Building a Championship Sales Team Through Talent Development
Building a championship sales team is an ambition shared by most (if not all) sales leaders. If you follow professional baseball, then you know that there are two ways to build a championship team. One way is to be like the New York Yankees. The Yankees strategy is to set a very high payroll by offering the best players in the league the highest salaries. However, this strategy does not always work because having high paid players does not guarantee the players are the right fit for the team. Check out this example Major League Baseball (MLB) team success measured against payroll:
So what is the other, more proven method to build a championship franchise? The answer for most teams is talent development.
To win championships, teams focus on successfully developing their talent in the minor leagues to fit the needs of the major league team. If you are a sales leader trying to build a championship sales franchise, one that sees its number grow every year and still meets it, then you have to make sure your talent development plan meets the needs of your sales organization. In order to build a championship sales franchise, sales leaders must think strategically about their talent development plans and how to connect those plans to the goals of their sales organization.
Building a Championship Sales Team Through Talent Development
At SOAR, we define Strategic Talent Development as a conscious, deliberate approach to attract, develop and retain people with the aptitude and abilities to meet current and future organizational objectives. Being strategic about talent development is how baseball franchises win championships when they have half the payroll budget as other teams. You can apply these same principles to turn your sales organization into a championship sales franchise!
Over the upcoming weeks, we will be running a series of blog articles focusing on the four keys to strategic talent development. Those keys are:
- Establishing the Talent Success Guide
- Determining the Current Talent Makeup
- Establishing the Development Path
- Developing Talent for Ongoing Success
Don’t wait until opportunities have passed and it is too late to win big. Check back next week for Key #1, Establishing the Talent Success Guide, and see how you can start proactively building your own championship sales franchise with strategic talent development.
Building a Championship Sales Team Through Talent Development