Mark Elliott discusses strategies for building and managing a successful sales team, focusing on sales rep types, targets, compensation, and the recruitment process. Key recommendations include continuous recruiting, tailored candidate evaluations, effective onboarding, and maintaining open communication for personal development. The document emphasizes understanding customer needs and providing support to sales reps to ensure their success and satisfaction.

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Growing Your Sales Team
Mark Elliott
Co-Founder
Venture Accelerator Partners
October 14, 2015

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Agenda
• What type of Sales Rep
• Sales Targets
• Compensation
• Recruiting
• Interview
• Sales Tools
• Onboarding
• Communications Plan
• Personal Development
• Keeping them
@markeelliott @itbeginswithif

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Background
• Mark Elliott, Co-Founder Venture Accelerator
Partners
• Provides Part-time sales and marketing
• 9 Years since the start of VA Partners
• 10 Years at Fortune 500 Technology Company
• Champion of Sales P2P at Innovation Factory
• At VA Partners
– Worked with over 70 Companies
– Helped book hundreds of meetings
– Drove millions of web page views
– Customers have realized millions in revenue

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Type of Sales Person
• Inside vs
Outbound
• Local vs Remote
• Channel
• Inbound Lead
Generation

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Factors to Consider
• How do customers buy?
• How complex is the sales
cycle?
• Customer Lifetime Value
• Resources available
– Time
– Money

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Sales Targets
• What organization?
– Geography
– Vertical
– Size
– List
• Contact within company
– One or Many

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Compensation
• Salary
• Variable
– Revenue
– Margin
– Activities
• What is the right split?
– 50% to 70% Salary, the rest
variable

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Recruiting
• Always be recruiting
• Networking
• Local schools
• Use Social Media
• Recruiters

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Candidate Evaluation
• Have the tailored their cover letter
• What does their Linkedin look like
• Do they use other digital
platforms?
• Do the jump around a lot
• Do they quantify results?
• If candidates are junior
– Customer service
– Achievements in school

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Interview
• Create questions based on the
job
• Ask for specifics
• Situational Questions: Tell me
about
– biggest win
– most challenging customer
– your CRM use
• Ask about process
• Be creative with junior hires

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Sales Tools
• CRM
• Path to Sales Success
• Social Tools
• Scripts
– Email
– Calling with objections

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Onboarding
• Have the week scheduled
• Admin and tools ready for day 1
• Solution review
– Focus on benefits and Value
prop
• Break apart the sales cycle
– Start with simpler tasks
• Practice
• Make yourself available
• Ongoing training and education

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Communications Plan
• Management by walking
around
• Team meetings
• Joint calls or meetings
– Coaching opportunity
• Individual meetings

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Individual Meetings
• Funnel Review with CRM
– What was expected
– What is expected
– What has changed
– Updates on larger
opportunities
– Be accountable
• Other administrative tasks
• Personal Development

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Personal Development
• Identify a few areas for
improvements
– From Rep
– Observed
– Something new
• Create a plan
– Could include training
– Practice
– Sales leader involved
• Does not need to be expensive

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How do you keep them?
• What do they want to do medium term?
• Are they being successful?
• Is there a path for them?
• Are you supporting them?
• Are they happy?
• It’s not about you, it’s about them, unless it is about you.

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Sales Resources
@marsdd@vapartners
@AA_ISP @itbeginswithif @Profit_Magazine
@salesplaybookli