5 Do’s and Don’ts to Get the Best Out of Your SMB Sales Team

The SMB market is a blast to sell into. Mainly because you’re dealing with decision makers and can get quick answers, but more importantly because you can see that your products have an immediate impact on their business.

Congrats, you’re ready to go after a huge SMB market or maybe you’re already in the market and looking to sharpen your team.

Either way it’s a time full of excitement and determination to do things right for any SaaS CEO and leader, especially when time is of the essence.

Let’s highlight why so many SaaS companies are going after the SMB space. According to a recent study about technology-advanced small businesses compared to technology-basic businesses, advanced SMBs:

• Earned 2x as much revenue per employee

• Experienced revenue growth that was 4x as high

• Had employment growth that was more than 6x as high

• Had more diversified national and international client base

• Experienced increased inquiries across sales channels

The study states that ”The use of digital tools can help SMBs to improve their performance and respond to changes in the business and consumer landscape in an agile manner.” This means there is a lot of opportunity for SaaS companies.

For many SaaS firms, the decision to go after SMBs usually starts something like this:

• Your first sales were with enterprise accounts and their positive feedback on your products fueled your confidence

• You turn a blind eye on your customer acquisition costs because every sale matters

• Then, you or your investor ask “How do we scale fast to capitalize on the much bigger SMB market opportunity?”

Boom, you are now going after SMBs. 

The key to success when selling to SMBs is to build out a robust plan and processes that will drive maximum results. This growth plan contains all types of things such as: go-to-market strategy, hiring plan, database setup, boot camp training, and management processes, among many other things.

In fact, a Harvard Business Review study shows that 50% of high-performing sales organizations have well-documented sales processes, compared to 28% of under-performing organizations. Which basically means, you can’t just start hiring sales reps and expect your business to grow overnight.

Now, there are books on how to build an SMB sales team. The only caveat is that every SaaS business is a little different. Some books tout one type of setup, while others are filled with so many ideas that it becomes overwhelming.

The best thing to do is talk conceptually with your leadership team to see how far you could get with your own growth plan (make sure to consider costs, time, and expertise to do it yourself). Depending on your situation, it may make more sense to find a consultant that has been there before and can devise a plan tailored to your organization (higher cost, but ROI is probably higher too).

With my own experience successfully building an SMB team from zero to over 30 productive reps with great sales leadership running point on all the processes, I’ve come to learn a few do’s and don’ts throughout the entire process.

Let’s jump right in.

Do’s

1. Invest heavily into an on boarding boot camp program
   You need to train all reps on exactly what you want them to do: from making a cold-call to logging an activity to overcoming an objection to closing a deal. They should learn “what good looks like” in your world and then be able to repeat it exactly the same way. They also need to be authentic, so give them the roadmap but allow them to think on their feet too. Process is how you scale, so teach the value of process and how it saves time and generates better results.

2. Make sure your SMB management team is well-trained and consistent
   Just as you would invest heavily into your SMB sales reps you also need to invest in your sales managers. They probably were your top reps at one point, but doesn’t mean they know how to manage or lead out the gates. Create process for them to follow from pipeline check-ins to how to handle sales demo coaching sessions (everyone should be consistent). How they lead should be authentic, but still provide them best practices and use a monthly meeting to talk about leadership principles and recent examples. Consistency is key.

3. Have a clean database with verified accounts
   SMB reps are hungry to prove their worth which is awesome. But to get the best out of them, make sure their prospect lists are always clean. Let them focus on execution (making calls, doing demos, working deals to close, etc.) not figuring out if an account is good or not. SMB accounts have shorter sales cycles because you’re dealing with decision-makers more often, but if calls are being made to bad accounts or non-decision makers, that’s management’s fault.

4. Continuously work on shortening the sales cycle
   Figure out how/why SMB prospects buy anything in your industry or market. What are the goals and challenges they care most about? Tailor your presentation to highlight what’s most important, it shouldn't just be an overview of everything your products or services do. Small business owners are likely to buy if you can solve one main problem, so touting five different things doesn’t matter. A mistake I’ve seen is trying to use the same story with SMB accounts as you do with mid-market or enterprise ones.

5. Gamification really works and needs constant nurturing
   Celebrate small and big wins as often as possible whether that’s call volume, talk-time, demos booked, closed deals, etc. Make it a show for all to see. You have to create a competitive environment that recognizes people who are always pushing to achieve more. It’s good that competition is team-wide but don’t be afraid to pair groups together and compete that way, even randomly selected teams can be a fun new way to do it.

Don’ts

1. Don't hire the wrong people
   “Time is of the essence” is always on your mind so you’ll feel like you can take a flyer on lots of people. Avoid it as much as possible, even if you have a training program. Bad hires are big drains on trainers, managers, and other reps. If they have a customer service background, only did SDR type role before, didn’t really play sports or do extracurricular activities, then your entire interview should be about uncovering how they handle pressure and not winning. They should have examples about competitive environments they’ve been in, if not, move on. Also, try to unsell them from the sales role to do something else like Customer Success and see if they fight you for the sales role (that tells you a lot).  

2. Don't forget to do buyer personas
   SMB customers are more risk averse in general so you have to sell to their mindset (stick to 1-2 things that really matter to them). Without spending the time to really breakdown the SMB buyer persona and how/why they would buy something to help their business, then you’re just spinning your wheels. Your SMB sales demo and buying process should be built according to that buyer persona. And if you sell mid-market or enterprise already, don’t assume you can just use those same buyer profiles.

3. Don't micro manage reps’ sales demos and think of that as coaching
   I’ve seen many times where reps have performed poorly and when I asked them “What’s up?” they couldn't isolate why or explain their biggest weakness. That’s because their managers have told them the 100 things they could do better on their demos which essentially confuses and affects their confidence. The purpose of being on sales demos is to provide value for the buyer and to support your rep when need be. Then, afterwards you should provide 2-3 points they did well and 1-2 key things they could have done better. Position the coaching to uplift them, rather than a laundry list of what to fix. If the rep was really bad, then go back to the big drawing board and talk about value prop, demo flow, etc. Then have them mock.

4. Don't assume all is great if activity is high
   I learned this one the hard way. Be smart about looking at activity reports but also at data and trends (close ratios, discounting, number of sales demos needed to close a deal, etc.). Activity is just a barometer on effort, but it doesn’t necessarily mean high-quality effort. This is also why your database should be clean so the effort expended is on quality accounts versus non-quality. Bottom-line: don’t sit back if activity is high, instead review activity plus key data points to best understand if the effort is resulting in the success you’re after.

5. Don't take too long to pivot if the market changes
   If activity is good, but results are low: look at your data and trends immediately. If activity and account penetration seem the same, then you need to understand quickly what’s happening and that starts by doing a few things: 1) talk with your front line managers 2) talk with your best reps about what they're hearing 3) talk to a few trusted clients and get their take on any market shifts 4) talk to an industry thought leader for any feedback 5) come up with 2-3 revised (pivoted) positions on how you help your prospects. Then, try a little A/B/C testing (you’re looking for market positioning feedback good or bad, and sales). Based on what you learn, you need to act quick to pull your team together and adjust your story based on the testing. Tell your team what you did, what you learned, and what’s different. This will build their confidence.

Selling to SMBs is a volume deal with some similarities to consumers. It’s all about having a high enough volume with good enough conversion and churn rates to grow. Your growth plan is your roadmap, and actually growing and managing the team will always be an evolving process that you should embrace (it’s what drives your results after all!).

As the CEO or sales leader, as long as you are creating an awesome overall experience for your sales reps and customers, and your product is simple enough for an SMB company to execute, success will follow.