#16: The Ultimate LifeHack for Sales Teams
#16: The Ultimate LifeHack for Sales Teams
The sales career ladder I'm about to share should help you build a great sales team. We've been nerdy about it, and it's worked well. It's the perfect approach for small and mid-size teams.
Do you want to know the best outcome of being a generalist?
You can take knowledge from one area of your business, like engineering, and apply it to another, such as sales.
Today, I'm excited to share a story about a "Sales Career Ladder" that Vladislav has constructed based on his experience working alongside our software engineering team.
A Little Prologue
Before we dive into the sales ladder, let me take a moment to discuss the challenges of managing a software engineering team. I promise it will be brief and engaging. Stick with me.
It doesn't make sense to build your own software engineering team in professional services if that's not the service you're delivering to clients.
Because Belkins aimed to grow up big and strong (let's imagine Belkins as a young boy for this analogy), we had to learn early on how to develop our software engineering expertise and create our products.
That's a step all successful entities take eventually. We aimed to acquire this skill early to avoid costly mistakes in the future.
The two most significant challenges faced by software engineering leads are:
How to cultivate a product-driven mindset among software engineers.
How to motivate software engineers to pursue professional growth.
Many software engineers view product development through the lens of the product manager assigned to the project, instead of understanding and creating a product based on user needs. Often, they are more comfortable with less responsibility and ownership, making professional growth beyond engineering skills a lower priority.
I'm familiar with these challenges firsthand, as we've encountered them ourselves. In our quest for a solution, our CTO, Dmitry, developed an E1-E8 ladder. This framework evaluates an engineer based on several parameters:
Expertise
Engineering Culture
Autonomy
Communication
Agile Mindset
Business Orientation
Self-learning and Teaching Others
Each skill is assessed across levels E1 to E8, with evaluations coming from oneself, one's direct manager, and peers. I won't delve into the details today, as that's not our main focus, but I believe you get the general concept.
So, the story goes that Dmitry figured it out, fixed it, and everyone was happy. The end.
However, the exciting part for me begins when a new character enters the story. Upon seeing the benefits of this approach, Vlad decides to adopt it for the sales team.
The Sales Career Ladder
It serves the following purposes:
It helps determine the current proficiency level of a Sales Executive.
It provides a detailed breakdown of strengths and weaknesses based on specific parameters, which I'll discuss shortly.
It offers a Head of Sales and a Sales Exec a growth plan.
It aids in visualizing and tracking progress.
Overall, it provides a framework to build sales compensation around, rewarding skill and overall contributions, not just targets and revenue generated. While generating revenue is the ultimate goal for every Sales Executive, it's not the only focus when considering a projection of 5 years and professional career growth.
This ladder matrix has become an invaluable tool in managing our sales team, and I would love for you to use it as inspiration to set up something similar or better within your organization. This could be your step towards becoming an exceptional agency!
There are 7 levels, which can span 5-7 years, providing a streamlined sales growth plan for a Junior Sales Executive who has just joined your organization and is inspired to grow into a Head of Sales. The levels are:
S1 - Junior Sales Executive
S2 - Junior Sales Executive
S3 - Mid Sales Executive
S4 - Mid Sales Executive
S5 - Senior Sales Executive
S6 - Team Leader
S7 - Head of Sales
These S1-S7 categories are evaluated based on the following skills:
Hard Skills
Product Knowledge
Client Delivery
Sales Techniques
Self Lead Generation
CRM and Other Tools
Internal Wiki Knowledge
Risk Assessment
Independence Level
Soft Skills
Communication Skills
Time Management
Adaptability
Result-Oriented
Problem-Solving
Motivation
Development and Collaboration
Involvement
Conflict Solving
Self-Education Approach
Coaching/Training
Although it might feel overwhelming, I promise they all make sense, and when you start evaluating them, it won't take long. (I'm joking, it's hell.)
