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35 Cold Calling Statistics to Help Shape Your B2B Sales Strategy

Cold calling remains a powerful sales technique, even in today’s digital age. Nothing beats the human connection that happens when you hear a friendly voice on the other end of a call. 

Every week, our team connects with thousands of sales professionals who make cold calls daily. They’re sharing with us firsthand what’s working, what’s not, and what new challenges sales professionals face as we look ahead into 2025 and beyond. We’ve compiled a list of the most exciting, research-backed, key cold-calling statistics that shed light on the current sales landscape. These statistics can help you plan your new year accordingly.

The statistics we have to share with you today reveal:

  • Why buyers love to connect over the phone
  • How your social media presence could impact your cold calling efficiency 
  • The best time of the week and day to make cold calls
  • The power of AI to boost cold calling success

Looking to build a sales team that excels in cold calling and drives real results? Contact Peak Sales Recruiting today to find the right talent for your team.

Understand Your Clients Preferences With These Cold Calling Statistics

Buyers love to connect. Let’s kick off our cold calling statistics list with some of the most promising insights about it’s effectiveness. 

1. On average, 49% of buyers prefer that initial contact be made via cold call (Zippia). This means prospects may be more receptive than you imagine to cold calls.

2. This statistic increases to 50% for buyers in professional services and 54% for technology buyers (Zippia).

3. 57% of C-level executives and VPs list cold calling as their preferred method of being contacted. (RAIN Group).

4. This is compared to 51% of directors and 47% of managers (RAIN Group).

Powerful Cold Calling Statistics to Leverage for Success

These statistics are important when considering the impact of your cold-calling process on your company.

5. It takes an average of 8 cold calls to reach a prospect and book a meeting (Outplay). That means most calls aren’t answered and might be seen as ‘unsuccessful calls’. However, the results of individual calls can’t measure success in a cold-calling strategy; it’s a long game! Cold calling requires commitment and comfort with delayed gratification from your sales representatives. 

6. Overall, cold calling has an average 2% conversion rate (Zippia, Kently). This is totally normal and in some cases considered a success.

Before we discuss how to improve your sales reps’ cold calling, let’s discuss effective marketing strategies. 

7. 82% of buyers believe a company is more trustworthy if it’s active on social media (BrandFog). It’s less work for a buyer to confirm your trustworthiness through this social proof than to call you back and try to discern firsthand. Start considering your social media strategy as part of your sales process.

8. Additionally, 77% of buyers are more likely to buy from a company if the CEO is active on social media (BrandFog), so get your leaders involved, too!

Stats to Help Improve Your Cold Calling Results

Following industry best practices are a great start to successful sales prospecting calls. These cold calling statistics reveal ways to get more answered calls, callbacks, and closed sales.

9. To succeed, the average salesperson must make 52-60 cold calls per day (The Bridge Group). How many calls are your reps making daily? If you have team members who struggle to hit their targets, or refuse to make cold calls altogether, check out our blog here on the topic.

10. Customers who are referred are about 24% more profitable than other customers (Wharton School of Business). Are your sales reps making referrals a part of their cold-calling sales strategy?

11. When it comes to timing cold calls, the best time of day to call is between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm in the prospect’s time zone. This time has 71% more conversions than the second best time, which is between 11:00 am and 12:00 pm (Outplay). 

12. The worst time to make a cold call is around 1:00 pm (Revenue.io).

13. Wednesdays are the best day of the week to make cold calls, followed by Thursdays (InsideSales.com). In addition, we always recommend avoiding Monday mornings and Friday afternoons when professionals are busy starting or wrapping up their work week. 

14. Successful cold calls include 65% more “we” statements (Gong). What’s the power of we? This language is used in sales to make the sales rep and prospect feel like partners. It also signals that the rep is speaking on behalf of your organization.

Statistics That Reveal Your Cold Calling Mistakes 

Many easy-to-fix mistakes prohibit sales representatives from closing successful sales prospecting calls daily. Let’s cover what those are, as well as a few tips on addressing them with your team. 

15. On average, salespeople don’t follow up on half of marketing leads (Dreamforce). The solution to this mistake is clear: make more follow-up phone calls. However, there are complex reasons why your sales professionals might make this mistake. For instance…

16. 44% of sales representatives stop the sale after receiving negative feedback from their first call (SmallBiz Genius). Review your sales statistics to see if your sales reps are following up on all marketing leads. Next, consider ways to train, empower, coach, or offer incentives for better follow-up.

17. After reaching a prospect, salespeople must make an average of 5 additional follow-up calls to close the deal (SmallBiz Genius). Setting your sales team up for success may also mean adjusting their expectations and increasing the number of follow-ups they see as standard in the sales process. 

18. If sales reps fail to discuss follow-up steps on their first call, the close rate will drop by 71% (Gong.io). A resilient sales mindset not only serves your company but also your clients. Prospects want to know when and how your team will follow up. Being clear about your process begins to build trust early on.

Of course, how your prospects conduct themselves on a cold call dramatically impacts your cold calling results. But did you know five words can decrease your sales reps’ chances of success by 40%?

19. If your sales reps kick off a call by asking, “Is now a bad time?” they decrease their chance of booking a meeting with the prospect by 40% (Gong.io). Ask your reps to consider more confident and engaging ways to kick off their cold calls.

20. The success rate of a cold call drops by 61% if the call exceeds 5 minutes in length (Zipdo). Brevity is critical when connecting with a new prospect since your rep hasn’t earned much trust with their prospect yet. Keep calls short to qualify leads and follow up!

21. Sales representatives who talk for over 55% of a cold call are less likely to close a deal (Zippia). When you listen (almost) as much as you talk, prospects feel like their problems matter. This is a powerful way to make a positive first impression.

Stats That Expose Cold Calling Challenges 

While B2B cold calling statistics might look dismal at times, it’s all a numbers game you can get the ‘upper hand’ in. Let’s consider how many cold calls go to voicemail. Your sales representatives can increase callbacks with one simple step.

22. 92% of people believe calls from an unknown number are a scam and, therefore, won’t answer (Market Splash). This makes cold calling particularly challenging since so many calls need to be made before making contact is actually possible.

23. Since so many sales calls are ignored, 80% of cold calls go to voicemail (Market Splash). A voicemail script can help your sales professionals leave voice messages that pack a punch. However, how many of those voicemails are listened to?

24. Only 15% of customers listen to voicemails left from a cold call (Market Splash). But, there are two simple things your sales professionals can do to increase their chances of a reply — other than just calling back. 

25. Using local area codes can increase the likelihood of a callback by 57% (Zipdo). 

26. And while 90% of buyers won’t return a cold call if the sales rep only leaves a voicemail (Smith.ai), a follow-up email, or, in some industries, a text message sent immediately after a voicemail can encourage a reply. This creates multiple touchpoints and opportunities for the client to recognize who you are — and call back or reply.

27. A sales rep’s chance of getting that reply increases when other forms of communication are used because 80% of prospects would rather talk to a salesperson over email than over the phone (Salesmate).

Getting just anyone at a company to answer your cold calls won’t always cut it. Another cold-calling challenge is getting the right person — a top decision-maker or makers— on the phone.

28. If your sales representatives are calling offices with 50-100 people in them, there will be, on average, seven people involved in that office’s purchasing decisions (Selling Signals). So, even if your rep contacts someone in the office, they may have to leverage their contact as their internal champion or quickly build rapport so that the person contacted will make the necessary introduction(s).

29. There’s also the issue of the ‘right person’ being difficult to pin down in the first place. In one year, 30% of people change jobs, 66% change job titles or functions, 43% change their work number, and 37% change their email address (ZoomInfo Study). With prospect contact information becoming so quickly dated, thorough research is essential. There may be value in employing AI in your data collection as well.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence Revealed by Cold Calling Statistics

Has your sales team hopped on the AI bandwagon yet? Early adopters have set a new tech trajectory, and those who remain skeptical will soon be left in the dust. To maximize your sales team’s chances of the most efficient, effective, and successful sales prospecting calls — consider adding an AI component to your cold calling strategy.

30. High-performing sales teams are 4.9 times more likely to be using AI than underperforming teams (Salesforce).

31. Sales professionals who have adopted AI have increased leads and appointments by 50% (McKinsey).

32. By 2025, 75% of B2B companies will use AI to elevate traditional cold calls (Airgram), so there’s never been a better time to start with AI to get ahead of the crowd.

33. 70% of sales professionals say using AI helps them save time (Airgram).

34. Using AI to automate manual tasks has allowed sales reps to have 2-3x more daily conversations (Koncert). And, of course, the more calls, the more chances your sales reps have to close a sale.

35. AI can even be employed to phone-verify numbers so that sales reps aren’t calling incorrect numbers. This process can ensure about 98% accuracy (Outplay).

As you prepare your sales team for the end of 2023 and the start of the new year, we’d love to help. Our network of professionals is full of cold-calling experts who could be just the fit for your team. Contact us today to discuss your hiring needs and learn how Peak Sales can help you meet your sales goals. 

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Ryan Thornton

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The SaaS Sales Process: A Comprehensive Guide

B2B SaaS sales are dynamic and ever-evolving. To meet user needs and keep up with tech trends, software must adapt and be maintained regularly.

The SaaS sales process is no less unique, with lots of room for growth and flexibility. To succeed in an SaaS business, it’s important to understand the sales process and best practices. It’s also crucial to choose the right selling model. If you run an SaaS startup, it’s important to understand how to hire good salespeople.

→ If you missed our earlier blog on SaaS Sales, you can find more information here. It explains what makes it different, the key metrics to focus on, and the commission structures that are commonly used. 

What is the SaaS Sales Process?

The SaaS sales process is the series of steps and strategies that a company follows to identify, target, attract, and convert potential customers into paying subscribers. The exact steps and stages may vary from one company to another.

The SaaS sales process is complex compared to other sales processes involving a one-time purchase of a product or software. For this reason, the SaaS sales process is typically longer and requires a more customer service focused approach to selling. When starting your SaaS sales journey, keep in mind that the initial investment in sales may appear costly. However, because SaaS is usually sold based on monthly or annual recurring revenue, the customers you acquire through this investment tend to have a higher lifetime value.

How long is the SaaS Sales cycle?

The whole SaaS sales cycle can range from a few weeks long to several months long, with the average cycle around 80-90 days long. The SaaS sales process can vary from one company to another. This depends on the size of deals, number of stakeholders involved in their sales, and which model the company chooses.

