Growth Hacking: Building a Sales Operation from the Ground Up
Companies / SME Dec 27, 2019 - 05:49 AM GMTBy: Submissions
Building a sales operation from scratch is a challenging and sensitive process, that can determine the future growth of the company. Yet this process has high dependency in early stage decision making. Keeping a few simple guidelines along the way might save a lot of trouble in the future.
Building a sales operation for a B2B startup may seem like a challenge for many corporate sales managers and depending on each company’s condition that might be the case, but in reality, there are some sustainable growth generating methods. By setting an organizational architecture with a functional sales team and a predictable sales process, managers had proven to build a sustainable sales unit.
Since startups are generally fearful to act and make the right decisions from an early stage, let’s talk about three methods that had worked for building several successful sales operations so far. These are important components of a fully-functional sales operation, used individually or in an appropriate mix.
Working with startups and million-dollar companies
Aligning both marketing and sales functions is a serious issue for B2B companies, but an integration of the two had shown that companies can grow at an annual rate of 20%, according to a study from kapost.com. More specifically, the marketing and sales teams must work jointly in order to reach a broader audience, formed by startups and multi-million dollar companies, as well.
One popular model combines ground salesperson for big clients and internal ones for SMBs. “This model works great especially for companies operating in markets with constantly changing conditions”, says Ramon Herzlinger, VP Sales EMEA and LATAM at the global cyber security company Checkmarx, “We’ve managed to develop from sales values of tens of thousands of dollars per clients to millions”.
Ramon Herzlinger
Develop training programs
Helping employees grow will help the company grow. Constant education is the only way the sales team can thrive and improve performance. As a result, sales training programs represent the building block for any potential major improvement that might happen in the future. It’s a fact proven by a RAIN Group research that high-quality sales retention training improves sales by an average of 30% as compared to the rest of the industry.It does not matter whether the company has only one salesperson or 100. Building the foundations for operating sales training programs should be at the of the priority list. Well-designed training programs will have a dramatic impact on your team almost immediately and will make it easier for new hires to learn the company’s culture and strategy.
Open physical sales offices in different countries
Scaling up a business, even though it has success locally, is where most corporate sales managers stumble, mainly due to the fear of failure or any unpredictable factors that might influence the business performance on particular parts of the globe. “Opening sales offices in different countries is a must because they are used as an anchor to new regions”, advises Ramon Herzlinger, who joined Checkmarx at a very early stage and built the company’s sales infrastructure in Europe, South America, Africa, and Russia.
If the products have what’s called a “global outreach”, scaling up to many different countries will provide exposure to a diverse range of markets, as well as the potential to reach a larger number of customers.
Summary
Although it will be ideal to find all the above-mentioned structures in any given sales company, the reality is that most of them still have big gaps and it will be the responsibility of the sales manager to come out with an elaborate plan. This will ensure that employees work symbiotically in order to achieve and even exceed to goals set initially. By having a wide range of customers, well-designed training programs in place, and a strategy to scale up in different countries, any company can create a successful sales operation from the ground up.
Ron Raymonds - Business Reporter
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