​Episode 4: Transforming an Inside Sales Team

Picture this: You’re new to a sales organization and have been hired to transform it. The reasons for this needed transformation can be many, one of the most common being that the market has changed, forcing the business strategy to also change. 

How do you start organizing your new team to meet this transformation? 

In this episode of “True Confessions of a Sales Leader” we discuss ways sales leaders can transform their inside sales organizations. 

John Belle, global head of inside sales at PayPal joins Scott Olsen, founder of the Olsen Group and Gary Brashear, managing partner of the Olsen Group, as they discuss the path to take.  

Here are three key takeaways from this podcast episode: 

Get aligned early 
A successful leader should always know what they’re walking into. Remember: There’s a reason you’ve been hired. However, before this can occur, you need to be aligned with the team or stakeholders, whether that’s marketing, finance, and certainly HR.  Getting alignment at the executive level is crucial—long before you share your vision or transformation with your new team. 

Be empathetic but also prepared 
How do you prepare for team members worried about inevitable change? If you've aligned with the leadership team, and you have a clear definition of success, articulate it to your team in a simple but organized way by breaking your mission down in the first moments with them. Help them get their head around your vision and set the stage where key initiatives need to be taken. There are four focal areas to help explain your point of view and define what “good” looks like: 

1. Business results. This is a given and will drive your team. 
2. Operational excellence. Create results in a thoughtful way. 
3. Employee engagement. Everyone needs to contribute and provide full engagement. 
4. Customer and partner loyalty. All of this is moot if you don't build the systematic practices to ensure our partners and customers stay with you! 

Transforming at scale
Once your mission and vision have been determined, how do you execute and support? Work with your front line sales team to build a coaching culture. Help them understand how to do that effectively. Assess the sales team, benchmark, then build on what’s working and work on areas where there can be improvement. Remember: It’s just not working on making a salesperson better, it's how you are affecting the quality and productivity of conversations with your customers.