How to Boost Your Sales Team’s Performance

Have you hired sales teams only to be disappointed by the results?

I’ve been talking to founders and executives recently who are running fast-growing businesses from $2-$20 million, and they all have two things in common:

1. They have at least one person selling for them
2. They’re not seeing the return on their investment

One founder I spoke with told me they’d hired multiple salespeople over five years, and none had generated a single lead. 

If you can relate to these founders and execs, here’s the good news: 

You can fix this. The key lies in focusing your efforts where they matter most. 

(Can’t relate because you’re in an early stage of business? Even better! Read on to learn how to prevent these costly missteps!)

In this blog post, you’ll learn how to make your sales team more effective, build a solid sales plan, rethink your approach to lead generation and leverage your internal experts effectively.

Let’s start breaking it down. 

Sales Plans Guide Your Sales Teams to Success

Let’s start with the basics: Do you have a sales plan?

When I talk to founders about their sales struggles, this is usually where we hit a wall. A sales plan isn’t just a vague goal like, “We want to grow by 20% or reach X in revenue.”

A practical sales playbook is a detailed breakdown of what you need to achieve and how you’ll get there.

A solid sales plan tells you a lot of things, including answers to:

• Is your revenue goal sound? (Meaning, it’s based on reality vs. rainbows and unicorns.)

• Does it account for current market conditions, operational capacity, and profitability targets?

• And most importantly, how many contracts do you need to sign to reach your goal?

• How much of that goal comes from existing customers versus new ones?

• What’s your account planning strategy to ensure you hit the existing customer target? 

• How many new leads do you need to hit your new business target?

• What tactics are best to hit your new lead target? (Spoiler alert: It’s not usually what you think!)

If you don’t have the numbers, you won’t know what lead generation tactics you need and who to hire to execute them.

Speaking of lead generation, let’s delve in a little deeper because it’s another reason your sales efforts aren’t yielding results.

Stop Investing in Misaligned Tactics!

During my conversations with founders selling premium services to high-maturity buyers, I asked the same question when they shared their disappointing sales:

How much are you spending to acquire new B2B leads? 

Their answer might shock you: Anywhere from $2,000 to $10,000 a month.

When I asked what tactics they were investing in, they all reported traffic marketing — high-volume prospecting efforts, including cold outreach, digital ads, LinkedIn Sales Navigator and other time-consuming activities that produce bupkis. 

As founders grow and feel the need for more leads, the first place they go is traffic marketing because that’s what it feels like they “should” do. 

After all, there’s lots of traditional sales advice shouting “volume!” at you.

But as subject-matter experts delivering high-value services, relationships are what got you here. They’re the reason your business is thriving. 

So, instead of spending thousands on broad marketing tactics like SEO campaigns or LinkedIn ads, focus on relationship-driven strategies that leverage your existing network and build on what’s already working.

Now, you may be thinking, ‘But relationships are not scalable!’

Remember, you’re not trying to be a billion-dollar company tomorrow. You’re trying to grow sustainably, and relationships can absolutely get you there.

And finally, let’s talk about why even the most stellar salespeople won’t produce the results your internal experts will. 

Leverage Internal Experts For Your Sales Teams

Now, hang on a second. These companies I’ve been talking to are growing. So, if salespeople and traffic-based marketing tactics aren’t working, what is? 

When I asked them who was bringing in the big new leads, they all had the same answer: The founder and other subject-matter experts within the company. 

Hear this: When it comes to landing high-value clients, your internal subject-matter experts often outperform traditional sales hires. 

Why? 

Because experts understand your customers’ pain points better than anyone else. Their knowledge and experience allow them to articulate solutions that resonate deeply with prospective clients, creating trust and safety.

Relationships built by in-house experts aren’t just more authentic and more effective. These connections are grounded in a shared understanding of challenges and goals, making closing deals with the right clients easier.

At the Inc. 5000 Conference, David Jarrett, CEO of Rootstrap and my co-panellist, shared how, to emulate the companies they wanted to be, they hired outside sales. It turned out to be the wrong strategy:

“They didn’t have that adaptability and sort of entrepreneurial spirit that we needed. … We ended up kind of deciding that we wanted everybody in our company to be a salesperson.”

I share this anecdote because as founders offload their business’s sales and development pieces, they often look outside the company. That’s how they end up wasting thousands of dollars per month.

Instead of relying on external hires or impersonal lead generation campaigns, empower your internal team to take the lead in sales efforts. 

Train them to use their expertise strategically in business development and to strengthen existing relationships. 

With you or another in-house expert at the helm, you’ll align your sales strategy with the needs of high-maturity buyers, creating a more efficient and profitable path to sustainable growth.

The Bottom Line

If there’s one thing I want you to take away from this, it’s this: Before you spend another dollar on traffic lead generation or hire another person for your sales team, create a solid sales plan.

A sales plan ensures: 

• Your revenue goal is sound and based on reality rather than optimism or guesswork.

• You’ve accounted for market conditions, operational capacity, and bigger vision.

• You have a clear breakdown of your goal, including how you’ll accomplish it.

• You know how much will come from existing customers versus new ones, including the number of new leads required to hit your targets so you can choose the right tactics.

Without a plan, you’re just throwing money at the problem and hoping something sticks. With a plan, you can lead your sales teams with a clear playbook.

An ideal solution to your sales growth keeps relationship-building as its center but brings in a sales planning and strategy that helps you meet the right prospects powerfully and with the expertise they are hiring you for. 

With the right plan, strategy, and people, your team can thrive—and so will your sales.

Additional reading:

3 Mistakes Founders Make When Hiring Salespeople
Your Expertise Is Your Sales Advantage
How to focus on the right thing at the right time to grow your business

Ready for sales planning support? Here’s how I can help.