 Have you ever heard the phrase “fish where the fish are?”
“Of course,” you’re probably thinking. “But what does that have to do with increasing my sales?” Your community is likely ripe with potential new customers you’ve never connected with, but you’ll never find them if you’re looking in the wrong places. That being said, finding the right places can be challenging, especially if your new customer strategy has largely relied on organic growth and word of mouth until now. Here’s a good place to start: picture your ideal customer. What is the problem they’re looking to solve? What industry or industries are they in? What will they be buying from you? How often might they buy your solution? Are your cultures and values aligned? What type of budget or investment might they have to put towards the solution? Hopefully the picture you’re painting represents or mirrors some of the best customers you’ve had. Next, figure out if there are any local networking groups or associations that cater to that demographic. This part will take a little digging, but most of the information will be available at the tip of your fingers, if you know what you’re looking for. Look up networking groups and associations specific to their industry, the size of the company, or the job titles you’d like to connect with. Find websites for these associations and reach out to any members that are in charge of new membership or events. Introduce yourself, share what you do, and why you were interested in the group. Most importantly, explain how you believe you can bring value to the group, and ask if there is an opportunity to get involved. The purpose of groups like these are to help members build connections, share their knowledge, and bring people with common interests together. If you show up to any of their events in the spirit of doing those things - especially when it’s clear you’re looking to give to the other members of the group just as much (if not more) as you’re hoping to get from them, you’ll become somebody that they want to have in their group. Business will naturally follow. It oftentimes can feel like a big leap to get involved in associations or networking groups, but remember, you miss every shot you don’t take. Besides, joining a group where everybody has common goals, namely, meeting other industry professionals they can form a relationship with, means you both need each other to succeed. It also means that, as the group grows, new members will join, and you’ll consistently be presented with the opportunity to meet new people who could become new customers. Each of these people may have connections that could help you, too, and when you support them, they’ll want to do the same for you. Just as importantly, regardless of the size of your community, word travels fast and reputations are often built quickly. When you show up to networking events with a smile, a handshake, and an eagerness to share resources that support other event professionals, you’ll develop a reputation that benefits your entire organization.  Let’s start with the obvious. The point of investing in a new salesperson or team is to increase your revenue by growing your business.
Here’s another seemingly obvious statement: good hires in a well-structured machine lead to revenue growth. It’s a simple, effective equation. However, it’s one that relies heavily on a few modifiers:
A great hunter may be a “good” salesperson, but they won’t be a good hire if your team needs somebody to farm existing accounts. And even the perfect salesperson to fill the needs of your team will struggle to be successful if there is no process in place to teach, no designated onboarding plan, and unclear expectations. So how can you make sure that you’re looking for the right additions to your team and have the right processes in place to set them, and you, up for success? Keep reading to find out. Set the Intention. You don’t build a bookshelf by opening up a box and slapping pieces together while hoping for the best. You read the instructions, follow the steps, and piece-by-piece, the furniture is assembled. Just like when you’re building IKEA furniture, you need a plan (and patience). A well-defined sales process needs to be created before you can build the team to run it. A good process doesn’t just tick imaginary boxes and move leads through a funnel. It should be scalable to plan for future growth, stable, and easily replicable. Once your process is defined, note what the different parts of the process are and what or who you’ll need to run each step. More likely than not, you’ll need:
As you create this plan, keep in mind that no part of your funnel or process should be entirely reliant on one single person. When one (or several) steps of the process become the sole responsibility of one person, you end up with three things: a bottle neck, when the person inevitably falls behind, stalling the rest of the team; burn out as the one person tries to stay on top of their role; and a lot of liability. If that one person unexpectedly leaves, your entire process will be in jeopardy and your entire team will be in a very tight spot. One way to determine if any tasks rely too heavily on one person is to think about your current team. If any of those salespeople left today, how bad of a hit would it be? Would your business be able to recover, and how much time would it take? The right sales structure protects your team from unexpected departures, in addition to helping you find the right hires. Once you’ve set the intention for how your sales processes should run, you’ll understand how your existing team fits into it and where you have gaps. The best part? As you continue to grow, you’ll already have a roadmap to continue expanding the team. What Kind of Salesperson Do You Need? Your funnel is outlined, you know where your current personnel slot in, and you’ve identified your gaps. By now, you should have a pretty good idea of what selling personalities your team needs. Ask yourself:
The answers to these questions will help you craft your job description, or several job descriptions if you’re trying to fill several different kinds of gaps. Even better, there will already be a clearly defined set of responsibilities for each salesperson you do hire. Set Your Sales Team Up for Success. This may not need to be said, but just in case: even a good salesperson can’t be parked in front of a phone, told to sell, and be expected to achieve supreme success. It may be a common model in d-list telemarketing operations, but for most businesses, a chair, phone, and script won’t magically give you customers. Especially not long-term ones. Your sales team needs to be provided with a few things. Namely, resources, tools, and clear objectives. Before you start interviewing candidates, make sure you define a few important things internally. Think about what the hire will be doing on a day-to-day basis. Will they be finding new leads, building connections, or working with existing customers to grow their accounts? Next, determine what part of the funnel they will be responsible for. Do you expect the new hire to be the first point of contact for a new prospective customer, help reactivate stale leads, or be the one who closes the sale? Consider what resources are available to support their primary functions. Are they using tools, like a CRM to track progress and share information with the broader team? Is there somebody they can go to with questions? It’s also important to define who their manager will be. You’ll also want to make sure there is a clear roadmap for onboarding and training them, as well as who will be responsible each step of the way. Make sure you have a clearly defined compensation structure, including any factors that their compensation may be tied to. Note that most of the factors that influence their compensation should be within their control, rather than ones determined by external circumstances. Finally, make sure you, and they, know how their performance will be evaluated. “I already have a great process in place. I don’t need to come up with answers to all of these questions!” It’s an easy trap to fall into. Of course, if your process is as good as you think it is and all of the details are already in place, answering these questions will be a very quick exercise. An equally easy (and possibly more dangerous) trap is thinking you’ll figure it out as you go. You might, but it’ll take a lot of trial and error that doesn’t set any part of your team up for success in the short-term, which will make it even harder to identify what hires will be most beneficial for your team and how you’ll be able to evaluate if they’re the right fit. Get Guidance. If you’re first starting to build a dedicated sales organization or approaching the first big expansion, you may not be familiar with the ins and outs of sales and marketing organizations, how they run, or how they need to work together to be successful. You may have gotten by just fine “winging it”. Many groups do when their sales team consists of one or two people. But now that you’re building a larger team, you need structure. What you don’t need is to go about creating it blindly. Reading books, attending webinars, listening to podcasts featuring sales professionals, talking to experts, and working with a sales consultant are all great ways to assess what your team really needs to reach your growth goals and set yourself up for long-term success. Learn More A healthy relationship between sales and marketing is vital to an organization’s success. Dive deep into this effective strategy in our book Sales & Marketing Alignment. If you'd like more insights on how you can improve your sales leadership, contact us. “I’m not here to fire anybody.” It was the elephant in the room when Karl started working with a new organization. More specifically, when he started talking to somebody who the team was considering letting go. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but my goal is to improve things.”
