Marketing/Sales/Support - Channels and Skills

1 – Understand Sales Strategy Before Making Assumptions about

Talent Requirements
HR can only help support sales success by first investing the time to
understand a company’s sales strategy. A deep understanding of the
company’s products and services is a prerequisite to figuring out the type
of talent needed, where to source it, attract it and how to acquire it. Market
conditions like geography, territory size, market maturity, and economic
climate are other variables to consider when aligning sales resources with
strategy.

“When sales leaders and HR fail to have these conversations, the results
lead to missed expectations, at best,” said Sheridan. He recommends that
conversations focus on three key areas:

 Strategy – Which products provide the greatest return on sales? How

are customers segmented? Are there specific account strategies that
salespeople use to drive growth?
 Organization – How many and what types of sales resources are
needed in each channel? What level of sales productivity is
expected?
 Talent – What sales compensation plan will drive results? What
performance measures are in place? Do we have the right people and
skills to deliver on our customer value proposition?
2 – Understand the Type of Sales Roles Required and How They Will
Work Together
Not all sales roles are equal. In ongoing research using GrowthPlay Chally
Assessment results, nearly 500,000 sales professionals have been
researched across 12 benchmarked sales roles. The results are compelling:
A top producer (measured in revenue produced) in one type of sales role,
say new account acquisition, may not be equally successful in nurturing
relationships within long-term customer accounts.

In addition, it is important for HR to understand how various roles within

the sales department work together so the right kinds of talent are sourced
and recruited. One common mistake: over time, too many sales resources
lose sight of their lead generation responsibilities and instead focus on
ongoing customer service.

To learn more about aligning your sales talent with buyer needs read our
blog: “How to Align Your Sales Talent with Buyer Needs“
3 – Do More with What You Have: Deploy the Right People in the
Right Roles
HR can provide significant value by conducting a broad-based audit to
evaluate whether or not the current sales force is optimally deployed.
Some people in customer acquisition “hunter” roles, for example, may be
better suited for account management “farmer” roles. Taking a single
objective assessment online can score each individual sales resource in
terms of fit and potential for success across a full spectrum of sales roles.
The results can be used to aid immediate redeployment and longer-term
career planning within the sales force, as well identify salespeople who
can benefit from coaching.

4 – Focus on “Moving the Middle”

“Sales organizations frequently spend too much time managing their top
and bottom performers, at the expense of average performers,” said
Sheridan. “Our experience suggests that the greatest financial benefits are
achieved by addressing all three in a way that moves the middle.”

A GrowthPlay study of 900 sale forces found that on average, Top

Performers (20% of the sales force) produce 52% of revenue, Dependable
Performers (60 % of the sales force) produce 45% and Low Performers
(20% of the sales force) produce only 3%.

Even modest improvements in dependable performers’ revenue generation

can have a serious impact due to the fact that they represent the lion’s
share of the typical sales force in most companies.

5 – Clarify and Showcase the Employee Value Proposition

Clearly, compensation is an important motivator in attracting and retaining
sales talent, but it is not the only one. Salespeople want clear account
plans. They want to know how the company will help them win, the
features and benefits of what they’re selling, and the type of company they
are working for. HR and sales should partner to create and communicate a
compelling Employee Value Proposition – that combination of benefits,
compensation, career opportunities, culture, and work environment that
attracts top sales talent.

For more tips on how HR can help support sales read our blog: “How to
Get Your Sales Team Leaders and HR Teams on the Same Page“

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