Author: hiredna

Here Are the Most Important Traits to Look for in a Software Sales Recruiter

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The Saas industry is on fire. According to a global forecast, it’s expected to grow from $272 billion in 2018 to $623 billion by 2023, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 18%. 

While this presents plenty of opportunity, it also comes with growing competition. And the SaaS companies that thrive are the ones with skilled software sales recruiters, as they’re integral for assembling a winning team. 

Here’s a list of the most important skills — both hard and soft — to look for in a software sales recruiter. 

A Proven Record of SaaS Success

First off, they need to have a track record of success and plenty of proven experience. Ideally, a software sales recruiter will have at least a Bachelor’s degree in business, human resources, technology, or a related field. However, this can extend into other areas of study as well. 

In terms of real-world experience, common jobs qualified experts have before becoming a recruiter include sales, operations, administrative, support, and research. 

Candidates should have a minimum of five years of experience and firsthand knowledge working with SaaS products. This brings us to our next trait. 

Being Comfortable with SaaS and Recruiting Technology

To thrive in this position, a recruiter needs to have in-depth experience both with SaaS and recruiting technology. When it comes to SaaS, this can include:

  • Sales
  • Programming
  • Digital operations
  • Virtualization
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Administrative tasks

As for recruiting technology, this can include:

  • Sourcing talent using software programs
  • Candidate profiling and screening
  • Using data-driven tools for candidate evaluation

Familiarity with Software Sales KPIs

When evaluating candidates, there’s a definitive list of key performance indicators (KPIs) a software sales recruiter should pay attention to. This allows them to make an objective assessment and determine how good of a fit a rep would be for your team. 

Here are some specific KPIs a recruiter should be familiar with:

  • First response time – How long it takes a rep to follow up with leads
  • Sales closing ratio – How many quotes a rep sends out and how many deals they close
  • Average conversion time – How long it takes for a rep to convert a lead
  • Sales targets – The number of deals that are closed over a period of time

A Deep Understanding of SaaS Trends 

As you’re probably well aware, the SaaS industry is rapidly evolving. There are currently over 10,000 private SaaS companies, and 80% of businesses use at least one SaaS application. 

At the current rate of adoption, both of these numbers should only continue to increase. Just look at how the SaaS market has grown over the past decade. 

For a software sales recruiter to be successful, it’s vital that they see the big picture and pay close attention to statistics like these. They should have a genuine passion for SaaS trends and always be up-to-date on what’s happening in this incredibly dynamic industry. 

Besides simply knowing the numbers, they need to have a deep understanding of the greater context and how everything fits together collectively, as this will inform their recruiting strategies and impact the direction of your business. Additionally, being open to new ideas, like participating in a sales recruiting training and certification programs, will help a recruiter continually evolve and stay ahead of the pack.  

A Science-Based Approach to Recruiting

Up until now, we’ve discussed the hard skills to look for in a recruiter. But there are also some essential soft skills they should possess. One of the most important is that they take a science-based approach to recruiting.

“The future of recruiting is scientific, data-driven, and businesslike,” explains author, professor, and HR advisor Dr. John Sullivan. “The roadblock to that transition is our current ‘art not science’ approach where intuitive recruiters act like artists who want 100% freedom over how they work.”

Sullivan also adds that scientific recruiting has some major benefits, including:

  • A more efficient, systematic hiring process
  • More consistency
  • Faster hiring speed
  • The utilization of concrete data to fine-tune hiring over time
  • Recruiter accountability

And in the long run, it often leads to increased team productivity because of the overall higher quality level of your hires. The bottom line here is that you’ll want to look for a software sales recruiter who turns to science rather than merely “a hunch” when assembling your team. 

Exceptional Interpersonal and Communication Skills 

The other main soft skill is being inherently gifted at communication. This role requires exceptional verbal and written communication skills, with a recruiter acting as liaison between company leaders and job candidates. It’s also a position that at times demands brutal honesty with candidates where they may have to provide unpleasant feedback.

Although certain elements of social skills like these can be learned, it’s ideal for a recruiter to be gifted with them naturally. So, how do you assess this when looking at a potential software sales recruiter?

First, see how their in-person communication compares with their resume or cover letter. “A person’s ‘voice’ or way of communicating should be similar, whether they are writing or speaking,” says career coach April Klimkiewicz. 

Next, ask a few communication centered interview questions. Some examples include, “Tell me how you go about giving bad news to a candidate that they won’t be hired for a position,” or “How do you handle conflicts that arise in the workplace?”

Finally, pay attention to how they listen because this accounts for 45% of communication. 

Landing a Top Tier Software Sales Recruiter 

Finding the right recruiter is vital to your SaaS company’s success. It improves the overall quality of your hires, lowers turnover, and gives your business a competitive advantage. 

Knowing which specific traits to look for should help you systematize your approach and base your decision on the most critical criteria.  

Note that many companies have greater success outsourcing this process to a professional technology sales recruiter. See how HireDNA can help you source, screen, and qualify candidates using powerful recruiting technology and science-based sales assessments. 

How Mastering Follow-Ups Can Help Your Sales Team Beat 92% of the Competition

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Only 2% of deals are closed during the first sales meeting. And the prospects that buy are almost always the ones that have done significant research, know exactly what they’re looking for, and feel completely confident in the brand they’re dealing with. 

The remaining 98% just “aren’t there yet” and still require nurturing and trust-building before they’re fully on board. However, many sales reps sell themselves short by giving up too early, with nearly half (44%) giving up after the first “no.”