Sales cycles will be shorter for:

  • Lower-priced products (under $5,000)
  • Smaller companies with fewer stakeholders involved in the purchase decision

Sales cycles will be longer for:

  • Higher priced products
  • Larger companies with more stakeholders involved in the purchase decision
  • Enterprise clients and SaaS sales models

Given all of these variables, there are still some general principles in the SaaS sales cycle that apply to nearly all SaaS companies. We’ve gathered the nine steps most commonly integrated into every company’s SaaS sales process.

The 9 Step SaaS Sales Process

Since the SaaS sales cycle is overall longer in nature, it has more touch points between the potential customer and sales representative before a deal is made. This longer and more complex process requires sales representatives to be deeply educated in your software, highly motivated, and extremely agile in their skill set. 

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is saas-sales-process.png
9 Essential Steps of the SaaS Sales Process

Step 1: Find Leads

While lead generation is a function of marketing, it’s worth mentioning how it can play a very crucial part in an SaaS Sales process. Marketing helps people become familiar with your brand and understand how you can assist them by increasing brand awareness and encouraging engagement. It can even motivate users to sign up for free trials of a SaaS. You should aim to get in front of your customers before they’ve done extensive research on your product and your competitors. The earlier you gain control of the conversation and begin educating potential customers on your terms, the better. 

Step 2: Focus on Prospecting

The B2B SaaS sales cycle really kicks into gear with prospecting. In this stage, warm leads may be contacted through a call or email. Cold calling and cold email can also be a part of prospecting. 

Step 3: Set a Qualification Framework

This step is particularly important early on in SaaS sales. Since sales representatives spend a substantial amount of time educating, connecting with, and getting to know potential customers’ needs, it’s imperative that time isn’t wasted on companies that aren’t a great fit. Through qualification, sales representatives determine if a prospect has needs that match with their service. Having a set qualification framework ensures consistent customer qualification. This is also the point in the sales cycle where representatives should confirm that the potential client has the budget for their service and when they should find out if they are connected to the person with the authority to make a final decision to purchase. 

Step 4: Provide Valuable Product Demos and Presentations

A cookie-cutter pitch doesn’t work in B2B SaaS sales. The best results are found when sales representatives are able to demonstrate the product features and benefits in a way that is tailored to the prospect. In today’s fast-paced business landscape, customers also expect this to be done quickly. They won’t want to wait weeks or even days to get a demo from your team. You can show your product to B2B customers with a proof of concept (POC). This allows them to test the software with their existing systems before investing. In the demo stage, representatives should be ready and able to answer questions and troubleshoot their software for potential customers as well. 

Step 5: Offer Service Testing 

In order for companies to experience a proof of concept, a testing or trial period is often allowed. This hands-on time gives potential customers time to see how the software works, what its full capabilities are, and the value it will bring to their company. Trials should be designed strategically to support customers in getting to know the value of the software while also guiding them into a sale in a timely manner. Read more about how to determine your trial length here. 

Step 6: Have Clear Pricing & Proposal Plans

In the proposal stage, the SaaS sales representative gives the potential customer an overview of the available services, their recommendations for service, and lays out customized pricing or subscription plan costs. 

Step 7: Prepare for Negotiation

Leading up to and during the negotiation stage, you want to ensure that you’ve educated and equipped your ‘champions’ inside the company. Key decision-makers will be getting involved in this stage, and you and your company contacts should feel prepared to keep things moving forward. In negotiations, the sales rep will handle any remaining concerns, talk about terms, and agree on pricing.

Step 8: Close the Deal

Once both parties have committed to all terms, the deal is finalized, and the customer is guided into the onboarding process. This is where the company’s focus becomes customer success, and later, potential expansion or renewal is also important. 

Step 9: Create a Positive Onboarding Experience

In SaaS Sales the purchase doesn’t end when the salesperson closes a deal. Once a prospect has become a customer, they’re likely to be paying for your SaaS on an ongoing basis and, therefore, need a continually positive experience to continue their subscription with you. During the onboarding process, sales representatives have the most opportunity to train, educate, and prepare customers for getting the most out of their SaaS purchases. You’ll reduce churn and maintain or increase your recurring revenue by nurturing new customers from the start. You’ll also set up your customer relationships for easier maintenance, smooth account management, and prime upselling opportunities in the future. 

Which SaaS Sales Model is Right for Your Company or Startup?

Every SaaS company must select a model for their business and modify it to fit their service, sales process, and customer requirements. It’s normal for companies to blend SaaS sales models and structures to find a fit that is right for them. 

In this article, we’re going to cover the most common models: subscription-based, freemium, pay-per-use, and enterprise. 

The first of these three models can be structured for self-service, where the sales process relies more heavily on lead generation than on sales reps to close deals. Or they can be more transactional in nature, depending on sales representatives to guide a customer experience and inspire conversion when prospects might be hesitant to pay a higher price for a SaaS product. The enterprise model and structure always require a sales team. 

The Subscription Based Model

This is the most common model for an SaaS company. If you choose this model for your company, you’ll have a more predictable recurring revenue and the costs incurred for automatic updates and regular software maintenance can be expected as well. This model allows you to remain flexible and can be scaled up or down to meet customer needs. 

The Freemium Model 

The freemium model (a play on the words free and premium) offers a basic version of the software for free. Customers can easily say ‘yes’ to the free version, so a large number of users will sign up to try out your software. This low barrier to entry gives you an advantage down the line. Leads become even warmer prospects once they’re using your software. That means every upsell within your software is being offered to someone who is already actively engaging with your software. 

This is an advantage you must leverage strategically, though. 

If your free version features are too limited, users won’t find your SaaS beneficial and won’t buy your premium version. On the other hand, users who have everything they need on your free version won’t experience any pressure to upgrade. While it’s unavoidable with this model that some customers will stick with your free version indefinitely, many will choose to pay for advanced premium features when you strike the right balance between your free and premium features.

Consider what a customer needs to get a hands-on experience with your most impressive features while also limiting their access so that upgrading becomes the most convenient and economical option. You might limit the number of entries or records a customer can create in your free version, only allow a limited number of team members, or save high-end integrations for your premium users.

Scaling with this model can be a bit tricky, but isn’t impossible. You’ll just need to consider how you’ll cover the cost of the SaaS sales and customer service staff needed to support a growing number of free members while you work to increase your paid membership. 

The Pay-Per-Use Model

In the pay-per-use model, customers do not pay a flat-rate recurring fee for your SaaS software. Instead, they’re charged in a tiered structure or based on thresholds based on what they use within your SaaS platform. Transactions, storage space, data transfer, or another relevant metric could measure usage. Users benefit from this model because they only pay for what they use, so their cost is directly proportional to the benefit they receive. Companies benefit from this model because it’s easier to scale as usage fluctuates. When changes are too rapid, though, challenges can arise in managing or forecasting costs, leading to unexpected or unpredictable expenses.

The Enterprise Model

If your SaaS solution has a high level of complexity and serves a very specific type of B2B client, you’ll want to consider an enterprise SaaS model. In this model, the sales cycle is heavily focused on outbound sales rather than on inbound marketing and sales.

This model involves long-term contracts and is well suited for SaaS used by large corporations, government agencies, and institutions with complex requirements and substantial budgets. Given these unique characteristics of the model, the customers must make a significant financial investment as well as a significant time investment in purchasing the new SaaS. Sometimes, customers need to wait for other contracts to end or will have to migrate their data and modify their infrastructure to make the switch. While this increases the time it takes to convert and onboard a customer — and therefore increases the cost of the sale — it also means that customers have to go all in on the transition and are less likely to churn. 

One of the keys to long-term SaaS enterprise success is finding the sweet spot between the cost and features of your product. If the product is too complex for the price, your company will struggle to support its users appropriately. If you’re concerned about this in your own SaaS, consider how to trim down your software to appeal to a broader audience or increase the price so that you can sell to bigger clients and adequately cover the cost of more intensive support. 

The SaaS enterprise model usually involves custom pricing structures that take into consideration the size and usage of each organization. This allows the SaaS company to provide dedicated support and grow with the needs of its customer companies. Combined with the annual recurring revenue model, this style of pricing and support can make for more profitable and dependable revenue for the SaaS enterprise company. 

4 SaaS Best Practices

No matter the model you choose for your SaaS business, you’ll want to follow a few best practices in your sales cycle. These practices ensure that every sales representative you hire is thoroughly trained in how to uphold these practices as well.

1. Know Your Target Market

Sales representatives who have deeply studied their target market will be able to efficiently qualify prospects, connect with buyers about their niche needs, and address challenges in their industry through a tailored pitch. Look for opportunities to network within the industry you’re selling to and join online forums or communities where customers are asking questions and talking about the issues they have that your software solves. 

2. Become a Team of Trusted Advisors

All SaaS solutions boil down to three types of solutions: increasing efficiency, creating cost savings, or saving time. As you get to know your target market, you’ll be able to clearly connect your customer’s problem with your solution. This level of expertise allows you to build reliability, trust, and rapport with customers that lays a foundation for beneficial long-term relationships in SaaS sales. Peak sales recommends these SaaS sales training programs to take your expertise to new heights. 

3. Gain an In-Depth Experience of Your SaaS

Whenever possible, use your own SaaS software to gain and maintain a sense of what it is like to use your product first-hand. If it isn’t possible or practical for you to do this on a regular basis, consider how you might involve your sales team in simulated use or shadowing the use of customers. Experiential expertise beats observational expertise every time. Experiential expertise will give your representatives anecdotal and personal knowledge about the features and benefits of your product most relevant to each customer’s pain points. 

4. Leverage Your CRM

A customer relationship management (CRM) software isn’t just a place to house customer information. It can also become a place where you optimize your responsiveness and the quality of your customer service. Keep detailed notes as your team manages leads and tracks interactions throughout the sales pipeline. Even sales interactions and cycles that end in a ‘no’ the first, second, or third time could turn into a yes down the road. As you navigate those rejections and nurture those relationships, having an organized system for your client information will be invaluable.

Every Hire in SaaS Sales is High Stakes!

Since the sales cycle is longer and more complex than in other business models, it can also be far more expensive. Choosing eager, adaptable, and motivated professionals who understand your business model is paramount to your success. 

Not just any great salesperson can sell SaaS, and we’d love to help make sure your team has the perfect mix of sales skills for your SaaS sales model. Contact us today to explore our network of qualified SaaS sales experts!

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Kyle Fletcher

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SaaS Sales: Navigating Unique Products, Commissions, and Metrics For Success

In today’s fast-paced digital world SaaS, has emerged as a game-changer. In the past, software was a product that was purchased, delivered as a one-time license for use, and may be updated by a customer every few years (or less) as improvements were made in the software.

Now, SaaS allows companies to use data centers to host their software. All access, management, and use of the software then takes place over the internet. A SaaS business model typically has lower entry costs than traditional software and produces more effective and responsive software. It also saves clients from needing to purchase new hardware to maintain compatibility with new software versions.

