A Closer Look at Sales Team Dynamics and the Role of Management
In the dynamic and competitive world of sales, stagnation can be a death sentence. When sales are stuck, it can feel like you’re running in place, working hard but not gaining ground. The causes of this predicament can be many and varied, but one that often goes unnoticed is a misalignment between the size of a sales team and the ability to effectively manage it. This is a common problem for businesses that have enough salespeople to warrant a manager but lack the budget to afford a high-end sales manager. The solution? Consider investing in a Fractional Sales Manager from Pivot Strategic Group, a move that could offer significant benefits, not just in improving sales but also in terms of financial efficiency.
The Hidden Costs of a Full-Time Sales Manager
When budgeting for a sales manager, it’s easy to focus solely on the salary. However, the cost of a sales manager is not limited to their wages. There’s a raft of hidden costs that can significantly inflate the total expenditure. Beyond the base salary, these costs include:
- Expense Accounts: Sales managers often have expense accounts for entertaining clients, traveling to meetings, and other necessary business activities. These can add up quickly, representing a significant part of the total cost.
- Benefits: Health insurance, retirement contributions, paid time off, and other benefits are a crucial part of any compensation package. Depending on the specifics, these can increase the cost of a sales manager by 20-40%.
- Other Costs: These can range from the cost of training and development to the resources needed to support their work, such as office space, equipment, and administrative support.
All told, these additional costs can make a full-time sales manager a significant financial commitment, one that might be out of reach for a growing company.
The Value of Investment in Sales Training and Consulting
However, just because a full-time sales manager might be out of reach doesn’t mean that companies should neglect the management and development of their sales team. Indeed, investment in sales training, management consulting, and other resources can pay significant dividends by improving sales performance and streamlining the sales process.
Sales training equips your team with the skills they need to close more sales, while management consulting can help identify specific areas for improvement in your sales process. These investments can lead to a higher-performing sales team that is better equipped to meet and exceed their targets.
The Advantage of Hiring a Sales Consultant: Fractional Sales Managers
Given these challenges, what’s a growing company to do? One solution is to hire a Fractional Sales Manager from a company like Pivot Strategic Group. This approach allows a company to have access to high-quality sales management and coaching on a part-time basis, providing the benefits of a full-time manager without the full-time cost.
Hiring a sales consultant comes with numerous benefits. A good consultant will take the time to understand your business, creating a highly specialized plan for your specific needs and goals. They bring a fresh voice and new perspectives, helping to break out of the echo chamber that can sometimes form within a team. Sales consultants also have access to a vast network of resources that they can bring to bear to help your company, and their experience working with different companies provides them with unmatched insights that they can apply to your business.
Most importantly, hiring a sales consultant can often be more cost-effective than hiring a new employee. New employees come with training costs, benefits, payroll expenses, taxes, and vacation time. Working with a consulting firm like Pivot Strategic Group, you have the flexibility to adjust how much consulting you need far more than you would with a new hire.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if your sales are stuck and you’re struggling with managing a growing sales team, it might be time to consider an alternative to hiring a full-time sales manager. A Fractional Sales Manager from Pivot Strategic Group can provide the expertise and support you need, without the significant costs associated with a full-time employee.
By hiring a sales consultant, you can benefit from custom-made expertise, unmatched experience, a fresh perspective, and a connection to valuable resources, all while being more cost-effective. This can help you in improving sales, providing effective sales training, identifying specific areas for improvement, and closing more sales.
While the path to increasing sales can seem daunting, remember that you don’t have to do it alone. With the right resources and a commitment to improvement, you can get your sales moving again. And who knows, you might just find that the help you need comes not from an expensive full-time manager, but from a flexible, experienced Fractional Sales Manager offering sales consulting services.
Let your company grow and mature without the burden of an expensive manager on the payroll, and see the difference it makes to your bottom line.