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The 7 Critical Elements to Sales Success

By Greta Schulz

CEOs often discover recent hires can’t meet sales quotas despite presenting stellar resumes during the interview.

Improperly vetting employee candidates on sales acumen has been a problem for as long as I have been in sales. What does it really take to get the right person in for the job? Let’s turn to the B2B Sales Playbook as a guide and follow its seven essential tips that will lead to finding, and hopefully retaining, sales talent.

1. The very first thing is hiring right. Easier said, hard to do do. What criteria are we using? How are we finding our candidates? How are we interviewing? Are we using an assessment to help? If so, which one? Quick tip: Look for people already working. Great salespeople are not out looking for work, they tend to have another one lined up. That’s because they are an asset, not a liability.

2. Train them the way you want them trained. Don’t rely on what they learned before. Teach them your method, the way you want them to sell. If they haven’t worked before, even better, because he or she will have no bad habits. Get a true training process in place. There are a few good ones out there.

3. Use a repeatable and trackable sales process. The key word here is “repeatable.” When everyone adopts the same sales process, there is a common language that is understood, not just by the sales team, but by the whole organization. This is also important for managing the team and coaching success.

4. Motivation is individualized. One size doesn’t fit all.People are motivated by different things. Is money a motivator? Sure, but is it the only one? Don’t assume what motivates one will motivate another.

5. Your sales leader is the critical link to sales success. Being a sales manager is one of the most challenging jobs in sales.  It is also the critical link to sales success.  But unless the sales manager has all the tools needed to manage the team, the whole performance of the sales organization will suffer.

6. True and critical tracking methods. Complete integration with your customer relationship management (CRM) software, so it delivers the optimum information for you and your sales people. Without true data, it becomes nearly impossible to eliminate failure and repeat success.

7. The ability to forecast sales properly. Sales forecasting is a guessing game that a certain percentage of deals will close. If you have to and actually need to forecast more closely, a process for the sales funnel needs to be adapted. ♦

Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business, a sales consulting and training firm. She is the best-selling author of “To Sell is NOT to Sell” and works with Fortune 1000 companies and entrepreneurs. For more information or free sales tips, go to schulzbusiness.com and sign up for “GretaNomics,” a weekly video tip series, or email sales questions to greta@schulzbusiness.com.

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Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.