Do I need a Sales Director

[rodrayner]

Hi,

We are an IT solutions provider based in the East Midlands. We have been going now for around 12 year although we changed our name 7 years ago.

Historically majority of the staff have all been technical which includes myself and my co Director. I do employee 1 dedicated sales person as we have generally grown through recommendation and have in the past purchased small IT Companies and acquired there customers.

We are now looking to expand our sales team and in the next 12 months have a target to have a team of around 4 - 5 sales staff.

I the past we have found it VERY difficult to interview sales staff as they just do their job in the interview and sell themselves. Some have worked out allot more haven't.

As neither myself or my Co Director know anything about sales ( we do get involved in the technical side of things to back our sales person up ) and we both appreciate that we are a bit of a push over with regards to interviewing sales staff and therefore are considering a Sales Director.

To cut a long story short we are of the opinion that we need someone who knows alot more about sales than we do to lead a sales team and make them sure they get the job done. Do you think we are right ?

If we do go about introducing another Director should we consider a Director just by title or look for one who would be willing to buy into the company as a shareholder ?

Another consideration would be to look for another IT company to acquire that has an existing sales team but we feel that would take much longer to accomplish and be allot more expensive.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[OxfordWebConsultants]

we use insights profiles for top sales positions - great behavioral tool to check suitability

best of luck

 

[Sage1974]

When it comes to sales, there is generally a high turnover of staff so it isn't surprising that most have not worked out. As we say in sales, you have to get through the numbers to get the sale.

I considered selling IT solutions in the past but lack of technical knowledge put me off so I decided to stick at what I know.

You don't need a Sales Director for a team of 4 to 5. Have you considered promoting your current sales guy to Team Leader and send him on a sales management course? As there will only be 4 or 5 in the sales team he will still have time to sell and monitor the team. He could coach them also as he has experience.

The sales team will have to be managed because sales people tend to be inherently lazy and discipline is very much needed. Incentives are good also.

I know you are more technically orientated but I think this is something you can easily learn. There is advice, hints and tips regarding interviewing sales people out there.

Ask them competency questions. Also consider asking a few questions in the interview to test their technical knowledge. Another thing is to ask them what they know about your company? If they haven't bothered to check out your website then show them the door. (not literally because that would be bad manners ) Any sales person who has not done their homework before seeing a client will perform badly and have poor results. Customers like to talk about themselves. A good sales person finds out key positive characteristics about the client and the clients company and gets the customer to talk. Thats great rapport building. Make sure they do the same with you in the interview.

Once you have employed them they can be on trial. They will need to perform to become a permanent member of staff with all its benefits.

I am able to offer some free advice if you would like, just PM me. I have interviewed and trained loads of people in the past.

 

[Sage1974]

Just a note. If you Google "how to interview a sales person" loads of useful sites come up with some really good advice.

It's very structured and shows you a step by step format. What to look out for and who to avoid.

One good point that I learned a while ago was, and I quote

Have your applicants fill out a standard job application (available at most office supply stores) and also submit a resume. The reason for this is that often resumes are written by a professional resume writer that know how to use all the proper buzz words to get your attention. It is sort of like an advertisement and it can be hard to see your way through it because of the variety of layouts that are used. On the other hand, the format of an application is so objective that it will help you to get a better picture of the applicant especially in being able to look at their work history in a chronological order.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Do not start with a director - employ a senior sales person or sales manager.

If they work out, then promote them!

 

[Strontium Dog]

You could work with a business consultant who has a strong sales management focus. In a few months of working with you (part-time), he could interview staff and set up sales processes and monitoring processes for you, all for a few thousands of pounds, without the cost of employing a sales director.

Also, as someone else has said, I would run a psychometric profiling on applicants you choose to interview.

You dont say how big your company is.

 

[Phil Richardson]

Hi Rod, there may be another alternative and that is to take on a company who act as your Sales Director/Head of Sales until you are up and running.

This is something that we do for a number of IT companies. We can set up your entire sales department from lead genration through to recruiting staff and closing deals or just undertake a single element.

Some of our clients are with us for a specific project or period of time whilst for others we look after their entire sales function for the long term.

If you would like any further details please contact me, and we are just up the A46 from you as well.

Cheers

 

[Braydon]

If you are looking to hire people for sales then make sure that they have sufficient training in the sales field.If you want to train your staff in sales then search in the internet for people who provide training in sales and business and register with them

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Never take them on as a shareholder at first, it could be a option in the future if things work out after a couple of years

Protect your chareholding with your life, you made the company, dont give it away unless really required to do so

 

[businessfunding]

Lots of good, valid points above.

There are no duties inherent in a title (but there are inerrant responsibilities n being a director), but my perception of the difference between a sales manager & a sales director is that a manager manages the sales process/team and is responsible for hitting targets, whereas a director creates and implements the whole sales strategy.

As someone suggested, employ a sales manager with the carrot of a directorship once key targets are consistently met. As you have found, they tend to be fairly strong characters who won't be frightened to ask!

Also, I would strongly recommend that you use a recruitment consultant - probably an independent local specialising in your field (the big ones are very target driven, and you will probably end up with the same problem). Challenge your consultancy to see that they know & understand the candidates they are referring and that they are not just farming.

Also, fully support the point about getting them to fill out an application form on-site, before you sit down to interview them.

 

[John Taggart]

Hi Rod,

Quite often there can be a disconnect between the sales role and the goals of the business, although it can be down to poor sales people. Everyone wants to sell more and see the simple answer as being - hire a salesperson. The issue is often around what type of salesperson you hire. The trick is to look for a business development specialist rather than a salesperson.

