From Process to People: How to Build High-Performance Sales Teams

Welcome to the Executive Connect podcast. I'm excited today to talk about one of my favorite subjects, sales, and we have Joe Salima here to discuss his expertise in building high-performance teams. Welcome, Joe. Hey, thanks for having me on Melissa. I'm excited to be here. I don't even know where to start when I talk about sales, but I do know you have mega, mega experience and growing teams from the ground up.

And what qualities when you're starting from the ground up and building new teams do you look for in the people that you hire? You know, that's a great question. And before I even start to look at the people, I want to make sure there's a sales process in place because if we don't know what that process is going to look like, and we don't have some of those other foundational pieces in place, we can't really set up the sales team for success. So I always look at that first.

What is that process need to look like? Is it dialed in? Do we have the right systems in place to help our people be successful? Then from there, once we know what that system looks like, what's our onboarding look like? And meaning by that is, we just don't want to hire a bunch of people and put them on the streets and start selling, but we want to make sure they're ingrained in our systems. You know, what is our protocol about? How do we fit into the marketplace?

You know, what differentiates between everybody else out there? And once we have those in place, then we start looking for talent. And the first thing I'm always looking for is one, what kind of sales leader am I going to be? Or if I'm working with a client, what kind of sales leader are they going to be? Or are they more of a very hands-on approach? And they have, hey, I want it done my way? Or is it more so, hey, here's the system, just go and do it, and if you need help, reach out to me.

Once I have those things in place,

we know what the product is, we know what our sales system looks like, we know what the kind of sales leader is, now we start looking for the talent. First thing I look for is confidence. I want somebody that's confident they can go out there and they can take this product or service to market and really be great at it.

And I say after confidence is empathy, you know, the ability to be in the shoes of the customer to understand what they're going through, understand their frustrations, their pain points, and then be able to provide those solutions for them. Those are the things I'm looking for in a good sales rep. - That's fantastic.

I know I jumped right in to find the people, but you're right, if you don't have processes in place and the people start, it's just they're all running around trying to figure out how to get started and where to enter with CRN tools. And so I absolutely agree with that. So once you have the process in place and you've hired the right people and you're growing the business, how do you continue to sustain growth and keeping your team motivated?

So right out of the gate, most of the sales people don't have anything on their pipeline. And if you don't get them selling quickly and making money, then they tend to become demotivated. - That's a great point. One of the things that I always like to do, and this is one of the best practices, is share with them what the mission is. You know, when it doesn't matter what product or service you're selling or where you're at, but there's a mission to keep them motivated on.

So it could be the mission as simple as, hey, we wanna be the best office in the organization. You know, maybe you're in a company that has 10 different offices and you wanna be the best in that particular company. Or maybe you just wanna really dominate your marketplace. So start with, what is the mission? You know, we get the team excited about the mission because once they're excited about their mission and they truly believe in that, then you can do anything at that point in time.

Then you can keep them motivated. So one, get that mission out there. Let them know what we're standing for, why we're doing this, who we're helping. What kind of results are clients are going to get? And when you get them bought into that mission, there's the motivation to get them started from there. Then it's, you know, there's salespeople, right? So they do need to have that self-motivation to an extent to get out there, but you also wanna fuel that fire.

You know, what else can you do to keep them going? I find effective is daily check-ins with the team. You know, whether it's a 15 or 30 minute conversation beginning of the day or at the end of the day,

but I always like to have those check-ins and get people motivated, especially now that everybody is working remotely, and that's changed the selling environment for so many people. You don't necessarily have an office to go to, or maybe you're only there two or three days a week and you're working remotely. Or maybe you're, like yourself, you have a remote territory, and you don't have those close colleagues. So how do you keep that going?

So I find that having those weekly, or those daily check-ins is a great way to keep people motivated as well and be part of the team, and every one of those calls with the mission. Hey, we're here to change lives today. We're here to help them with whatever it is we do. We're here to give them the best office furniture, you know, they can think of whatever is that mission that you're trying to accomplish. And by doing that, he keeps the team motivated and he keeps them going to that next level.

- That's great. Touch points every day is super important. I absolutely agree with that. I think, you know, letting people just run out and start selling and say, hey, calm if you need anything, it's probably not the best way to keep employees around for a long period of time if you don't talk too much. So I absolutely agree with that.

