Scaling sales teams is a challenge. So many products or companies fail because teams don’t figure out a few key ingredients.
In this episode of One Next Step, Scott Leese joins us to talk about just that. When it comes to sales, Scott Leese is the man. Not only is he an author, and we will talk about his book Addicted to the Process, but he is also the founder of Scott Leese Consulting and The Surf and Sales Summit.
We’ll talk about building a successful sales team while leading it as a small business owner and finding the right salespeople who can grow your team and eventually your business.
Here are some takeaways he shared:
1. People don't care about what you do. They care about how you can help them.
The old sales pitch of ‘My name is Scott and I’m the owner of Scott Leese Consulting’ just doesn’t work anymore.
What are the end benefits of what a consultant offers? Lead with that! Address their potential concerns right from the beginning — then end with how what you do can meet their needs.
It may be a tough pill to swallow, but the reality is nobody cares what you do if they don’t understand that they have a problem that needs to be solved first.
2. If you're not a salesperson, don't try to be a salesperson.
Too many small business owners get started and they try to do everything on their own. A software engineer may not be the best at sales.
That’s okay.
If you’re trying to do something you’re not naturally inclined to do, you will have a hard time getting your business off the ground. Be willing to ask for help.
You have to offer employees and your sellers more. And it can’t just be about the revenue number.
We’ve siloed off so many different parts of the sales function, and we’ve over-metricked everything. Data may be king, but it’s not God. We can’t let the data just rule us entirely. We’re still dealing with human beings.
3. Codify your sales process.
You can’t scale unless you get what’s working onto paper.
List the whole process from A to Z, making it very clear how your organization does sales. That way, your process can be taught to others and easily replicated. That’s just another way of taking one important thing off your shoulders.
And if you’re not naturally inclined to sales, work with your lead salesperson to get this process off the ground. You and your business can only benefit from this in the long run.
Sales — in every aspect of a business — is putting things on paper so they can be replicated in all areas of your business. At BELAY, we practice that in sales, marketing, account management and finance.
It’s good business practice to have things orderly if you want to grow your business. This way, people can easily understand what the job is; they’re clear on what they’re supposed to do; and they have their marching orders in front of them.
Develop processes for building and leading your team as a small business. You can begin by thinking through these follow-up questions:
What is your current sales process? What are the strengths and weaknesses? What could be missing?
What is the value in hiring someone who is coachable and curious versus someone who doesn’t need as much coaching?
Has your view of sales changed since you started your business? What have you learned, and what are some possible misconceptions you had before you started?
What are the pros and cons of a sales leaderboard in your opinion?
As a resource for this episode, we’ve curated a list of Scott’s best articles on sales strategy, process, people, infrastructure and more.