The truth is that agencies depend on referrals, word-of-mouth and channel partners to send them business. As a result, agencies are often miserable when it comes to making salespeople successful. They have no idea how to build a successful agency sales team and they risk losing those salespeople as they reach a certain level. Here are three tips to build an agency sales team:
Make sure the sales team has a proven process. A solid system will help you hire a great salesperson while eliminating the bad ones. It is also critical that you have an existing agency sales system in place. That way, if there are any problems, you will have an easy-to-repeat solution for them. But first, the agency needs to make sure its sales team has an effective process for converting leads into clients. Here are the two most important steps to building an agency sales team:
Create a process: A sales process can be a framework, systems, or delegated responsibility. The process should outline WHEN, HOW, and WHERE to do certain tasks. The #1 reason agency sales reps fail is lack of process. An agency sales process architect will build a system for you and your team. Once in place, your sales team can focus on what really matters: generating revenue. That’s the ultimate goal of any agency.
Identify the problem: Most agencies don’t have a process for selling. They approach each customer engagement differently. Contact info is scattered across different spreadsheets and CRMs, and sales documents are often fragmented across Slack channels. Senior leaders are stuck in spreadsheets, and the sales process is lacking a clear playbook. Creating a playbook is the key to agency success. But how do you get started?
Create a strategy that addresses your prospect’s specific needs. Agencies need to establish and measure their sales goals, which should guide the process. Set annual revenue targets and upsell targets for customers. This will help the sales team focus on the highest revenue potential possible. In addition, the agency sales team must define its ideal customer profile. And the agency must determine what kind of information they need from each customer to make the process efficient. Once they have established this, they should focus on the customer profile and make sales that meet their goals.
While hiring in-country sales representatives is the obvious first step, it’s important to note that using an agency doesn’t imply giving up control. It’s important to make sure that the agency’s sales reps are integrated into your CRM and pipeline. This way, you’ll only need to pay one agency’s European contract and monthly invoices, while minimizing your management burden. You’ll be able to hire more local sales reps as you grow.
In addition to fostering the right mindset, agency owners should be aware of the fact that most salespeople hate the work. They started their firm because they didn’t enjoy selling. As a result, they will put in minimal effort to hire someone else. This method doesn’t work and often results in subpar sales, because the process is not followed up and no follow-up occurs. A successful agency owner knows how to sell. In this article, we’ll discuss a strategy for creating a great agency sales team.