can be an openness in process and style, while at the same time consistency in results.
7. Seize on little opportunities to build human connections
Managers can do a lot to show reps that they care about them not only as sales machines, but as individuals. And these don’t take a lot of extra time.
Especially in virtual environments, reps hear from their managers only to discuss forecasts, or when there’s a problem. Find other ways to connect with them as well, even if it’s just to talk about how they’re doing on a personal level.
What can reps do to build a better relationship with their managers?
1. Be solution-oriented
Don’t come with problems and no solutions. Be a solution-oriented thinker. It helps show the manager that you’re taking ownership of a problem, rather than force them to handle every little thing that comes up.
2. Be coachable
The opposite of coachability is “I already know everything.” Know what you know, but also know what you don’t know. And be open to learning and growing. It’s really hard for a manager to support a rep who thinks they know everything.
READ: 10 Tips for Sales Success from a High Performer
3. Don’t blame the leads
We all hear it all the time: If only the leads were better… Strike that phrase from your vocabulary! Stop blaming outside sources for your problems. Find a way to make the most of what you already have.
4. Get comfortable with ambiguity
Things aren’t always going to be straightforward, especially at different stages of companies. Can you execute when the answer isn’t fully defined? Are you willing to put the answer together yourself? If so, your manager will love you for it.
5. Always be curious
No one knows everything. There’s always a chance to learn, grow, and evolve. While your manager should be open to your own style, don’t assume that your way works best. Learn from others, and find a way to implement those learnings in your own unique way.
Final thoughts on the ultimate rep-manager relationship
The key to a good rep-manager relationship is this: support each other, hold each other accountable, and focus on growth. If you do that, you’ll build a solid foundation that makes both parties hesitant to leave the organization. Happy selling!
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
How to Scale Your Inside Sales Team
In the past decade, inside sales has been out-pacing field sales by a 10-15x ratio. Scalability is a challenge inside sales leaders will continue to face for years to come.
While I normally focus on building your process, today my job is to talk about the people angle. Although, a good half of my people’s suggestions are process suggestions! Allow me to highlight the top 3 common pitfalls we have all faced when trying to scale your inside sales team and a few outside resources that can help.
Pitfall #1: The success of a massive growth number will live or die in a rep’s ramp time.
Ramp time means something different to each company. It could be time to quota, paying for their overhead, or something unique to you. Whatever your ramp goal, you’ll be creating projections to hit a 1.5x, 3x, or even 5x number and you’ll be doing it with a new headcount.
That means your success hinges on the ability of your headcount to:
- Be hired on time
- Be trained on time
- Hit goal on time
Really dig into your new hire training program, and start doing it six months before your first hiring wave. If you haven’t onboarded recently, check out our sales rep onboarding best practices. And if your offices are still remote, brush up on virtually onboarding new sales reps
Pro Tip: Hire a sales-focused training leader NOW. Most new hire training programs need a LOT of work, and the good ones can cut your ramp time by HALF.
Pitfall #2: We don’t change our hiring process.
Even if you previously onboarded an awesome team that is still with you today, your process likely needs a few tweaks before being pressure-tested during scaling. We usually see breakdowns in two key places:
- The pool isn’t as deep any longer. We are in a hiring crisis, folks. Many companies stole great talent when they were new on the scene, but now they’re competing for headcount like everyone else. So even if the number of candidates and job postings are similar, you may find the depth of talent more shallow.
- The hiring and onboarding process wasn’t built for volume and is probably too dependent on your managers (but the slew of new hires on the floor will need them more too!) At launch, these managers had all kinds of time to hire. If you triple your model (then double it for the shallow talent pool), think of how many hours per day they will be in interviews. Ouch!
