Ever find yourself scratching your head, wondering why your sales team isn't hitting their sales numbers? Or why that new hire with a "stellar" resume just can't seem to close deals? It’s a trap many business owners and sales managers fall into, believing that hiring someone with a strong industry background will be the magic fix. That approach can lead to major disappointments, as a Michigan sales management coaching professional can share who has won a Gold Medal from Top Sales Awards.
Let me take you back to when I was a rookie sales manager. Freshly promoted and eager to make an impact, I was tasked with building a sales team that could take our company to new heights. I thought I had it all figured out. I figured, "If they’ve got industry experience, they must be good." So, I set out to hire only those with deep knowledge of our industry. I didn’t care about much else. I thought industry experience was everything. What a dope.
And at first glance, my plan seemed foolproof. I found a few candidates with impressive resumes. They knew the industry inside out. They had been selling in this space for years, so they were sure to know all the ins and outs, right? But when I got them on the ground, things didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped.
I realized pretty quickly that they were struggling. Despite all their experience, they just couldn’t connect with our buyers. I’d hired these people based on their familiarity with the industry, but they lacked the ability to reach the specific decision-makers we were targeting.
The new hires came from very large competitors with big names in the market. They couldn’t differentiate our value. In some cases, the hires with “industry experience” had major accounts at their previous job. This helped them reach the sales goals without hunting. They couldn’t hunt. They could form new relationships quickly, nor could they sell value. I had failed.
I needed them to be consultative and drive change within the market. They had sold before, but they hadn’t sold using our process. It was like watching someone try to fit a square peg into a round hole. I started to understand that industry experience alone doesn’t cut it. What I needed was someone who had the right skills, someone who knew how to call on our buyers specifically, not just someone who knew the general landscape.
It was a tough lesson, but it was one that has stuck with me ever since. As sales leaders, we often fall into the trap of hiring based on experience, thinking it will automatically translate into results. But sales is about more than just industry knowledge; it’s about having the skills to navigate the specific terrain of your market. That’s when I realized, if you want a killer sales team, you’ve got to dig deeper.
There are other common mistakes that sales managers make. If you are a sales manager or run a business, consider if any of these mistakes are happening right now under your watch?
The Trap Of Assumptions
Here’s another mistake I made – I assumed that everyone works the same way I do. I was a go-getter, always chasing the next deal. I thought my team would automatically mirror my approach. But not everyone has that same drive, and not everyone is going to work in the same way. It took me a while, but I eventually learned that I needed to set clear expectations. Weekly KPIs became my go-to tool for keeping everyone on track. Just because someone has experience doesn’t mean they’ll have your work ethic.
Experience Doesn’t Guarantee Success
My biggest mistake was hiring based solely on experience. As we scaled up, I brought in a couple of seasoned sales reps. They had the credentials, and they had been in sales longer than I had. I thought their experience alone would carry them. But guess what? They underperformed. Just because they had been in the game longer didn’t mean they were any better. I learned the hard way that experience should never be the sole deciding factor in hiring. Instead, pay for performance. Let them prove themselves first.
Delaying Necessary Firings
Letting go of underperformers is never easy, especially when you’ve invested time and resources into their development. I made the mistake of waiting too long to make those hard calls. I gave them more time, hoping they would turn things around. But here’s the reality – some people just don’t have it. The quicker you can make those decisions, the better off your team will be. When performance isn’t there, you’ve got to either coach them up or cut them loose.
Activity Doesn’t Equal Results
There’s always that one person who logs a ton of calls but has nothing to show for it. They think being busy is the same as being productive. I had a few of those on my team. They were great at looking busy but terrible at actually moving deals forward. If someone’s putting in the activity but not delivering results, you have to dig deeper and find out why. More often than not, you’ll find they’re avoiding the hard work of actually closing deals.
These are just a few mistakes sales managers make. Founded in 2015, Helix Sales Development has worked with sales teams of all sizes to avoid these issues in order to make more sales. Does your team need help? Contact us today for more information!
