Everyone wants to develop a sales team that excels, but it takes more than an inflated pay package and a pool table.
It’s not metrics and compensation that drives performance, but it’s the environment you create. Get it wrong and you’ll be hit with mid-quarter turnover issues and slow pipelines.
This topic was discussed at length in our webinar with Tyler Witt, VP of US Mid-Market Sales at Lead Forensics. You can replay the webinar now — or catch up with this blog.
Build a Culture That Attracts Top Talent
Tyler shared his experience from a few years ago, when he was working for a business that started losing sales reps at an alarming rate. Plenty of excellent sales reps were being poached because they were following the pay.
The way to turn it around?
“You create an environment where people evangelize working there,” Tyler said. “They stop others to tell them how great it is.”
A great culture is what keeps your talent with you and draws other high-performers to join.
There are only a few things you need to focus on:
- Clear, digestible compensation plans
- Transparent pathways to promotion
- Open feedback loops for continuous learning
- A sense of safety and respect for every single colleague
Sales leaders often focus on hiring top talent, but Tyler argues the better strategy is to create demand for your sales team and let the talent come to you.
Train for Mastery, Not Just Onboarding
World-class training isn’t just about teaching features or pitch decks. It’s about developing adaptable, resilient salespeople who can grow with the business.
“There are companies that don’t pay top dollar, but reps go there to get world-class training,” Tyler shared.
If you want to develop a high-performing sales team, you need to invest in their education. Not only will they grow with the business, but it’ll draw in the self-starters who are hungry to develop themselves.
Look for IQ, EQ, and AQ
Once you’ve created a team worth joining, how do you choose who actually gets on the bus?
Tyler suggests looking for three core traits:
- IQ and the ability to quickly absorb and apply information
- EQ and empathy, relationship-building, and communication skills
- AQ and adaptability to change and resilience under pressure
“If someone can absorb and apply training quickly, that shortens their ramp and drives faster results.”
Get to the Number, But Keep Morale High
Sales leadership is about sustained performance, which includes balancing results with retention.
You’ve got two key priorities: hit the sales target and keep your staff within the business.
The way you approach chasing targets will have a direct impact on your retention rate
If you burn your team out, you’ll be hiring again in 6 months.
And if you consistently hit targets without morale, you’re not leading; you’re surviving.
If you’re struggling with morale, it might seem like an impossible thing to solve, but it’s not.
Try these tips:
- Recognize and reward good performance. It can be as simple as thanking someone for their performance in a team meeting, encouraging reps to ring a bell when they close a big deal, or including them in a weekly round-up of wins.
- Listen to your team. There may already be grumblings of what’s going wrong, so make sure you’ve got your ear to the ground — and don’t be afraid to ask for feedback.
- Make time to decompress. Short breaks and non-sales activities can help your team reset their energy between sprints, but if you can tie this back to performance then you’ll get the best out of them.
- Don’t neglect development just because there’s a big target to hit. It’s hard to claw out time for training, but it’s a sure-fire way to improve performance and re-energize your team.
And remember, if you team doesn’t feel valued, they won’t stay. And you’ll be left backfilling deals instead of forecasting them.
“The company should feel lucky that rep showed up today,” Tyler emphasized.
Stop Toxic Behavior Quickly
Even the best teams will have challenging periods. But if behavior starts to verge on being toxic, you need to deal with it quickly and don’t let it contaminate the whole team.
If it’s just one person acting out, you need to address them directly and get support from your colleagues in HR on how to manage the issue.
If it’s a system-wide issue, it’s probably time for some introspection.
“If it’s happening to everyone, it’s probably the company’s fault,” Tyler warned.
Ask for anonymous feedback, to encourage people to share their genuine concerns. If you demonstrate you’ve listened and you’re acting on their input, you’ll start rebuilding trust.
Support Your Team With The Right Tools
Nothing kills performance faster than failing to equip your team with the right tools.
Whether it’s allowing access to LLMs like ChatGPT to help them minimize their time spent on research, prep and personalization or making sure they have the best intelligence available to close those calls, there’s so much out there that can help.
If you don’t already use Lead Forensics, it’s time to book a demo and see how our visitor identification software can help you prioritize warm leads and focus on those prospects that are already looking at your website.
