How Can Diversity on Your Sales Team Help You Grow Your Business?

Many business owners want to create diverse teams, but the question remains: what is the ROI, and how can you build a diverse team strategically?

This is a big part of puzzle – and it’s one that many people have to learn through trial and error. It’s a process that I’ve been through, and I’d like to share what I learned!

Diversity applies to every team in your business, but I’d like to highlight the importance of building a diverse Sales Team. This is an area that’s easy to overlook, oddly enough. Much of the time, we tend to look for someone who’s motivated, outgoing, and can stay organized.

There are more traits that should be considered though, especially with changing expectations in sales. Read on to get the details!

The Benefits of Diversity on Your Sales Team

There are multiple benefits of building a diverse team but being intentional about diversity on your Sales Team can actually skyrocket your sales.

To really understand why, it’s important to acknowledge that diversity goes beyond race, gender, or orientation. These traits are often what we think of (and they are important), but diversity also extends to other areas of our lives – things such as background, perspective, location, personality, learning style, culture, education, and travel experience.

If you think about it, your client base is not homogenous – it’s not made up of only one type of person. Your clients will have certain needs, traits, and pain points in common, but they’ll also have a lot of differences.

When it comes to the sales journey, each potential client will have varying needs – no one “type” of salesperson will be able to meet them all. Strategically building your Sales Team with diversity in mind can increase your sales by over 150%!

This is because your clients want to be able to relate to the person they’re speaking with…but they also want to know that your company can solve their problems. A diverse Sales Team can not only find common ground with your prospects, they can also innovate to find the solutions your clients are looking for!

Intentionally Building a Diverse Sales Team

Building diversity in any area of your business takes intentional planning and action. Far too often, it’s tempting to hire people who are like us – who think like us, work like us, and easily catch on to how we do things.

This makes sense – after all, as business owners and leaders, we’re busy. The thought of putting additional time into training up people who see things a different way, who may learn differently or go about tasks differently, can be daunting.

This is exactly why you should do it. Growth never happens by staying in your comfort zone.

If you want to grow your business, you need additional perspectives. You need to have people on your team who see things differently and innovate solutions you may not have thought of. And in order to increase your sales (a necessary part of growth), you need people who can connect and resonate with various audiences and prospects better than you can.

When it comes to growing your Sales Team, I recommend looking beyond people who will “crush those goals” or “kill it.” While these traits are good, they tend to result in a very homogenous team.

Instead, take some time to perform a GAP Analysis. This will allow you to see the traits, skillsets, personalities, and perspectives that will best benefit your team!

Managing a Diverse Sales Team

You might be thinking that this all sounds good, but what about the time it takes to manage a diverse team?

This is a valid question. It does take more effort and time to manage a team that has diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and communication styles, but it’s completely doable (even as a busy business owner).

In fact, it’s what I do every day. I’ll admit, there are times it would be easier to not have to communicate in different ways, but it wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling – and my business wouldn’t be what it is today.

I love that my team can bring me new perspectives, that they can innovate better ways of doing things. I love that they’re able to see solutions that I might not and that they’re able to reach my clients and audience in different ways.

And I love the fact that because I take the time to intentionally develop my team, I can make an incredible impact in their lives and their families.

Effectively managing a diverse team starts with hiring people who, even though they have different perspectives, backgrounds, and cultures, are aligned with your Core Values and mission. (If you’re looking for resources to help you hire the right people the first time – and to onboard them smoothly – check out our Hiring and Onboarding Boot Camp!)

When your team is aligned with your vision, building the right culture and managing your team members becomes a lot easier. It does still take intentional planning and action, but an aligned, collaborative, and innovative team can help to bring your business to new levels!

If this is something you would like help doing, please let me know – my team and I are here to help!