What is SaaS Sales?

SaaS sales (also referred to as software as a service) is software purchased via a monthly or yearly subscription. Customers receive updates, improvements, and attentive support while their subscription is active. Once a client stops paying their recurring fee, they lose all access to the software product. 

While this model generates a steady stream of revenue for SaaS sellers. However, this model requires a unique sales strategy to work well. 

How Does SaaS Sales Differ From Other Sales?

Selling SaaS can come with its own set of challenges. B2B SaaS sales rely heavily on customer retention, service renewals, and current customers being upgraded to higher tiers of service. Other types of sales may seek to retain and upsell customers, however, it is particularly important in the subscription world of software. Attentive selling and onboarding processes are crucial to customers buying and using the SaaS product. If customer ‘training’ isn’t successful, customers are more likely to discontinue service with the SaaS seller. This turnover contributes to ‘churn’ in an SaaS business, a metric we’ll cover in the next section.

SaaS Sales Metrics

Along with following a unique sales process, essential SaaS sales metrics must be measured so that sales teams can effectively and efficiently increase their sales revenue, conversion rates, and retention. 

Customer Acquisition Cost should be optimized in SaaS sales to reduce the investment required to convert a potential customer. When this cost is too high, companies should look at their qualification process in the sales cycle to ensure they are targeting leads that are the best fit for their services. Selling to the wrong customers is always a costly mistake. A trial period that is too long can also unnecessarily increase the cost of customer acquisition since the company must support a potential customer for free during this period. Paying attention to where time and effort are spent in the sales cycle is vital to reducing this cost. 

Customer Lifetime Value is especially important in SaaS sales largely because of the higher customer acquisition cost associated with it. The total revenue a customer brings in for a company needs to offset the cost of the longer sales cycle and, of course, generate a profit over time. 

Conversion Rates can signal a healthy or unhealthy sales process. When conversion rates are low and customer acquisition costs are high, this could point to issues with the qualification process, ineffective demos, or a sales team’s struggle with handling objections. When conversion rates are high, and customer acquisition costs are still high, this may highlight an opportunity for increased efficiency within the sales process. For example, improving demonstration skills could also improve conversion rates. 

Monthly Recurring Revenue indicates the ongoing health of a SaaS seller’s business since each customer is intended to pay for their service on a recurring basis rather than paying for the product up front one time. This metric indicates how customer retention is going and whether customers are renewing at a satisfactory rate. 

Monthly Active Users is a metric that shows how many people are engaging with the SaaS on a regular basis. While this number does not directly correspond to a sales or revenue number, it does show the current user engagement. SaaS companies should be tracking this metric and comparing it to their registered users to get a better understanding of how many customers are actually employing their software (and benefiting from it). By paying attention to this ratio and trends in it, companies can recognize opportunities to proactively address dips, increase customer engagement, and, in the end, improve customer retention.

Churn Rate is how many users cancel their service in a given time period. Companies that are tracking and optimizing for the metrics mentioned above will minimize their churn rate. 

A Typical SaaS Commission Structure

Successful SaaS sales representatives are highly motivated, enjoy a long sales process, and are willing to dive deep into training in the pertinent software to develop their own expertise. They will have a mix of skills from the hunter, and farmer sales types. Because these sales representatives are expected to maintain their knowledge about the product they are selling and perform in complex sales scenarios, their base salary and the sales rep’s commission percentages are usually higher than those of representatives in other industries. 

Base Pay in SaaS Sales

The most common types of commission structures in SaaS sales are base pay + commission (most models fall into this category) and a commission-only structure with no base pay at all. According to ZipRecruiter the average base salary for a SaaS sales representative is over $78,000. Glassdoor reports SaaS sales salaries in the $85,000-$150,000 range. Commissions vary from company to company, based on monthly recurring revenue or annual contract value. 

Common Commission Structures 

The Tiered Model 

This model can inspire representatives to overachieve. The tiered model allows reps to increase their commission rate as they close more sales. Tiers are predetermined to motivate productivity. 

The Accelerator Model

A form of the tiered sales model, in the accelerator model of commission, representatives are compensated for the sales they bring in above set goals and further compensated for exceeding their goals. 

The Residual Model

This compensation structure rewards the sales representative who closed a deal both initially and over time. The representative is paid a commission on the sale itself and on every renewal, which typically happens every 1 to 5 years. The commission the representative receives may decrease as the years progress. This model emphasizes the unique nature of SaaS sales and the importance of keeping churn rates low and customer satisfaction high. 

The Cover-Cost Model

Some companies choose not to pay commissions until a representative has made enough sales to cover their base pay and the cost of any job benefits. Commission rates after they’ve covered these costs tend to be double those in other models. 

The Profit Based Model 

In this less popular model, a company pays commission only when their sales team surpasses sales goals that are defined by a certain percentage of profit each quarter or year. This model is intended to keep sales representatives from offering discounts and drives more lucrative deals. 

The Commission-Only Model 

Skilled SaaS sales professionals will often look for opportunities to sell in a commission-only model. These driven salespeople are motivated by a nearly unlimited earning potential that depends solely on their ability to close sales. 

Top Tips on How to Sell SaaS

Tip #1 Do Your Research on the Demographic You Serve

Understanding your ideal customer’s pain points before pitching is more important in SaaS sales than in any other industry. In the sales cycle, you’ll need to know how your SaaS uniquely solves the problem your customer is facing and be able to demonstrate exactly how it does this. Show, solve, and then serve.

Tip #2 Only Close the Right Deals 

Not every SaaS solution is one size fits all; the solution you’re providing needs to help directly alleviate a customer’s specific pain points. Walking away from prospects that won’t benefit from your solution keeps your reputation clean. As well, this practice shows a level of sales maturity essential to your SaaS business’s long-term success. Since the SaaS sales cycle can be lengthy and expensive, sticking to the customers that are the best fit also positions you for the most powerful partnerships in business.

Tip #3 Establish Trust by Leveraging Case Studies and Data

Your demonstration and ability to customize your sales process to your customer will begin to build trust. However, customers will want more transparency about your company and evidence that you’re a reliable service provider. Leveraging references, case studies, and results data will demonstrate the ROI of your SaaS solution. 

Tip #4 Get Strategic About Trial Periods

Most trials are between 7-30 days. Offering a trial period that is too long or too short can be detrimental to your sales process. A shorter trial will be expensive to support and can slow down a deal. A short trial period may not give potential customers enough time to explore your SaaS. This decision could leave customers with more questions than answers about how it will benefit them. Here are five questions to ask yourself to determine the length of a trial you should offer:

  • How long do users need to get a basic understanding of your software?
  • How long does it take users to begin to adopt and adapt to your software to determine if it is a good fit?
  • How many service tiers do you offer, and how complex are your integrations? The more complexity, the more time and support customers will need in the trial period.
  • What amount of exploration time allows users to gain familiarity?
  • Do you take an enterprise approach to sales? This approach can indicate a longer trial.
  • How many stakeholders in the customer’s company need to explore your software? The more stakeholders, the more time may be realistically required in a trial.
  • Do you sell your SaaS with a self-service model? Self-service models typically need short trials to motivate sales. 

Regardless of the length of your trial, remember to stay in touch and continue your sales process throughout.

Tip #5 Nurture Your Relationships for Retention

Converting a new client isn’t where the sales process ends in SaaS sales. The deal is just the beginning. Once your client is onboarding and early in their use of your SaaS, they need high-touch support that shows you genuinely care about their success. Done right, customer service will reinforce the confidence your customer has in your company. This relationship foundation sets you up for opportunities to upsell and cross-sell your customers down the road. 

Ready to hire a top-notch SaaS sales team? We can help! Many of our sales professionals specialize in SaaS sales and can help your company gain and retain the perfect fit clients. Contact us today, and let’s explore your hiring needs.

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Brent Thomson

Co-Founder at Peak Sales Recruiting
Before Peak, Brent worked in sales and sales-leadership positions for 18 years. He has considerable experience building and running high-performance teams, which consistently won awards and exceeded sales targets. He was Vice President of Sales for a financial management consulting company, and served with Borland Software as a Regional Sales Manager.

Latest posts by Brent Thomson (see all)

The 7 Ways to Train Your Sales Team

When your sales team consists of just one or two reps, you can manually train them without too much hassle. But, as your company grows and scales, you’ll need clear, documented processes that will equip your entire sales team for success — no matter their role or responsibilities on the team. 

A high-performing sales team starts with strategic training, which we’ll cover first in this blog. We’ll also cover our best tips on supporting your sales team’s excellence by measuring the right results so you can improve your training and sales techniques over time. 

Ready to build a high-performing sales team? Partner with Peak Sales Recruiting to find the top talent your business needs to thrive!

The 7 Ways to Train Your Sales Team

#1: Upgrade Your Training Materials

Streamlining your training means setting up your systems to be easily shareable, measurable, and optimizable. The first step is having comprehensive, up-to-date training manuals, scripts, and objection-handling guides. By documenting your sales training techniques and processes, you’ll eliminate inefficiencies and be able to easily equip new sales representatives with everything they need to succeed. Your training materials should be organized and easy to access. Ensure you are updating these manuals regularly to reflect the current state of your sales team and customer needs. 

→ Make the most of your sales rep’s first 90 days. Download our free eBook that will guide you through training your new employee to produce—fast. 

#2: Utilize Your Sales Training Platforms

With the right sales training platform, you can provide your sales representatives with interactive training modules, complete sales training courses, product knowledge training, and more. Just having this training available isn’t enough, though. Your sales training platform should enrich your existing training and be referred back to during training to reinforce key concepts and skills. They should make training more efficient and accessible. Representatives need to have these platforms integrated into their everyday tasks and responsibilities. Discuss your platform and demonstrate how it can be used for your team. Be sure that any sales training you use from an external source is highly credible and aligned with your company’s values and goals. 

#3: Teach Employees With Sales Playbooks 

Sales playbooks are a powerful way to guide your sales representatives through challenging scenarios. Your playbooks should address your sales best practices and outline how employees should handle various situations they are likely to encounter. Sales playbooks can come in the form of written text, videos, or in-person workshops. Don’t make the mistake of assuming your new hires are trained well. The only way to ensure your reps have the skills they need to be successful is by training them with your company materials.

#4: Implement Role-Playing

Role-playing can be used as a form of micro-training to reinforce training content from your sales playbooks, training platform, and training materials. Through mock sales calls, your representatives can practice responding to scenarios, overcoming objections, and closing sales. Role-playing is also one of the quickest ways to form new habits, by helping reps apply their skills in a low-stakes environment.

