To be a great sales team, you need great salespeople.
A good hiring manager will be able to identify the key characteristics that make an exceptional sales rep in their organization and provide the training necessary to hone and supplement those skills. Those characteristics will look different for different companies. At finance solutions firm Paro, a great sales rep takes initiative.
“The new hires that ramp the fastest don’t wait for things to come to them, they go get it,” said Paro’s Sales Manager Rachel Rieger.
At digital consulting company Maven Wave, it looks a little different. For Head of Sales Helena Valdez, a great salesperson excels at making a plan and putting it into action.
“The sales team is driven by quota attainment and customer satisfaction,” said Valdez. “We can’t hit our number if we don’t have a line of sight to how we are going to get there.”
A high-performing sales team makes a significant difference at any company, and finding those people and sharpening them to perfection is what sets those teams apart. Built In Chicago sat down with Rieger and Valdez to learn how they find the right salespeople for their organizations. Rachel Rieger, sales manager at Paro, and Helena Valdez, head of sales at Maven Wave, shared the most important skill for new hires on their team, how to spot it and how to train those hires for success.
The best part? Both of these companies are hiring now.
Paro combines an AI-powered platform with their team of subject matter experts to provide flexible finance and accounting solutions for businesses.
What is the number one skill you think new hires need to be successful on your team?
I would say taking initiative, because I think this behavior is more important than having a specific sales skill. This includes not being hesitant in reaching out to their leads, networking with other reps, shadowing live calls, following the sales cycle of our deals in Gong, listening to client calls and asking for help right away. Overall, sales reps need to be open to making mistakes early on because that’s the best way they’ll learn.
How can sales candidates demonstrate that skill in a job interview?
I think the best way to portray this skill is to describe a time when you were facing adversity in your career and how you were able to overcome it. A best practice with these types of questions is to always include specific details and examples — this will help build credibility with your response.
Taking initiative is more important than having a specific sales skill.”
What kind of training do you offer sales team new hires to set them up for success?
We provide a blended learning solution for our new sales reps — a combination of instructor-led sessions, self-guided learning on our learning management system and collaborative roleplaying with other new hires and tenured reps. We also pair every new hire with a buddy so they have an additional resource outside of their manager to help mentor them and give insight on what success looks like from a rep perspective.
Additionally, Paro has an enablement lead who works closely with new hires during their onboarding. He provides a financial acumen-focused playbook that helps our new hires learn and understand the personas we sell into and what questions to ask on discovery calls.
Lastly, Paro partners with Sales Assembly — one of my favorite tools — so every new hire has access to a plethora of learning and development resources.
Maven Wave, a company that blends consulting and technology, helps businesses upgrade to digital and move to the cloud.
What is the number one skill you think new hires need to be successful on your team?
The ability to put a plan together right out of the gate and execute on that plan.
It is almost impossible to achieve a goal without an action plan. Selling in today’s corporate climate is complex and takes laser-focused execution by not only sales but the broader organization as well. I tell my team that they are the quarterback calling the plays. Our job is to move the ball down the field and score.
How can sales candidates demonstrate that skill in a job interview?
When we interview candidates, we ask them to come prepared to present their 30-60-90 day plan. It is imperative that we know what they need to ramp up to be successful in their territory. This also gives us the opportunity to see how they present and interact with an audience. We are looking for candidates who exemplify the X-factor in their demeanor and knowledge set. This is also a candidate’s opportunity to showcase where and how they have been successful in the past and how they would leverage that at Atos One Cloud.
We are looking for candidates who exemplify the X-factor in their demeanor and knowledge set.”
What kind of training do you offer sales team new hires to set them up for success?
Our training is primarily focused on our delivery capabilities and differentiators. Typically candidates come in with solid cloud foundations and selling services experience. We supplement that with “MEDDIC,” which is a sales methodology that the territory sellers use in their daily activities. Our goal is to execute a repeatable sales process, improve forecast accuracy and deliver an incredible buying experience for our clients.
As part of our partnership GTM programs we offer multiple training opportunities. For example, I came from Google but wanted to gain more knowledge on Amazon Web Services, so I attended a partner training session and was able to get my AWS Partner accreditation.