During their first meeting, Karl made a commitment to that sales person. “I’m going to find out what your world is like right now. I’m going to learn why you’re with this company, what you wish it was like, how you would improve it. Everything. And I’m going to show you, through my actions, that you can trust me. That I’m here to support you.” The salesperson was, rightfully, skeptical, but she gave Karl a chance. Over the next several weeks, they’d meet at least twice a week, and Karl learned a few things very quickly. The saleswoman didn’t feel like she was respected. She felt like she was often treated poorly. She didn’t feel heard. One big point of contention was that she wanted to have longer meetings than the standard 30-minute ones her team was expected to do. She felt she needed at least 45-minutes to get to know people and really be effective. “I’m tired of being told I can only do 30-minute calls so that I can do as many as possible. Give me an hour. Give me 45-minutes, even. I’ll take less calls, but I know I’ll be able to close more than anyone else.” Karl met with the leadership team and told them he wanted to do a 30 day experiment. During those 30 days, he’d make decisions he felt would best elevate the sales team and the leadership team would refrain from making any personnel changes. They agreed. The biggest change was a simple one: the sales team was in charge of their own schedules. They could set meetings for the amount of time they felt they needed. By the end of the 30 days, the average sales price had increased by about 30%, the whole team’s close rate had gone up, and the person who was initially on the chopping block had the highest closing rate of the entire team. An interesting follow up fact: she maintained the lead 80% of the time for the next 3 years while Karl was there. The salesperson wasn’t being difficult by insisting that she needed to have longer calls with potential customers. She was trying to take the time to get to know them so she could sell more effectively. Had the sales leaders fired her, as they thought they needed to do, the entire team would’ve not only lost her great sales record, but never improved as a whole. On the How to Drive Growth Through Empathy episode of the Predictable B2B Success Podcast, Karl shares how digging beneath the surface helps you learn better ways to motivate your sales team in addition to improving your business, why lack of foundation can hold back even successful sales organizations, and more. Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotfiy  One of your past clients reaches out to give you a referral that could lead to new business. You talk on the phone or email back and forth with this new connection for a while when they ask an important question: Can I connect with you on LinkedIn?
Of course, you’re thinking. Why wouldn’t I be willing to? And, of course, the answer to that question is yes. But before you send over your profile or find them and request to connect, pause and think about when the last time you updated your profile was. Better yet - when was the last time you critically looked at it from the lens of a potential client? What will they find when they look at your profile? Is the picture professional, polished, and current, or is it blurry and so dated, they won’t be 100% positive it’s actually you? Is your background picture something that represents you, or is it a gray box? Does the title you have listed match the one they have for you? What about your job description? Your LinkedIn profile is one of the first ways new connections learn more about you and the value you can bring to them. So before you send that invite, make sure you’re being intentional about the message yours sends. And after that? Take a minute to thank the person who gave you the referral. This is an important step that a lot of us miss. If you’re like a lot of businesses, the growth of your company relies heavily on referrals. From friends and family telling their network about you to happy customers sharing your information, word of mouth is one of the best forms of marketing there is. And when somebody provides you with that (free!) marketing, they deserve some recognition, not only in the moment, but years after the fact. If there’s somebody who gave you a referral in the past, especially if that referral resulted in regular business over time, following up years later to thank them will show the ongoing positive impact their referral had on your business. Why is this important? It could re-energize your relationship with the connection and lead to them working with you again. It could lead to another referral that turns into a long-term customer. And it could give you an opportunity to return the favor. Regardless of the immediate or long-term impact, it starts a conversation with somebody who’s helped you in the past and opens up the door to support somebody who’s previously done the same for you. Not sure what to say? Copy and paste the email template below and add your personalization! Hello [NAME], I just wanted to drop you a note with an update! A few years ago, you referred, [insert name] to me, and they’ve been a wonderful customer ever since. It’s been a really great experience for our team, and it wouldn’t have been possible without your referral. I just wanted to say thanks again! Let me know if you’d like to touch base or have time to catch up sometime in the next couple of months. I’d love to have the opportunity to return the favor. I really value our relationship, and if there is anything I can do to support you or your business, please let me know! Best, [NAME] The potential return on investment from this quick note is huge - and it’ll feel good to send.  One of the first things organizations do when looking to uplevel, grow, or build their sales team is appoint a capable leader.
