#180: 6 Components to Creating a High Performing Sales Team (Ep.4 of Value Growth Series)

Jan 15, 2020

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We are on episode 4 of the Value Growth Series.

Does the thought of hiring or managing a sales executive give you a stomachache? Then you have to listen in on today's episode.

I’m chatting with Gary Braun about his experience scaling a business from $1MM to $400MM and how they did that through systematizing their sales force. Since then Gary and his bother started Pivotal Advisors, a sales management consulting firm, helping organizations assess and execute on their sales strategies.

Today Gary explains the 6 components of a health sales organization and what you can do to systematize your sales... which help grow your company and make it more valuable!

Growth Strategy
People
Process
Measurement
Rewards & Recognition
Execution

One of the biggest weaknesses that Gary sees in his decades of experience is the lack of training for sales leaders. Too often companies promote their "rain maker" to management and expect them to succeed without any training.

We’re going to be debunking and demystifying what people often think are the common sales problems (performance, compensation plans, managing the "rain maker", hiring, etc.) and what you can do about it using the 6 components.

What you will learn:

The 6 components that make up a high performing and sustainable sales organization
How to systematize your sales organization just like any other department
How to hire, retain and train a top sales executive
How to eliminate your intimidation behind and building running a sales department
How to tie your sales forecast to your financial budget and strategic plan
How to approach sales compensation plans (the dos and don'ts)
How to identify and hire hunters vs farmers
How to harvest the best talent out of people
The biggest mistakes owners make when hiring and building out their sales team

Quotes

“I really see marketing as determining who we are and what we’re going after and sales is executing that” - Gary

“Those three things (firing, sales training, comp plan) are never the answer.” - Gary

“If people, in general, don’t know what game they’re playing, they’re just not as motivated cause you don’t know how to win.” - Ryan

Takeaway:

If you’ve ever had anxiety about hiring or maintaining your sales department, these steps will help you hire and build your perfect sales team and will help you systematize your department so you can achieve those value goals you have set for you and your business.

Links and Resources:

Gary Braun, LinkedIn

Pivotal Advisors, website

Gary Braun, email: gbraun@pivotaladvisors.com

Gary Braun, Twitter

Objections: The Ultimate Guide For Mastering the Art and Science of Getting Past No by Jeb Blount, Amazon

ARKONA Boot Camp

Reach out to me if you have questions about the boot camp!

You can also reach out to me via email at rtansom@arkona.io or on my LinkedIn

About Gary:

Gary is a founder and co-owner of Pivotal Advisors. He works with organizations to help them scale and grow and helps them deﬁne where growth is coming from, helps them hire and/or develop the sales team, identify ideal clients and markets, and leverage true diﬀerentiators (even in commodity markets). He also implements sales processes, targets speciﬁc KPIs, increases activity, creates and applies sales compensation plans, and develops sales leadership skills.

Previous Experience Before Pivotal Advisors, Gary worked for 20+ years as a salesperson and sales leader. He began his career right out of college in the harsh world of selling copiers door to door to businesses. Then Gary moved to a fast-growing manufacturer of desktop publishing equipment called Laser Master and was responsible for selling through a dealer network. His role there was to recruit, train, and manage resellers and help them sell products. This is where Gary got a promotion and got his ﬁrst taste of management running the west coast.

From there, Gary moved to a reseller of Digital Equipment Corporation selling new and used computer servers, storage, networking equipment, and licensing to Fortune 1000 companies. This is where he learned the ins and outs of enterprise selling, how to map out organizations and ﬁnd the various divisions, locations, and decision-makers to “land and expand” these large accounts. Gary was recruited away from that reseller to join a “startup” at the time called Digital River, which sold outsourced e-commerce services.

In the beginning, he was tasked with chasing down strategic software vendors and dealers, but in a short while, he was leading the sales team. In his time at Digital River, company sales rose from $1M in revenue to over $400M. This is where he learned how to implement repeatable systems and processes. Those would allow the sales team to grow to the point where average salespeople could be successful if they followed the playbook Gary had developed. Then, he got a phone call from his brother, Mike, in 2008 to start a new ﬁrm called Pivotal Advisors and the rest is history.