Forget fantasy football. Who would you want on your fantasy sales team?
So you’ve built up your product and established a solid foundation to take your company to the next level. Or, maybe you’ve been established for a while, but you’ve noticed some stagnation and are attempting to re-energize the organization. Either way, it’s draft season! Except we’re not talking about sports this time. We’re talking about your fantasy sales team.
If you’ve been in the business awhile, you know that you can’t just hire salespeople and expect revenue to increase. There are a lot more moving parts to the sales process. A fantasy sales team speaks to each of those parts. But who should be on such a team, and what should it look like?
The 5-part strategy to creating your fantasy sales team
1. Team structure
The structure of a fantasy sales team will vary, but one that many businesses are finding useful is known as the “assembly line” model. This model breaks the sales cycle into stages. An owner would then hire specialized professionals to handle each of those stages. The benefit here (as opposed to a traditional model of individual reps handling entire sales cycles) is that there is a system of checks and balances. That means two things.
The first is that your customers receive specialized service each step of the way, which tends to result in a greater customer success rate. The second is that you can quickly identify within your team where processes are working and where they are not.
2. Team members
So what does an assembly line fantasy sales team look like? Though the members will vary from industry to industry, almost all industries will include these basic four: Lead generators or sourcers, business development representatives, account executives, and customer service representatives.
The lead generator is responsible for drumming up prospects. This person should be an excellent networker and have a nose for sniffing out new business.
The business development representative then develops a relationship with those prospects, determining their needs and looking for ways to meet them. A good business development rep excels at identifying and solving problems, as well as building relationships.
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The account executive then comes in to ultimately make the sale and the close. AEs are usually the more gregarious of the bunch, able to put minds at ease, earn trust, and also solve problems.
Finally, the customer service representative is the client’s point-person following the close for any questions or issues they may have with the product or service. CSRs should be patient, enjoy working with people and solving their problems, and be extremely responsive.
3. Other roles
There are still other roles that may be useful on a fantasy sales team. If you’re selling software, you’ll probably want a sales engineer to hone in on the very technical aspects of the product. You might also include a sales strategist or a data analyst to interpret facts and figures and turn them into sales material.
The rule of thumb here is, don’t limit yourself to the obvious. Even creative talent has a place on a sales team, depending on the industry. The key is to make sure you have all bases covered for every question a client might ask or obstacle you might encounter.
4. Hiring the right people
A fantasy sales team only works if you hire not only the individuals who have the skills, but also people who have the personality and passion necessary to fit into your company. Although sales professionals are highly skilled individuals, the reality is that there are many of them out there. Your task is to find those who fit the technical bill as well as the cultural bill.
Hiring the right people for your fantasy sales team may be the biggest challenge. After all, salespeople are good at sales, so you can bet they’ll talk themselves up pretty well. Ask questions that dig deep, not just about experience, but about what’s important to them, where they want to end up, and why they want to sell your product.
5. How to know if your team is effective
The best gauge for an effective team is revenue. But there are other metrics as well. Are there plenty of leads, but not enough closes? Are there plenty of closes, but then client drop-off afterward? Are you developing lasting relationships with ongoing revenue generation, or are you making one-off sales and surviving on those?
Whatever the case, remember that your fantasy sales team is a unit, just like a fantasy football team. The individual players are important, but it’s the team that matters in the end.
Teams and individuals all stay connected with Blitz’s CRM software. Schedule a free demo today to see what we can do for your business.
Do you have a fantasy sales team? What does it look like? Tell us how you’d structure a team in the comments below.