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Building a Sales Team with Marty Grunder

⏱️ 52:46 🎤 Michael Pletz, Marty Grunder
AUDIO EPISODE
Building a Sales Team with Marty Grunder
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Chapters

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  • 0:00
    Marty's Current Roles
    Marty Grunder describes his day-to-day responsibilities at Grunder Landscaping and Grow Group, focusing on business development, teaching, and mentoring.
  • 1:02
    Evolving as a Leader
    Marty explains that his extensive experience and continuous learning through the Grow Group have been crucial to his development as a leader.
  • 11:39
    Importance of Empathy
    Marty discusses the critical role of empathy in modern leadership, acknowledging that there can be 'too much empathy' in certain situations with employees.
  • 29:56
    Hiring Your First Salesperson
    Marty shares insights on when and how to hire a salesperson, stressing that sales are vital for business growth and that the first hires are learning experiences.
  • 38:56
    Internal Sales Promotions
    Marty cautions against automatically promoting existing employees to sales roles without assessing their aptitude for sales, suggesting trial periods instead.
  • 53:40
    Sales Incentives & Crews
    Marty addresses potential conflicts between sales and production teams regarding incentives and crew assignments, highlighting the importance of fair systems and overall team capability.
  • 1:02:14
    Ongoing Sales Training
    Marty discusses providing ongoing training for salespeople, including internal resources and supporting external workshops if they offer clear merit.
  • 1:05:56
    Sales Goals & Route Density
    Marty explains how sales goals are set, emphasizing the strategic importance of route density for efficiency and leveraging existing customer relationships.
  • 1:10:02
    Sales Director Role
    Marty defines the role of a sales director, warning against promoting a top salesperson to this position without considering their management skills and patience.
  • 1:13:51
    Common Salesperson Challenges
    Marty identifies common challenges for new salespeople, such as not genuinely listening to customers, and stresses that building trust is a process.

Speakers

M
Michael Pletz
Host
M
Marty Grunder
founder and CEO of GLC, founder and president of Grow Group, and host of the Grow Show

Key Takeaways

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Focus on your core strengths for business development; delegate administrative tasks where possible, potentially hiring fractional roles for finance.

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Prioritize sales for growth; nothing happens until something is sold, so invest in building and training a dedicated sales team.

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Be cautious when promoting internal staff to sales; assess personality and skills suitable for sales, as a good production worker may not be a good salesperson.

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Develop a robust incentive program for sales that considers various scenarios and involves professional help to ensure fairness and effectiveness.

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Emphasize 'route density' in sales goals to maximize efficiency by securing more projects in existing service areas where your company is already known.

✦

For sales managers, avoid promoting your top salesperson just because they're a great individual contributor; consider if they have the patience and management skills to lead a team.

✦

Train salespeople to actively listen to customers and build trust over time, as clients are turned off by 'commission breath' and disinterest.

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