Pro Tip: Pull hiring out of HR and to a recruiter – even if you need to re-appropriate a sales headcount. You need someone doing passive recruiting on the front end, AND who can handle a phone screen for sales. It’s the only way to free up your managers’ time. Make sure you tie the recruiter’s compensation to the RIGHT hires that align with your goals, instead of fighting a recruiting company’s goal of straight-up bodies. I’ve seen way too many new hire classes filled with “live bodies” by recruiters only to have to rehire a replacement class a month later. Sales leaders make no mistake, the need to retrain or rehire is how your hiring goals will be perceived in a culture of scale.
Also, check your hiring process. It should look like your pipeline, with your managers involved only toward the final stages. Oh, and let them hire their own team, OK? (Managers, you can send your cash directly to the Factor 8 HQ for that tip).
Pitfall #3: Develop your managers, NOW.
I’m watching a friend’s floor triple in size right now. They’re super successful and swimming in leads. They need a headcount to maximize the revenue. What they’re missing is strong leadership, definitions of what ‘good’ looks like, and consistency among the management team. And folks, it’s being held together with duct tape and rainbows right now. These managers are SO (say it like a teenage girl) green. Everyone runs different reports, they all manage a different sales process, there are seven disparate call methodologies, no one can forecast because pipelines are atrocious, teams are mixed and matched constantly (because managers are leaving the chaos!) and no two are managed the same. I’d say they’re all marching to a different beat, but no one remembered to hire the drummer.
Pro Tip: Hire a drummer…as long as that drummer is a series of documented processes (management cadence, performance improvement, sales handoffs, sales process to name a few). Then, TEACH your managers how to execute against them. You and I both know these people were reps five minutes ago. They need training. They need help being better leaders (or you’ll quickly wind up back at #1 hiring even more bodies). Reps join companies and quit bosses, right? New managers are going to FLAIL in a rapid-growth environment, and your reps will be confused, frustrated, and complain about a lack of development (which also happens to be the number one reason reps leave).
So, save yourself some time and a headache by updating your training program, and getting the professionals to help you with hiring, and developing those managers! I promise, the work now will be worth it once your sales floor is full (and stays that way!).
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
Sales Enablement Secrets: Actionable Sales Training Tips, Trends, and Advice [Webinar Recording]
Sales Enablement Secrets: Actionable Sales Training Tips, Trends, and Advice
[Video Recording]
How to Develop New Sales Managers
Working with newly-promoted sales managers may be my very favorite thing. Maybe that’s because the pain I remember in their position is still a bit fresh (albeit over 20 years old…)
READ: 5 Quick Tips for New Sales Managers
The transition from rep to manager is tough. It’s also risky for both the company and the new manager. Companies lose top-performing reps and serial high-achievers sign on to feel NOT successful for a good six months. I’ve seen some sad stories of new managers flailing, flat-lining growth, or simply quitting in their first year. It’s sad for the manager and it’s a double loss for the company. They lose a manager AND top performer.
So how do we support and develop new sales managers to help them feel more successful sooner?
1. Talk in detail about the expectations of the new job.
Top reps are competitive, self-centered, and aggressive (said with love, folks). Margaret Arakawa said it best in a panel once. I paraphrase, “Moving from top rep to manager is like leaving the role of the lead actress on stage to become an executive producer.”
Exactly.
Successful managers focus on:
- Developing their team
- Solving problems
- Creating atmospheres for motivation
- Prioritizing work
- Managing admin to clear selling time for reps
READ: Tips for Mastering Call Coaching
What they don’t do is:
- Close sales
- Maintain customer relationships
- Win contests
- Count on themselves alone to get the job done
- Sit in the spotlight
2. Be frank that disappointment is OK
Most new managers talk to me about their utter disappointment in their first year. Not with the job (exclusively) but with their team. They aren’t used to relating to reps who aren’t as dedicated and passionate as they were. Help them see that this is normal and talk about strategies for dealing with the frustration.
