Building a sales team has to be one of the trickiest, slime-dodging tasks in marketing. Finding sales team members that are there to produce results, and not simply claw their way up your brand ladder, is tough. 

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And once you have your team assembled, perfecting proposals and closing deals are only the beginning. Sales members who can multitask and represent your brand are really hard to find, especially because you have to wade through a lot of BS and muck first. 

Why Having a Sales Team Matters

Obviously, you know accounts and clients aren’t just going to fall into your lap. To get the right clients that really fit your business, it’s imperative to have a good team to find them and bring them in. 

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If you want to support a revenue-generating business that’s going to stand on its own for the long haul, you’ve got to go about it in a way that’s not only going to grow, it’s going to grow at scale. 

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That’s where you’re going to need intelligence that goes beyond knowing how to land a client. Any decent salesman can sell a product, but really good ones sell that product to the right people. When it comes to marketing, you need salespeople who know where your business wants to go and will take you there at the right pace. 

It’s All About Structure

Simply assembling a team and calling it a salesforce isn’t going to cut it here. When you’re building a sales team, it’s got to have the right structure. 

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Your sales team isn’t going to pay for itself unless it’s actually working to pay for itself. Keep in mind that most sales reps should be able to bring in about five times what they’re taking in compensation. 

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Making sure you have the crew to back up the projects is pivotal—selling services you can’t deliver on can be disastrous, and ends up costing you SO much more both short and long term. Hire and implement sales teams to scale, and pay attention to the way you’re growing. 

Teams On Teams

Within your sales team, it can be helpful to have smaller, dedicated teams that are responsible for specific roles or projects. If you can accommodate it, split your large team into smaller ones, to increase focus, efficiency and productivity. 

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The benefit of having dedicated teams means you can better focus on selling industries and clients that serve your business well, or restructuring campaigns that don’t seem to be getting it done. 

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Tasking the whole team with every project can become overwhelming, and leads to a lack of focus and execution overall. 

More Than Just Quota

If you motivate a sales team by meeting quota alone, you’re going to have a lot of stressed-out, inefficient team members. When it comes to sales, you want your team to be motivated by passion and results. Does your team care about what you do? Do they have a reason to put their whole heart into it?

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It comes down to this: if you’re going to push your sales team for results based on meeting quota alone, you’ll end up disappointed. And you’ll end up with slimy salespeople who are just trying to make a sale for the sake of saving their job. They leave their passion, energy, and—honestly—their talent behind, just pushing for numbers. 

Selling Out

Don’t sell out your sales team. If you’re struggling to find the right people to do the job, consider reaching out to an agency that can help land partners and clients for you. Organizations that specialize in outreach or affiliate marketing can be great allies to help and may help you land more leads and clients than unmotivated sales teams ever could. 

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If you’re tired of trying and failing to build an effective sales team, there’s no shame in turning to a squad of experts. Set your goals, identify your target audience, and find that team of people that are going to make big things happen. 

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Then go focus on doing what you do best—running your business.