Here’s how mastering follow-ups can lead to a spike in conversions and create a massive competitive advantage. 

Most Sales Reps Give Up Far Too Early

As we just mentioned, 44% of reps give up after the first no. And that number steadily drops with each no after that, with:

  • 22% giving up after the second no
  • 14% giving up after the third no
  • 12% giving up after the fourth no
  • 8% giving up after five nos or more

Here’s a graph that breaks this data down visually. 

So, when it’s all said and done, 92% of sales reps give up after four rejections. 

And That’s Great News

This lack of persistence among most sales reps is a good thing for your company because most of your competitors lack the tenacity to close deals. 

To quantify things, you can theoretically beat:

  • 44% of your competitors by following-up twice with a lead
  • 66% by following-up three times
  • 80% by following-up four times

And get this. By following-up five times, you can beat 92% of the competition. It just boils down to having perseverance and incorporating strong lead nurturing into your brand’s framework. 

Having the Right Sales Mindset

This begins by first understanding the psychology of leads, and then taking the necessary steps to build rapport and trust with them until they’re ready to buy. 

Author and entrepreneur Robert Clay summarizes it well by saying, “People and companies who don’t follow-up, who do nothing to build up that trust and relationship, cannot succeed. People need to be sure they’re making the right decision before they commit to a purchase.”

Clay also points out that 63% of leads that request information from you won’t buy for at least three months, and it will take another 20% of leads more than a year to buy. So, this is definitely something your company needs to keep in mind when approaching sales. 

The bottom line is that no matter how great your product or service is and how amazing your reps are, the vast majority of leads just aren’t ready to make a purchase right off the bat. But by having the right sales mindset and mastering follow-ups, you can position your team to outperform more than 9 out of 10 competitors — something that can often be achieved with three key strategies. 

1. Make Sure Your Reps Know Your Product Inside and Out

Here’s a sobering stat. “58% of buyers report that sales reps aren’t able effectively to answer their questions.” What’s even more startling is that “more than 40% of reps, themselves, don’t feel like they have the right information before making a sales call.”

This may sound like 101 level stuff here, but this data shows that a simple lack of preparedness is a big reason why many deals are lost. Therefore, it’s essential to ensure that your reps know your product inside out and out, as well as the specific context they’re dealing with during lead interactions. For example, a sales rep might want to point out certain product features to one lead and different features to another based on the lead’s industry, needs, pain points, and so on. 

That right there can have a dramatic impact. 

2. Anticipate Objections

We’ve already established that more often than not, a lead won’t be ready to commit to a purchase right away — and that’s fine. But reps should never be caught off guard with sales objections. Rather, they should have rapid fire responses on standby, both for their initial interactions, as well as with their follow-ups. 

Fortunately, sales objections are fairly predictable regardless of the industry. Here’s a list of the seven most common ones, according to Bryan Gonzalez of HubSpot. 

Developing effective counters for each of these will create a ton of leverage and ensure your reps respond appropriately no matter what leads throw at them. 

3. Create Ongoing Communication

Lastly, you need to keep the communication going, so that you keep your foot on the gas pedal with your lead nurturing efforts. This is what creates “top of mind awareness,” where your company stays on a lead’s radar, greatly increasing the chances of making a sale in the long run. 

The key to maintaining communication is to A) use a variety of different channels to account for the communication preferences of each lead and B) keep reaching out to leads tactfully without creating friction. 

Research has found there are five main communication channels that people prefer to use:

  1. Phone
  2. Email
  3. Live chat
  4. Online knowledge base
  5. Click to call

So, these are the ideal channels for continuing outreach during follow-ups. Some others to consider include texting and social media.  

Creating More Tenacious Sales Reps

As we’ve learned, tenacity is a critical part of winning at sales. 

That’s not to say that a rep should become hyper-aggressive where they absolutely won’t take no for an answer, to the point that it creates serious friction and potentially harms your brand reputation. 

But mastering follow-ups and optimizing your team’s approach using the strategies above should put you far ahead of your competitors and close more deals. 

Want to build a better sales team and attract top-tier talent? Learn how HireDNA can help, using powerful recruiting technology and science-based sales assessments. 

Sales Manager Responsibilities: Job Description, Duties, Key Skills, and More

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Sales managers play an integral role in your company’s success. Their level of performance directly impacts your ability to hit your targets, your reps’ ability to reach their quotas, and your overall bottom line. 

“The bottom 25% of sales managers were performing at 76% of their target, while the top 25% of sales managers were performing at 115% of their target,” Michelle Vazzana, CSO and Co-Founder at VantagePoint explains. Furthermore, “The bottom 25% of sales managers had 47% of reps achieving quota, while the top 25% of sales managers had 65% of reps achieving quota.”

This data shows first hand the difference of making the right hire. Now, let’s examine sales manager responsibilities and other essential career information, along with specific questions you can ask when hiring a sales manager.

Sales Manager Job Description

A sales manager is responsible for leading sales reps to consistently reach their targets individually and collectively as a team. They coach, mentor, motivate, hold reps accountable, manage the sales forecast, identify current trends, and run sales reports. They’re usually involved in the sales training and onboarding process and are responsible for equipping reps with the tools for success. And in many cases, they’re also involved with recruiting. 

Median Pay

The median pay for a sales manager in 2019 was $60.89 per hour, totaling $126,640 a year, according to the BLS. Here’s how that breaks down by state. 

Experience Requirements

Most sales managers are required to have at least a Bachelor’s degree in business or a similar field. They must also have direct experience in business and/or management, ideally with five years of experience or more. 