Ultimately the buck stops with them and their success is getting the most consistent and high-level performance from these people. Set some expectations! For example, talk about how a sales manager’s success is judged not just by the number but also by:
- Reduced time for new hires to hit quota
- Percent of the entire team to quota – not just overall percent
- Reduced attrition
- Rep promotions
Each of these requires a focus on the people, their success, and their development. Sure we want managers focused on the “W,” but it needs to be a Team W, not their personal commission check. Hearing this advice from a leader they respect can help them focus on the right things early and find new ways to get daily wins.
3. Go beyond HR
If you’re lucky, managers have access to some generic management skills about communicating with others, approving timecards, giving feedback, etc. Helpful stuff. Not job training. Get them sales management skills like:
- The management cadence: what meetings they need on their calendar and how often.
- Time management for sales managers: Which is first? The line at your desk? The upset customer? The request for a report from the boss or the deal discount to close a sale? This skill will make or break a new leader. Prevent burnout before it happens!
- Translating sales goals and driving sales performance: New managers struggle to get beyond managing activity. Help them learn to translate strategy and the big number into monthly, weekly, and daily activities for reps.
- Performance 1:1 meetings: Help managers communicate the goal, the performance to date, motivate reps to succeed, and build relationships with their teams during this meeting.
- Call coaching: Call coaching isn’t natural behavior for high-achievers. It takes an extreme amount of patience, customer focus, and a set process to be successful. Without skill training on coaching, they’ll either skip it or maybe even demotivate their team. Help teach them to do it right before they wind up a statistic.
- Find them a mentor: A mentor becomes a safe space to vent, ask questions they’re afraid to ask their Director, and frankly a lifeline. And if you’ve promoted a woman, work to find her a female mentor. Yes, it does make a difference. #GirlsClub can help here if you’re lacking female sales leadership talent.
Subscribe to our email list to receive new content, webinar invites, and training offers.
BDR vs AE: What’s the Difference?
In the past five years, the acronyms BDR and SDR have jumped to the forefront of selling – particularly digital or virtual selling in the SaaS space. Feeling lost already? Don’t sweat it, this article will break it all down, and help you fully understand the difference between Business Development Reps (BDRs), Sales Development Reps (SDRs), Account Executives (AE), Customer Experiences & Success (CXS), Account Managers (AMs), and Inside Sales Reps (ISRs).
We’ll also cover the basic responsibilities of each role (to help you decide if it’s right for you or for your organization). Finally, we’ll differentiate some key skills for each so you can identify what training your existing or new teams may need.
Keep reading to learn the difference between BDR vs AE and the other different sales roles.
READ: How to Hire and Retain Top Sales Reps and Managers
What is the Difference Between a BDR vs. SDR?
The BDR and SDR roles are the tip of the sales spear or the top of the sales funnel. Their job is to get deals in the pipeline by hunting and/or qualifying leads. From there, the lead is deemed an opportunity and worked by an AE, ISR, Field Rep, AM, or another silly acronym. 🙂
Unsure what the difference is between a BDR and SDR? The key responsibilities for these roles are decided by each company. Few have both roles, and if they don’t, the terms are used interchangeably meaning the exact same role has a different name at different companies. I’ve seen the same function named “Biz Dev”, “Lead Gen”, “Appointment Setting”, “Lead Qualification”, “Junior Rep”, or even “Data Cleansing” (although that’s usually ever so slightly more administrative).
Larger sales organizations may have multiple “sales development functions” and use both acronyms. One could mean qualifying inbound leads and the other outbound leads. One may hand off to an account executive in the inside/digital organization and the other could be working with the field sales team. In summary, it’s never a dumb question to ask someone to clarify the job duties of their BDR/SDR sellers. Some smart questions to ask:
- Do they work with inbound leads, warm outbound leads, or cold outbound leads?
- Who do they hand off to?
- How are leads dispersed?
- What constitutes a qualified lead?
- What’s the primary goal (e.g. is it data cleanliness, sales qualification, or appointment setting?)
- How does this goal adjust based on the market, pipeline, and results?
- How is the role compensated?
What is an Account Executive?
