If you want to make true sales success a reality, you need to know where to start. Winning at sales is all about hiring the right team, inspiring them, and ultimately getting them to crush goals. Read on for best practices you can implement in each of these stages, derived from the ebook, Grow Sales: How to Hire, Inspire and Win.

HIRE the Best Candidates

Kevin Gaither, VP of Inside Sales at uSamp, says there are three primary characteristics that leading salespeople innately exhibit: the need for achievement, competitiveness, and optimism. Collectively, we call these “drive.” In order to determine the level and authenticity of these three qualities in a candidate, there are some key questions in each category to ask during the interview.

Need for Achievement: This is the highest weighted characteristic of drive. It’s the burning desire to achieve high goals. It’s a strong work ethic. Individuals with the need to achieve are hard-wired to make sacrifices in favor of career and work success.

• What kinds of sacrifices have you had to make to be successful in your career?
• Tell me about a few times where you exceeded expectations or went beyond the call of duty?
• What’s the toughest goal you’ve ever set for yourself? How do you plan to top it?

Click the button below for the complete list of interview questions in our ebook.

INSPIRE Your Team

No matter how large or small your sales team, it’s crucial that each and every person on it feel empowered to do their best work everyday. Here are two keys to inspiring them:

1. Be inclusive

Don’t write off a team member simply because they have a different style than you do. At some point you will need to decide how much time you should invest in each employee based on the potential payoff. But give everyone a fair opportunity to succeed.

2. Set an example

Remember, you are setting the tone for the team. Are you prompt? Do you show up when it’s important? Do you behave professionally? Showing passion and connection to the company will drive innovation and move the organization forward, because your reps will follow suit.

Download the free ebook for three more ways you can inspire your team.

WIN Deals

Craig Elias, co-author of SHIFT! Harness The Trigger Events that Turn Prospects Into Customers, equates the sales process with professional racing; he feels the sales teams taking the pole position and making their pitch at the ideal moment of opportunity will land the sale the majority of the time. 

Events Trigger Action, not Circumstances

It’s important to make the distinction between circumstances and actual trigger events. Circumstances include shrinking profit margins, falling stock prices, or other situations that could cause a prospect to grow unhappy with his or her current state of affairs. Circumstances, however, are not the same as events. It’s important to learn how to spot specific trigger events that open the door to sales opportunities.

Download the free ebook for the next two steps in this process.