#5: Make Time for Shadowing

Experienced representatives are often the best source of real-world experience for new hires. Their expertise and wisdom provide a behind-the-scenes look in a hands-on environment and can give less experienced sales representatives a better idea of what to expect on the job. Give new hires an opportunity to shadow a variety of top performers as each rep will have a different style. This way, new hires can learn intangible skills like pace and tone of voice and integrate these styles into their own sales.

#6: Offer Regular Coaching and Feedback

Coaching and constructive feedback can grow your employees by leaps and bounds. The difference between the two is that coaching is more dialogue-focused and supports sales representatives in problem-solving, goal setting, and planning for achieving those goals. Feedback can be more passive on the employee’s side and assertive on the manager’s or sales leader’s side. A successful manager will regularly check in with reps during one on one meetings. Peak recommends you meet weekly.

→ To structure your one-on-one meetings for maximum impact, check out our guide to creating a one-on-one meeting agenda here. 

#7: Participate in Seminars and Conferences

Webinars, seminars, and conferences are another way to address the professional development needs of your sales team. You can arrange for employees to attend or organize your own industry-specific webinars and seminars. Encourage seminar attendees to bring back value to the company to solidify what they’ve heard. This practice ensures your entire team gets the knowledge benefit without actually having to attend the seminar. 

How to Measure the Success of Your Sales Team Once They’ve Been Trained

Focus On The Right Metrics – Key sales metrics to track include conversion rates, generated revenue, and size of deals. For individual sales reps, you should also have a performance review process in place that informs which metrics you’re watching. 

→ Need help determining how to measure your employee’s success? Download our free eBook and plan your sales representative’s next performance review. 

Determine Your Lead Response Time – The rate at which your reps respond to incoming leads plays a vital role in sales success. New leads should receive quick responses to qualify leads in a timely manner. If there is a lag in your sales process at this step, it will affect all other sales metrics along your sales pipeline.

Perform a Pipeline Analysis – After your leads enter your sales pipeline, you can measure and analyze the health and progression of their journey. Pay attention to places along the pipeline where leads take a particularly long time, drop out of the sales cycle, or seem to need extra attention from sales reps. These may be areas for improvement. 

Listen to Customer Feedback – Your clients are a valuable resource since they have experienced your entire sales process from the receiving end. Gathering feedback about their interactions with your sales team can reveal how you’re doing regarding customer satisfaction and addressing customer pain points. Sometimes, it may even be appropriate to record sales calls to assess your customer’s experience firsthand. 

Identify Patterns in Your Win-Loss Records – Diving deeper into your conversion metrics can help you decide where your sales training needs a boost. Analyze your deals and why they were won or lost. Then, look for trends in each category that you can translate into actionable insights for your team.

Assess the Application of Your Training Techniques – As you gather information about your pipeline, customer experiences, metrics, and more, you’ll want to assess if your sales representatives are applying your sales training techniques. If techniques are not being used appropriately, check in with representatives to find out why. Determine where your team could use skill reinforcement, additional training, or clarity in their role. 

Consider Team Morale – A motivated and engaged team produces better results. On a day-to-day basis, how is your team’s morale? If your team’s morale is struggling, bring in your sales representatives on a solution. Could they use additional support or encouragement from their leadership? How could they better connect with and support their fellow team members? 

Ready to grow and scale your sales team? At Peak Sales we can source the perfect sales representative for your team from our global network of high-performing professionals. Contact us today to discuss your hiring needs.

Kyle Fletcher

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5 Challenger Sales Model Examples — An In Depth Guide

The Challenger Sales Model suggests that not all customers are created equal and that not all sales approaches are equally effective.

Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson first outlined the Challenger Sales model in their 2011 book, “The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation.” This sales model focuses on teaching, maintaining authority in sales conversations, and providing targeted solutions considering the customer’s most present pain points. 

The Challenger sales model isn’t necessarily the best for everyone, but when the right companies adopt it, they see extraordinary results. In this article, we’ll explain what sets the Challenger Model apart, when you might want to consider selling using this model, and what types of sales professionals thrive within this model. 

What Is The Challenger Model?

The Challenger Sales Model emphasizes that successful salespeople should challenge the customer’s way of thinking, offer insights, and guide them to make informed decisions. This approach is based on the idea that customers might not always know their own needs or the potential solutions available to them. Therefore, instead of just being responsive to customer inquiries or needs, the salesperson proactively challenges the customer’s assumptions and provides valuable insights that can lead to more effective solutions.

What Are The Benefits Of The Challenger Model?

If there were one motto a Challenger sales rep would never live by, it would be, “The customer is always right.” In the Challenger model, it’s highly beneficial for the salesperson to challenge how a customer thinks about their business, problems, and needs. Coupled with a Challenger salesperson’s ability to offer insights and guide a customer in making an informed decision—this seemingly counterintuitive approach is incredibly compelling. 

While other sales models emphasize harmonious connections and relationship building, salespeople in the Challenger model take a more straightforward and assertive approach to sales. Challenger salespeople must be knowledgeable educators and advisors with their finger on the pulse of industry trends, market conditions, and up-to-date customer solutions. Expertise in the features and benefits of their product isn’t enough. 

The 5 Key Elements of a Successful Challenger Sales Model

For the Challenger sales model to work, it requires five crucial elements: teaching, tailoring, taking control, constructive tension, and reframing. 

1. Educate Your Customers 

Through an educational approach, the salesperson positions themselves as a valuable source of information for their customer. Challenger sales reps not only need to understand the customer’s industry, current market trends, and the potential solutions available to them — they also need to have the skill of breaking down complex ideas and delivering them in a digestible and applicable manner.

2. Tailor Your Sale To Your Customers Needs

While teaching is often thought of as talking, active listening is also essential to the education process. This level of open engagement from the salesperson allows them to customize their approach and address the distinct needs and pain points that a customer is facing. With this deep understanding of the customer’s business and obstacles, the Challenger salesperson can bring an unrivaled level of customization to their teaching and pitch. 

3. Position Yourself As The Expert

The Challenger model is an assertive and proactive approach to sales. Rather than passively following a customer’s lead, Challenger salespeople maintain authority and a position of expertise throughout the sales conversation. They lead with questions that get the customer thinking differently and insights that offer new possibilities and perspectives. 

4. Disrupt The Status Quo

Challenger salespeople are disruptors — and disruption in the status quo and set ways of thinking creates tension. A skilled Challenger sales rep will ensure that the tension created in the sales process is constructive. That means the salesperson will strategically leverage a healthy amount of pressure for the customer to consider alternative viewpoints through a critical thinking lens. 

5. Reframe The Problem

Skillful teaching, tailoring, taking control, and constructive tension bring the sales process to its natural culmination — the pitch. In the Challenger model, an angle is strategically formed by redefining the customer’s problem to align with the solution(s) the salesperson has to offer. By doing this, the Challenger salesperson highlights the value of their solution and positions it as a fantastic fit for the customer who now feels educated, informed, and confident in making a decision. 

Which Sales Roles Benefit From The Challenger Model?

In the book mentioned above, “The Challenger Sale,” Dixon and Adamson outline five prominent sales personalities: the hard worker, the relationship builder, the lone wolf, the problem solver, and the Challenger. Before we dive into the benefits of the Challenger model and which roles excel in this type of sales environment, it’s worth mentioning that any salesperson with any sales personality can evolve into a Challenger. 

Challengers need adaptability and a willingness to embrace this sales approach above all else. They must embrace the upside of having candid conversations with their prospects and prioritize honesty and their expert insights. Challengers need to develop a certain level of comfort with challenging prospects’ assumptions and perspectives. They also need discernment and acuity in identifying when and how to build on the key elements of the Challenger model with other tactics and philosophies.

Roles that tend to benefit the most from a Challenger model are as follows:

1. Enterprise Sales Representatives

Enterprise sales typically involve high-value solutions and large companies with complex challenges. Often, multiple stakeholders are affected as well. Enterprise Sales Representatives can provide insights and guide decision-making in these intricate sales scenarios using the Challenger model.

2. Solution Consultants

Also known as pre-sales or technical sales engineers, these consultants work closely with customers to understand their needs and present tailored solutions. Their ability to educate and challenge assumptions aligns well with the Challenger approach.

3. Business Development Managers

These professionals focus on identifying and nurturing new business opportunities. Using the Challenger approach, engaging prospects with education and valuable insights, Business Development Managers can differentiate their offering from their competitors. 

4. Strategic Account Managers

In this role, key accounts that generate significant revenue require a long-term relationship built on trust. The Challenger model can deepen these relationships by consistently expanding their depth and breadth through valuable insights and education. The Challenger in this role may have traits of the farmer sales type that come through in the way they maintain connection and credibility with their customers.

5. Industry Specialists

Salespeople with deep industry expertise can leverage the Challenger approach to share their insights about industry trends, challenges, and best practices. This positions them as valuable advisors that prospects naturally trust in the decision-making process.

6. Consultative Sales Representatives

Roles that require a consultative approach align with the Challenger model. Customers appreciate how these representatives focus on understanding their pain points and delivering targeted solutions.

7. Technology Sales Professionals

In technology sales, where complex sales conditions and rapidly evolving products and solutions abound, the Challenger approach helps salespeople provide customers with insights into how their technology can address their specific needs. 

8. Financial Services Sales

In the financial services industry, the Challenger approach is highly effective at educating customers so they can confidently decide how to move forward financially. Especially in the sale of complex products like investment solutions or risk management, applying the Challenger approach helps salespeople educate clients about evolving market conditions and the tailored solutions that will suit their situation best.

While the Challenger Sales Model can be effective in various sales scenarios, there are certain roles or situations where the model might not be as well-suited. Here are some examples of roles that might not align perfectly with the Challenger Sales Model:

  • Transactional Sales Representatives
  • Customer Support or Service Roles
  • Door-to-Door Sales
  • Highly Specialized Technical Sales
  • Customer-Focused or Account Management Roles

How to Tell When a Challenger Sales Model is The Right Choice For Your Team

The Challenger sales model is often an excellent choice in competitive environments where B2B sales cycles are particularly complex and lengthy. In industries where customers are aware of their problems yet not experts in the solutions they need, they are more open to being ‘challenged’ and are interested in learning. This is an ideal scenario for the Challenger Model. 

Customers benefit from having time to get educated, understand significant challenges they face, adapt to new perspectives, and make informed decisions. On the salesperson’s side, this type of sales cycle gives them space to teach their customers, guide them through reflection, offer insightful perspectives, and help them make a firm decision. 

