Sales & Customer Growth
Hiring a salesperson does not remove the owner from sales. It changes the job.
Many owners hire a first salesperson hoping the work will move off their desk, and are disappointed. A new hire needs a clear role, a process to follow, honest targets and regular coaching. This session helps owners decide when and whom to hire, and how to build a small team that works.
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A team can only sell what the owner has already learnt to sell.
A first sales hire often fails for ordinary reasons: the role was vague, there was no process to follow, the targets were guesses, and the owner stepped in at the first difficulty. The salesperson is blamed. In many cases the problem began before the hire.
This session is about the preparation, the first ninety days and the management habits that keep a small team productive and honest. It is practical, and covers a team of one to five people, not a large sales organisation.
What the session covers
35 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts, from the decision to hire to running the team.
Are You Ready to Hire?Test the idea before the salary.5
- Can you describe how you win customers, step by step?
- Is there enough demand to keep a salesperson busy?
- Is the problem finding leads, closing them, or following up?
- What could be handled by an assistant or a tool instead?
- Whether a trial period, part-time help or a referral partner suits better
A salesperson multiplies what exists. They rarely create it from nothing.
Defining the RoleWhat this person is, and is not, expected to do.5
- Finding new customers, closing, or looking after existing ones
- Which customers and territories belong to whom
- What they may promise on price and delivery
- Reporting, records and the use of the pipeline
- What good looks like in the first ninety days
Finding and Choosing SomeoneWhat to look for, and what to check.5
Participants draft the questions and task they would give a candidate, and discuss what answers would worry them.
- Honesty, follow-through and curiosity, alongside selling experience
- A practical task instead of only an interview
- Checking references from people who worked with them
- Freshers and experienced hires: what each needs from you
- Saying clearly what the job involves, including the difficult parts
Pay and IncentivesKeep it simple and fair.5
- A fixed part and a variable part, and why both matter
- What the incentive should reward: revenue, margin, collections or repeat business
- The risk of rewarding only the sale and not the payment
- Writing the arrangement down clearly
- Taking advice on employment, commission and tax treatment before offering terms
Employment and tax rules apply. This session does not give legal or tax advice.
The First Ninety DaysWhere the hire is made or lost.5
- Shadowing the owner on real calls and meetings
- A script and pipeline to follow, then adapt
- Small targets in the first weeks, then larger ones
- Feedback within the day, not at the end of the month
- A review at thirty, sixty and ninety days
Managing the TeamCoaching without taking over.5
- A weekly one-to-one built around the pipeline
- Looking at activity and outcomes together
- Listening to calls or reviewing chats, with the team's knowledge
- Dealing with a salesperson who is making excuses, or one who is struggling
- Handing over customers gradually
Keeping the Customer RelationshipWhat stays with the business.5
- Customer records held by the business, not on one person's phone
- Shared contacts on important accounts
- What happens to customers if a salesperson leaves
- Keeping customers informed during any change
- A culture that rewards honest pipelines over impressive ones
What participants work on
- A one-page role description for a sales hire
- A thirty-day onboarding plan
- A draft weekly one-to-one agenda
- A list of tasks to hand over first
- Questions to put to an employment or tax adviser before making an offer
What this session is not
- Legal, tax or HR advice on employing or paying staff
- A recruitment service or a source of candidates
- A guarantee that a hire will bring more sales
- A course for large sales organisations
How the session runs
Two to three hours, in a small group. An owner who has built a small sales team describes what they got right and wrong in the first hire. Participants then write their role description, plan the first thirty days and rehearse a difficult feedback conversation in pairs. Owners who are not yet ready to hire leave with a clearer list of what to put in place first.
What your students leave with
- A clear view of whether they are ready for a first sales hire
- A written role description for that hire
- A simple structure for fixed and variable pay to discuss with an adviser
- A thirty-day onboarding plan for a new salesperson
- A weekly one-to-one routine and a set of fair targets
- A list of what to hand over first, and what to keep
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Write the job, show the way, and review the work every week.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.