And you know, in sales, there's so much competition, no matter what industry you're in, whether you're in technology or healthcare, or retail, there's so much competition in most of the markets today. And everything is moving so, so fast and a lot of times in my sales experience, I'll be on with a customer, you know, at nine o'clock in the morning and they need it yesterday and everything done tomorrow. And so one of the things I know that I have to do a lot is manage client expectations, right?

Not only internally, like internal processes and running our process and but also the client side of the street. So, you know, in today, how do you, maybe the better question is keep, like as you're sustaining and you're growing and you're getting your people motivated, how do you continue to differentiate yourself? So customers continue to buy from you. So once you find who you are and what differentiates you, how do you continue to make them do that as you grow and develop your people?

- That's a great question, well, so, one of the things is really I find is great customer service. I mean, it's horrible if customer service you get in the world today, it really is. There's a few companies that are good at it. But one, you just have to be a little better from a customer service endpoint and it'll take you so much further than your competition because most people don't do any kind of follow up. It's, hey, we got the sale and that's all we care about.

If there's any issues on the back end, if there's any complaints, they're not handled the right way. So the best thing to do is you wanna keep a customer longterm, kill them with service, give them the best possible service they can ever get and they will come back to you. So that's one of the first things is customer service first. We have to take care of the customers because it's so much easier to give business from an existing customer than is to go and look for a new business all the time.

So definitely have that customer-centric approach that I gotta take care of the customer. That's one of the first things we wanna do, to really stand out. And second, I'd say it's just really be good listener and understand what the customers needs are. So many salespeople go in with the approach of they're just pushing their products or services. This is what we do, this is how we can help. This is all XYZ features and benefits my product.

But they don't sit back and say, well, Mr. customer, what are some of the problems you're running into? What do you really need help with? Well, kind of impact is that having on your business. If we can help you with that, what would that mean for you? I mean, some of it is just basic, but it's missing today.

And when you put those kind of things in place, understand what the customer's real needs are and how it's impacting them, and then provide them with the right solution, and then give them great follow-up and great service, definitely gonna stand out from the competition because it's just not being done today. - Oh, such, such good advice.

Customer service, it seems so, so, so basic, but it is so true that, you know, getting the sale and passing it over and forgetting about the customer is not the best way to get more business out of a customer. And, you know, I always, my father used to tell me, "Milesty, you have two years in one mouth. "You use them proportionately."

So, listening is such an important thing, and I feel in my experience in sales, and I don't know if you have had this happen for you, Joe, a lot of times when I'm selling, the client thinks they need X, and really they need Y and Z and A, and what we originally started the discussion with is not really their pain point and what they actually needed, something completely different than what we originally started to discuss. - You know, that's a valid point.

A lot of times you need to push back on the customer and say, "You know what, that's really not what you need "right now." Or, if they're about to go into a certain direction on things to say, "You know, that's not in your best interest "right now." You know, it's okay to even walk away from opportunities and say, "You know what, based on where you are "and what you're looking for, I know I can sell you "my product or service today, "but it's really not in your best interest."

I'd rather keep you as a long-term customer and do something in the future. Maybe you'll refer other people to me, but this is a better option for you right now. Or sometimes they want to go in a direction and just, you know, it's a dumb idea, and it's okay to say, "You know what, "that's gonna backfire on you." Obviously, you have to have some reports and expertise in place and make sure they have that credibility factor with them. But that happens a lot.

It's okay to push back to a customer and some of them are gonna respect that and say, "You know what, you're right, I respect that." I can't tell you how many times I've had those experiences with customers, especially with a team where they're going in one direction, and then we have another meeting and something else comes up, it's like, "You know what, this is really a bad idea for you to do this."

It doesn't matter if you do business with us or who you do business with, this is a bad idea for your business. It's not gonna help you, it's not gonna serve you. And I'd rather walk away this opportunity than sell you something that you're not gonna be happy with. And putting a little pushback on the customers. Now, does it work all the time? No, of course not.

But I'd say most of the time, the customers are gonna appreciate that, you're willing to walk away and you're just not there for a commission check. - Yeah, it made me, as you're talking to me, think about years ago, I'll never forget, I had a situation with a client where they basically told me they wanted me to use by my product and service. And I told them, "Well, no, I'm not the right fit."

