Amid (too many!) talks of a recession and economic challenges in 2023, there are still a large group of B2B tech companies hiring across functions to meet near-term business goals.
While on the one hand, there have been too many layoffs crowding B2B tech hiring updates, on the other, a fair share of professionals in this sector have also bagged some great opportunities given that a lot of companies are still in hiring-mode.
When it comes to new B2B sales hires, who have just joined a brand new team, especially at a time when market challenges are tougher than the usual, what should they be focusing on to drive value?
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Here are four key factors:
1. Self-coaching:
Most sales leaders will attribute the success of their existing sales reps or new sales reps to a stringent sales onboarding and sales coaching process. But you need two hands to clap and ensure that the process kicks in results. New sales hires who are joining new setups need to not only be party to every coaching session the brand lays out for them but also self-coach themselves. There is only so much hand holding a sales leader or sales manager can do to ensure their new hires are ready to drive ROI.
Self-coaching could include:
- -Self-training to be more conversant on the sales tech the new team uses (given that many new hires might come from teams that have used different sales tech tools)
- -Immense reading to understand the core value of the product/service to be sold
- -Figuring out the current industry landscape and understanding sub-segment breakdowns
2. Ask the Right Questions:
Hiring someone from within the same industry can actually help save a lot of time on coaching and onboarding sessions. But that does not mean that a sales hire from another segment will not fit the bill. To drive sales, it is crucial to have a mix of industry knowledge and relevant sales techniques and communication skills to boost ROI. In fact, sales hires from other industries can actually fit into new segments very well, as long as they have strong selling skills.
That being said, new sales hires need to use their first couple of weeks to understand their new team dynamics, their new industry, what position their brand holds in the market as well as how key competitors figure in that ratio.
While sales leaders and managers might keep ready a host of reference material to enable their new hires at this level, the onus still remains on the new hire themselves to do the right research so that they can ask the right questions within their first month of activity.
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3. Figure out Current Sales Lags:
Smaller teams and startups will have a different set of loopholes and lags within their sales system, mid to larger teams will have others. No team or process is perfect, the key lies in constant learning and improvement! Sales reps who can easily identify more about the current companies that fit the brand’s ICP while also figuring out more about the lags the current sales team faces will find it easier to create adequate messaging and angles to drive their own outreach and ROI.
For instance:
It could be possible that the current team has missed reaching out to key targets in the recent past or, that certain targets have fallen through the cracks. This is where a new sales hire can drive value,
It’s possible a slight tweak in the typical first outreach (template) can enable a better or quicker response,
The concept of putting two and two together to create that difference much earlier on in the system (without stepping on a team member’s toes!) can enable results a lot quicker for both, themselves and the brand.
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4. Build a Daily Workflow:
New sales hires need to prove ROI fast. More so in a tough business climate. Sales leaders can only enable their new hires up to a point,
Basic work day etiquettes like:
-having a to-do list,
-keeping a list of companies or people to reach out to ready the day prior,
-having a data intelligence collection process and similar others: are just some part of the activity.
Dividing the working day into bunches of hours to devote the right amount of time to each required activity is what can drive better results and keep the momentum going.
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