Scaling your inside sales team enables and supports your company’s growth without interruptions. It’s a daunting but rewarding task that requires planning, funding, and establishing proper systems.
But why is it so important? If you're still not scaling when your business is growing and there's an increasing demand for your product, that's a problem. You're setting your business up for failure.
When you lack employees and other resources, you might fail to deliver what you promise your customers, lose new customers, and get beaten by the competition.
You know that it’s the right time to start scaling when your business is giving you these signs: you’re struggling to keep up with demand, you’re turning down new customers due to a lack of inventory or employees, and your sales goals are met too quickly and are higher than expected. If any or all of these are occurring, then it's time.
The challenge is just about to begin. Scaling can be tricky, and it may feel like the process is punishing you for your success. It will put your hiring process, sales strategy, and coaching to the test.
To help you roll with the punches, here are helpful tips to successfully scale your inside sales team.
1. Ensure an Efficient Sales Process
The first and most essential step is making sure you have a straightforward, efficient sales process that your sales team can easily understand and follow. You can’t scale a team if you don’t have a solid sales cycle in place first. It will be best to create a foundation for your current team before growing it.
A well-structured sales process tells your team exactly what activities they need to do to close a deal. It also helps you to create well-defined sales cycles that can generate more revenue for your business with less effort.
You can map your sales process steps based on the metrics that matter most to your organization.
2. Choose a Strategy for Your Sales Team
Once you’ve established your sales process, it’s time to choose a strategy that best fits your sales team. Managing a sales team through metrics such as close rates, deal size, or quota attainment is a thing of the past.
Today, the most effective strategy utilized by many businesses is activity-based selling. This strategy eliminates distractions and keeps your salespeople focused only on critical activities that make a sale happen and not the outcome of the sale. The approach drives your sales team to spend their time doing activities that are truly meaningful to the sales process.
There is, of course, a reason why businesses are shifting to this strategy.
When your sales team focuses on what they should be doing, chasing their targets does not have to be stressful. They will have more time to win more sales. A standard set of sales operating metrics will be easier to track and optimize team performance. When team members are fully aligned and engaged, you can achieve higher revenues per team member.
3. Use Defined Metrics to Measure Performance
You want to scale with genuinely dedicated sales teams to achieve the company's sales and growth goals. You have to check that the people you hired are the right fit.
You can measure your salespeople’s performance based on the activities defined in your sales process. Taking the numbers from these activities and putting them into a simple formula can help you gauge how well you’re doing. You can effortlessly keep track of your metrics using a sales activity management system or CRM.
Not all activities consistently lead to sales deals, but a certain amount will. Actions influence results, so focusing on metrics where your salespeople are always aware of their input and output provides motivation. You can spot problems and make changes that positively affect the bottom line.
When a dedicated team member or team is collectively lagging on one of the key metrics, you must invest more time in them. If you can adequately train them and give them a chance to succeed, they'll be more committed to your company.
4. Train Your Sales Team
It’s your responsibility as a leader to properly train your team, no matter how fast you’re scaling. You must spend your time and money making them better at handling sales.
Your inside sales team must know your product and sales process inside and out. It will help if you coach them on how each step works. Make sure they follow the proper procedure every time. Help them understand the importance of each step in closing the deal and achieving the sales target. They will most likely stick with the system when they know the value of doing each step.
5. Think of Culture Fit When Hiring People
It is tempting to recruit a candidate with exceptional experience and a strong educational background. A perfect job fit! But think again. Things are not always what they seem.
Observe the candidates’ responses during the interview. Look for signs that will tell you if they fit into the company culture or not. Gauge if they have the same spirit you and your team have for selling.
Find people who work well on a sales team and are team players. All members must focus on bringing value to the team as a whole. The team must understand that you measure their performance in part as members of a larger group.
Conclusion
The process of scaling can be a daunting and challenging task. With an appropriate approach, you can do it effectively and succeed. While all the tips we shared are necessary and valuable, choosing the right strategy that fits your business model is of great importance.
Every business has a different need for scaling, but all companies need a sales team. Find the right ones, train them the right way, monitor their growth, and ensure that the group remains solid.