It’s a good instinct. A sales team, especially a growing or not-yet established one, needs a point person. They need somebody to provide structure to the team, make judgment calls, assign leads and work, assess challenges for team members, and help the group grow as individuals and as a selling organization. They are the primary resource for the sales team, which makes hiring the right one high stakes. One of the Most Common Mistakes. For many organizations with a superstar on the sales team, the solution to finding a sales leader seems obvious: promote the star. They’ll be able to share their wisdom and their tricks and create a team full of their clones who are similarly gifted at selling. Right? More often than not, no. Being good at selling and being good at management don’t typically require the same skills or interests. In fact, a sales superstar might have no interest in managing people, or might not enjoy the day-to-day aspects of managing a team. Not to mention, your sales superstar is bringing in business and growing it. When you transition them into a manager role, you’re adding a significant number of responsibilities to their plate and reducing how much time they have to do what they do best. You’re taking your best player off the court to see if they’d make a good coach, or even enjoy being a coach, when a much more reliable solution is to hire somebody who knows how to lead. The Right Type of Candidate. So, if a sales superstar isn’t usually the right candidate, then who is? The answer is simple: somebody who knows how to motivate and uplift salespeople and understands how sales organizations should function to be effective. There may be somebody on your team - in sales or an adjacent function - who fits the bill. There also may not be. The right candidate may come from within your organization, but, depending on how your team functions and who is available, interested, and qualified to step into a leadership role, looking for a fresh face may be the best course of action. A fractional sales team leader is also the right solution sometimes. Based on the needs and size of your company and your team, you might not need a full-time person to lead them. A seasoned veteran that knows how to motivate and lead at a fractional level can go a long way in decreasing the financial risk of bringing on a new sales leader and creating a lot of value for the team. This especially comes into play when a team is looking to build their organization and add processes, but fractionals can also help to lead your team without requiring your organization to make a full-time hire. It all depends on what your team needs. You Need to Understand Where Your Team Stands. What process does your team currently have in place? What needs to be developed? Does your team need some fine tuning and day-to-day management, or is the entire selling organization being built from the ground up? In short, do you need somebody to lead the processes and teams that are already there, or are you looking for someone to help you develop the entire system and team? Just as some salespeople are great at hunting and some are great at farming, some leaders are great builders and others are great operators. A great builder is skilled at taking a very small or nonexistent sales organization and building one. They get to know your organization, your current team, what has worked in the past, and what challenges you have. They take the time to understand where it is you’re looking to go in the future. Then they create a team structure, processes, and protocols to help you get there. They don’t just hire a team - they create everything it needs to run. Meanwhile, a great operator takes a fully built machine and keeps it running at maximum capacity. As your team grows, they’ll likely find some opportunities for improvement and make minor changes. They’ll fill roles as needed, work to develop the skills of individual team members, and make sure everybody is given the tools they need to reach their goals and potential. Both of these types of leaders are incredibly beneficial to the teams they serve, but only when they’re in the right role. The best operator in the world will be set up to fail if you’re expecting them to develop the entire selling organization. As for a great builder doing an operator’s role… have you ever heard the phrase, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it?” a builder will have trouble working within somebody else’s vision which could lead to unnecessary (and costly) overhauls of a system that really just needs to be managed and facilitated. That’s why, before you hire a sales leader, it’s important to understand what you need. Pro Tip: If you want to know how to build the foundation for a great sales organization, check out Set Up to Win. The book shares three frameworks to help you leverage the power of your team to stabilize and grow your company’s revenue long term. Promoting From Within the Organization. Even though turning your sales star into a manager is typically a mistake, there are times when somebody on your sales team does have the potential to be a great leader. These are typically team members who have solid sales, but are more notably known for being dedicated members of their team. They’re always engaged, are willing to be a resource for others, are happy to answer questions, and always eager to learn. Even without a managerial title, they’re happy to take on leadership responsibilities and find themselves being the “go-to” person that people look to for help and advice. Of course, hiring from within your company can work only if you have the right person on your team, and when personal bias clouds your judgement, it can be tricky to tell. Here’s how you can make sure your internal candidate is actually a good fit for the job:
If it turns out that nobody on your team fits the bill, that’s okay, too! Now you already have the job description ready to go and know what you’re looking for from an external hire, too. Hiring a sales leader is one of the most important decisions you’ll make for your sales team. As the person who crafts or executes the vision for the future of the team and is responsible for the growth of your business, they’re instrumental in not only their team’s success, but the success of the entire organization. Before you jump into the hiring process, make sure you know what your organization really needs from a sales leader in order to be successful. Learn More A healthy relationship between sales and marketing is vital to an organization’s success. Dive deep into this effective strategy in our book Sales & Marketing Alignment. If you'd like more insights on how you can improve your sales leadership, contact us.  You’ve planned a meeting meticulously to set yourself up for success. You’ve built rapport. You’ve started to dig beneath the surface to get at the heart of your customer’s needs.