The Challenger model shines in industries where:

  • Rapid changes in an industry are more than customers can keep up with.
  • Customers don’t fully understand their problems or needs.
  • Customer’s problems don’t have a clear or pre-packaged solution.
  • Deals involve high-value contracts and strategic accounts.
  • Customers are more open to seeing salespeople as partners in problem-solving.
  • Customers are being introduced to a brand-new product or service. 
  • A product or solution requires customers to change their behavior or mindset. 
  • Education on complex topics is essential in order for customers to make a clear, educated decision in the sales process.

Could the Challenger model work for your company? Whether you’re still seeking the answer to that question or are already looking for the next Challenger to add to your sales team, we can help! Contact us today to get your search started with our expert team, who can tap into our worldwide talent pool to find the perfect model and sales team members for you. 

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B2B Sales Team Structure: A Simple Strategy for Creating a Winning Team

In the dynamic world of business-to-business sales, a well-built sales team lays a foundation for long-term growth. Your sales team plays a vital role in your business, from finding leads to closing deals. They have a big impact on your revenue growth. Whether you’re a startup founder or a seasoned CEO, the intricacies of building a team that excels aren’t always apparent. 

It can be difficult to find the right structure for your sales team without knowing how to translate your goals into a strategy. This is why we’re unlocking the secrets behind creating a top-tier B2B sales team in this blog. With this guide, you can save time and transform your sales ambitions into unparalleled success.

How Should I Build My Sales Team?

STEP 1: Hire Your Sales Leader

When it comes to building your ideal sales team, the first thing you need to understand is the role of an influential sales leader. Hiring your sales leader (commonly known as your VP of Sales) is your opportunity to cut your hiring workload drastically. Having a powerful sales leader also gives you a head start on deciding what kinds of professionals you’ll need and how many of them, what team structure will work best for your company, and how your team will organize the sales flow from start to finish.

Hiring your sales leader first allows you to hand off the building process to an expert who can assess what your company really needs in its sales team. They can then hire your sales force accordingly. A sales leaders role in developing the sales team should include:

  • Monitoring key sales metrics
  • Overseeing the entire B2B sales process
  • Impact company revenue
  • Impact company reputation
  • Influence the ability to scale

Having the right sales leader in place is vital. At Peak Sales Recruiting, we further simplify the process by helping you find a sales leader who is a fantastic fit for your team. This leader can take team-building off of your plate completely.

STEP 2: Structure Your Team

The team structure that your sales leader decides to build on will depend on what you’re selling and in what market. For example, in tech, small deals are often done over the phone, while more extensive sales are made in person. Meanwhile, in industrial sectors, an outside sales model is more common. Details like this inform if you need more inside or outside sales support and how many sales hunters and farmers will be needed. 

Along with determining a solid sales organization structure for your team, your sales leader will take over talent acquisition, ongoing training and development, and retention of your sales team members. They will be an expert in preparing job descriptions for hiring, interviewing for your unique sales needs, and ensuring that your sales culture aligns with your company values and goals. This person may conduct conversations with customers to learn about their past experiences with your sales department to discover what works and what doesn’t work for your company. 

STEP 3: Build Your Specialized Team

Startups and scrappy, early-stage companies often have to find ways to get by and hire one person, or a tiny team headed by a leader. These teams do everything from new customer acquisition to account management. This is what is commonly known as the island structure. While this can work temporarily, we don’t advise it as a long-term solution. 

In the island structure, one sales leader or ‘owner’ is responsible for a team of sales representatives. The sales representatives in this structure handle every part of the B2B sales process and have very little differentiation in their sales roles, if any. This provides sales representatives with many opportunities for competition and very few for collaboration. 

A team model where each sales professional fully embraces their strengths and operates within their specialties is ideal. This is typically an assembly line, or the closely related pod structure. In this structure, people maintain distinct sales roles and responsibilities in the sales process just as workers in a physical assembly line would. 

An example of this structure is a junior sales development representative responsible for making cold calls and appointments, an account executive who closes the deal, and an account manager who upsells and onboards the new client. This structure creates more opportunities for collaboration and can drastically increase a team’s efficiency. It also parallels a B2B sales funnel, which makes troubleshooting bottlenecks much easier.

When you’re building out your well-defined sales team structure (or your VP of Sales is doing it for you!), you’ll want to keep in mind the ‘who and how many’ of your team. B2B sales teams ideally have 6-8 people (and no more than 10) reporting to each sales manager. A well-structured team could look like this:

  • One sales director or VP of Sales who oversees the sales department.
  • Two sales managers (each with eight reports).
  • 16 inside sales representatives. 

What Makes a B2B Sales Team Successful?

No matter the role of the sales professionals you hire, they should all exemplify an eagerness to learn and improve their skills, display resilience and the ability to overcome challenges, and have a record of consistent achievement. Each sales professional will have unique strengths and skills beyond these qualities that make them better suited for specific sales roles. 

In the ideal B2B sales team structure, there is ample opportunity to leverage the skills of each sales professional, starting with your marketing department. The marketing team can funnel leads to the sales representative, who can connect with clients to close deals. A hunter salesperson could be a great fit for this role. A hunter salesperson thrives in lead generation, is an expert at making successful cold calls, builds quick rapport, always looks for opportunities, and handles rejection well. These are the representatives who seem fearless and are highly motivated to close deals.

Farmer salespeople typically nurture leads, upsell, and onboard clients. They are motivated by service and stability rather than by quotas and the thrill of the chase. Farmer types are essential on any team looking to build long-term success, so you’ll want them in positions such as account manager, customer service specialist, and customer success representative.

→ Read more about inside/outside sales on our blog here.

→ Read more about hunter/farmer sales types on our blog here.

What Structure Should I Choose for my B2B Sales Team?

The optimal structure of a B2B sales team is, simply put, the structure that best serves your organization — no two businesses are exactly the same. The most effective and efficient sales teams are strategically built to ensure that your profits are maximized, that the customers you’re serving have a seamless experience buying from your company and that there is a healthy balance of collaboration and competition in your team members’ careers. 

The chemistry within your sales team, the diverse strengths its members exhibit, and the leaders you hire to guide and train them will be keys to your success. From fostering healthy competition to nurturing collaborative excellence, the right sales team structure can catalyze remarkable success.

If you’re still wondering how many salespeople you need, what your ideal synergy is, and how to hire ambitious, creative, and resilient members for your team — we can help. Reach out, and we’ll start your hiring process with our network of top-quality sales talent today.

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Hunter vs. Farmer in Sales: Empowering Your Team for Long-Term Success

Building a highly successful sales team is about more than finding ‘closers’ who can bring in new business. There are two distinct types of sales professionals. Each type plays a vital role in sales performance and the long-term success of your company. Knowing the difference between them can help you identify who is already on your sales team, which types you need to add to your sales team, and which type each job applicant is when you are in the hiring process.

The two different salespeople personas are called the ‘hunter’ and the ‘farmer.’ Each type has inherent strengths and skills that they employ to increase profits. The hunter type focuses on getting new leads and clients. The farmer focuses more on retaining and expanding existing client accounts. We tend to think of more charismatic hunter types as salespeople, but the value of the farmer types shouldn’t be overlooked. After all, acquiring a new customer can cost five times or more than retaining one you already have.

In this article, we’ll dive into the details of each sales persona. We compare the hunter vs. farmer in sales, and discuss how the hunter-farmer sales model can look in a typical sales process.

Looking to strike the perfect balance between hunters and farmers on your team? Contact Peak Sales Recruiting today to build a well-rounded sales force that delivers results.

Who Are The Sales Hunter Types?

Hunters are likely to be the more extroverted, charismatic, and risk-tolerant members. Since they tend to have a thick skin they don’t mind making cold calls, sending cold emails, or following up with prospects. Hunters should be put in positions where seeking out new leads, initiating sales, and closing deals are key. Hunters know that if they receive a ‘no’ it’s only a matter of time before they get their next ‘yes.’ To them, sales performance is a numbers game. They’re all-in on increasing sales — and new revenue — by casting a wide net and optimizing conversions.

A certain independent streak in the hunter sales persona is crucial to their success. They are highly disciplined individuals who will devotedly pursue their goals. Hunters push hard to reach their sales targets to promote significant growth. They won’t be found waiting for someone to tell them how to get there. Depending on the sales professional, you may find that some hunters are stubborn about learning ways to increase sales. While other hunters are hungry to improve themselves. The latter finds more long-term success. 

What Motivates Hunter Salespeople?

The hunter types’ eager personalities and ambitious appetites are motivated by their drive to compete, earn, and succeed. They have an innate understanding that the only way to build their success is through connection—and making the most of it.

Something about opportunity, possibility, and the unknown inspires the hunter sales persona. Yet, they also want to feel they have control in their careers. This is why the most favorable position for a hunter type will be compensated mainly on a commission basis with unlimited earning potential.

Beware of This Hunter Trait

Because hunters are motivated by what is new, enjoy earning competitive commissions, and are highly quota-focused, they are the sales professionals most likely to move on to another company for a better opportunity. They may be hard to hold on to if they feel stagnant in your company culture or can’t grow their income in your business. Finding the sweet spot for your company is critical in keeping hunters motivated, happy, and loyal.

What Jobs Are Hunters Best At?

Because hunters are exceptionally skilled at giving demos, making sales pitches, overcoming objections, and negotiating terms, they are often a fit for sales/business development or field sales positions. They also make great account executives.

Hunters are the team members you’ll want to send out to networking events, professional organizations, and conferences for your company and industry. They will thrive in an environment where there are exciting connections to make. They build rapport quickly and make great first impressions.

How to Find Hunters for Your Team

When hunters apply for a sales position, they are likely to mention the sales skills they have that are relevant to new customer acquisition. They may have past experience that highlights their past sales performance and ability to turn cold prospects into profitable accounts. And they will be the candidates who persistently and proactively follow up on their applications and interviews.

You can also contact our team for help finding the perfect hunter type for your company. We have both hunter and farmer types in our wide network of sales professionals.

Who are the Sales Farmer Types?

The farmer sales persona is about warmth and nurturing. Instead of focusing on new revenue like the hunter types, farmer types focus on increasing lifetime customer value. These salespeople thrive when they are responsible for building and maintaining relationships that contribute to a company’s long-term success. Loyalty is a part of their nature, and they inspire that loyalty in customers as well. This is why they are exceptionally skilled at client retention, renewing customers’ contracts, upselling, and cross-selling. Service is the name of the game for farmer salespeople.

After the hunter types have converted their cold leads into buyers, the farmer takes over to onboard, send reminders, review accounts, update customers, and prevent churn. Where hunters send out cold communications, farmers are known for sending out warm emails and making warm calls to clients and customers who are already engaged with the company.