And they all looked at me like I had two heads and I said, "You guys are all fighting internally and I'm the wrong fit for what you're trying to do."

And I walked away from that business and their senior leadership team and other people came back around and said, "Why did you walk away?" And I said, "I don't know if you noticed, but everybody in the room had a different agenda and a different end goal and none of you guys agreed and me as the vendor has to walk in and I have seven people to keep happy and you all have different agendas and it's interesting, three years later, this client did not have a vendor that they had selected yet,

three years later. So sometimes it's okay to walk away from business too, right? And not just, like you said, push back on the customer but there are times when you're not the best fit for the client and they're not the best fit for you as a company. And I think those, like you were saying at the beginning, customer service, you can't provide really exceptional customer service if they're not happy with you, right?

And if it starts right out of the gate, it makes it really difficult to recover from that. - Absolutely, it's sometimes it's better to walk away than get a customer you're not gonna be happy with either. It's best thing for both of you. - Yeah. I wanna talk a little bit about what you originally saying about you build teams, you top to them every day, check in with them. What if you have one of your team members is in one of your sales professionals are not achieving their quota.

They're not hitting their goals. How do you really mentor them in a way where they can start achieving some of their goals? - Yeah, great question. That happens occasionally, right? Unfortunately, you have some people that you just aren't doing what they need to do to be successful. So there's a couple of things. First is obviously is let's identify what the problem is. Why aren't they succeeding?

If they have a history of succeeding in something's going on now that we need to address, maybe it's a personal issue, we need to dive into that. Is something going on within the region? Maybe there's geographical things going on if it's a territorial thing within the territory that's changing, a competitor came in. So I always like to take a look at, well let's take a look at the history. If it's one time thing or what's going on or if it's a new person.

And then once we identify it, is it a skill problem? Or is there something else? If it's a skill problem, then we can work on the skill problem and we can put things in place. If it's just they don't want to do the work anymore or they're not putting the effort and they need to, then it's time to put performance plans in place. Okay, what do we need to do to get you back on track? Our goal isn't to just start getting rid of people, but how do we get them back on track?

What are the things that we can do to help them get where they need to be?

Comes down to what the pipeline looks like. How many prospecting calls are they doing? What kind of network are they doing? And start from there. But it's really identically, what's really the problem? And then what is the plan to help you get on back on track? And then part of it is up to them. You mean they have to take responsibility. We can put the expectations in place and we can hold them accountable, but the sales, they still have to do the work. And it's up to them to do that work.

And then of course, unfortunately, as times, if they're not willing to do the work, then you need to make those tough choices. And either put them in a different position of the company or let them know is probably best apart ways. And that's the ways I found to be more successful. However, if you really identify with the problem is, 80% of the time you can probably help that person once you identify with your problem is. Most managers don't do that. They should say, look at the numbers.

You're not doing a good enough job. You've got 90 days to get your act together or you're out of here. And well, guess what happens in those cases? They're usually gone within 30 days because they find jobs on their own. So it's best to really identify what the issue is and then help them get over that. Yeah, that's a really good point. Not assuming, you know, why that they're not performing. I think a lot of times, we make a lot of assumptions as humans that may or may not be correct.

And we really don't know what's going on in other people's lives if they've had problems with their children or their spouse or they're caretaking their parents or what other life responsibilities they have. And I think I love what she said. She's just sitting down with them and really figuring out the metrics, figuring out how you can support and then really attacking it with them too, right?

Is, you know, maybe you have to do one-on-one calls with them or you have to do one-on-one site visits with them or, and sometimes I find that salespeople don't necessarily know like that, right? When their boss is going out on the road or attending sales calls with them, but I always think, you know, everybody has their own unique way of selling, right?

And I think that getting feedback and examples from multiple people that are pitching to clients make you that much better as a salesperson because over time, you could really craft it to what is most comfortable for you. I know a lot of times, you know, my sales approach is, you know, I'm high energy, I'm bubbly, I tell jokes and a lot of times people are like, what is she doing? But it just really depends on the clients. Some of my clients love that.