Let's take a closer look at a few very important categories, as example. Unfortunately, I won’t dive into all 18 today.
Product Knowledge
Having extensive knowledge in this category will enable your sales team to:
Close more deals (achieving a higher closing rate)
Provide clients with better solutions
Share knowledge with the rest of the team
Develop new services
S1 - Junior Sales Executive. General knowledge about basic and most popular products Belkins. In case of any doubt, ask his Mentor/Senior SE/Team Leader.
S2 - Junior Sales Executive. General knowledge of all Belkins' products and services. In case of any doubts, ask his Mentor/TL.
S3 - Mid Sales Executive. Comprehensive knowledge of all Belkins' products and services. In case of any doubts, know where to find answers.
S4 - Mid Sales Executive. Comprehensive knowledge of all Belkins' products and services, including technical aspects. In case of any doubts, know where to find answers. Collects feedback from clients and shares feedback on products with the team. Knows how Belkins services are interconnected between each other: app setting + LinkedIn outreach + others.
S5 - Senior Sales Executive. Comprehensive knowledge of all Belkins' products and services and a basic level of knowledge about competitors. In case of any doubts, knows where to find answers or (if there is no answer) raises an issue and initiates a solution.
S6 - Team Leader. Comprehensive knowledge of all Belkins' products and services and sufficient level of knowledge about competitors. In case of any doubts, find solution and share it with the team. If there is a new product/service, coach the team and help them adapt to the new product.
S7 - Head of Sales. Knowledge of all Belkins' products and services and main competitors. Participate in the creation of new services, initiate the need for new services, and coach the team when new products/services are ready for launch.If you examine closely, it progresses from a basic understanding of Belkins' services and products (S1-S2) to a comprehensive knowledge that an individual shares and coaches others with (S5-S6), and finally, to participating in the development of new services alongside other team members (S7).
Client Delivery
If you're looking to improve the alignment between Sales and the Client Team, then the "Client Delivery" category is your go-to choice.
S1 - Junior Sales Executive. Know who is delivery team, what they do and their basic processes.
S2 - Junior Sales Executive. Fully understand processes of Delivery Team and how their promises/agreements to clients affect delivery.
S3 - Mid Sales Executive. Fully understand how service warranty works: when Delivery team can actually deliver service and we can put it as warranty in contract and when not.
S4 - Mid Sales Executive. Ideally hand off clients to the Delivery team. Do not create false expectations regarding service results (do not exaggerate the expectations of customers in order to sell a contract).
S5 - Senior Sales Executive. Actively minimize our warranty in contracts. Build realistic client's expectations about delivery workflows and quality of service.
S6 - Team Leader. Help the team to improve hand-off process, provide feedback from Delivery team how to manage clients expectations about service delivery. Provide inputs about prefered industries/clients types.
S7 - Head of Sales. Closely interact with the delivery team to know which clients/industries we are targeting. Control Sales Pods.
CRM and Other Tools
If you're aiming to enhance your CRM utilization and encourage Sales Executives to suggest innovations, the "CRM and Other Tools" category definitely addresses this need.
S1 - Junior Sales Executive. Know only basic functionalities of commonly used tools.
S2 - Junior Sales Executive. Know only basic functionalities of all tools used in the company.
S3 - Mid Sales Executive. Confident user of all tools and functionalitie.
S4 - Mid Sales Executive. Can independently find new functions when has new issues/problems.
S5 - Senior Sales Executive. Independently monitor the emergence of new functionality, help the team figure out how and when (which cases) to use them.
S6 - Team Leader. Identify bottlenecks in usage of tools, identify how this can be improved and teach the team.
S7 - Head of Sales. Look for new tools/solutions outside of existing list, explore them and implements their use among the team members/company.
Risk Assessment
As mentioned in one of my previous newsletters about sustainable growth, the Sales team is responsible for attracting clients who have the highest chance of succeeding with us. In the "Risk Assessment" category, we empower the sales team to do just that.
