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How to Build a Sales Team at Scale
To achieve sales growth and business expansion, you should build an effective sales team tailored to your specific needs.
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Your sales team is at the forefront of your business. As the team members in charge of marketing and selling the products, pitching them to customers, gaining and maintaining customer relationships and measuring team success, your sales department plays a critical role in maximizing productivity and customer satisfaction.
To increase sales and grow your company, you need to build a high-performing sales team and know how to structure it to support growth. This involves more than just hiring new team members and tracking sales numbers. You need to set each member up for success by providing them with efficient tools, creating measurable performance indicators and motivating them to reach your desired sales quotas.
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How to build a sales team
From determining the right mix of sales roles to implementing effective strategies for growth and competitiveness, creating an effective sales team is a critical step in scaling your business. If your business is looking to establish a sales team, here’s what to consider.
Determine the type of sales team you need.
The type of sales professionals you need on your team depends on your business model, the nature of your products or services, your growth trajectory and your target market.
Consider whether you need inside sales, field sales or both. Identify the background and experience required and determine the number of sales representatives you need to scale up. You will also need to decide on the processes and tools that will support your business growth. Planning these things in advance will ensure you hire the right people for the job.
Once you have determined what type of sales personnel you will need to assemble, it is time to start hiring them.
Hire the right team members.
Though there are a variety of roles within sales teams, the initial hires will most likely be account executives (AEs). Businesses often face challenges in closing deals without effective AEs, especially considering that the average sales win rate is only 21 percent, according to HubSpot’s 2024 State of Sales Report.
Here are some other roles that make up a sales team:
Role | Job description |
|---|---|
Sales development reps | Speak with new customers, bring in new accounts for the team |
Sales consultants | Persuade customers to come on board using demos or proposals |
Customer service reps | Work directly with customers, increase sales |
Sales managers | Lead the entire team by keeping everyone on track |
As you are interviewing new team members, it is essential to know what to look for in a salesperson. High-performing sales agents possess the skill to think outside the box and give thoughtful responses in conversations. They’re coachable, curious and willing to learn from others. Most also have a competitive streak that drives them to work hard and achieve results.
“Look for people with grit, adaptability and a proven track record of success in an environment of growth,” advised Erin Jones, director of sales operations at Auctane. “Coachability and a growth mindset are equally important.”
Paul L. Gunn Jr., founder and CEO of KUOG Corporation, emphasized the value of hiring salespeople who value impact beyond dollars. This approach helps increase profit margins and support overall growth. “When looking at team members who can aid in growth for our company, at the center of their makeup is one anchored in wisdom of the heart,” said Gunn Jr. “To us, this is a combination of logic and emotion — knowing when to move between emotional and cognitive empathy with compassionate exchange to understand … [those] involved to provide a response, solution or insights to help them.”
Design a repetitious sales process.
A sales process is a set of steps your sales team takes to move a prospect along the sales funnel. The funnel includes prospecting, connecting, researching, presenting and closing.
To improve your sales operation, make sure your sales reps deliver consistent customer experience. They will do this by following an optimized sales process so they can achieve repetitive outcomes. “A proven, effective sales methodology makes a huge difference when scaling a sales team,” said Julie Thomas, president and CEO of ValueSelling Associates, Inc. “When your sales team and ideally all customer-facing employees, are trained using a common sales methodology, you can scale your team faster and more effectively.”
While your sales funnel will continue to improve over time, it is best to design and map out this process in the beginning. A good sales executive can wing it through a single presentation, but having a scalable sales funnel requires a documented process that your whole team can follow.
Determine key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success.
As the saying goes, “What gets measured gets done.” By establishing the right KPIs and clearly communicating sales goals to your team, you can get everyone aligned with the company’s long-term vision. This empowers your employees to take initiatives that drive results. “It is incumbent upon the organization’s leaders to provide the ambition of the company that is aspirational and inspiring,” said Steve Wheeler, chief sales officer at Mahou USA. “The sales team’s functional responsibility is to … translate [that ambition] into key results that need to be delivered.”
