Identifying the right company to work for is crucial to the success of any sales rep. Here are a few pointers to help you make a smart career move:
Evaluate their training programs
Companies with great learning and development programs will increase your likelihood of success and help you grow professionally.
During your interview, be sure to specifically ask what type of training is provided, who provides the training and how often training is provided. The amount of time and energy a company dedicates to training can directly correlate to your success. A few points to consider:
- Is the training focused on sales, product or both?
- Is training provided virtually or in-person? This is a key factor if you are remote.
- Do they have someone dedicated to training, or does it fall to a sales manager or team lead?
For a deeper look at how you can inquire about these details, check out our 5 Questions Sales Candidates Should Ask Every Hiring Manager
Perform your own SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
Before the interview, reviewing the company’s market performance and competition will provide insight that
Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, Forrester’s Wave Reports and G2 Crowd are great resources to determine how a company’s products stack up to competitors and how end-users or customers perceive their value. Use this data to ask yourself:
Does the value proposition of the product still make sense?
The business world moves at lightspeed – The tech world moves even faster. Be sure to research the industry and the products/solutions or services your prospective employer offers. If they are not keeping up with the marketplace then you may want to look elsewhere.
Review the size of team and ratio/involvement of managers
A lot of companies are structured with high rep-to-manager ratios, which could have an impact on the amount of time your manager can spend with you. But according to Harvard Business Review, the sweet spot for high-performing companies is a ratio of nonmanagers-to-managers of approximately 8:1.
The ratio gives you an idea of the culture and work dynamics at play before you even step through the door. It also gives you an idea of the level of management support you can expect.
Assess the data resources available to the team and their tech-enabled sales stack
In the current landscape, sales solutions give companies a competitive advantage, and a company’s investment in these resources will give you an idea of how you will be positioned and enabled for success.
With better tech and data resources, you’ll know if a company is positioned to increase the effectiveness of the sales team to:
- Convert leads faster
- Expose your solution to more prospects
- Increase your ACV
- Reduce customer churn
A comprehensive assessment of these tools will help you determine if it’s a company you want to work for.
Now that you know how to identify the best companies, take a look at some of the red flags you should keep an eye out for when choosing your next sales job.
