Yes, all employees in your company are important. But let’s just face facts for a second: some are more important than others. Some employees provide an essential function, but they’re not going to make or break the success of your company.

With other employees, that is the case. Take your sales team. If they’re performing exceptionally well, then you’re going to see the rewards of their efforts in your bottom line.

As such, it’s in your best interests to ensure that they’re firing on all cylinders, that they’re able to deliver their best work. But what do you need to do in order to bring out the best in your sales team? We take a look at some tried and tested tips below.

Hire Well

Everything begins with your hiring policy. If you have a system that fails to filter out the unsuitable candidates, and there are no processes in place to ensure only the finest make it through to the final round, then you can’t be too surprised if you end up with a crummy sales team.

The harsh reality is that there are plenty of poor workers out there applying to jobs! If you can put in place a system that allows you to only bring on board the best players, you’ll be set up for success.

Make a Team

It’s not just about the individual, however. Indeed, part of your hiring process should involve making sure that your employees are able to work both together and alone. It’s tempting to think as sales as an individualistic job, but this isn’t always the case.

There’ll be times when two or more of your team have to work together, attend meetings, and so on -- they’ll be intertwined for a period, essentially. That’ll run much smoother if all of your employees can contribute toward creating a friendly and supportive team.

Let Them Work

There’s not one job in the world that benefits from micro-management. But it’s especially damaging when it comes to sales. If a salesperson is going to deliver their best work, then they need to have the freedom to do their thing.

Success in this game usually hands on a knife edge -- a person’s confidence, which rests on doing things their way, can sometimes be the difference. Your role is to ensure they have everything they need to do their job well.

If you find yourself offering too many tips on how to do their job -- as opposed to simply providing information -- then you’ll be undermining their chances of making your company a profit. Let them get on with it.

The Right Tools

Everyone knows that time is money. If your sales team is spending too much time gathering information, filling out paperwork, and doing other time-consuming tasks, then that’s all time that they’re not spending making sales.

As such, it’s your job to make sure they have everything they need so they can spend time doing what they do best: making sales. One way to do this is to have software that allows your salespeople to generate the most relevant sales content, and move faster with the use of guided selling.

Learn more about a platform that can do this for your team, and give them what they need to progress. If they have the right tools by their side, you’ll find they’re working more effectively -- and getting better results at the same time.

Motivation and Rewards

You’ll hopefully have hired team members who are inherently motivated and want to do their best. But you can’t rely on their self-starter nature all the time. They’re human beings, not robots, and that means there will be times when they need a little more to inspire them.

This is where you come in! As part of your leadership, it’s up to you to ensure that your team is inspired, that they have something to aim for. A good way to do this is to offer rewards that go beyond the usual paycheck and commission.

For example, you can do things like award a salesperson of the week/month/year, and offer benefits such as additional time off work. If there are employees who are doing exceptionally well, you can offer a “name your own reward” prize. These are things that keep standards high.

All-Around Company Culture

Your salespeople have their own targets, their own jobs, they’re sometimes kept away from the rest of the team, especially if they’re often out of the office. But of course, what’s happening with the rest of the company will impact their performance.

They need support, for starters, but on a more general basis, it’s much easier to perform your best if there’s a vibrant and positive attitude around the office. So if you want to make your salespeople perform even better, take a look at improving your overall company culture. Plus, it just makes work more enjoyable for everyone.

Support and Feedback

You’ve hired correctly. Your employees are talented. But they don’t know everything, and they’re not perfect. In order to ensure that your employees become the best they can be, you need to be on hand to offer both support and constructive criticism.

A good leader knows what the people beneath them need. Even your best performing talent will have slumps every now and again; how you handle those moments will determine how quickly they bounce back.

What Do They Need?

The best ideas are sometimes the most underrated, and the most underused. Take the simple act of asking your team what they need in order to get better results. If it’s in your power to give it to them, then do it.

They’re the ones who are on the front line everyday, they have a better sense of the tools that’ll take them to the next level.

As with most employees, if the lines of communication are open with your salespeople and you’re willing to invest in them, then you’ll be able to boost their productivity and ultimately improve your business operations.