Here are some important sales KPIs you should measure:
- Sales growth: The increase or decrease of sales in a specific time frame
- Sales target: A specific number of sales or customers your company wants to obtain within a period of time
- Acquisition costs: How much it costs to acquire a new customer
- Lifetime value: The worth of a customer to your business over time
- Churn rate: The measure of how many customers are leaving your organization over a period of time
- Lead-to-opportunity ratio: The calculation of how many leads turn into sales opportunities
- Opportunity-to-close ratio: The calculation of opportunities that lead to closed deals — won or lost
- Conversion rate: The measure of customers who complete the desired goal divided by the number of total leads
- Profit margin: The percentage of net profit to total revenue per sales rep
Train and motivate your team.
It’s not enough to assemble a team of high-performing salespeople. Melissa Maloney, co-founder at All Women L.E.A.D. Inc./AWL Partners, said agents need consistent training focused on two areas — process and performance — to succeed. “Process training is focused on understanding the sales playbook — considering the proven formula for success the organization has designed to help guide [a salesperson] to be successful,” said Maloney. “[Performance] training focuses on the quality side of the sale: individualizing your approach, product knowledge, customer needs, asking great questions [and] overcoming objections.”
Providing training as part of a scalable onboarding process is key to ensuring everyone shares the same institutional knowledge so your team can deliver a predictable and consistent sales experience. To maintain engagement, consider gamification strategies, such as point systems, leaderboards or contests, to motivate your team or meet specific goals. “Reps need to see how their personal contribution is essential to the success of the organization,” explained Jones.
A well-designed compensation system can also provide incentives, helping to balance cost and risk while attracting top talent. “Compensation plans drive focus and results,” said Mike Smith, founder of SalesCoaching1. “The most motivated reps are going to follow the path to the money.”
Implement the right sales tools.
Digitalization and automation allow you to scale up quickly. Use these tools to your advantage by tapping into the vast amount of customer information you’ll have at your disposal. Effectively using the right sales tactics will increase your return on investment.
Invest in the right sales software applications to allow your sales team to streamline workflow and increase sales productivity. Here are the types of sales tools you should be looking for:
- Sales intelligence: These tools help sales teams find ideal customers based on specific criteria. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is an excellent tool for finding leads and making connections.
- Sales enablement: Better sales come from hiring, training, coaching and assessing your sales team. These tools, such as Marketo Sales Connect, allow your company to access information, manage content and collaborate more easily.
- Sales engagement: This allows sales teams to access workflow automation, customer information and analytics to better engage consumers. Freshworks is a great tool for communicating with your patrons.
- CRM solutions: Top CRM solutions help you better connect with your current clients. One CRM application that works for growing businesses is Salesforce. Learn more in our full Salesforce review.
- Management tools: Companies that utilize management tools — like Trello — ensure their teams are productive, meet goals and complete tasks on time. Users can view current project statuses and remaining tasks.
Use a robust communication platform.
Most of today’s sales activities are conducted over the phone. This entails a highly rated business phone service, such as any of the options in our best business phone systems picks and cloud contact center software that can provide the right capabilities on demand. These tools will enable you to access best-in-class communication tools as you grow, without a hefty upfront investment.
For example, a cloud-based call center platform allows you to use a remote sales team and tap into a larger talent pool while lowering operating costs. It also has numerous monitoring and reporting features so you can obtain real-time analytics to improve your sales performance. [Check out our review of Nextiva, one of our top choices for a business phone system.]
Improve talent retention.
Did you know that, according to Statista, United States-based small businesses spend an average of $1,100 training a new employee? Don’t throw money away by continually onboarding new sales reps.
You’re investing heavily in recruiting and training your sales team, so the last thing you want is a high employee turnover rate, which will increase hiring costs and lower sales productivity.
It’s important to analyze your attrition rate and see how you can improve employee retention. For example, by providing proper training, offering advancement opportunities, improving management and leadership style, increasing employee engagement and boosting morale, you will be able to improve employee retention.
