The new sales guy is now on board and eager to get started.
The question for you as his sales manager is…where should you assign him? In
what territory would he be most likely to succeed? The answer is that you don’t
know…yet.
When a new rep joins your team, it is best to follow the
steps we recommend in sales territory management training to optimize the rep’s
opportunities to learn and succeed and not jeopardize the team goals in the
process. And the more of these that you
can accomplish during the hiring process to ensure a good fit – the better.
- Observe
and start small.Go out in the field with your new rep to learn about their strengths and
weaknesses. What are they really like on a sales call? With what type customer do
they most easily build rapport? Where are they strong and where weak in the
sales cycle? Then assign them to an appropriate and relatively limited
territory so you can see how they do.
- Meet
regularly.Check in on a regular basis (one time per week at first) to manage any
concerns, to evaluate their performance and to help coach them through any
challenges. This is where your performance management and leadership skills
will be put to the test. Decide together what kind of territory would best suit
them.
- Revise the sales territory assignment based on their performance.With your understanding of where they excel and what they want, you can optimize both their productivity and the team’s overall success.
