It never fails. Every day I get at least one message or email from someone who asks me if I know a good salesperson who needs a job. I send the exact same reply to all of them. “If I knew a good salesman who wanted a job, I’d hire him.” I’m dead serious. Good salespeople are hard to find. Here’s why—someone is paying them what they are worth.
Lots of People Think They’re Good at Sales, Truth is, Your Paycheck Determines That.
Sales are about one thing and one thing only: making money. None of us are in this game for the thrill of it. We deal with turndowns, hang ups and slammed doors every day in order to get paid—nothing more, nothing less. Those of us who have found our way are almost always un-hirable.
That being said, most of us have to settle with hiring someone who’s more “okay” at sales than “good.” Then it’s our job to train them into being a “good” salesman, which after years and decades of doing, can be exhausting. Especially since most of us train people who then go on to become a competitor in one form or another.
For the last five years, I’ve run a lifestyle business that didn’t require a sales team, but late last year, I realized I was being selfish and playing small. I had hired and trained mortgage teams before, but honestly, it was a pain in my ass. I’ve got the patience of a toddler and the mouth of someone with Tourette’s, so I usually just fire people and do it myself.
I had an incident in my life where an attorney had to evaluate my business. When he got back to me, he told me it was not a business, it was just me hustling and if I got sick, hurt, or killed…then the business was worthless. He suggested I create a sales force to push my digital products. As much as I didn’t want to hire and train a sales force, I knew I was going to have to.
I Got to Work on Recruiting and Training a Sales Team
Last fall, I started hiring sales people. I put the word on the street I was looking for good salespeople and all sorts of folks showed up. Hungry, ready, eager to make big money. Sadly, none of the original line-up is even around now, which is just a few months later as I write this. I hired and fired around 10 salespeople in a very short period of time. Within that same time frame, I also found a solid crew who seems to be performing happily and growing my business with me.
I created this team with minimal amounts of my time invested. As an entrepreneur with multiple businesses to run and hundreds of clients to help, I have to make sure to use my time in the absolute best way possible. What I did allowed me to not only train a group who’s closing around $40,000 in commissioned sales each month, I also spend less than two hours a week training and helping them.
I use a conference call service and I have my sales team call in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9am Texas time. The calls are usually 5-20 minutes long and they serve two purposes. Purpose one is to micro-train salespeople in small segments to avoid overwhelm. Purpose two is to keep my crew motivated. Motivation expires quickly, so I bring the heat three days each week.
I Lead the Team from the Front Lines, as I Make Calls and Close Sales
By leading the team from the front lines, they see what can be done and aspire to do the same. I’m not some lame duck manager, who hasn’t closed a sale in years, yelling at my crew about why they can’t close shit. I’m out here, showing them how it’s done on a daily basis. The team knows I wouldn’t ask them to do anything I’m not already doing myself.
I use these conference calls to talk about my vision, what I’m personally doing that works and to drill the same word tracks into their heads over and over again. I also use these calls to constantly up the pace. I’m all about growing and expanding, so I make sure I keep that vision congruent with my team, too. I want them to do more, close more and have more each and every month. There is no point where we believe “We made it!” because we always want more.
Another key component to being able to train my team without taking up all my time has been to record everything. I’ve recorded every sales training call, every webinar I’ve ever done and every question I’ve been asked. I have a FAQ type of page that contains everything my team needs. Before they come to me, they know to go to that program page and get the info.
They Buy and Implement My Show Up and Close Sales Training Program
Also, I require each of my salespeople to buy my Show Up and Close program and implement what they learn. This way, they are selling the exact same thing they’ve already bought, and believe in. They also know exactly what the client will be getting, the process and all. This makes them a question and objection-handling animal after about 60 days.
Here’s a blatant but worthy sales pitch:
If you’re a business owner or manager, you should purchase my sales training programs for your sales staff. This keeps you from having to train them too extensively. They learn your products and services, and when they use my word tracks, they won’t be asking YOU questions, they’ll be asking the prospects questions, like a good salesperson’s supposed to do.
My team also uses a group chat I created and at this point they all answer each other’s questions. They self-rely on the FAQ page or chat BEFORE they reach out to me. I’ve set the expectation for them to respect my time. They will ask each other via the group chat before they hit me or my operations manager up. A majority of the time, one person on the team will know the answer and help.
Training a good sales team doesn’t have to take all your time and energy. I think it all starts with getting clear on who can stay around. I’ve given chances to a lot of people to be on the team, yet I make cuts like a pro ball team in pre-season. Anyone can talk the talk, but I only need to see a few steps to see how they walk. Using cheap and free technology will save you time and money to accomplish other, more meaningful tasks.
If you’re ready to invest in your personal success and you’d like to find out about the programs we have developed especially for you, simply head over to www.HardcoreCloser.com/tribe and we’ll have a sales conversation about your future.
