Three new salespeople hired to accelerate a local company’s growth; two years later,  no new sales, and a company barely hanging on. 

This was the immediate finding of a consultant brought in to help a small local business get back on its feet. My jaw dropped and my eyes popped forward hearing this story. This isn’t an outlier, nor is it fake news. The ineffectiveness of salespeople and sales management is a staggering problem for many small and large organizations.

I’d like to tell you the story was an isolated event, but it’s not. A common thread across companies of all sizes is a lack of understanding of what sales organizations should be doing. Selling and all that it entails seems to be a mystery to many.  That mystery is a fundamental misunderstanding of the qualities that define an effective salesperson. My favorite anecdote is equating someone who is a talker to likely being a good candidate for sales.

Small Business Sales Versus Large Business Sales

Any size company could suffer the impact of poor-performing salespeople. In large companies with a significant number of sellers, the good sellers will carry the day for underperformers. Pareto’s principle is in full effect in these sales organizations when analyzing who is making quota and who is not. In fact, in my experience, the number of sellers carrying the day for these companies is closer to 10 percent than 20.

A small business can’t have this kind of massive miss with their sales staff. But that’s exactly what happened with the local company when three sales guys sold nothing in two years. When the consultant advised the company owner to fire the guys, he immediately defended them. He explained how their pipeline was full of opportunities and, of course, these were good people. 

The result was still zero sales. 

If you’re a small-business owner, here are a few ideas to help educate yourself and take control of your sales future. 

Before You Hire a Salesperson

Being prepared to hire your salespeople means more than just knowing who to interview.  You need to be ready for them in every aspect of the word. Here are a few things to consider:

• How are you tracking your sales today? Are you using a spreadsheet or customer relationship management software (CRM)? The CRM software won’t make more sales for you, but if you use it daily to track your next steps and evaluate your pipeline, this tool can be extremely helpful. As always, keep it really, really simple. There are hundreds of CRM tools in the market. Here’s a basic CRM to consider for your business. Start with the Essential package. Avoid chasing new features.
• Is it easy to understand the value of your product or service and how it benefits your customers and prospects? If not, are you expecting your new salesperson to figure this out for you? Don’t defer this obligation to someone else. 
• How are you getting your sales today? Strong relationships and word of mouth are how so many companies start and continue to survive. But this approach is fragile at best and too dependent on others. How will your new salesperson get you beyond your network of referrals?
• Do you have a compensation plan for your new salesperson? Remember, selling is a high risk, high reward job. Talk with your peers to learn how they’re doing it. Set aside a budget for sales commissions. Oh, and don’t get your feelings hurt if your sales folks are making more than you when they’re blowing out their numbers. Instead, celebrate and reset their goals for the next year.

Hiring a New Salesperson

“The best sales job a salesman does is during his interview,” was how one of my sales VPs framed the interview process involved in hiring salespeople.  Time has proved him to be right over and over again.

As a small-business owner, the effort you put into finding a high-caliber salesperson will help tip the scale in your favor. Remember:

• Referrals are the ideal way to find any good employee.
• Cut through the bullshit bingo words in their resume and the interview. Here are some of my favorite bullshit bingo words and phrases: maximized, leveraged, on the same page, and synergy.
• A couple of years of success in sales isn’t a track record. It’s difficult to speak with former employers and have a candid conversation these days. So, instead, ask to speak with three of their clients and learn what they have to say about your candidate.
• Don’t wait a year to make a change. It will be very clear within 90 to 120 days if you’ve got someone who will get the job done. 

It’s critical to remember that sales are the lifeblood of your organization. One of the key signs things aren’t going well in sales is when you hear excuses instead of hearing answers and seeing results. This topic could go on for pages and pages, but in brief, any good strategy is simple and constantly evolving. 

An Amazing Story of Success

Recently I listened to a podcast where Tony Robbins interviewed Sara Blakely, the CEO and founder of Spanx. Spanx is a billion-dollar business she built from the ground up with $5,000 of her own money and without outside investors. And she did it in the women’s clothing business, which is one of the most ruthless and toughest segments in the world. 

In a one hour and fifteen-minute podcast, Sara fills a giant sales sack full of gold nuggets to help others be successful. Whether you’re a small-business owner, or you have a large staff of salespeople, or if you’re an individual contributor, her story will educate and inspire.