Many organizations make the mistake of promoting their top reps to sales manager. While this often seems like a good idea, top-performing sales reps don’t always have the needed skills, desire, and commitment required to be a successful sales manager. It’s important before making any hiring decision to use a science-based assessment to help identify the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses to ensure they have what it takes to be successful. 

Sales Manager Duties

  • Recruit team members to build and maintain an effective sales team
  • Monitor market trends and continually create sales forecasts
  • Identify sales opportunities and emerging markets
  • Create concrete short-term and long-term goals for the entire sales team, as well as for individual reps
  • Closely monitor the results of their team, determining what percentage of quotas are met
  • Perform routine assessments of reps to identify those who are getting the best results, as well as those who need to improve their performance
  • Use analytics to gain in-depth insights on KPIs
  • Provide reps with ongoing sales coaching to fully develop their skills 
  • Offer individual help to reps who need it
  • Communicate with marketing and upper management
  • Motivate and mentor sales reps 
  • Set goals and hold reps accountable to achieving those goals
  • Work diligently to build trust and rapport among key accounts to create lasting customer relationships

Key Skills of Top Performing Sales Managers

John Thomas of CRM platform SalesBabu highlights the five most vital skills that a top performing sales manager should possess. 

  1. Leadership – This should come naturally, where a sales manager understands how to interact and engage with reps and how to guide them without micromanaging. 
  2. Sales performance management – They must be skilled at A) setting goals and B) staying up-to-date on KPIs to determine if those goals are being met. If not, they must make changes to align the sales team’s results with their expectations. 
  3. Coaching and motivating the sales team – Being a great motivator is paramount — something that largely boils down to keeping reps engaged. Research has found, “Organizations with higher than average levels of employee engagement realized 27% higher profits, 50% higher sales, 50% higher customer loyalty levels, and 38% above-average productivity.” Research has shown that top sales managers spend more than 50% of their time coaching their sales team. 
  4. Organization and planning – A top sales manager understands how the pieces fit together and knows how to leverage the unique skill sets of individuals to guide their planning. They’re “big picture” thinkers and use their organization and planning abilities to pave the way for attaining ambitious achievements. 
  5. Being adept at hiring – Making a bad hire costs companies an average of nearly $15,000. A top sales manager knows how to find sales reps that are natural fits with their business’s culture and develops a streamlined onboarding process to reduce the learning curve. How much is a bad sales hire costing you? Use this sales hiring mistake calculator to find out. 

Beyond those five key skills, data from independent research firm ZS Associates identified some additional characteristics that distinguish top sales managers from their average counterparts. This information is based on an occupational personality questionnaire, with the traits on the right being the ones we’re interested in. 

Some of the most important traits include being:

  • Variety seeking
  • Innovative
  • Caring
  • Democratic
  • Socially confident
  • Outgoing
  • Decisive
  • Achieving

Interview Questions When Assessing a Potential Sales Manager

Now that we know what a sales manager’s core responsibilities are and the specific skills they should possess, let’s take a look at some interview questions you can use to assess a candidate’s potential. 

  • What particular things do you like most about sales?
  • What’s your style of leadership?
  • What traits do you look for when recruiting sales reps?
  • What techniques do you use to onboard new sales reps?
  • How do you minimize onboarding friction and quickly get reps up to speed?
  • What strategies do you use to motivate sales reps?
  • What motivates you?
  • How have you gotten yourself out of a sales slump in the past?
  • How do you help a rep with poor performance get back on track?
  • How do you handle issues that arise in the workplace? (Ask for an example)
  • What specific steps did you take to improve sales performance at a previous position? (Ask for data-driven metrics)
  • Which types of sales platforms are you familiar with?
  • Which platforms are your favorite, and why?
  • How comfortable are you with using data analytics?
  • What makes you the best candidate for our sales manager position?

Hiring Top Tier Sales Managers

“Top-performing sales managers achieve 39% more of their target than bottom-performing managers,” making them a critical part of your organization. Understanding sales manager responsibilities and knowing which factors play the biggest role in success should improve your hiring process and help you pinpoint the most qualified candidates.  

Looking to hire better sales talent, faster? See how HireDNA can help you attract and recruit more qualified candidates and improve retention by using cutting-edge technology and science-based sales assessments. 

Easily Beat 55% of Your Competitors By Accelerating Your Lead Response Time

Posted on by hiredna

What if there was a surefire way to beat more than half of your competitors?

Better yet, what if it didn’t involve making any major changes to your product or brand, or a massive overhaul to your website?

There is, and it’s dead simple. Accelerate your lead response time. 

A Competitive Snapshot

According to Vendasta, 55% of companies take 5+ days to respond to a lead. Of those 55%, 12% never respond at all. 

Talk about letting opportunities slip through your fingers. This lax approach means the majority of companies end up shooting themselves in the foot. 

But that’s good news if you’re a brand that focuses on increasing your speed to lead time. 

Theoretically, responding to a lead in 4 days or less means you’ll reach out to leads quicker than over half of your competitors. That alone leaves you much better positioned to close more deals. 

Being the First to Respond

Beating out 55% of your competitors is a good start and should have a noticeable impact on conversions. But what about the remaining 45%?

To truly be at the top of your industry, you need your response time to be lightning fast — ideally being the first company to respond. After all, a study by Lead Connect found, “78% of customers buy from the company that responds to their inquiry first.”

It’s simple mathematics. 

Even the slightest bit of sluggishness can have disastrous consequences, and this is a big reason why brands that are slow to respond have such a hard time gaining traction. If, however, you fine-tune your lead response process so that a sales rep makes contact before any other brands do, you’re instantly in a position to thrive. 

