Finding the right person to lead your sales team can be a game-changer.
When you hire correctly, a Sales Leader should bring their extensive experience and expertise in sales and revenue generation and provide the strategic guidance and leadership your business needs to thrive.
Hiring correctly, you will bring on board an expert with a deep understanding of sales strategies, revenue optimisation, and market dynamics – and leveraging this knowledge should drive high value impact, with your business gaining a competitive edge and accelerating revenue growth.
So, what are some indications that you have hired correctly?
We believe the below are some of the main positive signs that you should be looking for:
Playbooks:
1. They have a proven sales playbook, built and documented, ready to adapt to fit your organisation.
2. They have a proven management playbook, built and documented, ready to roll out across the GTM organisation.
Using their experience and ‘fresh’ eyes, a Sales Leader is an expert who can help you create (or upgrade) your process.
Some key areas you should expect them to improve would be:
· Creating or upgrading your sales playbook.
· Fixing pricing.
· Driving deal sizes up.
· Creating more urgency in the sales process.
When calculating the potential revenue increase, consider factors such as:
· Increased sales volume
· Higher average deal sizes
· Improved customer retention
· Expansion into new markets.
Hiring:
1. They have a proven playbook for hiring great reps, documented and ready to roll out across Talent Attraction.
2. They have a list of candidates ready to join the team from previous organisations they've lead.
Allow your Sales Leader to take charge of building our your GTM sales function.
Using their network, expecting them to hire 1 – 2 strategic sales reps (including the key first on the ground hires), should not be unachievable for them.
A truly experienced Sales Leader will know that hiring is at 50% of the job.
Team Management:
5. They take time to assess the current team before making any rash decisions / throwing their weight around (but don't hesitate to take action).
6. They quickly identify "SKILL" gaps in the reps and ways to improve / train / coach.
7. They quickly identify "WILL" gaps in the reps and exit them from the organisation, fast.
8. They choose to spend their time with their team, in the weeds, working on deals, coaching, in front of customers and moving the needle on revenue.
Unlike a Founder who is forced to split their time across all areas of the company, a Sales Leader will focus solely on sales and revenue – placing a real focus and drive in this core area of your business.
They will work on ‘what moves the needle’ in terms of sales and support you in ensuring the whole company has a focus on this.
If you want to learn more about how Strive can support your business in hiring Sales Leaders, please check out our Solutions page or reach out to one of our Business Leaders to arrange a call.
Adam Richardson
Co-Founder and Director