The rise of the BDR (mind if I just type one of these from here on out?) came with two big recent trends: SaaS sales and role specialization. In the old days, sales meant you hunted it, killed it, ate it, and farmed it. The problem was when reps got a few big accounts that they could eat off of for a while, the hunting stopped. With the rise of the demo, companies shifted their focus. As the tech stack became a thing, we realized we needed sellers to be great at the demo (companies are still working on it) or the product showcase. Software organizations led the way in splitting sellers into three functions: Sales Development (BDR/SDR) called the leads and set appointments, Account Executives (reps who do the demo and close the deal), and Customer Success (CXS) who renew and upsell/cross-sell. Hunters, Closers, and Farmers. Sure it’s a mixed metaphor, but what AE wants to be called a Killer AE, am I right?!
About the same time as the rise of software came the rise of the millennial workforce. Different from their Gen X bosses, millennials want faster career mobility and more development. Hence the birth of the “micro promotion” and level in the BDR/SDR role with a clear path to AE. New sellers simply survive the pure hunting role for about 18 months and they’ll receive a few small promotions and the cushy AE role where minions pass them leads all day long.
What is an Inside Sales Rep?
So what about the rest of the alphabet soup? Let’s get into the more traditional sales roles, or these days simply non-software/high-tech: the ISR (Inside Sales Representative). We may also call them Acquisition Reps, Full-Cycle Sellers, Account Executives (yup, same name), or any other fancy title that sounds less like a seller but means, “I own the deal from cradle to grave.” My teams in the early 2000s were all ISRs. Hunt, Kill, Farm.
ISRs may be teamed with field sellers. These “outside reps” typically meet face-to-face with clients and therefore work the more complex and longer sales cycle deals. Organizations may use them in the “NFL cities” where it is geographically beneficial to add staff and use them inside for the rest, or they may split by deal size/complexity (anything under $100K is handled inside). Finally, you may split your sales teams by product type. Product X may be 10 years old, toward the top of the product lifecycle curve, and need a low-cost fast-response sales engine. These are goods that consumers feel comfortable ordering over the phone or online. The same company may have new products sold to different customer sets who will require more hand-holding, consensus building, and education – the field teams get these.
What is an Account Manager?
Alternatively, we have the Account Manager. These folks work large books of customers with diverse product sets. Their goal is to farm new business, penetrate the account further, and find opportunities to cross and upsell. Think of them as the Customer Success Reps of the non-software world. Their customers don’t require a renewal contract, but they do require some service and value-add to keep buying from you.
Can traditional sales engines also specialize? You bet. I’ve seen hunters/farmers in this world quite often. Then you might have an ISR/AE or “Sales Executive” upfront and an Account Manager or AM owning the account after the first sale or first period.
How to Build a Winning Sales Team
What a mouthful, right? So how do we know what’s right for you and your organization?
I say start with your sales goals, go-to-market strategy, and product complexity. Then compare all your decisions past your buyers’ preferences and build your strawman.
A few general rules before you decide which sales roles to hire for your sales team…
If you’re in a race for market share or have aggressive growth goals, keep your sales force inside and hire heavily. Then go invest heavily in marketing for brand recognition and lead generation. Split the organization so you have teams with a sole focus on hunting new opportunities and quickly converting those brought in by marketing.
Key sales skills here are the ability to quickly qualify new business, uncover the intent and value of the sale, and close for commitments on every call to speed the sales cycle. You’ll probably also want some virtual selling skills, objection handling, listening skills, and product demo or proposal training. These are often lacking in these quick-growth organizations, and your job is to find the gold, mine it, and bank it before your competition knows you’ve set up a general store.
Looking at a job in this arena means (psst, leaders, check your hiring profiles for) the ability to multitask, impatience for results, quick to connect with others, competitive, OK taking rejection, and a lover of high activity. Your super go-getters will be making high dials, winning fast, and losing fast. You’ll hear no more than yes, but if the right culture is built, the yes will be intoxicating.