Now it’s time for my personal favorite part of any sales call - the part where you get to share your ideas and create solutions that will turn prospective customers into signed ones. It’s also the place where, if you aren’t careful, all of the work you’ve done up until this point can quickly unravel. And if you’re entering this stage thinking about how you can “win” the customer’s business, you might alienate them before you even get started. Don't Lose the Sale with the Wrong Opening Line. “What’s your budget?” is an opening line that some salespeople swear by. “Everybody has a budget,” they’d likely argue. “Why waste time beating around the bush?” They aren’t necessarily wrong, and yet, it’s an opening line that typically kills sales (and the relationship) before the conversation can really begin. Yes, money is important. Yes, your client likely has a budget in mind. But starting there won’t help you continue to build a relationship with your client. Why? It puts them on the defensive. Clients worry that if they name a number that’s too low, they’ll be judged or offered a subpar experience. On the other hand, if they name a number that’s unnecessarily high, will you inflate your prices so that they get taken advantage of? Suddenly your entire interaction - the one that was carefully built with curiosity and authenticity - has become transactional. And that’s not a feeling that’s easy to come back from. Your Sales Pitch Should Feel Like a Collaboration, Not a Confrontation. The whole process so far, from planning each stage of the meeting to building a rapport, has centered around including the customer. Now that it’s time to start sharing solutions, that shouldn’t change. Instead of viewing the presentation of ideas as your moment, think of it as a collaborative brainstorming session where you create a roadmap with the customer. Start by ignoring the financial elephant in the room. Think big. Offer solutions that would solve their problems, share creative ideas, and take their feedback into account as you go. Share any exciting and relevant possibility during this conversation without placing limitations on either of you. Create a Safe Space to Tackle the Details. The budget does, inevitably, have to come up. But by brainstorming first, you’re showing the client that your goal, first and foremost, is helping them find the right solutions. When the time does come to discuss their budget, it will be clear that your goal is modifying the plans you created together to match their financial needs. Once again, you’re working with them to provide a solution - not asking a trick question. You're Playing for the Same Team. If One of You Wins, You Both Do. Your customer is investing one of their most valuable resources with you: their time. And they’re doing it because they’ve been happy with the rapport you’ve built so far and the direction your relationship is heading in. They believe you could be a good partner for them. They want this partnership to work. Instead of thinking of winning their business, consider that a successful sales call means both of your teams get to win. Several years ago, Karl was asked to consult with a company he’d worked with before.
“Things have been going great,” a member of the leadership team told him. “But we’ve grown a lot over the past several years, we have new team members, and I think we could use a refresh.” Karl was excited to get started and meet the new team. One of the newest members was their director of marketing. Driven, smart, personable, Karl knew he had a lot of potential. In fact, the new director of marketing’s biggest challenge was his age and subsequent lack of experience. There was a lot he didn’t know, but he was aware of it and incredibly eager to learn. Karl immediately thought about a different client of his who had an upcoming marketing conference and workshop. He knew it was the kind of experience that would benefit the new director of marketing. “Hey,” he told the guy the next day. “One of my other clients is hosting this workshop. I think you’d really like it.” Karl watched as the director of marketing’s facial expression moved from excitement to disappointment before he even spoke. “That sounds awesome, and I appreciate you thinking of me. But I just don’t think we have room in the budget right now.” Karl couldn’t let it go, especially after seeing the young director’s reaction. So he called his client and asked for a favor. “This guy really wants to attend,” he told his friend. “But he doesn’t have any wiggle room. Could you let him come free of charge?” “No worries,” the client told Karl. “Just send me his info and I’ll register him.” It was a win for everybody. There was an extra attendee at the conference networking and building connections, the new director of marketing was able to attend workshops he was really excited about, and Karl was able to help his client. When it came down to it, this moment wasn’t about selling for Karl – it was about providing value that went beyond the services he was paid to provide. None of it would’ve been possible without Iceberg Selling. Karl had to get to know the director of marketing well enough to understand that this opportunity was one he’d be excited about. He had to have a strong enough relationship with his other clients to ask for a favor. And he had to not just be professionally invested, but personally invested enough to find extra opportunities to provide value. During his appearance on the Leaving Nothing to Chance podcast, Karl does a mock sales call with host John Solleder, shares how most salespeople have the potential to go from good to great with a few small shifts in their mindset, and discusses why knowing what’s going on in the worlds of your team members and customers makes you a more valuable and successful salesperson. Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts  When looking to increase your business and revenue, there are two important (and easy!) ways that sales organizations often overlook.
No, it’s not new networking events or cold calling strangers. In fact, neither strategy involves reaching out to anyone outside of your existing network at all. The first is within your client pool. Odds are, you know who your top five or ten customers are right now. I bet you can picture them. “Okay,” you may be thinking. “They’re already my customers, and that’s great. But what opportunity is there for growth with them?” It’s easy for us to assume that our biggest customers are already using every single service we offer that is relevant to their business, industry, and needs. It often isn’t the case. The fact of the matter is, customers we’ve worked with for a long time often only think of us as providing the exact services they’re used to receiving from our team. We get pigeon holed and thought of as the group that does “X”, when in fact, there is so much more that we offer. Over time, our organization and our capabilities grow. We add new tools to our belt, hire new talent, gain new skills, and expand into new markets. It’s easy to take for granted that our existing clients know about all the ways we’ve changed or leveled up over time. Just as often, we fall into the same trap with the ways we perceive our clients. We’re so sure we know about their needs, we forget that their organizations have changed too - and so have the solutions they need. Here’s what you can do to expand within your existing client pool:
Now that you know where these gaps are, it’s time to reach out. Schedule some time to meet with your contacts at each organization and have a conversation about all of your team’s capabilities and how their organization can benefit from them. You may just find that one of your biggest customers gets even bigger. The second place salespeople often forget to check isn’t necessarily in their current customer base - it’s within the pool of connections they already have but don’t talk to regularly. When one of these connections has a career change, whether it’s a promotion, a new job, or a totally new industry, it can often present you with the opportunity to connect with a new team or even organization. LinkedIn is a powerful tool in keeping up with these connections. Start by going to your profile and checking to see if anyone you’ve worked with, submitted a proposal to, or even networked with previously has had any career changes. If so, reach out! Congratulate them on their promotion, new job, or exciting new adventure and try to start a conversation. The best case scenario, it turns out they’re looking for somebody who provides the exact same services you do. The timing is perfect for both of your teams: you get a new opportunity and they’re able to solve a challenge or provide a solution to their team. Worst case scenario, it turns out their team or new organization already has somebody that provides your services. Of course, even in that event, your time was still well spent. You never know what could change in the future, what other connections they may have, or who else they’ll refer you to. When looking to grow our organizations and expand our business, the natural instinct is often to find new customers. And while new business is incredibly important to ongoing growth, expanding within your current customer base and capitalizing on the connections you’ve already built allows you to quickly find opportunities you didn’t know existed.  Building or restructuring often takes place during periods of growth. Your team may be experiencing growing pains, with more work than your current sales organization can keep up with. Or perhaps you’ve had a huge wave of revenue growth, and you realize the importance of capitalizing on it to grow even faster.