The Golden Window

But let’s take it one step further and look at some specific data to better understand the correlation between response time and lead qualification. 

A study from Lead Simple found that responding within 5 minutes is the ideal timeframe and can have a dramatic impact on the number of leads you’re able to qualify. This is known as “the golden window.”

Wait 10 minutes, and that number drops significantly by 80%. Wait 15 minutes or longer, and that number continues to decline. This graph really helps put things into perspective. 

Making the effort to respond within 5 minutes gives you an immense advantage over the competition. And if you can respond within a minute, sales conversions spike by a staggering 391%!

Although this is easier said than done, these statistics illustrate the impact of accelerating your lead response time. Even if you can reach out within 5 hours, this is still 40% more effective than waiting 24 hours. 

Developing a Realistic Formula 

At this point, we’ve established the importance of a fast lead response time and that keeping it under 5 minutes is optimal. In a perfect world, your sales team could do this with no sweat, and you’d have someone available around the clock to reach out whenever a lead expresses even the least bit of interest. 

But that isn’t always realistic, especially for smaller companies with limited manpower. Fortunately, there are tools available that allow you to contact a lead automatically to schedule a meeting. 

One of the best examples is inbound lead conversion and scheduling app, Chili Piper. Whenever a lead initiates a trigger action, like requesting a demo, they can select a meeting time that’s convenient for them. 

Chili Piper then routes the lead to the appropriate sales rep based on customizable rules, instantly adding the meeting to their calendar. From there, the rep can reach out later to provide a product demonstration, answer questions, and fully engage the lead. 

You can even schedule auto-reminders so a lead remembers the upcoming meeting and has time to prepare, which greatly reduces the odds of a no-show. 

Or, if the lead is ready to talk right away and a sales rep is available, you can use Chili Piper to route a live call to the correct rep. It integrates with major video conferencing platforms like Zoom and GoToMeeting, so reps can have video chats as well. 

Another option is free online scheduling software, Calendly. 

It automates scheduling through your pipeline by instantly sending a scheduling link to a lead when they complete an action, such as filling out a web form. Again, the lead can choose a time that works best for them, while getting key info, like how long the meeting will last, what platform you’ll be using, and so on. 

This is done right from within your website, allowing you to automatically route the lead to a qualified sales rep without any friction. That way hot leads aren’t left hanging, and you can quickly get them to where they need to go. 

So, even if you don’t have a rep available to have a call right away, you can still schedule a meeting to strike while iron is hot and ensure qualified leads don’t get off the line. 

A Recap 

If you’re able to respond to a lead in under 5 days, you’re already ahead of the game and will have the edge on 55% of your competitors. But if you get your lead response time down to 5 minutes or less, you’ll be at the head of the pack.

While it may not always be possible to have a rep on standby at all times, using the right tools allows you to schedule meetings with leads at a time that’s convenient for them. This results in a better overall experience for leads and helps keep your response time to an absolute minimum. 

Looking to build a high-performance sales team? Learn how HireDNA can help, source, screen, and qualify candidates using science and data so you can make better hiring decisions, faster.

How to Avoid Costly Sales Rep Hiring Mistakes

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Hiring salespeople is typically among a company’s largest budget items, and the cost of a bad hire is immense. The average cost of a bad sales hire is more than $115,000, while the cost of a bad sales management hire can reach as high as  $3.5 million, as outlined in our recent blog post on hiring effective sales managers.

These numbers represent average costs; you can use this free Hiring Mistake Calculator to determine your organization’s specific bad hire impact, including your cost of recruitment, development and lost business.

And that’s strictly from a mathematical perspective – the overall impact is compounded when you factor in the loss of resources devoted to the bad hire, lowered team morale and performance, and the damage to your brand reputation among your clients and prospects. 

In this blog post, we examine why the wrong sales reps are hired so often, and what smart sales leaders are doing to reduce the risk and impact of hiring mistakes.

Wrong People Are Hired 77% of the Time

According to a recent evaluation by Objective Management Group (OMG), the wrong salespeople are hired 77% of the time. According to OMG, these bad hires: 

  • Make excuses for their lack of performance (60%)
  • Lack commitment to sales success (37%)
  • Are not motivated to achieve sales success (20%)

How to Avoid a Bad Sales Hire

When OMG compared data between all salespeople and the lowest-performing 50%, they found that the most significant differentiator among “good” and “bad” hires was their Sales DNA – the unique set of  traits and behaviors that influence a rep’s performance. 97% of weak salespeople lack the minimum required Sales DNA for success in their roles. 

In a detailed white paper exploring the science behind salesperson selection, OMG outlined five key components of a rep’s Sales DNA that signal a potential bad hire: 

  • Need to Be Liked – While it’s important for a sales rep to be likable, reps who demonstrate a need for approval usually have difficulty facing potential challenges like confrontation, rejection, and asking tough but necessary questions.
  • Tendency to Become Emotional – Reps with higher emotional involvement may struggle to listen and remain focused on the prospect, which can result in missing important details or losing control of a conversation.
  • Self-Limiting Beliefs – Ineffective sales reps exhibit a number of self-limiting beliefs that can sabotage their selling process, such as “I don’t like making cold calls” or “It’s impolite to ask a lot of questions.”
  • Bad Empathy – Sales reps who make their own major purchases using a non-supportive buy cycle (comparison shopping, heavy research, long decision timeframes, etc.) are more likely to empathize with prospects who engage in the same behavior, and are less effective at helping prospects move forward with the purchase decision.
  • Discomfort Discussing Money – When sales reps are uncomfortable asking questions about budget or a prospect’s financial position, they are unable to ask the necessary questions or make suggestions on solving potential budget-related objections.

