How to ACTUALLY Scale Your Sales Efforts

When you think about "selling more", what are some of the things that come to mind?

• Making more calls?

• Hiring more sales people?

• Automating as many tasks as possible?

• Firing fast for non-performers?

• Spending more money on marketing?

These are just some of the things that immediately pop into my head. You might have additional ones that you've experienced as well.

The problem with all of the above things is...

...they don't actually ADDRESS the underlying sales problem.

If you're not happy with your sales efforts TODAY, then doing these 👆 things ISN'T going to generate MORE sales for you.

They're just going to COST you more.

Scaling sales never was about doing more things to the point the things don't matter any more. It's about doing things that RESONATE with other people.

You know...HUMAN things.

So today, let's explore the 4 Keys to Scaling from the book Scaling Up, and how we can build a focus for those things in our sales funnel.

Attracting and Keeping the RIGHT People

I've seen a HUGE amount of turn over in the sales teams at the companies I've worked for. From Retail Furniture to SaaS Software, this seems to be a challenge for many organizations. But why?

Let's look at the ATTRACTING bit first.

What type of sales folk are you attracting to your organization? Mostly juniors? Those with very little experience in sales? People who just need a job?

Or people who are EXCITED about sales? And not only excited about sales, but about excited about selling YOUR thing?

When it comes to effectively scaling your sales efforts, it has EVERYTHING to do with the right people. And the right people don't just stumble into your organization. They're CULTIVATED.

Yes, like little seeds.

If we can find people who are aligned with our corporate values and get jazzed about sharing the company purpose all day, THAT'S when you've got a sales team that can do the distance.

Now, let's look at what it takes to KEEP those people.

It's not erasing every bit of their natural communication techniques and relationship building practices. It's about NURTURING what works for them and turning that into a system they can work that feels FUN for them.

Yes...I said FUN.

Sales CAN be FUN. When people are building connections THEIR way.

Creating a Truly Differentiated Strategy

Earlier today I was doing some research on what other organizations say on this topic, and came across a Hubspot article titled, "Effective Sales Strategies for Startups". Honestly, I found most of the information to be un-helpful, but at least not hurtful. Except this piece under the Analyze Your Competitors Strategies section which is down right BAD advice...

"Whatever insights you find, you can then use that information to tailor your strategies and approaches to meet the target audience where customers are most active, meet their needs quickly, and offer outstanding products and services that outshine the competition."

⛔

When we tailor our own strategies, especially sales strategies on our competitors instead of ourselves, we're in BIG trouble.

Here's the thing. The way your competitors speak to their clients, the way they solve problems, the way they conduct their business, is different. So WHY would we want to base OUR sales strategies on something someone ELSE is doing?

They should be based on how YOU speak to your client, the way YOU solve problems, the way YOU conduct your business. Because if the primary driver is something someone ELSE is doing, you're always playing defense, not offense.

THEIR target audience ISN'T your target audience. Because their audience is already listening to THEM. You need to find YOUR people. And that doesn't happen by chasing THEIR people.

To tie this back into the first point, you need to cultivate your sales program based on YOUR business. The unique secret sauce that gives your business it's raison d'etre (reason to be). Your WHY.

WHY + ENGAGED PEEPS + INTENTION = Scalability in Sales

Driving Flawless Execution

I'm all for a system. But not a system to HAVE a system. A system that WORKS.

FOR YOU.

There are lots of sales systems out there that work. For different people.

Some will work for you. Some won't.

Implementing a system JUST because it worked for someone else is another bad idea. It's like taking a rose, and saying, "we're going to sell like daffodils. Here's how you be a daffodil".

It's not that daffodils are bad. Or that roses are bad. But a rose CAN'T effectively be a daffodil JUST to come and sell something.

Usually, what you get is a very sad rose that doesn't meet their target.

And THAT'S not the secret to scalable sales.

Another thing that doesn't work? Making the flowers COMPETE against each other. Which is a super common strategy, especially in North America.

"Who can sell the most?" becomes the primary narrative instead of, "how can WE sell the most as a team?"

I'll tell you...having your team believe they have to RACE to the next sale because otherwise their co-worker might beat them to it, is a HUGE culture problem. Can you say "road to burn out"?

Let's look at a championship basketball team, shall we?

You probably have 2 point guards. A couple high-percentage shooting guards. A couple power forwards. And 2 HUGE centers. You likely have a captain who leads the way on the floor. You likely have a "hype-guy", who brings the energy to the team. You have a coach that assesses and makes changes on the fly. Plus, a bench that can fill the gaps in case of injuries, etc.

And all of those team members are driving toward ONE goal...to win the game.

But in a competitive sales environment, what happens is you STOP the team progress in favor of individual performance.

In the 2018 NBA Playoffs, LeBron James scored 51 points. The team LOST the game. It happened again in 2020 when Stephen Curry scored 47 points and the team lost.

Because team sports don't get won through individual contribution alone.

Championship teams create an environment where ALL members are producing what THEY can to optimize the team. In a systematized way.

Having Plenty of Cash to Weather the Storms

This one is more of a strategic planning thing, but I wanted to call it out because most companies don't assess their sales efforts until it's too late; aka the funnel is empty.

THAT'S TOO LATE.

That's the point where companies start finding themselves in LAYOFF zone.

Or, if you're an entrepreneur, in the "give up and go get a job" zone.

That's not where we want to be.

So if you DON'T have a funnel to weather the unpredictable storms that seem to be all over the horizon these days, why not get started NOW to re-focus your sales efforts on YOUR people, build YOUR way, and get that systematized?

I'm telling you...your funnel could look TOTALLY different in 90 days.

But it's up to YOU deciding that you want to use YOUR people to do what it takes to get to where YOU'RE going...and eliminate the distractions of what other people are TELLING you is the way.

If that sounds good to you, let's talk about it.