Sellers who don’t love the thrill of the hunt or are nervous about rejection avoid the top-of-funnel sales roles. That means you need to stay out of high-tech and software and target a more traditional industry like manufacturing, distribution, medical, and services that have more full-cycle sales roles that require only a bit of hunting to be successful. These “closers” or AE, Sales Executive, or ISR type roles (using these interchangeably as full-cycle sellers) need great organizational skills, some cold calling as well as some great service skills, amazing online meeting and demo skills, and an ability to find and present unique value to each customer. Like full-time Account Managers with books of business or territories of hundreds of accounts, teach them business acumen, how to have the wallet share conversation, and how to ask for referrals. This prevents our farmers from simply depositing their harvest or inbound orders from their top 20 accounts.
Now, the field seller. This role typically earns more and is held by the more tenured seller. We’re looking for professionalism, maturity, business acumen, excellent rapport, and presentation skills. They go and close the million-dollar deals, wine and dine the big clients, and represent companies as the literal face of the business. Key skills for these folks are typically about doing better discovery and value building (so we don’t sell on price), but in the days of the pandemic looked a lot like the BDR and AE skills gaps of calling people, keeping them on the phone, and doing online demos.
A final word. The gate to most of the cushy AE, AM, and field jobs are the high-pressure hunting jobs. Don’t back away from sales just because of this! Most companies have made this nearly fool-proof by adding lead lists, helpful software tools, script starters, and training. If you’re smart, a great listener, care about the customer, and can show up on time for a consecutive 30 days, you will likely be promoted in your first year. Hang in and fall in love with sales. It’s worth it!
Hiring a team of sales reps?
Watch our session on “How To Build Your Training & Development Plan” to learn everything you need to know about incorporating training into your onboarding and employee development plan.
8 Sales Rep Onboarding Best Practices
By now you’ve heard that the sales rep onboarding experience is a major factor in how they ramp to quota and ultimately affects how they feel about your company.
There are about 3 million moving parts in an onboarding program since it happens across so many departments, mostly outside of sales. Because of this, it’s easy to lose our way during onboarding. One of the most important hindrances is the lack of investment — both in effort and money — in onboarding.
Insidesales.com did a study that found organizations spend an average of 3x more on rep tools than on rep development, with the average rep having between 5-10 tools. Similarly, Training Magazine found that organizations spend on average 25x more on recruiting than development.
Moreover, Training Magazine tells us that a good onboarding program can cut ramp time and attrition by 50%. If we focus more time on crafting an onboarding program that will help retain the reps we recruit, we save time, money, and energy down the line.
So let’s do this! Here are 8 best practices you can dive into fixing right now.
Integrate These 8 Best Practices Into Your Sales Rep Onboarding
- “Just-in-time” training
- Leverage sales (not HR) professionals
- Balance software and traditional training methods
- Continue onboarding long after the rep is “ready”
- Adopt the six critical components of a training program
- Use ample multimedia resources
- Create a formal, but flexible, rep training program
- Set realistic, data-based expectations
Let’s dive a little deeper into why and how to integrate these tips into your onboarding.
1. “Just-in-time” Training
When building an onboarding program, it’s tempting to start by listing all the things “Johnny” may ever need to know and start from the top. Instead, try slicing off only what Johnny needs to know in month one.
It can be tempting to dive deep into company waters with things like histories, organizational charts, and other detailed and specific areas. It’s more effective to shift this information to the backburner for the time being and focus only on what the new rep needs in the first month to be successful. After all, how often does a customer quiz your rep on key events in the company’s founding?
Onboarding training should mirror what a rep’s day-to-day activities will look like once training is finished during the first month on the job (and only that first month). This ensures reps don’t feel like a fish out of water when the time comes to execute the tactics taught in training.
Why stop at month one? Because we want our reps to come out of onboarding feeling confident! We want them ready to pound the phones and execute what they learned! If we start introducing them to all the sales process complexities, advanced products, and deep conversations, then we run the risk of scaring or overwhelming them.