Science-based sales assessments that identify a candidate’s Sales DNA, along with other sales competencies, can help sales leaders determine a candidate’s likelihood of success before making a costly hiring mistake. 

Build A Winning Sales Team

At HireDNA, we offer a range of science-based recruiting and assessment solutions for companies looking to hire and retain top sales talent. We help sales leaders determine candidates’ Sales DNA, among other competencies, and avoid costly hiring mistakes.

Why Choose Us?                

  • Our predictive candidate assessments eliminate 96% of hiring mistakes
  • Businesses hire 50% faster when they work with us
  • We have an 80% success rate for placements across organizations

Better Sales Coaching Creates Measurable Results

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Sales coaching is often listed as one of the top three priorities for sales managers – and with good reason. Sales coaching is an effective way to increase sales, retain employees, and create measurable positive changes for any organization. Coaching also offers managers an opportunity to not only get a firsthand look at the issues their reps are facing in the field, but also to share best practices that will assist reps in improving their performance. 

But despite the major benefits coaching can offer, research has shown that the majority of sales managers fail to provide effective coaching to their sales reps. In this post, we’ll highlight the impact of effective sales coaching, and show you how you can improve your own organization’s coaching efforts to maximize your sales team’s success. 

Better Sales Coaching Raises Sales Percentiles by 28% – 49%

While it seems fairly obvious that better coaching creates better results, research suggests that the potential for improvement may be significantly higher than many sales managers expect. 

In an evaluation of almost 2 million salespeople and sales managers, Objective Management Group (OMG) found that sales percentile scores were 28% higher for sales reps whose managers devoted at least 50% of their time to coaching. Reps who received coaching also showed higher scores in key sales competencies: 13% better in Qualifying and 24% better in Closing, compared to reps whose managers rarely provided coaching.

Interestingly, these numbers only factor in the time spent coaching – not the quality of the coaching itself. In a follow-up evaluation, OMG discovered that managers who spent extensive time coaching and have great coaching skills can increase their reps’ sales percentile scores by as much as 49%, compared to managers with weak skills who spent minimal time coaching.

More Than Half of Sales Managers Are Not Good Coaches

Unfortunately, further OMG research has indicated that the majority of sales managers do not possess the coaching skills needed to create this level of positive impact. According to OMG, 63% of all sales managers fall into the weak category and 24% of all sales managers fall into the serviceable category – leaving only 13% of sales managers with “strong” or “elite” coaching skills.

Poor coaching among sales managers may be attributed  to factors such as: 

  • Competing priorities – A sales manager’s role includes a number of varying responsibilities, and while coaching is often named as a key objective, few organizations reflect that prioritization in management KPIs. For many sales managers, personal sales and commissions may also outweigh management compensation, and influence the manager’s motivation to devote their time and energy to coaching.
  • Poor definition – Sales managers may also have a poor definition of what “coaching” involves. Some managers may believe that coaching is simply a matter of telling a sales rep what to do, or helping them with basic tasks such as lead identification or pricing. Others feel that listening to a sales call or observing a client visit in the field constitutes coaching. However, these activities require additional learning and engagement elements in order to be effective.
  • Inability to execute – In other cases, a sales manager may understand the various factors that go into effective coaching, but are unable to effectively implement them. In particular, many sales managers falter when it comes to role-playing activities – often considered one of the most important and effective elements of sales coaching.

What Makes Sales Coaching “Good”?

There are a number of ways to develop and implement successful sales coaching programs, but the most effective programs share the same basic qualities. In general, good coaching programs: 

  • Are individualized to the sales reps’ unique skills and learning preferences
  • Promote trust by creating a non-judgmental environment and allowing open discussion of challenges
  • Encourage self-evaluation that allows the sales rep to build self-awareness and guide the coaching discussion
  • Use the Socratic method, with effective questions that stimulate thinking and allow sales reps to have ownership in creating the solution
  • Focus on improving one area at a time versus addressing multiple points and potentially overwhelming the sales rep
  • Focus on improving skills and techniques rather than specific sales numbers

Improve Your Coaching Skills with HireDNA

The sales training and coaching experts at HireDNA can help you improve your sales coaching skills, develop an effective coaching and training program, and deliver high-quality sales training that works within the workflow of your sales team.

HireDNA was recently recognized as an emerging leader in corporate training and coaching. Our experts can assist with any questions about building first-in-class, on-demand sales training tailored specifically for remote sales forces.

3 Keys to Boosting the Productivity of Remote Sales Teams

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One of the biggest complaints we’re seeing from clients in the middle of this global pandemic is that the myriad interruptions to business operations are disrupting sales momentum. While day-to-day sales activities may be continuing, progress toward sales goals is often stalling.

But for savvy sales leaders, the global quarantine lockdown does not have to translate into a sales slowdown. While business interactions may be limited, creativity is not. For every obstacle that emerges, there exists a creative workaround to ensure your team can continue to work productively.

In previous discussions of what it takes for sales teams to thrive in a crisis, our experts highlighted steps like staying client-focused and taking your sales conversations online. In this week’s post, we’ll take a look at how successful remote sales teams can use the right tools and techniques to boost their overall productivity.