And other clients, I know I have to be serious to the point and two sentences quick. And I think it comes into knowing your customer and knowing who you're talking to and your people as well. So you can train them, right? Yeah, you know, what you're talking to and if you're an extrovert, you're an outgoing person like yourself, you need to use that as a new strength, right? You don't hide that.

And yeah, some customers may not be, you know, great about it, maybe they're turned off about it, but that's okay. It works for you and you just, you know, do what works for you. On the other side, if you're an introvert, you don't try to be an extrovert. Own your introversion, you know, be an introvert. I'm an introvert. Has not stopped me from being extremely successful as a salesperson, client, you know, going up the corporate ladder. So use what you have and people respect that.

And if you're an introvert or an extrovert, just use it for what you are, but you need to understand how it works and understand your customers, but using that to your advantages, you're gonna take you much more further than trying to use somebody else's sales approach because, hey, I'm gonna go to the number one guy in the company and model what he does. Probably not gonna work, right? You got a model that's gonna work for you, find out what works for you and then just do more of that.

And then you'll be more successful than the number one guy because you've owned your process. - Yeah, spot on. I think people can sense phony behavior, right? They can sense that maybe you're not an energetic person or not of this person and they can sense it. So if it comes natural, it's gonna be authentic and people will respect you more for that. If you're not a bubbly person and you try to be bubbly, it just, sometimes it just looks very awkward, right?

And so, and I love that you said that you're an introvert person too because a lot of times I'll hear that, oh, you're extroverted, you're just better at sales and that's not necessarily always the DNA for sales people is being extroverts. I always joke, Joe, I'm a recovering introvert. You know, I started my career at engineering and I would say I was the most introverted person. And so we can change as people and just because you're introverted doesn't make you a fantastic sales person.

So I love that you mentioned that. - Yep, yeah, be who you are and you'll find your way. - So true, so true. I wanna touch a little bit more on, let's say this performing, this person that wasn't performing in the sales role, you've given him as much support, you've given him as much leeway to make the changes after the pick and you have to let him go.

How do you go after you, you know, you let someone go, you're rehiring when you're interviewing, you know, how do you find the right fit during the interview process? What are you looking for in sales people? - Well, it's a couple of things I'm looking for. One, you know, I start with what kind of person do I need for the role? You know, do I need somebody that's just a great sales person or do I need somebody that's technical and has experience in this particular product or service?

So once I really have that defined, you wanna, I like people that are going to be confident in their sales approach. You know, they know they can go in there, that can somewhat command the attention, they have a presence about them, that hey, this is somebody that you wanna listen to. I always look for people that have empathy, you know, that can understand, you know, what customers are going through and really dive into that and dig deep into the sales process and understand the pain points.

It does really matter if they're extroverts or introverts or, you know, if they have great neck working skills or some of those other things. Well, those are the things I like the most and I'd say the third thing that I'm looking for, I'm always gonna ask somebody, what's the last sales book you're at? I mean, if you're a sales professional and this is what you do for a living, it's just like any other skill you need to constantly get better at it. So what are you learning?

What new books have you read? What new training programs have you gone through? So that's always what I'm looking for is tell me about the education that you made on your own, not from the company, but any kind of investment on your own, whether it's books, whether it's, you know, local trade journals that are based on selling or sales management, you know, whatever training programs you've gone through.

Those are the kind of things I'm looking for that somebody that's educating themselves to be better and better at sales. - Yeah, I always thought I think leaders or readers make sure you're reading. - Absolutely. - Learning. You know, and I think another thing too is attitude. Right, you don't have to be the best sales person or the best at your job, but really the right attitude trumps a lot of things.

I think coming in and, you know, you don't have to know everything about sales and all the sales books, but having the right attitude, where you're coachable to learn how to do it. And when you come up against a crossroad and you can't figure things out, try to figure it out for yourself. And then ask for support, but being our own problem solvers because the more problems you solve and the more times you make mistakes the more you learn and the more you can become better at sales.

And, you know, there's times I've made mistakes presenting or I mixed slides up. And, you know, I've, and they were accidents and I just joke with the customer, like, whoops. And they laugh with me and I think people are very forgiving of that when you admit that you've made a mistake and, you know, let me fix it and go and fix it for them 'cause we're all just humans. And so I think I love attitude as well.

