It’s midnight. Your recycling bin is overflowing with rejected resumes. Your eyes can barely focus on the letters in front of you — and you have this uneasy feeling that you are about to invest in another candidate who just isn’t going to work out. This has been a vicious cycle over the past several years, and you find yourself asking yet again,” Why can’t I find the right salespeople?” You’ve spent an excessive number of hours and are well into six figures in budget dollars hiring, training, firing, and rehiring. You’re losing credibility in the marketplace because your customers are continually being introduced to new reps. With each salesperson that doesn’t work out, you can feel your employees questioning your leadership and the direction the company is headed. And this last candidate… they checked every single box. An ideal candidate with a promising start. Industry experience. Excellent references. High performance everywhere they went. You gave them everything they wanted only to discover they weren’t what they appeared to be. How could you have been so wrong about yet another candidate, a supposed “A-Player” who just couldn’t deliver the level of success they promised in the interview. Instead of burying yourself in another pile of seemingly perfect resumes, it might be time to take a step back. Key Article Takeaways: ·       Pitfalls that prevent A-players from performing in a new sales environment ·       How to lay out a sales roadmap to generate consistent results ·       Key sales leadership focus areas that pay dividends Time to Slow Down to Speed Up Some organizations seem to have it all figured out: low sales turnover; tremendous growth; happy employees doing what they love. Sure, when things go right, everyone is happy. But when issues continuously arise that take your top salespeople away from their outbound calls to chase down problems or they are struggling to know where to focus their effort, there’s likely a more significant issue at hand. By all means, keep searching for the best and brightest salespeople – the ones you know have the talent and desire to excel in your organization. But before you get too far in the process, take a step back and examine your sales readiness. · Are you setting your salespeople up for success right off the bat? · Are there things you know you could do better but haven’t had the time to fix? · Are you doing everything you should be to create a sales culture that allows anyone you hire the opportunity to see success? Structure: Another pitfall that can derail even the best A-Player is when an organization does not have the proper infrastructure to support its sales efforts. This encompasses a wide range of elements from staff structure to the necessary systems to measure and manage performance. For example, creating clear lines of accountability for all roles and functions that interface with the customer will bring clarity to performance expectations. This prevents time-consuming distractions and fosters a customer centric culture. Another area of structure involves the method in which your prospect and customer segments are designated and managed. This provides your customers with a consistent experience and enables your sales resources to be positioned in their areas of strength. These best practices create a solid platform for your salespeople to work from. Then, layering on the appropriate systems to capture sales activity, report on key metrics, manage sales pipeline, etc., allows you and your leadership team the critical visibility needed to keep a pulse on how the business is progressing toward its goals. As you assess your performance in this area, consider the consistency of your weekly one-on-one sales meetings for individual planning and mutual accountability. Given the reliance of the salesperson on their sales manager, powerful outcomes are produced when both sides are willing to be accountable to the other. Another important area to review is the level of value your sales meetings deliver to the team. Lastly, keep track of how often you participate in sales calls — both in-person and video calls, and how often you are creating powerful learning moments for your reps through these interactions. Are you struggling to find the time to apply this level of focus? Do you recognize there are times when you aren’t sure how to confidently lead and develop your salespeople? These common needs in small to mid-sized businesses were the driver behind my decision to transition my extensive VP Sales background to help top executives on a fractional or interim basis. If you’d like to have a preliminary discussion about the sales challenges you are facing, please feel welcome to contact me through any of these methods: 413-626-7040 , kdonovan@salesxceleration.com or book a call through my