As your agency grows your begin to expand your sales team. A question submitted recently is whether prospecting and sales should be split into to roles.
In this episode of Inbound Sales Journey we discuss the pros and cons of splitting the two into separate roles.
Defining Responsibilities
The answer for your agency may depend on how you split the two roles. For example is prospecting exclusively cold leads? Does it include top of the funnel leads?
There needs to be a clear understanding of where the break lies. Some sales people will want to have control over any inbound leads regardless of how far down the funnel they are.
If you are splitting the roles into two separate jobs there needs to be a clearly defined line where one stops and the other takes over.
The Importance of Systems
Once the roles have been clearly established with a defined point of passing the baton, there needs to be a system in place.
A CRM on it’s own won’t solve your problems. The system you have built within it is what is important. It is easy for prospects to get lost in transition if there are holes in the system.
Invest time to making sure both sides of the team understand where the transition points happen and how to manage them.
At DoInbound this same type of transition occurs when a new agency comes on board. They move form prospect –> new customer –> on-boardings.
We have a system to handle that built out inside of the HubSpot CRM. Only after we realized some agencies were not being ob-boarded quickly did we put that system in place. Be proactive not reactive, think through transition points and how they will be handled form the beginning.
Full-Time, Part-Time, or Virtual Assistant?
Consider the type of sales person you have. Where do they spend there time? Are they overwhelmed with selling that they do not have time to prospect? Is prospecting even something they are good at?
Everyone on your team has a different set of strengths. Your sales person is the sales person because they are good at closing deals. That means the more time they spend on the phone with prospects the more profitable your agency will become.
Depending on your needs you may not need to jump right to another full time prospecting hire. Consider a part-time or virtual assistant to fill these roles.
The prospecting hire should be a very organized individual who is detail oriented. They do not need to have great sales skills. Leave the selling to the sales person.
Consider starting with a VA to test out having two roles. Then move up from there if things go well.
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