Maybe it’s the opposite: your team has had steady numbers, but wants to increase revenue potential, or has started to stall. These are times when organizations feel a lot of urgency to have their sales team start performing at a higher level, and they feel the answer to that is adding a sales superstar to their team. It’s an exciting prospect. It’s also a scary one. Building or expanding your sales team is a risk. There’s a high cost associated with adding to your team. From the financial cost - a salary, benefits, extra equipment - to the valuable time and energy it takes to hire, onboard, and offer continuous training support, expanding your team takes more work before it alleviates pressure on your team and costs you money before it increases your revenue. Doing it the right way takes time - but the cost of doing it wrong is high. Keep reading to learn the three most common challenges organizations face when building or expanding their sales teams and the steps you can take to overcome them. Hiring Your First Salesperson Many small businesses have their first initial leaps of growth (and continued business) simply from word of mouth. Their reputation is their biggest selling point and biggest selling tool. Through close customer relationships and consistently providing quality services or products, they get new customers from referrals alone. However, at some point, they’ll likely decide they want to grow faster or on a larger scale than their one-on-one connections will enable them to do. They need to get intentional about getting more business. The natural next step is to hire a salesperson or form a sales team. Of course, for businesses that have never approached selling strategically, it’s hard to know where to start. They wonder:
Sales have always happened organically instead of intentionally, so approaching the process with a different mindset is a big adjustment and a bit unsettling. Trying to Clone Yourself In many small businesses where selling is an intentional part of the outreach and growth process, it’s not uncommon for one person to hold all the keys to the castle. The owner or founder of the company is the sole person who is truly responsible for revenue growth, or given the opportunity to close new customers and expand existing relationships. It’s obvious why this becomes unsustainable as the business grows. The owner suddenly needs to be on every sales call. They need to have touch points with every customer. They’re involved in every aspect of the business, no matter how small, when they should be focused on the big picture. However, transitioning away from this model isn’t easy. When one person is responsible for managing and building all client relationships, they rarely have a set process. Instead, they work intuitively, drawing on their extensive knowledge of the industry, customers, and business. And while this may work really well for them, it gives new team members joining the sales force or existing team members transitioning into a selling role no roadmap to follow. The owner may think the answer is finding someone who is essentially their clone in order to circumvent this problem. “I don’t need to develop a process,” they think, “if I work with someone who just gets it the same way I do.” This is, almost all of the time, a big mistake. Even somebody with the same selling style as the owner will need onboarding and training, and in the absence of that, you end up in a frustrating situation for both parties. The salesperson will start to feel micromanaged, like they lack autonomy, and aren’t given the trust or ownership they need to actually do and succeed at their job. Meanwhile, the owner will continue to be so hands on, their workload likely won’t decrease much at all. Scaling Your Team by Adding More Team Members When your current team is overloaded by the demands of a growing company (in many ways, a good problem to have!) it may feel necessary to quickly expand the size of the team. However, bringing three extra people onto a two-person sales team overnight isn’t easy, might not be necessary, and should absolutely be done with caution. Sales teams that are small often lack solidified structure, processes, and routines. The success of the existing team is, in large part, due to the fact that they’ve established relationships with clients and industry partners, have extensive industry knowledge, and have found a personal system that works for them. In small, adaptive companies, this can work for a time - but it causes big difficulties when adding new people into the mix. There’s no roadmap or strategies for growth, aside from “sell more stuff.” There’s no process to onboard the new hires because there likely aren’t any processes to begin with. There may not even be a clearly defined person in charge. Without processes in place, it’s impossible for new hires to learn and adapt to the company quickly, to understand and communicate the nuances that set them apart from competitors, or to get up to speed so they can succeed at their jobs. Businesses may not even need as many new team members as they initially think - they just need to be intentional about who they hire and what exactly they’re providing to the team. How to Overcome These Challenges Put simply, the way to overcome these challenges is to create a selling process, determine how exactly your current team fits into that process, and understand where your gaps are. For small businesses looking to bring on a dedicated salesperson for the first time, consider how you picture bringing in leads, nurturing them, and closing deals. What part of that process, if any, would somebody on your existing team continue to do? What parts do you need assistance with? Now, when you start the hiring process, you’ll understand exactly what kind of salesperson (link Hunters and Farmers blog) will best fit your needs. For businesses looking to expand their sales team, it’s time to create a clearly defined selling process. Start by figuring out how your funnel currently functions. Where are the leads brought in from? What are the different touch points they experience? How do they move from “lead” to “customer”. If you don’t have a process here, now is a great time to make one. Next, identify where your current team is falling short. Is the team so busy that there isn’t enough time to dedicate to bringing in leads? Or maybe you have so many leads that consistent outreach has started falling through the cracks, making it harder to close customers. This will help you figure out how your funnel needs to be improved - and how a new hire would fit into your organizational structure. Learn More A healthy relationship between sales and marketing is vital to an organization’s success. Dive deep into this effective strategy in our book Sales & Marketing Alignment. If you'd like more insights on how you can improve your sales leadership, contact us. Several years ago, there was a horrible wildfire in Colorado where Karl lives.
