Before you hire new sales people, coach up?

by Chris Anderson

As a small to medium-sized business leader, you may be faced with the question of whether to invest in sales coaching for your existing team or to hire new salespeople. Both options have their benefits and drawbacks, and the decision ultimately depends on your unique business needs and goals and the strength of your current sales leader.

Sales coaching is the process of working with your existing sales team to develop their skills and strategies to improve their performance. This can involve one-on-one coaching sessions, group training sessions, or a combination of both.  You can also invest in the development of a proven and repeatable sales process that will drive more consistent results over time. The benefits of sales coaching include:

1. Cost-effective: Sales coaching is typically more cost-effective than hiring new salespeople. It eliminates the need to recruit, onboard, and train new hires.
2. Improved retention: Providing coaching and development opportunities to your existing sales team can improve employee retention rates. Your investment in their growth and career progression can build their commitment.
3. Tailored approach: Sales coaching allows you to tailor your training to the specific needs and challenges of your sales team and even individuals. This results in a more personalized and effective approach to the development of your sales team!

On the other hand, hiring new salespeople can bring fresh perspectives and new ideas to your sales team, but there is a cost to onboarding and ramping them up. Some of the benefits of hiring new salespeople can include:

1. Increased capacity: Hiring new salespeople can increase your sales team’s capacity to generate new leads and close deals.
2. Diverse skillset: New salespeople may bring a diverse skillset and experience that can complement your existing team’s strengths and weaknesses.
3. New networks: New salespeople may have established relationships and networks that can help expand your customer base.

Ultimately, the decision between sales coaching and/or hiring new salespeople depends on your business goals and needs. If you have a strong sales team in place but feel that they could benefit from additional coaching and development, sales coaching may be the best option. If you need to increase your sales team’s capacity and bring new ideas and perspectives to the table, hiring new salespeople may be the way to go. In either case, you should also ask the hard question of do you have the right coach! If you are at this point, give us a call!  We can help with this and many more sales related situations.