When a company develops successfully and rapidly, the sales force must be able to adapt quickly to changes, not to lose sales and profit opportunities.

If you think: “hire more salespeople” this would end up to healthy business growth, this is not always accurate.

Scaling the sales crew is essential for a sales organization to sustain excellence, while the timing for scaling is crucial.  Smart, engaging decisions and long term benefits for your company, arise from an intelligent, on-time strategic approach while hiring.   Strategic hiring involves the evaluation of various parameters, such as:

Before any new engaging in sales, consider whether you provide contemporary, continuous and consistent training to your reps.

Perhaps an updated training or coaching could increase their performance and make your existing team more efficient.  Now that you are sure your people have only the best, it is time to fill in the gaps.  Newcomers should pass a uniform training program to give your company the maximum of their capacity. Implement an in-depth and consistent training program that each new hire must complete. Aforementioned sets a high bar that each salesperson is aware of and expected to meet.

Depending on the size of your business, training may include formal product education, communication training, and demonstration certification. You might also consider ‘pairing up’ rookies with high-performing representatives for a “training week”, so they can participate in demonstrations and visits together.

Streamline procedures and monitor sales team performance to help reps spend the majority of their -valuable- time in the market.

You do not want them to spend the majority of their time to activities that do not generate new deals.  Do you?

Maximizing every rep’s productivity is a critical priority to avoid lost sales opportunities.  Companies that use insight and metrics can quickly determine what processes are most successful and strengthen sales people productivity. Automation, such as email templates and assorted emailing, let reps communicate with potential clients faster and more efficiently. Email templates address a consistent message and save time so that salespeople can focus their attention on customers rather than writing different messages themselves every day. Educating newcomers on procedures is essential for their productivity.

Obtain the right metrics to determine if it is time to hire.

Begin by tracking your salespersons’ basic compensation. Then examine the variable remuneration and the frequency at which they meet their quota. Lastly, review their average deal size and make your assumptions, whether your representatives are working on capacity or not.  Your salespeople should become profitable for your company within six months to one year of their hire date.  If they are not, consider re-training or replacing them.

Give your senior salespeople a breath!

To save valuable selling time for your top reps, and relieve their pressure, you may consider hiring a Business Development or Administration Assistant. It is cheaper and will help your senior reps focus on maximizing their sales. Also, if you identify in your sales team reps that do not function at full capacity, check if they can have more responsibility before decide to hire one more.  If they cannot meet their goals, maybe it is time to replace them instead of additional headcount.

Successful Sales Scaling isn’t about numbering after all. It is the strategic use of mentality, behavior and practices required for your sales organization to deliver anticipated, repeatable and significant results.