As you can imagine, it was incredibly stressful for the entire community. Karl’s family was lucky enough not to lose their home, but thousands of other people did. People in their community. Friends of their family. The families of the kids Karl’s boys rode on the school bus with. Overnight, thousands of people around them lost their houses, their businesses, and, most notably, their feelings of safety and security. In the midst of one of the most challenging events that took place in their community, Karl witnessed something amazing - the way his kids started showing up for their friends, their neighbors, and their classmates. They collected items, shared their belongings, and spent their time helping the people around them. The most shocking part for Karl was that it was done without any reminders or prompting from him. In fact, if anything, the kids were the ones leading the charge, inspiring Karl to get more involved with efforts, too. It made Karl reflect about what legacy really is - how you show up, every day, in your community, and the ways you impact the people around you. In sales, you’re an agent of change. We may often picture salespeople in the negative stereotypical way, but what they really aim to do is make an impact for the people they guide and serve. During Karl’s appearance on the Legacy Roadmap Show podcast, he shared how his son’s unintentionally exemplified the “ownership” mindset in Iceberg Selling and why serving people by doing the things you value and are good at is at the heart of selling. Listen to the full podcast.  Much like with sales, people often lump every member of the marketing team together. They assume the entire team is made up of creative thinkers, solely focused on coming up with big ideas. Alternatively, they may believe that the marketing team is full of strategists, only concerned with analyzing data and making adjustments that increase leads at the top of the funnel.
The truth is you need to have people with a variety of skills in order to inform, plan, and carry out the tasks that keep your funnel full and moving. This means strategists, creatives, data analysts, coordinators, videographers, and more. From large organizations with robust marketing teams with 100+ team members to smaller companies where everybody wears multiple hats, here are the 8 essential roles on any marketing team. The Leader The marketing leader is responsible for the overall execution of the entire marketing plan. Their job isn’t to get into the details on the day-to-day creation of each specific component of the marketing plan. Instead, they focus on the big picture, crafting the overall strategy, reviewing and giving final approval on key messaging, and working closely with the sales team to make sure the two groups are aligned. One of the most common mistakes we see in the structure of marketing teams is to spread the responsibilities of a marketing leader across several members of the team, or even the company. Why is this a problem? It creates two things: confusion and delays. Yes, collaboration is key to the success of the marketing (or any) team, but decision by committee can easily be its downfall. Approval processes become lengthy and even simple questions may turn into debates. Not to mention, without clear responsibilities, it’s difficult for anybody to feel empowered to take ownership and give final approval. The Project Manager Anybody who’s worked on a marketing campaign, or, more realistically, several simultaneous marketing campaigns, understands just how many moving pieces there are. It’s the project manager’s (often referred to as the coordinator) job to juggle them. These highly organized members of the team are in charge of deadlines, managing timelines, assessing action items and next steps, and troubleshooting when something inevitably falls behind schedule. They set the milestones, make sure every member of the team has what they need to keep moving forward, and are the reason initiatives are completed on time. They do this by organizing strategic marketing meetings, creating and closely managing action plans, and ensuring milestones are hit. They also aid in communication between various members of the team, update any online project management software, double check that things are done correctly, and more. When things go to plan and stay on schedule, it’s most likely because of the project manager. The Digital Marketing Strategist This tactical position is responsible for all of the outreach that brings people into the top of the integrated marketing funnel. This means driving traffic to the website, getting people to subscribe to email campaigns, increasing social media exposure, and raising awareness for the organization. They make sure the content used to drive growth in the top of the funnel is consistent with the efforts of the sales and marketing teams so that they aren’t just increasing the number of leads, but the right kind of leads. They consistently review and update the website, provide SEO content, manage and review Google Ads, and explore other online advertising programs. They also oversee and manage social media efforts, tracking which ones are performing and what doesn’t seem to be resonating with target customers. The digital marketing specialists work closely with content writers to make sure blogs, social media posts, and other online copy is optimized for SEO and driving lead growth. The Funnel Manager The funnel manager is in charge of making sure that the leads procured by the digital marketing specialist continue to move through the funnel until they make contact with a salesperson. Essentially, they’re responsible for integrating the sales and marketing teams. The funnel manager handles marketing automation with different applications and / or CRM tools and collects data about what the leads are responding, or not responding, to within the funnel. This includes reviewing web stats each week and comparing them against previous trends to understand what campaigns are drawing in leads, managing monthly newsletters and other marketing efforts to determine what content leads tend to click on or respond to, and developing user testing programs to get feedback. Most importantly, they analyze the data and present their findings to the marketing team, along with insights and recommendations for how specific campaigns can be adjusted to more effectively convert leads. The Writer A commonly contracted role, this member of the marketing team writes content for the website, email campaigns, blogs, social media posts, and more. Ideally, the writer will have access to both the sales and marketing teams to make sure that the content they write is accurate and aligns with both the marketing plans and the messaging customers seem to be responding to. It’s also beneficial for the writer to have access to the full marketing strategy and plans, as it will help them understand the goal for each piece they write. This will allow them to make recommendations and craft content in a way that is reflective of the big picture messaging, plans, and goals from various campaigns. They’ll be able to recommend what content should be used, how often content should appear on different channels, recommended length, and more. The Multimedia Provider Yes, we all are capable of taking pictures, videos, and recording audio from our phones – but let’s leave the professional work to the, well, professionals. As a specialist in the capture and creation of video, photographic, and audio content, this commonly contracted role works closely with the sales and marketing teams, oftentimes including the writer. For photographic work, they prepare for photoshoots, making sure they understand what needs to be captured, take photos, and provide final edited copies. For video shoots, they’ll often prepare storyboards and provide creative recommendations in addition to capturing and editing the footage. They may also record and edit audio recordings for podcasts, voiceovers, audio testimonials, and more. During the post-production phase, they may work with the graphic designer to produce any necessary graphics. This role is one that has continued to grow in scope and importance. Video content is a critical part of the sales funnel. Consumers are constantly using TikTok, YouTube, and other social media platforms, not just for entertainment, but when making