You have only provided a small amount of information on your company, so I am going to have to make an assumption about your business. You tell me that the key staff you have are technical. This would suggest to me that you have an under developed value proposition. You should be looking at somone with specific experience of leading you through that process. Until you have a reasonably developed value proposition a typical salesperson's role will be a near enough impossible as the value proposition is required to define the sales activity model. Without that value proposition led activity plan you will have a disconnect between the business and the sales team. It will also help your business sell itself and other members of your team become more proficient in selling the business.

I believe that you do need a sales director; however beware of getting a salesperson / account manager type rather than a business development professional as the former will certainly fail, whereas the latter will bring genuine growth to your business. Once they put the sales strategy in place then you can start to recruit lower cost options as the business grows.

 

[Ally@VTIQS]

Hi,
When to recruit and who to recruit can be a huge problem. Especially if it's outside your comfort zone. I would like to suggest that you might not need to recruit a Sales Director right now but potentially a sales manager would be the next move. The benefit of this is if you look for a sales manager with proven track record in the areas that your potential customers are in they may well already have some good contacts. If you look for a sales manager that has experience of building and developing a team (because you are a growing business) all the better, and if you look for someone who is hungry for opportunity themselves, then the potential carrot of the opportunity of a directorship against performance would be an attractive incentive. Not only that, but you would probably have someone in this team that you could promote to sales manager as you grow. I will always be respectful of posting on these boards but as this is directly related to what we do, may I urge you to contact me or look at our website. We can take a lot of the pain out of recruitment as we are specialists in creating tests for applicants. We do very thorough online testing of applicants applying for jobs where they have to prove their skills and experience. Once you get the results, all you have to do call them and interview them. We can even give you advice as to what to ask. Some agencies use us as a money saving device, but lots of companies do especially when they are A. not sure how to go about it and B. When they don't want to spend shed loads of money on an agency. Have a look at our website and if call me if you'd like to talk it through. No obligation.

 

[Montaigne]

The sales team will have to be managed because sales people tend to be inherently lazy and discipline is very much needed.

Harsh

If you only have 4-5 sales staff then promote your best selling team member. If he's the highest selling get him to impart this knowledge to the rest of the team and then provide him with good incentives to ensure that the entire team perform well rather than just him/herself.

 

[cgwpublishing]

A shareholding Director? NO!!!!

Why? Because then they have say in the direction of the business, and sales people generally want the business to go in a different direction than the technical people. And that's exactly why you want to hire one, because you want someone to drive sales. You just don't need to have a salesperson driving the business.

I agree with the idea of a team leader, but remember that as soon you give someone team responsibility, they will expect a bonus based on that, and they will lose focus on their own sales. Plus, as you say, good candidates don't always make good sales people, and good sales people rarely make good sales managers. They tend to get involved, try to take over closing a deal if they think the 'junior' isn't doing it properly, and so on. Take a look at Vincent in this year's Apprentice (2011), or the shouty guy who was fired in the first task of last year's.

I suggest that you stop and instead think about what functions you need delivering. Figure out ways to deliver those functions rather than taking a 'top down' approach of looking for a job title in the hope that the person will deliver those functions.

It looks like you have a lot of offers of help here too - be wary! They're also putting their best foot forward in a job interview, of sorts!

 

[OnlineMenusCornwall]

I'd sale you need a business development manager. You say you just have 1 salesperson, so you don't really need a sales manager until you get to your 4-5 number you mentioned.

To get enough business for your 4-5 sales people you'll need a good sales strategy which a business development manager should be able to make happen.

Build it up to a point of needing a sales manager/director by growth. Once you get there, your sales manager and business development manager can work together to grow the business further.

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

Harsh

If you only have 4-5 sales staff then promote your best selling team member. If he's the highest selling get him to impart this knowledge to the rest of the team and then provide him with good incentives to ensure that the entire team perform well rather than just him/herself.

AAAAAAAAAAAArgh!
No, no, no, no, no...........

Good salesmen/women come in many different packages the principle overrider being that the best sellers so often make the worst managers. Try getting a pretty confident 20 something filly who uses her undoubted charms to gain top spot on the sales chart to impart her knowledge to 55 year old 'Melvin' who relies on his technical expertise and work ethic to do the business.

So many other factors determine 'best salesperson', such as time served, area covered, size of order, long term loyalty etc.,

Promote the best person for the job

 

[Lucan Unlordly]

As per Taggarts post above, think long and hard about the type of salespeople you need before thinking about who and how you will manage them.

I've worked with some great advertising salespeople, some who would walk straight down the middle of the highstreet to sell a full page for a one off sale, others who would cold call at every door and pick up what they could, and others, the best, who would open, build and nurture to build a customer base that spends regularly.

Filling space and cold calling requires a completely different form of management guidance to business development.

If I were in your position i'd put myself on a sales course and try to understand the salesmans psyche so that you are better armed for the multiple offers that consultants, agencies etc., throw your way.

 

[Montaigne]

You can't just write off all sales staff as management staff; sales managers don't just become sales managers without working in sales beforehand. They've been working in sales prior to becoming managers therefore it's better to promote from within your company if you can as they will know the product, the staff, the working environment etc.

 

[MH1]

Why not a sales director?

A single director does not run a company, but he can ensure you make the sales you want in the manner you wish for. Once you decide on the sales stratergy then the sales people will fall into the type you require.

At least you are thinking along the right lines, big unprofitable orders are of little use to anybody, but the vast majority of companies chase them all day long without realising it.