You've spent time and dollars to invest in product development. Your ideas have come to fruition. You've passed any regulatory or product safety barriers. You've identified your market opportunities. What's the next step to commercializing your product? Feet on the street. That's right—it's time to target the right customers, build a consultative sales team and get your product to market.

In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we share these key tips from Growth Everywhere, a business blog, on how to build an effective sales team.

1. Don't be afraid to ask for help. First, look to your industry and to other business success stories. Who has done this well? Then reach out and interview these individuals. Their advice will get you started in the right direction and provide you with a vision.

2. Hunker down and do the research. With zero knowledge on sales team building, where do you start? Begin with research. Read books like Aaron Ross' Predictable Revenue and blogs like Jason Lemkin's SaaStr, based on SaaS sales. Read business publications such as HBR.org, the online resource for Harvard Business Review.

3. Evaluate your hiring processs. When it comes to hiring salespeople, a lot of applicants come off as aces. You need to have a specific hiring process in place for salespeople that quickly exposes their capabilities. Growth Everywhere suggests these questions:

Is this person coachable? A lot of people with past sales experience tend to think they have it all figured out. They are not coachable and are set in their ways.

Sell me a bottle of water. This exercise helps you to see how candidates handle a spontaneous situation. Can they improvise? Do they face challenges head on?

Tell me about a time where you demonstrated an entrepreneurial flair. The candidate could share a time he or she started a club or volunteered for a nonprofit. Look for examples of where the candidate demonstrates initiative. This is a sign of a winning salesperson.

What do you know about our product or service? It's often better to hire a person with more product/service knowledge and less direct sales experience because the ramp-up time for pure sales training is shorter.

4. Don't just fire fast. Fire lightning fast. Your sales process doesn't guarantee that every hire you make will be successful. In the sales world, time is a deal killer. This applies to having a low performer on the team as well. If the person is dragging along and doesn't seem like the right fit, be quick to pull the trigger on letting them go. Things will not get better.

5. Have metrics and hold people accountable. You have to establish solid key performance indexes (KPIs) that the entire team understands and follows. Otherwise, there's no accountability. Some examples include having your team send daily and weekly summaries of their sales stats, as well as monthly pipeline reports. Be consistent in your demand for sales reports and in how you address the underperformers.

6. Establish a ramp-up period. It's tough to have salespeople hit your quota right out of the gate, so establish a ramp-up period. For example, if your quota is $50,000/month per rep, it'll look like this: Month 1: $12,500, Month 2: $25,000, Month 3: $37,500, Month 4: $50,000.

7. Give people a base salary. This concept seems to be divided among sales "philosophers." Some people believe in base salaries and others don't. But consider this: wouldn't you rather ensure that your salespeople aren't worrying about their bills and focusing on bringing in more deals for your business instead? That peace of mind is important.

PCT returns on Monday with more ideas for sales success. Have a great weekend.

Source: Growth Everywhere is a blog on business and personal growth. On Mondays, the writers interview world-class entrepreneurs and pull out actionable insights for growth. On Tuesdays through Fridays, readers get 'Growth Bites' episodes—short segments that cover topics from hiring and sales to marketing, productivity and much more.