There is no magic recipe to ensure your SaaS company’s GTM team is consistently successful, as well as feeling supported, motivated, appreciated and empowered in their roles. Having the sales skills and market knowledge is one thing, but that is only a couple of ingredients when it comes to keeping your employees happy and, as a result, helping them thrive in their roles.
If your SaaS company is going through a period of growth, it’s vital that you have regular check-ins with your employees and enable them to communicate with you about anything that will ultimately help them to be more successful. Here, we look at five of the most important questions you can ask your GTM on a monthly basis to ensure communication is kept clear, they are able to do their jobs to the best of their ability, and all your employees remain aligned with your overall business goals.
1. DO ANY PROCESSES NEED TO BE REVIEWED TO MAKE YOUR JOB EASIER?
Regardless of what your GTM team is selling, they will be working in a fast-paced environment that requires a high level of organisational skills. One major challenge with this is often outdated business processes that are slowing your employees down.
Unless you are doing the job hands-on, it can be difficult from an outside perspective to see exactly what goes into the sales process on a daily basis, and how many moving parts your salespeople are required to manage. If something is impacting the rate at which your people can work and make more sales, this needs to change - and the only people who will truly know if processes need improving are your team members. Asking them for feedback will also help your employees feel valued, which is particularly important during growth periods where some workers may begin to feel like a small fish in a big pond.
2. DO YOU NEED ANY ADDITIONAL OR UPDATED TRAINING?
With SaaS comes constant phone calls, emails and tech implementations. Whilst your sales employees are likely to be ‘accustomed to’ how to perform well and be successful in their roles, sales is rarely an easy job in which you remain consistently motivated. This is why regular training is imperative; not only do you want to avoid your employees reaching burnout, but you also want to ensure they fully understand the tools they are using and the information they should be giving customers.
Regardless of whether they have worked with you for six weeks, six months or six years, asking your team members this on a regular basis will enable you to stay on track with who thrives where, and who needs extra training to stay on top of their game.
3. DO YOU FEEL FULLY EQUIPPED AND ABLE TO SELL OUR PRODUCTS / SERVICES?
Despite offering market-leading products or services, it isn’t a given that your GTM team will always feel fully equipped to work to the best of their ability and sell your products or services. Sales enablement is about more than providing your employees with product information and sales prompts - it’s about ensuring they have absolutely everything they need. If something is missing, hearing it directly from your team members is how you will be able to provide them with what they need to make more sales.
If they’re unsure, ask them to review all of their recent customer feedback and see if there are any trends. For example, if customers feel that the salesperson they’ve been dealing with was too slow to respond to queries or didn’t have sufficient product knowledge, a plan can then be put in place to see how you can save your employees time, or how often they should have training to refresh their memories.
4. HOW IS YOUR WORK-LIFE BALANCE?
One of the most important things you can do to demonstrate your commitment to your team members is to show a genuine interest in their personal lives and their wellbeing, as well as their performance at work.
Sales can be a demanding job, and any SaaS company owner or leader knows that your GTM team will occasionally work unsociable hours to achieve targets and KPIs. Although this may be good for the business during periods of growth, this will only work in the short-term until your team members begin to look elsewhere for a role with a better work-life balance.
5. IS THERE ANYTHING WE CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR OVERALL JOB SATISFACTION?
Happy employees equal happy business owners. Why? Because if your employees feel fulfilled in their roles, their performance will reflect it and your business goals will be achieved. However, if there are elements of the job that your GTM team members are struggling with, their overall job satisfaction is likely to be impacted negatively, resulting in a decrease in performance.
Checking in with your team members and asking how you can improve their job satisfaction will likely result in an easy solution, such as new equipment, hybrid working or a career development plan. Stay in regular contact with your sales staff to ensure everyone stays on the same page.
GET IN TOUCH
Here at Strive, we source top tier sales talent for scaling and hyper-growth tech companies. To learn more about how we can help your business achieve its growth plans, contact our team on 0203 983 0770 or email hello@scalewithstrive.com.