- Yes. - You're having that positive attitude is a great trait to have, having that kind of approach that, you know, mistakes happen. You know, no matter what kind of technology comes out no matter how many new AI tools come on the market. In most industries, you're still dealing with people, right? People are buying from people. You know, tools will never take that away. You still wanna have a person you interact with. You still wanna have somebody that you like to talk to and work with.

If you have an issue and it needs to get resolved, a machine isn't gonna do that for you, right? A person's gonna do it for you. So it's important to have that, you know, can do attitude as well and have that positive attitude that if they, you know, to your point, if they don't know something they can go and figure out because they've got that, you know, everything's figure outable attitude and be able to do that.

And if you can show the case that, you know, that's certainly gonna help you in your career as well as a sales professional. - Yeah, I love it. So getting more back into the customer. So let's say here, you find the right sales person, they're well trained, they're ready to hit the ground running and they email a customer, call a customer, they can't get the customer on the phone. What are some of the top strategies that you have used to set up meetings with clients and customers?

- You know, that's a great question. And that kind of goes back to some of the new technologies out there. There's all kind of ways you can now engage with your customers where before I've been doing this a long time, either knock on the door, walk in and try to get a face-to-face meeting or it was a phone call. Now with social media, you can reach out to people on their profiles, whether it's LinkedIn, whether it's Instagram, whether it's Facebook.

So there's different ways to use social media to get in front of clients. And it's not always, hey, I'm a local rep, I want your business. It may just be commenting on some things they're doing. It's a longer term approach. It's commenting on a post that they made or noticing something about them on their profile or on their personal profile even and making a comment about it.

So using that kind of approach, and whether it's more of a friend now, you're not just some stranger hitting them up like most people, hey, I'm your new rep and I'd like to do this or I saw you on LinkedIn and I thought we should have a connection and for what? There's no real reason behind it. But make it friendly. You're reached out to be friends with somebody. Hey, I noticed this about your company. Congratulations on this new award you got. Or hey, I see you just got promoted.

That's fantastic.

Build a relationship online that way is a great way to start to get your foot in the door. Second, I say this video. I think when the pandemic started, one of the biggest tools that I saw people use, those people start to use is sending videos out to people instead of just the email or a phone call which a lot of people aren't getting anymore in those days or even opening them, send an email with a video.

You know, there's so many different tools out there where you can have an automated video of holding the sign up saying, "Hey, Melissa, I'd like to have a conversation with you and wave into them, you know, an automated video." And then when they click on it, it's a personalized video. They hey, just want to say hello. You know, we haven't had a chance to opportunity to talk yet but I'm your new account rap. Or maybe it's hey, I just noticed this about you.

You know, we've been trying to communicate but for whatever reason we're going to connect. Using video has been a huge, huge benefit for a lot of people to get in front of people and get them to know and like you on a different level because now they see your face, hear your voice. It's a little different than just, you know, hearing you're getting your email or listening to your voice mail. Now they actually have a connection there.

And if you do that on a consistent basis and add value, I haven't seen anybody who hasn't gotten and get through the door as long as you're willing to put in the time and be persistent. - Yeah, 100%. Persistent is the word, right? Being very, not annoying, right? Persistent and I think people understand, you know, the difference between being helpful and persistent or annoying and obnoxious.

I've seen some really, you know, interesting sales strategies where people say touch one for this, touch two for that and people are like, "But," and so I think just like you mentioned, I think videos are a great idea. You know, commenting on things that are important to them, like if they're part of a nonprofit or they have children, you know, sales is not just transactional. I think a lot of time in some of the sales people I've seen not do so great is they treat it like a transaction.

It's a relationship. It's a long term, I like to think with the people that I work with that it's a long term relationship. We might not talk every day, but it is a long term relationship. So I don't just make a connection to Nevartopson again. I want to continue to grow that relationship and build it and nurture it long term. And if they have a problem, I want to be thinking of me for that problem. And so in the least high-pressure annoying way possible. And so I do like that idea of videos.

- One other thing that I'd like to point out that I think is extremely helpful, especially if you're trying to get in large companies and a large company is they're pretty open. You can do some research on what the biggest struggles are in their particular industry or even in their company. And if you know of a resource that you can help them with and share that with them, without expecting anything back, they're going to remember that.