What Motivates Farmer Salespeople?

Because a farmer’s job isn’t to fill a lead generation and conversion quota, they look for a more stable income — usually with higher base pay and less emphasis on commissions. This allows farmers to put people first and keep relationships at the forefront. If farmer types are forced to work within a commission structure, they may choose to prospect out of sheer necessity. But, this robs the farmer of the opportunity to exercise their strengths and your company of the benefits of long-term customer satisfaction.

Farmers are highly conscientious. They would rather provide the service and support a customer needs to stay with the company long-term than risk the relationship by putting on pressure for a bigger sale in the short term. Farmers can also be more motivated by collaboration and working on a team. This is important for customer service positions where access to support resources is crucial and allows farmers to be the maximizers they are.

What Jobs Are Farmers Best At?

Farmers will help their customers succeed by using products they’ve already purchased. This could mean creating user tutorials, writing instructions and guides, and walking customers through setup. They focus on responding to customer inquiries, building long-term trust, and are always in the customer’s corner. If you send farmers to conferences, they’re more likely to spend time deepening relationships with current customers.

Because of their friendly demeanor and service-focused nature, farmers are well suited for sales roles such as account manager, customer service specialist, and customer success representative.

How to Find Farmers For Your Team

Farmers will be more reserved in the interview process. Don’t expect them to put themselves out there like a hunter! Look for individuals who highlight relationship-building skills in their resumes and interviews.

Hiring farmers for your sales team requires a long-term commitment for success. The position can take months or even years to pay off, depending on how often customers renew with your company and what other products you have to sell to existing customers. For this reason, you must find farmers who will plug into your team seamlessly. They should also add just the right blend of skills to your existing team.

Implementing the Hunter-Farmer Sales Model

There are various ways to structure your sales team within the hunter-farmer sales model. The size of your team and how they work best together will determine which structure is best for you. The most common option is the ‘assembly line’ structure, where hunters handle outreach, pitching, and closing. They then hand off the customer to a farmer who handles onboarding and nurturing the customer long-term.

Some companies have their hunters and farmers work in smaller groups. That way the transition from hunter to farmer can be collaborative and as smooth as possible for the customer. In a small team, a blended model where salespeople possess strengths and skills from both types of sales personas may be necessary.

If you’d like to plug into a global network of strong hunter and farmer sales professionals, we can help! Just click here to contact our team, and you’ll be one step closer to finding the perfect fit to maximize your team’s performance.

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How to Build a Sales Team: 12 Essential Steps for Success

How do you assemble a sales team that converts your marketing investments to tangible business growth? This guide has the answers.

Over 60% of salespeople agree that selling is more challenging than it was 5 years ago. Due to the difficulties in the sales landscape today, it is essential that your sales team is prepared to combat these challenges. A correctly assembled sales team will identify qualified leads, close deals, and maintain customer loyalty. They will do so in perfect harmony with minimal friction.

Considering that, recruiting the wrong person for your sales team would harm current customers and team function. Even worse, a wrong hire can ultimately lead to a decrease in overall revenue

This post will outline everything you need to know to build a high-performing sales team and avoiding the wrong hire. Follow closely; this is where winning begins.

1.    Have a Clear Hiring Strategy

“Strategy is not the consequence of planning, but the opposite: it’s the starting point.” — Henry Mintzberg.

Multiple examples of mismatched mergers (think: Skype and eBay), poor products, and ill-advised corporate decisions happen every day in business. The common thread? Bad planning.

As cliche as it may sound (you must have heard this a hundred times), a good plan is an excellent first step to sales team building. Build that plan/map by first asking your hiring team questions like:

  • What are our revenue targets?
  • What type of customers are we targeting?
  • What kind of culture do we want to create in our sales team? Aggressive and competitive or collaborative and relationship-oriented?
  • What does sales success mean to us?
  • What’s our sales organizational structure looking like?

The answers to these questions, whatever they are, will point you in the right direction. For example, if you plan to expand your business to a new location, more focus should be on hiring an agile sales team. One that adapts to new situations with little support.

A staple for an agile sales team is members with strong professional networks. They can use their connections to shorten the adjustment period that comes with business expansion.

See how far we’ve come by answering one strategy question. Clarity comes in motion. Answering strategy questions gives you a clear vision of the skillset your winning sales team must embody.

2.    Create the Perfect Team Blend

High-performing sales teams aren’t perfect, but they’re better at improving than underperforming teams. When one person works the phone, the other contributes by nurturing leads on other channels, helping the company rake in leads on all fronts.

Differences in knowledge, perspective, and personality might be responsible for that. Business psychologists call it cognitive diversity.

When solving sales problems, homogeneous teams can’t solve sales problems as quickly as diverse teams.

There are no set ways to build a cognitively diverse team, as much relies on your ability to read people. Still, you can’t go wrong with the right questions/tests.

Propose a tricky sales situation in an interview, and see how well your potential sales force responds. If the answers are different yet effective, pat yourself on the back. Your all-star team is shaping up.

3.    Have a ‘Non-negotiables’ List

“A chain is no stronger than its weakest link.” — Thomas Reid

Specific ‘core’ qualities or personal traits exist in every player on a winning sales team.

We’re not team wreckers, but you should take a sales team member lacking a core attribute seriously, even if a pink slip is required. See it as a weakness capable of plunging your sales performance into oblivion (Okay, maybe not oblivion.)

Through years of sales recruiting research, we have come to identify these five attributes as non-negotiables for every member of a strong sales team:

  • Company culture fit
  • Willingness to learn and grow
  • Adaptiveness
  • Cautious with promises
  • Communicative & Collaborative

4.  Prioritize a Great Organizational Structure

High-performing sales teams say their organizational structure is above average or excellent. Which makes perfect sense because the structure of a sales team has an impact on its success.

Before we say why, remember that the most popular sales organizational structure includes multiple verticals.

  1. Geographical sales structure
  2. Product and service line
  3. Industry and vertical structure
  4. Account-based selling.

A sales rep used to selling software to tech-savvy people in a specific region will presumably struggle if hired to take on a role that means selling hardware nationwide.

Allow your company’s size and range of products dictate your sales structure and size. If your company is big enough, hire more people and select a rep to handle a specific location or product line. Work with a small team and delineate roles appropriately if your company is small.

Build your structure to bolster your strengths, take the sting out of your weaknesses, and watch your sales group sell.

5.    Clearly Communicate Goals

Understanding company expectations is essential for boosting sales performance. It’s not enough to set SMART goals for your sales team; expressive communication must follow to get any concrete result.

You may, for example, hang a whiteboard (or create a digital one) detailing what success means to your sales team. Is it generating and qualifying new leads? Is it conducting initial outreach to prospects? Or following up on them? Is it better alignment with the sales and marketing department?

Write the details on your whiteboard and keep it visible. This way, nobody will mistakenly think they’re hitting the target when they’re not even on the playing field.

6.   Keep Things Competitive

Your sales team, no matter how effective, needs new energy to keep converting. It is human nature to get complacent, after all. The easy fix would be to throw money at the problem by shelling out bigger commissions, but that may not change anything.

A better option would be to hire new salespeople, especially if you’re launching a new product or servicing a new industry. Let the new members collaborate with the old, injecting fresh ideas and pure energy to create a boiling pot of hot convertible leads.

Remember to monitor things so the competition doesn’t get toxic. That’s always a possibility considering how competitive salespeople get.

7.    Empower Your Team

Tools. Successful sales teams require them to compete.

A sales team without the right tools is not likely to be a successful sales team. Also, if 91% of sales teams in large companies use tools to be more effective, you should empower your team to be able to compete.

Talk to your sales team, especially the sales manager, to find the best tools for CRM, sales intelligence, data analysis, and marketing.

Tools are not all about technology. Since happy salespeople are more productive by at least 20%, creating a conducive workplace should also be at the top of your empowerment strategy.

8.   Onboard, Train & Train

For new hires, spend enough time immersing them in your proven sales strategies. Their new energy is welcome, but direct it toward your methods so that they are improving your process, not reinventing it.’

Recognize new trends, take advantage of those trends, and keep your sales team on their toes.

For example, since AI has everyone feeling confident and nervous, train your sales team to understand the intricacies of AI. Let them be able to answer the most popular AI questions because you never know when that knowledge will be a deal closer.

Plus, if AI can help them do their jobs better (still a gray area), it’d be good for them to start early.

9. Encourage Interdepartmental Relationships

Internal relationships with other teams can be constructive. You don’t want your sales team operating in silos. You want them communicating with other departments, ensuring they have all the resources they need when they need them.

In a LinkedIn survey, 70% of the highest-performing sales team described marketing leads as ‘excellent.’ Meeting with their marketing teams helped them understand the buyer journey, persona, and how the brand identity connects the whole thing. The sales team, in turn, fed the marketing team with details of prospects’ concerns and observations.

The result? Higher revenue. Cross-functional collaboration is the only way to go.

10. Track Your Team’s Performance

Clarity on core metrics builds accountability. Accountability leads to better performance. The way to measure these metrics? Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

KPIs are not sales targets; they’re better. They are metrics used to track how sales performance affects overall company growth. Some of the best KPIs for a sales team include:

  • Annual contract value
  • Customer lifetime value
  • Conversion rate
  • Customer retention

With the correct data from KPIs, you can steer your team in the right direction. If certain sales reps are underperforming, learn why. Are their sales territories the problem? Is the sales strategy the problem?

Sometimes, the data is wrong or meaningless without the proper interpretation.

Separate the noise from the signal by communicating honestly with your sales team. Focus on building trust and asking the right questions, and watch how the data will follow your lead.

11.   Get it Right with the Pay Structure/Compensation Plan

Putting a competitive base salary on the table for your sales reps is a good idea if you already have a good sales team and want to keep them motivated. They’re more likely to be flexible and innovative when they don’t have targets on their backs. Literally.

But there are no perfect ideas, including competitive base salaries. If you’re a startup without access to steady capital, a straight commission plan will help you select members you can build an effective sales team around.

High-performers typically succeed with this structure initially, but it’s just not built to be stable. Eventually, your sales team will value stability above performance-based compensation.

The stitch is: When building a quality sales team, consider your growth phase and use a compensation plan suited to that phase advantageously.

12.  Receive and Share Feedback

“There are two things people want more than money…recognition and praise.” — Mary Kay Ash.

Building an effective sales team is an iterative process — you have to repeat the right decisions every time. There’s no better way to do this than through an honest, transparent feedback loop.

Listen to your sales team, understand their preferred tools, and observe their attitude toward your company culture. Actionable insights will naturally follow.

In the same vein, promptly inform them of everything that concerns them.