S1 - Junior Sales Executive. Do not assess potential risks directly, but attract a Mentor for this.
S2 - Junior Sales Executive. Can assess potential risks directly, but confirm one's judgments with Team Lead.
S3 - Mid Sales Executive. Assess potential risks directly, and verify decisions with Team Lead only in non-standard situations.
S4 - Mid Sales Executive. Assess potential risks directly, look for new tools to assess risks directly, and follow the best practices on the market.
S5 - Senior Sales Executive. Assess potential risks himself, and share with the team best practices and approaches to verify risks.
S6 - Team Lead. Not only assess potential risks, but identify patterns, develop tools to help others to assess risks and coach the team.
S7 - Head of Sales. Assesses potential risks on company/across department level. Develop tools to prevent those risks and implement usage on the team level
Independence Level
One of the crucial aspects of delivering an exceptional client experience is when a Sales Executive can offer clients innovative solutions, even when dealing with demanding and difficult clients. We assess this ability through the following category: Independence Level.
S1 - Junior Sales Executive. Conduct calls with clients on their own, but cannot yet fully answer questions not from the list of prepared ones.
S2 - Junior Sales Executive. Take all types of prospects on his own, attract a mentor to confirm their judgments/decisions.
S3 - Mid Sales Executive. Can handle any type of prospects, require support only non-standard cases.
S4 - Mid Sales Executive. Take difficult prospects, do not require much of mentors participation, only for brainstorming.
S5 - Senior Sales Executive. Take difficult prospects, ready to peach new products/test different approaches w/o any additional supervision.
S6 - Team Lead. Can handle any time of client, use most difficult cases as case study for the team.
S7 - Head of Sales. Act as a decision-maker in most non-standard situations. Act as a last resort when a team member or Team Lead can not make decision/take responsibility for a risky decision.
Time Management
Sales Executives are among the positions most susceptible to burnout in service companies. They handle 5-8 new conversations a day, and manage their inbox, pipeline, follow-up, internal requests, LinkedIn, and more. This is a lot!
Everyday, all-day, every-month routine. With this pace, many cannot handle the pressure, especially those at the Junior (S1-S2) to Mid (S4) levels. This also impacts how some tasks are prioritized or completed on time.
Here is how we address this with our ladder:
S1 - Junior Sales Executive. Fulfil the promise. For example, performing a task on time or notifying about a problem promptly, ask for help. Yet can not accurately estimate the required time for each task.
S2 - Junior Sales Executive. Fulfil the promise. Proactively communicate the possible risk of delay. Mainly can schedule and fulfil as planned most of their tasks and activities, require an assist from Team Leader to resolve team conflicts.
S3 - Mid Sales Executive. Fully independent in planning their working day/week/month. Do not need any reminders about deadlines. Can accurately estimate the required time for every task/activity. Yet require some assistance from Team Leader to set up priorities in case of time conflicts.
S4 - Mid Sales Executive. Fully independent on planning their working day/week/month. Fully independent in time conflict resolution, priority assessment, estimation of required time.
S5 - Senior Sales Executive. Fix agreements after discussion. Follows the agreed deadlines and is coordinated so that the others also complete the tasks on time. Helps juniors to assess the time required and deadlines.
S6 - Team Lead. Responsible not only for personal deadlines but also of each team member. If needed, control everyone's tasks, set priorities, make intermediate breakpoints to make sure that complex tasks are finished on time by each participant.
S7 - Head of Sales. Plan the load on the department and individually for each. Controls deadlines of complex tasks, responsible for overall timely delivery.
Adaptability
Many Sales Executives, including my own, are reading this newsletter, so what I'm about to say may upset some, but unfortunately, it's a reality that everyone needs to be prepared for. Are you ready?
Salespeople are not always the quickest to adapt to or accept change.