This is a time when “you don’t know what you don’t know” is a good thing. If your reps will likely spend that first month talking to existing happy customers or cold calling and leaving a lot of voicemails, stop training there. Bring them back later for the rest.
2. Leverage Sales (Not HR) Professionals
Aberdeen reported that 85% of the sales teams considered “best-in-class” use professional sales trainers or curriculum. But the majority of us outsource our onboarding to HR.
This absolutely does not mean that your sales managers should be the trainers. It means that as a sales leader, you have sales managers and a sales training manager reporting to you (or at least attending your meetings). It could also mean that you have a sales manager who acts as a liaison to training.
But what it definitely means is that you and your sales team all know what is being taught, agree with the how, and are thrilled with what reps can do when they graduate from the onboarding training.
Some companies shy away from investing in an expert for new hires due to the high turnover rate. But, by investing in good sales training and following best practices, companies can reduce new hire turnover rate and save money in the long run.
3. Balance Online and Classroom Training
What we use to teach reps is another balancing act between digital learning and resources and traditional training methods.
Best practice? Use technology for about 30% of your overall curriculum. Much more and we’re missing the opportunity to engage new reps and ensure their first month is lonely and, let’s face it: boring.
Online learning is easiest to leverage for one of the following areas:
- Rote knowledge that isn’t likely to change. This includes policies, laws, company history, and unchanging products.
- Already-created, third-party curriculum. Commonly this is from technology vendors like Salesforce or basic Microsoft how-to assets
- Trusted adviser curriculum. If you’re working with social, sales, or marketing experts already and have adopted their methodologies, ask about online resources to onboard new reps.
Leverage your training department’s learning management system with whatever you’re doing. You’ll want to track what reps have and haven’t done and add a layer of accountability with reporting and testing.
4. Don’t Let It End! Continue Training Even After Onboarding
Rep development should be ongoing. Don’t ever fall into the trap of “They’re trained! My job here is done.” That’s akin to the NFL putting players in preseason camp and then stopping practice when the regular season begins.
Development is an ongoing sport.
At Factor 8, we’re huge champions of sending new reps to the phones early and often. But that is with the assumption that they’ll come back to the classroom to address the gaps they find while out on the harsh streets of your sales floor. It’s also assuming that managers are closely keeping track of rep progress and development needs.
How do you facilitate this?
Try to organize the curriculum into three levels:
- Level 1 maps to onboarding – the foundational/month 1 skills.
- Level 2 is “just in time” after reps master level 1 and get 6-12 months under their belt. They’re ramped to quota, and it’s time for ongoing development to keep growing and do the whole job well.
- Level 3 maps to the mastery of the job in years 2 to 3 — more advanced skills to help them be superstars.
Between each level we add exercises, activities, assignments, and refreshers to keep the skills top of mind, show new ways to try certain tactics, and help managers engage reps in 1:1 and team skill development. The Sales Bar helps us make all of this accessible on-demand so teams can learn what they want to when they want to while still keeping track. We also drip new content monthly and use leaderboards to keep things fresh and different so users want to log back in.
Use this as an example of the microlearning and ongoing development young reps crave. Millennials expect a certain percentage of learning to be in the classroom and online, and they expect opportunities to develop themselves long after onboarding.
Offering blended learning, leveled learning, and ongoing learning checks all those boxes.
5. Adopt the 6 Critical Components of a Sales Training Program
If you’re just starting to build your program or you’re going in to assess yours, start by evaluating what’s being trained. It’s easy to go deep into systems and products, but those are just two of the six components of well-rounded onboarding training:
- Systems and tools — Your CRM, intranet, engagement tool, dialer, etc.
- Product and service — What you’re selling. Tip: Focus on “how to sell it” versus a full rundown of product history, speeds, and feeds. This harkens back to best practice #1 and maintaining training relevancy. If your product people are teaching this, chances are your reps don’t need half of it and are using this time to snooze.
