The expectation

We need to grow faster than the market. We need to scale and accelerate our sales. If we hire experienced sales people they will:

• Know what to do
• Hit the ground running
• Bring their ‘little black books’
• Tell us what we need to do to accelerate our growth

 The reality

Some perform quickly, others stall and often it’s not clear what the factors are. Existing contacts can be powerful but not all contacts are ready, willing or able to follow the rep to you.

Regardless of how quickly your experienced team builds pipeline, at some point growth and scale are often limited by a lack of consistency across the team. This manifests itself in a number of ways:

Anna Britnor Guest recently participated in the Institute of Sales Management's pilot mentor scheme.

The ISM is committed to promoting professional and ethical standards in sales and the mentor scheme is a member benefit designed to encourage continuous professional and personal development. Anna and her mentee shared their experiences with ISM Head of Membership, Rachael Bourke, in the May edition of Winning Edge magazine.

Anna has long experience of mentoring, having co-founded the UK's leading coaching and mentoring resource, The Coaching & Mentoring Network, back in 1999.