Many salespeople need to see proof that a new update works before they believe in it themselves and help others to believe as well, which can make them slow to adopt new practices.
I many cases, salespeople are the only ones left who haven’t adopted the CRM yet =)
The ladder would look like this:
S1 - Junior Sales Executive. Accept the new knowledge he gets.
S2 - Junior Sales Executive. Adapt to changing processes and priorities/goals within the team/company. Ask the right questions which may help them to adapt to change faster.
S3 - Mid Sales Executive. Accept the fact that business has a constantly changing environment. When change appears, their focus is on how this change may help them/team/company to achieve goals. Independently can overstep the resistance stage.
S4 - Mid Sales Executive. Open-minded to any change, self-motivated to accept new solutions/approaches. Can help others to accept changes and overstep the resistance stage.
S5 - Senior Sales Executive. Not only adapt to changing processes and priorities/goals within the team/company but can promote them to others w/o any additional support. Ready to test new approaches/solutions.
S6 - Team Lead. Create changes (optimizations/new tools or products...) and know how to guide each team member through change phases. Responsible for "bringing" new company-level changes to the team. "Sales" changes to the team.
S7 - Head of Sales. Approach change with critical thinking. Help the team and mainly Team Leader to accept new complex changes.
Involvement
The next category is particularly crucial when working in a turbulent industry. Contrary to the belief that salespeople are "Wolves of Wall Street," taking advantage of others and aiming to be solo winners, it's not true.
In my experience, sales teams are among the most cohesive and tightly-knit groups, though much of their bonding often happens in direct messages (DMs). The team spirit and atmosphere play a significant role in success and meeting KPIs.
Honestly, I may not fully understand it, but I accept it =)
S1 - Junior Sales Executive. Friendly. Try to understand general team tendencies and work as a team member, but yet do not fully understand his full impact on the team.
S2 - Junior Sales Executive. Proactively participate in all team processes/activities, and understand their involvement in team KPIs.
S3 - Mid Sales Executive. Enter all processes of the team. Know how his personal results and mood affect the team. Actively address cooperation issues, eager to solve them as a team.
S4 - Mid Sales Executive. 100% time act as a team member, bring personal ambitions to the second plan if it can affect team spirit/results and even if it creates some discomfort for them personally. Act as a reliable team member, colleagues know that they can rely on any questions.
S5 - Senior Sales Executive. Can substitute Team lead when needed, e.g. coach the team, present them with features, explain KPIs and targets. Put team success ahead of personal goals - share credit: acknowledge the contributions of others and give credit where it is due. When the team succeeds- everyone should share in the credit. Volunteer to be a mentor for others.
S6 - Team Lead. Focus on both: the general results of the team and the personal of each teammate. Maintenance team spirit at any point in time and in every situation. Work in symbiosis with other departments understand and accept their tasks and changes.
S7 - Head of Sales. Create team spirit across different teams and departments. Create environment where everyone can speak, learn, and be appreciated. Make sure that Belkins is one big team.
Finally, the way you calculate it is straightforward: each of the 18 categories carries 1 point, and for levels S1 to S7, you multiply by the level.
So, 18 points at level S2 equals 36, and at level S3, it equals 54.
I attempted to do the math here, but I ended up looking at the table—don't judge.
Your breakdown will be as follows:
Once you have this table, you conduct the analysis (self, peer, manager) and determine the average results.
Although this model might not work for everyone, I encourage you to open up your laptop and review this newsletter once more. My goal today was to inspire you to consider this career ladder approach through the lens of your team.
Can you apply the same concept to your copywriters, software engineers, SDRs, architects, or recruiters?
In my opinion, it's a pretty unified approach and can be very effective.
If you're interested in accessing this sales ladder in a spreadsheet, reach out to me, and I'll send you the link. Alternatively, you can share this newsletter on LinkedIn, tag me, and I'll DM you the link.
Thanks for reading today's edition of From Zero To Agency Hero!