- Sales — Even if you hire for experience, reps need to be taught how to sell your services to your customers in your industry over the phone. Haven’t met a new hire yet who doesn’t.
- Process — Think of how your leads and orders get processed internally and who a rep goes to for the top customer questions. In other words, how do you get stuff done at your company?
- Acumen — Sorry folks, they’re not coming out of school with business acumen and certainly not industry and customer acumen. This is a big gap, and filling it will drastically shorten ramp time.
- Manager integration — this is where tip #5 really comes to life, both during and after onboarding. Reps need to see their leaders often, and training needs input and oversight.
6. Utilize Ample Multimedia Resources
No two reps are identical when it comes to learning style. Make sure you’re meeting every new hire where they’re at by using a mix of helpful resources.
This includes but is not limited to:
- Interactive e-learning software
- Traditional books
- Instructor-led training – virtual or in-person
- Real-life practice
Mixing up these methods not only appeals to reps with different learning styles but also helps keep training exciting and fresh. Who wants to sit and listen to someone else make calls all day and slap a “training” label on it?
7. Create a Formal, but Flexible Rep Training Program
If you’re not putting all new hires through the same rep onboarding process, how can you ever tell if what you’re doing is working?
As we said: Different reps have different learning styles, so it is important to remain flexible to an extent. Just make sure you have some core pillars of onboarding training in place so all new hires are experiencing the same process.
This helps you measure KPIs and tweak your processes if weak spots surface.
8. Set Realistic, Data-Based Expectations for Your New Reps
How many times have your managers set sky-high call quotas for new reps? How many times have they failed to reach it? But, most importantly, how many times has this been documented?
The only thing more frustrating (for both rep and manager) than someone consistently underperforming on quotas, is for there to be nothing in place to fix it moving forward.
Make sure when you’re setting expectations and KPIs for new hire reps that they are based on data. Once you have a fleshed-out onboarding process, it will be easier than ever to keep track of this information.
Find a Tool That Works for Your Onboarding Needs
What if we told you there’s a tool that complements in-person sales training, allows managers to monitor new hire learning during onboarding, and offers a wide variety of inside sales resources?
It’s not magic — it’s The Sales Bar. Fill out the form below to learn more.
Want more information on our sales rep onboarding programs?
Contact us today to request information on our customizable virtual sales training programs
available for reps (and managers).
Changing Sales Incentives During a Recession
I heard from a CRO friend recently that she knows the economy is causing low morale for her team. They see friends being laid off and it’s harder to make commission. Sound familiar?
Most of us (guilty!) start to double down on lead generation efforts, curbing spending, and training how to close in today’s economy (seriously, email us if we can help with this). I don’t worry about their commission because I’m getting scrappy to ensure I can afford base salaries. Literally never thought once about how my team might not make the same money.
READ: Leading Sales Teams Through A Recession
Not this CRO. She immediately earmarked funds (read: stole from another budget line item) to supplement commissions and incentives so she could retain her top talent. She didn’t assume loyalty, because she knows they are awesome and they can go elsewhere. Also, she knows what it will cost her this year and the next 3 years to hire, onboard, and upskill these tenured sellers’ replacements.
Talk about going left when the rest of the team goes right! Have you looked at how reduced sales are affecting commission payments on your team? Have you talked to the team about how they’re faring and how they’re feeling? Have you explained what you can and can’t do and dug deep to figure out how to help them feel important and loyal?
I know I personally won’t have extra budget to do this, but as I type it I “hear myself” saying “extra budget.” Wrong attitude.
READ: Top Pipeline-Building and Recession Selling Tips
What can I live without for the next 9 months so my sales don’t get WORSE? What can I live without for the next 12 months so I can invest and keep the people on the front lines right now? Can I find money to supplement bonuses? Can I find low-cost ways to show appreciation?
It’s time to get busy.