decisions about what organizations to work with or what brands to buy from. It may be tempting to use stock photos and videos, but visuals that feature your team, clients, and stakeholders will always read as more authentic. The Graphic Designer Iconic brands can be recognized from a single image, logo, or ad. The person responsible for creating those visuals and making sure they represent the look and feel of the brand is the graphic designer. Your graphic designer is responsible for creating and designing all marketing collateral, including all website content, social media graphics, company logos, and more. They either develop or adhere to brand guidelines, including colors, fonts, design elements, logos, and more. Their goal is to make sure that anything your organization shares, from website home page banners to social media graphics, are a consistent part of the overall look and feel of the brand. The Tech Guy Technology is a critical part of sales and marketing, especially because the vast majority of marketing is done online. You need a website that loads quickly, is easy to navigate, and meets the needs of the user. You need to make sure all of your webpages operate seamlessly on both a computer and a smart phone. If it’s not, your funnel will be in trouble. Leads and customers simply won’t spend time on a website that is difficult to navigate, doesn’t load correctly, or they don’t feel is secure, which is why it’s essential that your website prioritizes the customer experience, first and foremost. A knowledgeable person in this role will help you select a website platform that meets the needs of your marketing team’s strategic plans, can be easily edited by internal team members, and creates a great user experience for your customers. They’ll also establish security functions and malware protections and oversee website integration with other applications, like your CRM tools, accounting, inventory, and more. Learn More A healthy relationship between sales and marketing is vital to an organization’s success. Dive deep into this effective strategy in our book Sales & Marketing Alignment. If you'd like more insights on how you can improve your sales leadership, contact us.  There are two factors that we most regularly see standing in the way of communication moving forward - difficulty starting a conversation and the time it takes to move from scheduling purgatory to an actual meeting.
Each have an easy solution, and the tools you need to implement them most likely already exist in a suite you pay for or have a free version online. Keep reading to learn more about the two easy changes that will help you drive efficiency. Start the Conversation One of the main reasons companies don’t do as much outreach as they could (or should) comes down to not knowing what to say. It’s an understandable problem. Salespeople are great at connecting with customers over the phone, face-to-face, or as a part of ongoing communications. However, when it comes to spontaneous outreach, they’re slowed down when it’s time to put the proverbial pen to paper. In many ways, this makes sense. Maintaining relationships with existing customers or prospects already in the funnel takes top priority and more of the sales team’s attention. By the time they can shift their focus to email outreach, they’re thinking about a million other things, their brains are a little fried from working with customers all day, or their attention gets pulled to a more pressing task. An item on their to-do lists that should take ten minutes gets dragged out and simple outreach becomes a drain on productivity or gets pushed to the back burner. Here’s our easy fix: templated emails. When it comes time to send a form response, a proposal, a post-purchase or event follow up, reviews or referral requests, or other standard communications, templates help to activate your sales team so emails don’t stay stuck in the drafts folder. The best part is that they don’t have to feel impersonal if they’re used the right way. Think of email templates as directional content that provides basic structure while still giving your sales team room to add personal touches and customization. A good rule of thumb is to think of the emails as 80/20. The template provides 80% of the content and structure, while the sender can add the remaining 20% of the copy. Outreach becomes quick, easy, and much more regular. Create a Calendly Account We also know about the other conversation halter - the endless emails back and forth taking days or even weeks, to get a call on the calendar. We’ve all been there. Several emails fly back and forth sharing availability, often over the course of multiple days. By the time one person picks a slot, the first person no longer has it available, and the process starts over again. The actual conversation is delayed for completely avoidable reasons and the entire scheduling process is much more complicated and frustrating than it needs to be. Luckily, there are plenty of tools that help you get around this challenge. Sites like Calendly and suites like Microsoft and Google that you may already use and pay for, can be linked to your calendar. You can then create a shareable link, which others can use to see when you are available and book the time slot they want instantly. Instead of several emails flying back and forth to schedule a meeting, a single email saying to use the link below (or the link in your email signature) gets your meeting on the calendar. Utilizing tools like 80/20 email templates or Calendly doesn’t remove personalization from your customer experience - it simply streamlines the process to get you to your end goal faster. During his appearance on the Uncover Hidden Client Needs episode of The How to Sell More Podcast, Karl shared a recent experience that, surprisingly, had him reflecting on authentic selling: planning his dad’s surprise 80th birthday party.
When he first started planning the party, people came to him with ideas: “We could do dinner at this new restaurant in town,” somebody suggested, but Karl knew that his father, as well as a lot of his father’s friends, would be uncomfortable driving at night. “There’s this great spot in the city that –” Karl shook his head as soon as he heard the location. Nearby parking was limited at best, and a lot of the guests would have trouble walking a long distance. The more he thought about the needs of the people attending, not to mention the birthday boy himself, Karl realized the party his father would likely enjoy the most was a luncheon at a restaurant with no stairs, a lot of light, and a familiar menu. But it got Karl thinking. The people who gave Karl suggestions, as well intentioned as they may be, were thinking of what they would enjoy for their birthday party - not what was realistic or enjoyable for an 80-year-old. They weren’t thinking about the challenges a loud environment, a dimly lit room, or staircases would present. If they were salespeople, we’d say they forgot to consider the needs of their customer. If you’re a salesperson who is an expert in their field or with their customer, understanding the basics of what is going on in the industry is just as, if not more, important than knowing your product. And if you don’t, you need to take a pause and do your homework. It’s easy as a salesperson to think your job is the ABC’s (if you know, you know). But when your focus is on constantly selling your product, it’s easy to forget why somebody might need to buy it. It’s easy to forget that understanding what’s going on in the industry you’re selling to is just as, if not more, important than knowing your product. To learn more about why failing to guide your customers reinforces sales stereotypes, how Iceberg Selling helps you uncover hidden client needs, and how sales organizations can overcome the biggest challenges holding them back, check out Karl’s appearance on The How To Sell More Podcast. Carrot. Carrot. Carrot. Do carrots really drive sales performance?  Salespeople typically love what they do and feel driven to sell, but at the end of the day, it’s still their job, and a big part of getting people excited to perform at work is providing them with the right incentives. Or what we might call carrots! Commissions aside, a big part of getting your sales organization to achieve their highest potential is motivating them in the right way.