1.  Go Virtual

Virtual interactions have become a requirement thanks to the current coronavirus pandemic. While some companies have struggled to adapt their business models to remote operations, smart leaders are finding that virtual tools have allowed their teams to actually reach higher levels of productivity. This is a crucial discovery, because even when the global lockdown lifts, virtual business operations are likely to become part of the “new normal” for many organizations.

In our latest white paper on prospering during a crisis, we explained how can go on the offensive and take a proactive approach to managing the impact of a global crisis. With travel bans and quarantines forcing a shift to remote operations, this tactic includes the need to develop creative virtual sales presentations to present your solutions and demonstrate their value. This could include solutions like webinars, virtual office tours, or live product demonstrations using remote access tools or videos showing your product or team in action.

“Going virtual” can also apply beyond direct sales interactions. Virtual sales training has been a growing trend, well before the pandemic hit, with companies discovering a wealth of benefits to taking their training operations online. Virtual training has been shown to increase reps’ effectiveness, and outperform live classroom training in areas like increased pipeline and greater rep confidence.

2. Create Effective Sales Playbooks

A huge productivity killer is a daunting “to do” list that amounts to little more than a jumble of disparate tasks waiting for the next action. Reps get busy, actions slip into the “do it later” pile, and all the valuable time spent on prospecting is lost because they didn’t follow up in a timely manner. Having an effective sales playbook can help eliminate this common problem.

Playbooks are one of the most powerful tools in your sales team’s arsenal. They clearly outline your sales process, and arm your reps with all the content and strategies they need to navigate the sales cycle and close a deal. Operating without a well-defined playbook puts your team at a disadvantage, and can encourage a chaotic sales process that greatly reduces your ability to improve and scale your operations.

A playbook helps give your rep a comprehensive understanding of the entire sales journey, and allows your reps to clearly see the appropriate next action to take at every stage. This can help eliminate decision fatigue and ensure that your reps are making the right moves, at the right times, to move their sales conversations forward.

This is especially important in a remote sales environment when sales managers are not able to stand over their rep’s shoulder listening to calls and demos, and helping them take the appropriate steps to close the deal.

3. Use the Right Platforms and Tools

Rather than operating as a standalone tool, an effective playbook should be integrated with your CRM system and productivity tools, to help further automate your sales process and improve your team’s efficiency.

An effective CRM allows sales teams to automate tasks like meeting invites, email follow ups, and prospect monitoring. This is a key step in ensuring the next action dictated by your playbook is executed effectively.

Industry-leading CRM platforms, like HubSpot or Salesforce, also include productivity-boosting features like task sequencing, communication tools and templates, and call planning. These systems can be integrated with other productivity apps – including calendars, and prospecting tools – to create seamless sales operations and allow your team to operate at peak levels.

CRMs also offer remote dialer tools that will allow reps to automate the process of logging call notes, recording calls, and tracking their call activities, providing managers with full visibility into their team’s productivity despite being remote.

Expert Insights Help Move Your Team Forward

At HireDNA, we offer a range of solutions and services for businesses looking to scale their sales organizations. From sales performance evaluations and virtual training, to playbook development and CRM integrations, our team of experts can help you propel your business to success and accelerate your growth.

Contact our experts to learn how we can help you equip your sales force with the tools they need to improve their productivity and achieve peak performance.

Keeping Your Reps Sharp With Virtual Sales Training

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As we’ve pointed out in previous blog posts, experienced sales leaders know that the best way to improve your win rate is to improve your reps’ effectiveness. Increasing sales activity is one piece of the puzzle, but it must be combined with greater effectiveness to be successful.

Your single greatest tool for increasing your reps’ effectiveness is your training plan. Ongoing training and coaching keeps reps’ skills sharp, and keeps them on top of the latest tools and techniques needed to generate successful sales conversations.

While the current coronavirus pandemic has put traditional in-person training sessions on hold, smart leaders are embracing virtual sales training – and are seeing huge benefits as a result.

Virtual Sales Training Can Outperform Live Sessions

One of the biggest myths surrounding virtual training is that online training is a pale imitation of live classroom sessions. A recent industry survey found that while 65% of companies plan to increase their investment in virtual training, only 10% believed that virtual training could be as good as live, instructor-led classroom events.

But in a controlled field test comparing reps who participated in live classroom training and online-only training, the results were abundantly clear:

Sales teams who completed online training delivered 23.2% more pipeline than similar teams who received live classroom training

Sales reps who completed online training experienced twice the boost in confidence levels when engaging executive decision-makers, compared with those who attended live classroom training

This field test demonstrated that the self-paced, flexible, and personalized experience of virtual sales training can present drastic advantages over a live-classroom setting. When the reps deeply engaged with the training content in a virtual setting, they not only learned critical new skills, they also gained confidence in their ability to apply those skills to the real-world sales environment.

How Virtual Training Benefits Your Sales Team

In addition to improved performance, virtual training offers your organization several key advantages over live classroom sessions, including:

Reduced Costs – Virtual training eliminates the need for travel and classroom costs, and can reduce opportunity costs associated with time out of field. This can reduce your overall training costs by up to 50% without reducing the training itself.

Scalability and Accessibility – With travel coordination eliminated and scheduling concerns simplified, virtual training can be implemented quickly and effectively to address strategic needs. Large-scale training rollouts can be completed in a matter of weeks rather than months, and can be immediately accessible to all members of your sales team, regardless of location. This is particularly crucial when travel concerns – such as those created by the current coronavirus pandemic – might otherwise hinder your organization’s training plans.

Targeted Training – The agile nature of virtual training allows for highly targeted programs, tailored to either individual, team needs, or acute strategic objectives. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach, virtual training provides greater flexibility to created targeted content that addresses specific skill gaps or performance indicators, like decreasing pipelines, diminishing close rates, declining sales activity, etc.

