The personality of each employee on a sales team and how they work together can have a significant impact on the company culture. Adding a new salesperson to the mix can change the dynamics of the group, affecting interactions, performance, and even the results of the sales team. How can you ensure that a new employee feels comfortable and that the entire team benefits as a result of the new hire?
How Culture Impacts Success
The culture of the organization can often mean the difference between the success and the failure of a new employee. If they fit in well, they will add value to the team and will be more likely to stay with the company. If, however, they do not fit in, they will be more likely to fail or start looking for a new job before they’ve had a fair chance to succeed.
The best way to ensure that new hires fit in is to keep the culture of the company in mind throughout the hiring process. Even if a candidate is a total rock star, it does not automatically mean they should be hired. For example, a salesperson who has spent the last 10 years at a Fortune 100 company that emphasizes discipline and hierarchy would probably not thrive at a startup with a more relaxed culture.
For a salesperson to succeed, they need more than a winning personality and a methodical approach to their jobs. They must feel passionate about what they are selling and the organization they are selling that product for. If they aren’t passionate about their employer, that lack of passion will come across in every interaction with a customer or a prospect.
Onboarding Must be a Team Effort
Sales is a competitive field. Adding a new salesperson to the team can instantly put veterans on edge. They may wonder if the new hire will upstage them, or upset the dynamic of the group. When onboarding new employees, sales managers and HR teams must look beyond typical job training and orientation. It will be important to get the entire team involved, so that the veterans will have a vested interest in the success of a new hire.
Some companies assign mentors to new employees, and those mentors get a percentage of the new hire’s sales for their first nine months to a year. A program like this gives veterans a reason to help new hires succeed, and will encourage those mentors to celebrate the success of the new team member, rather than feeling threatened. Mentoring programs also give the new employee a person they know they can go to with questions or concerns, and can help make them feel more comfortable in their first few months on the job. If your enterprise software organization would like to learn more about aligning new sales hires with company culture, contact the team at Strategic Search Solutions today.