Naturally, that means carrots and maybe even really big, fat carrots. Historically, incentive structures were based on the outdated belief that all sales professionals fit the Wolf of Wall Street persona and emphasized internal competition above all else. Of course, we now know that this innate desire to “beat” colleagues isn’t a universal trait or truth among salespeople. When you add in the rise of collaboration, it becomes clear that incentives that primarily pit salespeople against each other are outdated and ineffective. The key? A blended approach that helps all types of sales personalities find motivation to perform. Understand What Motivates Your Sales Team From hunters and farmers to different personalities and approaches, most salespeople don’t fit into one stereotypical mold. So it only makes sense that they won’t necessarily be motivated by the same things. People have different goals. They strive for different achievements, are inspired by different things, are driven by different factors, and are looking to grow their careers in different ways. Even within the same team, salespeople have different work styles, ways of communicating, and preferences for how they operate as part of the team. This doesn’t mean that one way is inherently right or wrong. It just means that different people will find motivation through different types of incentives. A rigid system that works for one person (or what we think a salesperson should want) won’t effectively drive your entire team. Adopt a Blended Incentive Approach Luckily, an incentive system doesn’t need to prioritize one type of persona over another. Instead, focus on creating a system that matches several characteristics and desires so you can motivate more of your team. For your classic sales personas who love to compete with anyone and everyone, try implementing monthly incentives for:
For sales team members who prefer competing with themselves rather than their teammates, consider monthly rewards for:
Selling has largely turned into a team sport, both within the sales team and cross functionally with marketing. There can (and should) also be monthly incentives for team achievements, such as:
The metric being awarded can even change each month, adding an additional challenge for competitive team members. Incentivize Your Sales Team in the Way That Works for Them If you’re wondering if you should prioritize competitive incentives, individual incentives, or team incentives, we have the answer. All of them. Try picking one option in each category and giving small incentives on a regular basis. For example, in the upcoming month, tell the team that you’ll be rewarding the sales team member with the highest average sales price and the sales team member with the highest month-to-month sales growth, and if the entire sales team signs X new customers that month, there will be a team incentive that everyone receives. Having these different metrics on the table gives salespeople a variety of ways to be motivated. Celebrate the Wins In order for these goals to be worth working towards, they need to have meaningful incentives - but that doesn’t mean they need to be elaborate (it wouldn’t be realistic to give three large financial incentives each month!). These monthly incentives should instead be about appreciation and recognition. For the incentives that art achieved as a unified team make it something that has fun and impact - lunch each Friday for the month (even Door Dashing for remote workers), $50 Amazon gift cards, a ½ day of PTO. Just make it fun and something that would be special for the entire team and something they can all visualize. For individual incentives, small bonuses or gift cards as well as a personalized announcement will make the winners feel appreciated and give them a spiff that make their own performance even more fun and meaningful. For high-value revenue goals, such as ones that span an entire quarter or year, a revenue share associated with it (in addition to usual commission) can give an extra boost. Learn More A healthy relationship between sales and marketing is vital to an organization’s success. Dive deep into this effective strategy in our book Sales & Marketing Alignment. If you'd like more insights on how you can improve your sales leadership, contact us.  Many of us fall into a very common email blast trap: thinking that everything sent to your contact list needs to be a well-formatted newsletter with extensive links, articles, and content to be worth sending.
This misconception leads to big missed opportunities. Why? Because each and every touchpoint with a client or lead gives you the chance to activate them. Our pro tip: take five minutes to create a list of relevant messages that would inspire, educate, and potentially activate those on your email list. As an example, if you were in the live events industry your topics might look like:
Why does this work? Two words: inspiration and value. When you provide your clients with content that is valuable and inspiring, oftentimes, they’ll take action. The return on your time can be pretty significant, too. Again, let’s imagine you run an audio visual production company. Your clients are meeting planners producing and organizing live events. How do you picture a typical workday for these planners? What do you think is important to them? What do you offer that could bring them value? When you make an effort to share ideas that inspire, you may just find that your messaging lands in front of a meeting planner at exactly the right time. As we play out this scenario, pretend it’s the end of a busy year and event season and your team drafts an email to all your contacts. Current customers, past customers, and even leads. The email asks clients if they have any last-minute events they need support on before the new year, citing holiday parties or galas for non-profit organizations. This achieves the timing goal of outreach - the right message at the right time. It’s a numbers game. In the events industry, the audio visual production of smaller events can easily range from $10k-$50k. So imagine you send out 500 emails and even one person responds with an event. That can be a nice ROI, not to mention hold the potential for even more future events. At the beginning of every year, make sure you send every client and lead an invitation to meet up to talk about your partnership. During this meeting with existing clients, you can talk about what went well on past events, share ideas for improvement, and brainstorm ideas for the upcoming year. In meetings with leads, you’ll learn more about the needs of the client, share your creative solutions for their events, and find ways to offer unexpected value and resources to their team. The year is full of opportunities to capture new business or expand the footprint of existing clients - and it all starts by opening a conversation. Do you want more helpful AV industry tips? Join our Live Event Peer Group and subscribe to our newsletter to up-level your team and increase sales performance. |
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We are headquartered in Colorado with domestic and international teammates and clients. Please use the contact form on this page to inquire about any of our books, podcasts appearances, speaking engagements and workshops, any of our offerings, or simply to connect.
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