You're recently I was working with somebody that wasn't a good fit for the company that I was helping at the time, but they were having a real problem with hiring talent. What was the best way to hire a talent for their specific industry? It just happened to know a recruiter that had some resources exactly how to do that. Took the resources, put the two together, and help with an outcome for them.

Now there's no immediate benefit for me, but chances are in the future when that person doesn't need my services, they're going to remember that I was in just another salesperson trying to pitch them. I was a resource. I helped them solve a problem in their business that had nothing to do with what I did, but it was a resource for them. And I made that connection. And that's to your point, it's long-term relationships.

And that's kind of what we want to do when we're starting there, especially if you're building relationships with the new company. That's one of the best ways to go out there and do that. Yeah, absolutely. And even if you're not in sales for a living, and that's not what you do for a living, we're all in sales as far in our life, whether you're in sales, a finest spouse, or to network in a community, we're all in sales.

And so what I would say is if you want to have good relationships and all facets of your life, you've got to pour into them. And you've got to really give and take and not just always take. And so I think that's a really good point is nurture, right? Nurture your relationships. And then ask, when the time's right, when you've put enough coins into that relationship, if you will, ask, be like, hey, I'm looking for a this. Can you help me? And people always, always are willing to help.

And or vice versa, if you're on a sales call with somebody and asking them what top problems are you trying to solve today? And it may not be something that I can do. I had a recent call recently where one of my clients was having some family problems with their child. And so I was able to connect them, had nothing to do with my job. And everything to do with empathy, like you mentioned. And just trying to help people and meet them where they are at that moment.

So we can't get to the business if all they're thinking about is my kid, my kid, my kid. They don't have time for anything until they can solve the problem with their child. So yeah, I love the empathy. I love the give and take. Any other top sales tips and tricks that you want to share with our listeners? I'd say that the listening is probably one of the top ones that I see most salesmen make mistakes on. They're just not listening to what their clients are really saying. They're going in.

They're so ingrained into wanting to talk about their product and service and why they're better than everybody else and how they stand out. They're not sitting there really understanding, well, what are the problems you have? And how is it affecting your business? And really digging down to it. And what other areas is this affecting within your business? They're just so focused on the product and service. And they go in and talk about, well, this is who we are. This is what we do.

Instead of taking a step back and saying, well, before I even start about who I am, what I'm doing, tell me about the challenges or the obstacles you're having in this category. Or better, what are your goals? What is it that you're trying to accomplish in this area that you haven't gotten to yet? And we can talk about that and how we might be able to help you get there. Then it's a different conversation. Then it's not me presenting about my product or service or your product or service.

They're almost selling themselves to me at that point because you're repositioning to an extent. They're talking about what they need. And then it's like, oh, OK, then it makes a lot more easier. So it's a complete different approach to the sales process. But I found it would be one of the most effective, especially today because nobody's using things like this. There's still-- I mean, sales does not really change that much in probably 50 years.

Sorry to say, by using these kind of different tactics, I see it's very, very effective. And such a small percentage of sales people are doing it. So I'd say that's probably one of the things I'd leave you with is using that kind of approach and going in with a, tell me a little about more of your business of what you want to accomplish, obstacles or goals. And then we can showcase exactly what we do, catered around what you're looking for instead of what I want to sell you today.

And I'd say, start with that. You'll see a huge difference in the amount of business you'll generate. Spot on. I think there's-- I've been part of meetings before, not ones that I scheduled where I was shadowing somebody. And they weren't prepared at all for the person in the meeting. So we showed up to a sales meeting. Then you're nothing about the client, nothing about the customer. They were just pulling up their sales brochures and said, how do we have this in this and this and this?

Which one do you want? And the client's energy and response wasn't really great. And so that taught me something years and years ago. And a lot of times what clients need is not on a menu. You may not offer that service at your company. But could you to acquire another customer? I know a lot of different things I sell now. We weren't doing years ago. And we are now. And it started with one customer asking a question, which led further down the road. And now we're doing it.

And so I think just being open to, like you said, at the beginning, listening and understanding your customers and not kind of shoving things they don't need down their throat, right? Louis. I really appreciate you being here today, Joe. You are a wealth of knowledge. And I love, love to talk about sales and sales strategies. So thank you so much for being here today on the Executive Connect podcast. It was great, Melissa. Thanks very much for having me today.