Are you changing sales goals, shifting from a competitive culture to a collaborative one, or downsizing the sales budget? Communicate.

People just really want to be seen, heard, and appreciated.

Summary

Effective sales teams exude excellence from top to bottom, from sales managers to customer service representatives. Make sure your new employees know the company goals, fit in with the company culture, and have the skills needed for top performance.

But it doesn’t stop there. Keep your sales team happy by training them, providing efficient tools, paying well, and engaging with responsive feedback. Don’t forget to rely on KPIs and other valuable metrics to track performance.

Start with the Right Hires

Building an effective sales team starts with recruiting the right people.

Focus on hiring talent with fresh energy, passion, and knowledge of the tools of the trade. Just as important, form a team of people who believe in your company goals, are cognitively diverse and are a good company culture fit.

If all that sounds like a lot of work, it’s because it is — yet it must be done. That’s where Peak Sales Recruiting comes in.

With our extensive experience in sales recruiting, we excel at finding exceptional sales talent. We know the challenges of sales recruiting and have all the tips, tools, and tricks to solve them.

With Peak Sales Recruiting working for you, discovering skilled talent to meet aggressive revenue targets and outperform your competition should be a cakewalk.

Schedule a meeting with one of our direct representatives, and let’s hit the ground running on that all-star sales team project.

Ryan Thornton

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B2B Cold Calling: 22 Tips to Elevate Your Skills in 2023

B2B cold calling in 2023 requires more skill and strategy than ever before. Considering that cold call conversion rates are currently hovering around 2%. But, done well, it still creates an impactful opportunity to connect with potential sales prospects in a focused way. This allows you to deliver a specific solution to their problem. 

If you’re an executive looking to enhance your sales team’s cold calling strategy or a representative who’s ready to sharpen your skills — this guide will give you a comprehensive look at cold calling best practices and guidance on how to improve your B2B cold-calling for sales success. 

22 Tips To Improve B2B Cold Calling

A successful sales call begins before you even pick up the phone. To connect with potential sales prospects later, you need to understand the broad audience you’re talking to and the individual you have on the phone. 

1. Define Your Target Prospects

Research your target prospects to understand their industry and the most relevant pain points. Even if you think you know your audience well and talk to customers daily, this information is worth distilling, noting clearly, and refreshing yourself before you begin a batch of cold calls. 

2. Genuinely Get to Know Who You’re Calling

To further personalize your approach and establish credibility, educate yourself in detail for each call. Cold calls are going out to people who haven’t expressed interest in your company or solution. But you can counterbalance some unfamiliarity by showing that you’ve done your homework and care about the company you’re calling. Find out how big a company is, what their product service offerings are, who key decision-makers are in their company, and start thinking about how your solution would uniquely support them. 

3. Leverage Social, But Don’t Spam

Cold-calling strategies that ignore the power of social media for pre-call engagement are sure to fall flat in an online world. Warm up potential sales prospects by connecting with them on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter. Look for the channels your prospect is most active on, and engage with them there. While connecting, watch for pertinent information about your prospect’s priorities and interests.

Avoid this cold-calling mistake → Don’t spam, be social. When you engage with prospects, act like a real human interacting with another real human or company. Spamming a prospect with likes on their posts or leaving thoughtless comments will damage your connection. This can ruin your chances of warming up a cold prospect.

4. Give Each Prospect an Unparalleled Pitch

Take your research from ‘Stage 1’ and start to apply this information to your positioning and pitch. Note the benefits of your solution that will be most relevant to your prospect. Highlight ways that your company aligns with their way of doing business, their values, and their goals. 

5. Forecast Objections So You Can Weather Them Later

Again leaning on the information you have about your prospect, anticipate their objections to purchasing your solution. Prepare your responses to those objections so you can confidently address them. Over time, you’ll build a bank of objections and responses so you’ll never miss a quality sales opportunity because of a lackluster response to a prospect’s objection. 

6. Open Your Call With a Strategic Intro

You’ll have less than 30 seconds to make your first impression on a prospect and begin what could potentially be a successful sales call. It’s best to assume you have only a few seconds to make a compelling opening invitation and start the conversation. Create a statement that explains the clear benefit of your solution in a way that is attention-grabbing and piques curiosity. 

Avoid this cold-calling mistake → Don’t rush your call prep. Any call worth making is worth planning for. There’s nothing worse than getting a qualified prospect on the phone and losing them because you stumbled over your introduction. 

7. Put Connection First

If you were able to connect with the person on a social media platform — or that is where you found the lead — mention this on your call. You might add this mention before or after your opening statement. Make sure that what you bring up in conversation is relevant to your solution. Show your client that you took the time to get to know them before getting on the call. 

8. Make Your Interruption Worth It 

No one’s sitting around waiting for sales calls, so acknowledge your potential sales prospect’s busy schedule. Follow up your acknowledgment with a clear statement of how much time you need today. Whether that’s three or fifteen minutes, sharing this upfront shows respect. Prospects will feel more comfortable getting on the phone with you for follow-ups and won’t feel ‘roped in’ to a call they didn’t ask for when they can agree to the time commitment.

9. Keep it Colloquial 

Conversational language will flow easily when you’re not using a sales script. Remember that the more natural, confident, and clear your speech is, the easier it is for your prospect to trust you. Building rapport through authentic interactions is the way to go.

10. Uplift Your Prospect With Positivity

Throughout your conversation, look for opportunities to affirm, acknowledge, and validate your prospect. Words that convey your enthusiasm for helping the prospect and show your optimistic outlook will help show that your service is genuine and solution-focused. 

11. Invest Your Attention — And It’ll Pay You Dividends

In order to understand your prospect’s needs and challenges, you need to be equally engaged and receptive on your call. This means fully listening to your prospect when they’re answering your questions and sharing about themselves. Something they say during the call could influence the way you pitch your solution. You don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to tailor your conversation because you weren’t actively listening. 

Avoid this cold-calling mistake → Don’t interject or cut off your prospect during your call. Use effective open-ended questions and encourage prospects to share their challenges. 

12. The Entire Call is Part of the Pitch

Instead of thinking of your pitch being just the last quarter of your call, look at your entire call as part of your pitch. This shift in perspective will help you see opportunities for warming up your cold lead throughout your conversation so that when you make a clear offer, it doesn’t shock your prospect. They’ll be anticipating it and even asking for it.

13. Subtly Pitch With Social Proof 

Incorporate social proof in your conversations by mentioning relevant industry recognition your company has received or partnerships you’re engaged in. This helps to establish credibility with your prospect. 

14. Slide Into a Sale With Smooth Storytelling 

Engage your prospects by sharing relevant success stories. Case studies and testimonials from notable clients illustrate how your solution has helped other businesses overcome similar challenges.

15. Give Value a Front Seat, Put Features in the Back

Instead of focusing on product features, expand your cold calling strategy to emphasize the value and benefits your solution offers. This includes addressing the pain points your prospects are likely experiencing.

16. Practice Proactive Objection Prevention

Before your call, you should have planned for possible objections and how to handle them. On your call, you can address these potential objections before they are even shared. Do this by proactively providing information and addressing concerns. Weave this information into your social proof and stories whenever possible to further strengthen your positioning and demonstrate real, applied expertise your prospect can trust. 

17. Respect Your Prospects Boundaries 

While a certain amount of professional persistence is required for successful sales via cold calling. You don’t want to push so far as to violate your prospect’s boundaries. Repeating this will not only ruin your chances of selling to your prospects but also damage your company’s reputation. When you encounter resistance or a potential sales prospect asks for more time to make their decision, be clear about how you will follow up while respecting their boundaries and preferences.

18. Always Review Lessons Learned After Each Call

When you have completed your call, it’s time to break down the lessons you learned  to continue improving your cold-calling skills and results. 

19. Let Every Lead Be a Learning Opportunity

Cold calling is a skill that only improves with practice. Practice can be messy and full of mistakes or it can be full of successes to celebrate. Either way, you can learn by seeking feedback, adapting your techniques, and staying updated with industry trends that can further inform your cold-calling approach. 

20. Take a Third-Party Perspective on Your Calls

Take a step back from your call and try to analyze it from an objective outsider’s perspective. Look at only what was said, how you engaged on the call, and what the other person’s response was. The less personal you can make your review, the more powerful it will be. Take note of what made for successful sales calls and learn from unsuccessful ones to refine your strategy.

21. Know Where You’re At, Know Where You’re Going

Sales enablement tools and CRM systems will help you manage your metrics so you always know where you’re at and can set realistic stretch goals as you make progress. Stay organized and track everything you can in a clear and simple system so that your information is easy to access and apply to your future calls. 

22. Raise Your Standards on Follow-Ups

Instead of sending generic follow-ups or ‘fire-hosing’ someone with information, take the time to personalize your follow-up emails or messages. Add a brief summary of your call and the next steps. Adding a few details that show this summary and the next steps for this prospect will help show your attentiveness and commitment to serving this prospect as a unique individual and company.

Avoid this cold-calling mistake → Follow up when and where you say you will. If you’ve previously connected with a prospect on social media, don’t use their comments section or DMs to spam them with additional, unsolicited follow-ups or information. Follow-ups are a chance for you to build trust and develop a relationship with your prospect. 

Benefits of B2B Cold Calling

Despite recent technological advancements in the selling scene, cold calling is still a tried and true way to reach new customers. B2B cold calling is not only cost effective, but it is expected, as 50% of buyers prefer to be contacted via phone and 82% accept meetings from persistent cold calling. Additionally, B2B cold calling can help businesses with relationship building, marketing research, and scalability.

Top-performing sales representatives use most of these techniques without even thinking about them — they’re simply second nature from years of practice. Our network of excellent B2B sales representatives and candidates are ready to help your company today with cold-calling mastery and sales skills at the ready. Click here to contact us today and make a plan for sales success.

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Ryan Thornton

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States With the Best & Worst Job Markets as Economy Strengthens

For the first time in a long time, there is cautious optimism about the U.S. economy. It is being fueled by a strong labor market. In May, 339,000 jobs were added – nearly double projections – and while that cooled to 209,000 new jobs in June, many experts are predicting a soft landing for the economy instead of a recession.

The number of open jobs sits at 9.8 million. At a time when quit rates are declining, this signifies that the labor market is strengthening, and companies are looking to expand and hire as many workers as they can. It also means job seekers have more choices and opportunities. 

Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics sheds light on the country’s most in-demand sectors. Notably, most of the recent hires were in professional and business services (64,000); professional, scientific and technical services (43,000); government (56,000) and health care (52,000).