It also allows for the rapid creation and deployment of training based on time-sensitive strategic needs, such as product launches, price changes, industry developments, supply chain disruptions, or other timely communications.

Deeper Learning Opportunities – A self-paced online training environment often allows for added depth of engagement with training material versus in-person training. Live classrooms can create limitations, as both participant and instructor attention may be divided and time constraints may prevent every attendee from participating. Online training can give participants more opportunity to practice and complete assignments to demonstrate proficiency.

Leveraging Virtual Training Expertise

Not all virtual training is created equal. The right approach and training curriculum can make a significant difference in the success of your training program. Maximize your investment in sales training with curriculum that targets your team’s specific skill gaps and sales DNA, and a platform that simulates the real-world environment and keeps reps engaged with the right combination of content, implementation guides, and personalized action plans.

The sales training and coaching experts at HireDNA can help you navigate the learning curve, deliver high-quality training that works within the workflow of your sales team, and feel confident knowing you’re going to deliver the same or better results as an in-person classroom.

HireDNA was recently recognized as an emerging leader in corporate training and coaching. Our experts can assist with any questions about building first-in-class, on-demand sales training tailored specifically for remote sales forces.

How to Connect with Key Prospects

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Connecting with decision makers is always a core challenge for sales professionals. In an uncertain environment, like the one we’re currently experiencing with the coronavirus pandemic, connecting with prospects can become even more difficult – and even more important for your bottom line.

Establishing a meaningful connection with prospects is a critical first step towards becoming a trusted advisor for your prospects – a move that can ensure your team will prosper in times of crisis.

With the right skills and know-how, sales reps can focus their outreach activities to foster more productive engagement with leads and continue to generate successful sales conversations. In this post, we’ll show you the most effective ways to continue reaching out to key prospects, even in the most difficult of times. 

At HireDNA, our training experts can help your sales team learn the crucial skills needed to perform at the highest levels. Learn more.

Target the Right Prospects at the Right Time

It’s no secret that your sales calls will be significantly more successful if you’re talking to a prospect who has an immediate need and an immediate interest in your product or service. But how can you determine when that’s the case? 

Effective CRMs, such as HubSpot, include tools that help you understand how your leads are interacting with your web site. You can see which leads are visiting which pages, and use that data to gain insight on what is currently top of mind for a particular lead. Rather than having a generalized discussion about how you might be able to help your prospect, you can now open the conversation with information that is specifically tailored to their needs and interest. 

For example, if the prospect is viewing a page devoted to X and Y, your sales rep can begin the conversation with a statement like, “We know that many of our clients are struggling with how to do X or Y. Are either of these an issue for you right now?” This approach is designed to immediately capture a prospect’s interest and increase your rep’s likelihood of demonstrating value, which is critical to closing the sale.

Social media is also a valuable resource for understanding who is talking about your product, and what, specifically, they’re looking for. Recent studies suggest that 75% of B2B buyers use social media to research vendors, and social sellers can realize 66% greater quota attainment than those using traditional prospecting techniques. Knowing what your prospects are looking for on social media can help you turn cold outreach into warm and hot leads. Encourage your sales team to monitor social media for potential buyer mentions of your company name, your product or service, or a hashtag aligned with your value proposition.

Make Your Calls Count

Although some sales reps prefer to move away from phone selling, voice calls are still one of the best ways to create meaningful, memorable connections. They bring a personal warmth and likeability to the conversation that is hard to replicate through email or social media alone. 

Typically, sales reps who use cold calling rely on contact details from company web sites or directories. With a majority of prospects working from home during the global pandemic, office switchboards are less likely to connect you with key decision makers. Even direct work numbers are not always effective, as many companies were ill-equipped to set up call forwarding when the pandemic hit, and are instead relying on employees to check their voicemails.

Ideally, you’ll be able to find a prospect’s cell number by searching , or by purchasing sales data from a service like SalesIntel that can provide these numbers. Reps may be hesitant to use a mobile number out of concern for “bothering” a prospect at home. However, while the occasional prospect may have this perspective, many reps are also finding that prospects are more willing to connect on their cell phones during this virus outbreak. Not only do they understand the need to circumvent the traditional office phone tree, but many are also open to the added interaction during this isolating time – provided your rep can effectively demonstrate your product’s value in helping them through these difficult times.

Many sales reps also report that they are struggling with productivity, particularly if they are not accustomed to the rhythm of working remotely. Prioritizing and keeping track of who to call next is often a sticking point for reps who are prospecting. Call queuing can help eliminate the uncertainty of deciding on the appropriate next actions, and can help reps keep an effective cadence of activity throughout the day. 

An effective call queue targets hot leads first – those who are opening your emails, visiting your site, and engaging on social media. As noted in the beginning of this article, these are the leads who have an immediate interest and need for your product or service. Prioritize them and make a connection while this particular need is top of mind. 

Your reps should also leverage your CRM to know where the leads are in your sales process, and what touches you’ve already made with them, so they know precisely what messaging should be delivered next, regardless of the channel being used to reach them.

Use Email Effectively 

Experienced sales reps know that email outreach must be well-crafted and highly targeted to have any hope of being opened. your email outreach and ensure that your messaging is optimized to address your prospects’ specific needs. Demonstrate your business value by showing that you understand the key issues your prospect is currently struggling with, and that your product or service has helped others like them achieve specific, measurable results. 

