90% of the small business sales departments I’ve visited, spoke with, or worked for were failing in one of these three areas.

Here they are, and how to fix it:

1. All the outbound Business Development Reps (BDRs) more or less do their own thing. Sure, they received a script you carefully crafted. But they don’t take the time to deliver it cold.

You should be able to wake own of your salespeople up at 3:00 AM, and ask them, “Why should I buy from you?” and get a compelling answer.

Fix – Every BDR should all be delivering the same message and sending the same emails. Of course, there are tweaks, based on delivery proficiency and circumstances, but not many.

2. No documented Sales Playbook. The first day a salesperson starts there should be no question regarding how your sales department functions.

Fix – Start putting together your Sales Playbook. This is a living document that is continually being updated and revised. If you keep it up it will save you countless hours of explanation.
Bonus – Onboarding new salespeople will be easier and quicker.
See below for a free resource.

3. The Founder, Entrepreneur, or CEO spends too much of their time managing the sales department. They think everything will collapse if they are not involved in the minutia of each prospect. This stunts the growth of the company. And worse yet, it results in high turnover, especially with sales managers.

Fix – If you correct items 1 and 2, it will go a long way toward fixing number 3. Once you have ~four salespeople and have a dividing line between BDRs and AE’s, it’s time to get a sales manager. It can be a full-time position or, if cash is tight, a fractional (part-time) sales manager.

The key is to put structure and sales processes in place. As Peter Drucker said, You can’t manage what you cannot measure.

Once these are in place, you’ll start seeing what’s working and what isn’t. You can tweak everything from there.

And, if you haven’t already, to get your week off to a great start, please subscribe to my new LinkedIn Newsletter, The Sunday Starter – https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/6914239256987131904/

P.S. If you want the complete Sales Manager’s Checklist, with 12 action items to build a great sales team, click HERE