Mistakes to avoid when building a sales team
Building the right sales team can set your business up for success. However, without taking the proper steps, you could make mistakes that leave your team feeling unsupported or ill-prepared, hurting your recruitment efforts and causing problems for your business down the road. Below are pitfalls to avoid.
Scaling at the wrong time
While it’s good to be forward-thinking, Maloney warned against scaling your sales team too quickly or before you’re ready to lead it effectively. “[Look] for ‘signs’ it is time to grow: Missed sales opportunities because you cannot follow up fast enough, increased demand for your product … [or] consistent results that you can account for the ‘why’ behind,” advised Maloney. “Every sales funnel has ‘the math.’ Once you can understand ‘the math,’ you … [can better] manage the inputs and outputs, which will support more predictability.”
Not solidifying your business model
Before building out a sales team, establish a solid business plan and value proposition. Without it, your recruitment efforts could be misguided, or you could wind up hiring beyond your means. “[The] most important factor in building and scaling a successful sales team is to have … a solid value proposition with which [businesses] can go to market,” said Jeff Josephson, owner of LeadGen.com. “This includes proof that there’s a market need, an effective competitive positioning and demonstrated marketing, such as lead generation, and sales processes that lend themselves to scaling.”
Hiring without an established process or criteria
The hiring process is an integral first step to building a scalable sales team. Therefore, it’s essential to have a detailed understanding of the ideal candidate profiles you’re seeking.
Develop a standardized hiring procedure that sets clear criteria, including defined “must-have” traits for candidates and implement a scoring process to assess how well each candidate meets your requirements. Over time, this approach will enable you to establish a consistent hiring process where your team knows exactly what qualities to consider.
Staying committed to this process over time is a must for lasting results. “As the team grows, it is imperative to be even more disciplined in sticking with your hiring profile,” said Smith. “Management will likely have less time to spend with the new hires as the demands on their time grow … Don’t compromise your standards.”
Providing inadequate training
To maintain consistent, top-notch performance, provide your sales team with training that extends well beyond their initial onboarding. Offering uniform training across the whole team ensures that you align every member on responsibilities and standard procedures. “The skills learned in sales training must be reinforced and built upon on an ongoing basis,” advised Thomas. “An effective sales coaching program [guarantees] … sales professionals are supported and learn from sales leaders.”
Equally important throughout sales training is setting clear expectations, according to Wheeler. “Be very clear about the behaviors and actions you expect from the team and track them rigorously,” said Wheeler. “If your expectations … [are] not clear, [employees] may feel like they have failed a test they didn’t know they were taking. That means you have failed as the leader.”
Before hiring new personnel, consider investing additional time and training in your current team, as they might already possess the capability to meet your business’s challenges with adequate support and development.
Misaligning sales and marketing
Without high-quality leads, your sales team cannot do their jobs — and without the right audience, your marketing team cannot effectively sell. Therefore, getting these two teams aligned is crucial to the success of your business.
Before considering team expansion, ensure both departments feel sufficiently resourced. For instance, if you plan to grow the sales team, this will increase the demand for leads, which you should prepare the marketing team to generate and manage.
Wasting time on forecasting instead of coaching
While careful forecasting is key for planning your business’s future, an overemphasis can divert resources that could be used for team development. Consider regularly dedicating time to coaching your sales team and investing in their future. Focus on advancing their specialized skills and offer regular check-ins, training sessions and mentorship programs. These efforts will help your sales team grow continuously.
Use these best practices to build a better sales team
The steps outlined above will assist you in building a quality sales team. You have high sales goals in your business. Use these tools to build a fantastic team that will help you meet those goals.
By taking the time to determine what type of sales team you will be building, you can ensure you are hiring the right people for the right job. By designing a repeatable sales process and outlining measurable performance indicators, you set your people up for success from the start.
Lastly, through motivation and providing the right tools for your team to do their jobs efficiently, you will improve team morale and thus decrease your turnover rate. This will all lead to a successful sales team that can scale quickly as your company grows.
Miranda Fraraccio and Matt Shealy contributed to this article.