Leverage Between Employers and Employees

The ongoing fight for leverage betweens employers and job seekers remains a complex and rapidly evolving issue. The labor market during and following the global pandemic was largely defined by “The Great Resignation.” A record 50 million people quit their jobs in 2022, breaking the previous record set in 2021. 

With so many unfilled jobs, job seekers had historic leverage and employers had to roll out the red carpet and acquiesce to worker-friendly policies such as higher pay and the ability to work remotely. 

The most recent federal data shows the Great Resignation has come to an end with national quit rates falling to 2.4% in March, just .1% higher than in February of 2020. To be clear, lower quit rates do not equate to the strengthening of the economy – in fact it is quite the opposite. 

A BLS report notes, “Quit rates tend to rise during expansions, when workers’ prospects for finding a better job brighten.” The Roosevelt Institute also notes higher quit rates represent, “A necessary reshuffling of jobs leading marginalized workers to pursue better working conditions and wages.”

But what the return to pre-pandemic quit rates may signal is that employers are regaining some leverage. We are seeing many of them attempt to exercise that leverage by ending another pandemic workplace trend – working from home. 

Many Fortune 500 companies such as Disney and JP Morgan are mandating that employees return to the office. Even Big Tech companies like Meta and Google – who were the ones who introduced remote work and extravagant workplace perks in the first place  – are now opting for a return to work or a hybrid model. 

However, employers must not get too complacent. Projections from the World Economic Forum indicate that over the next five years, approximately 17% of North American workers are expected to switch jobs. This trend is even more pronounced within the business development sector. In the current climate, a company’s ability to recruit and retain top talent is critical to success.

Purpose of the Study and How We Determined The Rankings

As a whole, things are looking up for business owners and American workers across the country. But the dynamics between employers and employees continues to be in flux as the economy attempts to recover and enter a long awaited period of prosperity. 

As experts in B2B sales recruiting, Peak Sales Recruiting has conducted extensive research on the labor market at large to inform business owners, entrepreneurs and job seekers about the state of the labor market in their area.

It is critical to understand the rapidly changing landscape in the state that you reside in order to achieve success. 

To determine which states have the strongest labor markets we analyzed the most recent data from BLS. We factored in positive indicators such as employment, wage growth, labor productivity, quit rates (higher rates means the labor market is expanding) and job openings (a sign that employers are looking to expand their businesses). We also factored in negative benchmarks such as layoffs and underemployment. 

A Few Key Findings:

  • The Southeast is home to the states with the strongest labor markets in 2023, driven by strong employment growth, job openings and quits – meaning job seekers have their pick of the litter. Louisiana is the No. 1 state, with the highest rates of labor productivity increases and quit rates than any other state, while nearby South Carolina and Florida also rank in the top five.
  • Notably, economic powerhouses California and New York rank among the states with the weakest labor markets. That’s not due to a lack of opportunity, with both states reporting above-average employment growth rates. But they are also experiencing major drops in average wages, as well as high underemployment and declines in labor productivity.
  • Despite ranking near the bottom, No. 45 Nevada saw greater employment growth than nearly any other state, while No. 43 Alaska had a higher job openings rate and No. 37 Washington, D.C., saw the lower rate of layoffs.

Best and Worst States

Louisiana has the country’s strongest labor market, likely bolstered by its diverse economy and range of industries, from energy to aerospace to advanced manufacturing. Using the most recent data, Louisiana’s labor productivity was up by 6.1%, while job openings increased by 7.3% and the quit rate reached 3.7% – a higher rate than any other state.

Even so, Louisiana falls in the middle of the pack for employment and wage growth and has a slightly above-average rate of layoffs and underemployment, serving as a reminder that Louisaiana’s opportunity is not felt equally by all workers, and that no state has perfect labor conditions.

States With the Best & Worst Job Markets

State

Overall Ranking

Overall Z Score

Louisiana

1

0.851

South Carolina

2

0.748

Florida

3

0.709

Virginia

4

0.647

Idaho

5

0.644

Georgia

6

0.636

Alabama

7

0.591

Kentucky

8

0.569

Arkansas

9

0.459

Delaware

10

0.374

Texas

11

0.372

Utah

12

0.325

West Virginia

13

0.314

Nebraska

14

0.297

South Dakota

15

0.284

Wyoming

16

0.213

North Dakota

17

0.196

New Mexico

18

0.178

Oklahoma

19

0.174

Minnesota

20

0.171

North Carolina

21

0.165

Iowa

22

0.112

Vermont

23

0.094

Mississippi

24

0.033

Indiana

25

0.022

Wisconsin

26

0.010

Montana

27

-0.014

Maine

28

-0.029

Missouri

29

-0.050

Tennessee

30

-0.054

Kansas

31

-0.059

Arizona

32

-0.091

Colorado

33

-0.103

Ohio

34

-0.137

Maryland

35

-0.142

Pennsylvania

36

-0.199

District of Columbia

37

-0.232

New Hampshire

38

-0.240

Oregon

39

-0.244

Hawaii

40

-0.260

Connecticut

41

-0.329

Alaska

42

-0.460

Massachusetts

43

-0.471

New Jersey

44

-0.485

Nevada

45

-0.504

Illinois

46

-0.528

Michigan

47

-0.653

Washington

48

-0.660

Rhode Island

49

-0.840

New York

50

-1.019

California

51

-1.228

Source: Peak Sales Recruiting analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data

South Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Idaho also landed among the top five. Each of these states has higher rates of job openings and employment growth, while average weekly wages have increased by 0.9% in South Carolina between December 2021 and 2022.

Despite its reputation as a hub for innovation and technological advancement, California faces significant challenges in its labor market – and it ranks last. Average weekly wages in the state have dropped by 6.9%, while 8.7% of workers are underemployed and the quit and job opening rates were lower than in most other states.

New York, Rhode Island, Washington and Michigan rounded out the bottom five due to poor scores for labor productivity, wages, underemployment and job openings. However, these states also have some bright spots: New York’s layoffs rate was 0.8% in March, lower than almost anywhere else, while Washington saw strong employment growth (3.1%).

5 Tips To Recruit And Retain Talent In 2023

Recruiting and retaining top talent is crucial for the success and growth of any organization. In 2023, with the evolving job market and changing expectations of employees, it’s important to adapt your recruitment and retention strategies. Here are five tips to help you recruit and retain talent in 2023:

  • Embrace remote work and flexibility: With the rise of remote work and hybrid models, offering flexibility in working arrangements is highly valued by employees. Consider implementing remote work policies, flexible hours, and other initiatives that promote work-life balance. This will attract candidates who prioritize flexibility and enable you to retain existing employees who value remote work options.

  • Prioritize diversity and inclusion: Inclusion and diversity are critical factors in attracting and retaining talent. Foster a culture that celebrates diversity and creates an inclusive environment for employees from different backgrounds. Establish diverse hiring practices, offer diversity training, and promote inclusive policies. A diverse workforce not only brings varied perspectives but also enhances creativity, innovation, and employee satisfaction.

  • Offer competitive compensation and benefits: To attract and retain top talent, ensure your compensation packages are competitive in the market. Stay updated on industry standards and adjust your salary ranges accordingly. Additionally, provide attractive benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, professional development opportunities, and employee perks. Conduct regular salary reviews and ensure your benefits package remains enticing.

  • Focus on employee growth and development: Employees value organizations that invest in their growth and provide opportunities for skill development. Implement mentorship programs, offer training workshops, and support continued education. Create personalized development plans for employees and provide regular feedback to help them grow professionally. This emphasis on growth and development will not only attract high-potential candidates but also contribute to employee retention.

  • Foster a positive company culture: A positive company culture plays a significant role in attracting and retaining talent. Cultivate a work environment that promotes open communication, teamwork, and a sense of purpose. Recognize and reward employee achievements, encourage collaboration, and foster a supportive atmosphere. A strong and positive company culture will not only attract top talent but also ensure that employees are motivated and engaged in their roles.

Remember, these tips should be adapted to your specific industry, organizational culture, and the needs of your employees. Stay abreast of current trends and continuously seek feedback from your workforce to refine your recruitment and retention strategies in line with the evolving landscape.

5 Tips For Job Seekers In 2023

In recent years, employees have had more leverage and choice in where they work than they have historically. Amid the changing landscape, competition for top jobs remains fierce but there are ways to stand out from the pack. Here are five tips for job seekers in 2023.

  1. Embrace Remote and Hybrid Work: In response to the global pandemic, remote and hybrid work arrangements have become more prevalent. Be open to these options and showcase your ability to work effectively in a remote or flexible environment. Highlight your communication and collaboration skills in virtual settings, as well as your ability to adapt to new technologies and tools.
  2. Develop In-Demand Skills: Stay updated on the latest trends and technologies in your field and invest time in developing in-demand skills. Consider taking online courses, attending webinars, reading books, or participating in workshops to enhance your expertise. This proactive approach will make you more attractive to potential employers who are seeking candidates with relevant and up-to-date skill sets.
  3. Network Strategically: Networking remains a crucial aspect of job searching. Leverage both online and offline platforms to connect with professionals in your industry. Engage with relevant communities, join industry-specific groups on social media, and attend virtual conferences or meetups. Establishing meaningful connections can lead to valuable job opportunities or referrals.
  4. Customize Your Application Materials: Avoid sending out generic resumes and cover letters. Tailor your application materials to each specific job you apply for. Research the company and the position, and highlight the skills and experiences that align with their requirements. This personalized approach demonstrates your genuine interest and attention to detail, increasing your chances of standing out among other candidates.
  5. Leverage Online Job Search Tools: Take advantage of the numerous online platforms and job search tools available. Explore professional networking sites like LinkedIn and job search websites to find relevant openings. Set up job alerts and create a comprehensive profile that showcases your skills and experiences. Additionally, consider using AI-powered job search platforms that match your profile with suitable job opportunities.

Remember, persistence and a positive attitude are key throughout the job search process. Keep refining your skills, adapting to the changing job market, and seeking opportunities to grow both personally and professionally. Good luck!

Conclusion

While the economy remains steady the state of the labor market varies greatly depending on the state and region in which you reside. Pandemic trends such as the Great Resignation are in the rearview mirror, and while things are looking up for both employers and employees, the state of the labor market remains a complex issue. It is critical that job seekers and business owners understand the rapidly changing landscape in order to achieve success. 

Methodology

We used the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for seven metrics to determine the states with the strongest job markets. We used a Z-score distribution to scale each metric relative to the mean across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and capped outliers at 3. We multiplied some Z-scores by -1, given a higher score was negatively associated with being above the national average, including layoffs and underemployment. A state’s overall ranking was calculated using its average Z-score across the seven metrics. Here’s a closer look at the metrics we used:

 

 

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Eliot Burdett

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