Commercial efficiency
3 min reading

10 mistakes a sales manager shouldn't make.

Nadine Yahchouchi
Published on
14/3/2024
saastr-2022-conference-10-errors-not-to-commit

For the first year, Modjo participated in the SaaStr event in Barcelona.

There were many talks that caught our attention, such as the brilliant intervention of Arsenio Otero, COO of Celonis, on the 5 tips to scale a business globally; Pieterjan Bouten, Co-founder of Showpad, on his "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" tips; or the final survey by Jason Lemkin on the 20 ways to outperform in 2022.

The one we have chosen to share with you in advance of the availability of replays is that of Hande Cilingir, CEO of Insider, who shares 10 mistakes not to be made by heads of sales/CEOs who are building and scaling their sales team.

Nadine Yahchouchi, CMO of Modjo, and Hinde Cilingir, CEO of insider.

10 mistakes to avoid when building your sales team

Mistake #1: Not admitting a mistake.

Bad decisions happen to everyone, and being able to correct them quickly is critical, especially when resources are scarce and mistakes can have far-reaching consequences.

Mistake #2: Recruiting in a hurry.

Indeed, it is better to recruit well than quickly! Onboarding is an investment of 4 to 6 months, which you must be able to afford. It is better to be sure of the people you bring into your training process. Fewer and better employees will always be less demanding in terms of managerial effort.

Mistake #3: Recruiting uncompetitive salespeople.

The SaaS world is very competitive, and the products are not perfect, so the sales team needs to be all the more committed to winning deals.

Mistake #4: No or little training.

Not all sales people have the chance to learn from the best. That's why, as soon as the team becomes large (over 10 people), the formalisation of processes, training and tools must be managed by a dedicated person, in order to scale the team's performance - and Modjo can help you with this!

Mistake #5: Believing that salespeople are superheroes.

A successful sales team is a team that is focused on selling. A team that is distracted by building presentations, structuring deals, and contracting processes is a team that spends less time with its prospects and customers. Marketing, Sales Ops, Deal desk support allows sales people to stay focused on their deals, and therefore be effective.

Mistake #6: Not controlling your pipeline.

Each salesperson must be able to predict their weekly revenue, deal by deal, at all stages of the pipeline. This control is the one that allows them to control their risk as much as possible and build contingency plans to ensure revenue targets are met.

Mistake #7: Lacking focus on revenue expansion.

Selling to a new customer is more expensive than selling to an existing customer. Questions to be addressed quickly: "Who should take charge of business development? The sales team, or customer success? The answer is different depending on the product and the organisation of each, the length of the sales cycles and the type of upsell (same internal prescribers or not). What is important is that this task is clearly assigned.

Mistake #8: Paying little attention to product packaging (pitch, demo).

Focusing on how your products sell is a wealth of information about customer interests and the strengths and weaknesses of your solution. Understanding the demo or script that works gives an indication of the product developments to follow, as well as the differentiations sought in the market.

Mistake #9: Not wanting to do a POC.

The POC is a mark of trust and a foot in the door with the client. Paid for and limited in time, it gives your prospects confidence and allows a more agile entry into the account.

Mistake #10: Offering inadequate pricing for organic growth.

Pricing, for example, per user per month, with as little commitment as possible, allows for a win-win and increased trust with customers.
Valuable advice from Hande Cilingir, which we hope will help you in your business ;)

Hinde's final word:

"Sales people are all about selling and making people forget everything, so choose them well."
Nadine Yahchouchi
Receive our newsletter
Table of contents
Discover and try out Modjo now!
Discover Modjo
Discover Modjo
No items found.

Discover and try out Modjo now!

Book a demo
Book a demo