Including relevant, personalized videos in email outreach has also been shown to drastically increase sales reps’ ability to connect with prospects. HubSpot recently reported that adding video to email can boost click-through rates by 200-300%, increase the number of meetings booked by 500%, and strongly influence prospects’ purchasing decisions.

The timing of your email messages should be carefully considered as well. Sales email tracking tools that integrate with your CRM can allow you to monitor your email campaigns and receive alerts when a lead has opened or clicked your emails. By capturing prospects’ attention while they are actively engaging with your emails, you can greatly improve your response rate and effectively secure follow-up meetings. 

Set Your Sales Reps Up for Success

Developing top sales talent is an ongoing need, regardless of the current sales climate. HireDNA provides expert, virtual sales training and coaching perfectly suited for remote teams. We use a modern, cloud-based micro-learning platform for maximum efficiency and productivity, and partner closely with our clients to create custom training content that is proven to keep reps engaged and performing at peak levels.

HireDNA was also recently recognized as an emerging leader in corporate training and coaching. Our experts can assist with any questions about building first-in-class, on-demand sales training tailored specifically for remote sales forces.

5 Ways Sales Teams Can Thrive During Challenging Times

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As we’re all rapidly discovering, there’s nothing like a global pandemic to shift the way the world does business. The spread of the coronavirus has forced companies at all levels to implement changes they may not have wanted, and few were prepared to take on – at least on this kind of scale. Many organizations are scrambling to cope.

But amid the concerns and trepidations, new opportunities are arising. While some organizations are panicking and scaling back on budgets and staff, others are finding their services to be in greater demand, and their pipelines more robust than ever. The difference, in large part, comes down to sales leadership.

In a recent report on preparing for coronavirus-related disruptions, Gartner, Inc. suggested, “How CSOs lead now will set the tone and pace for a powerful and career-making experience for everyone in the sales function.”

As a leader responsible for the prosperity of your sales team, what can you do to ensure your organization’s success in this time of crisis?

Taking Action Right Now

1. Don’t Panic – This is always first and foremost, no matter what the circumstances are. The crisis won’t last forever. History is full of major economic turmoil and each time, the crisis has eventually passed. In its wake are stronger people and organizations, who emerge with a new perspective, more experience, and better tools to deal with the next eventual crisis.

The more ominous the headlines get, the more important it is to keep calm and remember that your best option is to focus on the things you can control, and let go of the things you can’t.

2. Stay Client-Focused – The heart of sales is helping clients succeed. In uncertain times like these, it’s important to remember that although we may change the way we do business, we shouldn’t forget the why we do it. As you look for opportunities to continue to grow your organization, don’t let your own concerns about your metrics, commissions, and goals cloud your judgment when it comes to how you serve your clients. Clients can sniff this out from miles away, and they’ll be quick to turn their back on it.

Take a moment to assess your clients’ concerns and their planned responses to the pandemic. Most clients are focused on employee and customer safety, and they may be experiencing immediate challenges like operational interruptions and cash flow declines. Reengineer your selling points to frame your solutions around your clients’ most urgent concerns.

3. Go Virtual – As entire countries are locked down under strict quarantine orders, virtual operations are a critical part of keeping business moving forward. While many companies were already starting to favor digital communications over in-person meetings, the current pandemic has pressed the fast-forward button on those plans.

If you haven’t already, move your face-to-face meetings to videoconferencing tools like Skype or Zoom, or stick with basic voice calls if that’s what your clients prefer. Expand the range of instant messengers your team uses, and use them to give your clients and prospects greater accessibility to your reps. Replace live events with creative digital solutions, like webinars, virtual office tours, and live demos using remote access tools or videos showing your product in action.

Moving Forward in the Upcoming Months

4. Reflect and Act – Change is always a good catalyst for reflection on what’s working, what’s not and what’s needed going forward. As sales leaders, we know that the key to improving our win rate – regardless of the current economic climate – is maximizing the effectiveness of our sales force. Once the immediate needs of the moment are addressed, the next step is to look at what that means for our specific organization.

A basic SWOT analysis can be a good place to start, to gain a better understanding of your overall business and how it now fits in the changing environment. From there, a more thorough sales team evaluation can provide a detailed look at your sales force and help you identify the weaknesses and skill gaps that are limiting your sales results. Those insights will allow you to develop an effective action plan for resolving them and ensuring your team’s ongoing success.

This kind of assessment is particularly important now, when the labor pool is about to expand as other companies cut budgets and workforce. Talented sales reps will become available, and savvy sales leaders are preparing themselves to make smart hires that will shore up skill gaps and create a well-rounded sales team.

5. Build Your Go-Forward Plan – When the dust eventually settles and we’re all allowed back out in public, we know that not everything will go back to the way it was before the pandemic hit. Activities like digital meetings and virtual sales training will continue to be used in greater scale after the crisis.

Companies may have been forced to switch to virtual options as a short-term solution, but reports have shown that virtual sales training can double sales reps’ confidence and increase pipeline creation by 23.2%, compared to reps who participated in live classroom training.

Partner with an Expert Team for Long-Term Success

Developing top sales talent is an ongoing need, regardless of the current sales climate. Using comprehensive, science-based sales performance assessments, HireDNA’s experts can help you identify both immediate and long-term opportunities for growth, and uncover skill gaps that may be holding your team back. We partner closely with you to create a high-performance sales culture, with a clear picture of what it will take to improve your people, processes, and systems.

HireDNA was also recently recognized as an emerging leader in corporate training and coaching. Our experts can assist with any questions about building first-in-class, on-demand sales training tailored specifically for remote sales forces.