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Build Your Salespeople’s Strengths And Use Them As Launch Pads For Better Sales Success

I used to work for a company that tried to change me into someone I just was not. In an interview, the HR manager said, "This company will help you overcome your weaknesses by thrusting you into different kinds of situations. We will help you grow to become a completely different person." Here is the thing. There's nothing wrong with "overcoming your weaknesses". But to turn me into a "completely different person," that's something else. Back then I didn't realize the repercussions of that statement. Now that I've got years of experience as a sales manager, I know better than to try and change my sales reps into something they're not. My sales reps are themselves. They are not their colleagues. They are not their friends. They are not me.

Lance Armstrong's Metrics Applied to the Sale Force Equals Results
Recently, I completed Lance Armstrong's 2001 book on how he became a champion cyclist, was diagnosed with Cancer, beat the cancer, and then returned to become the greatest cyclist in the world. It was an inspiring, fast-reading book. While this won't come as a surprise to my cyclist friends, I was quite surprised to learn how metric-intensive competitive cycling is.

Sales 2.0 Competencies, Changes, Myths

There has been much talk about Sales 2.0 yet most sales experts can't agree on exactly what it is. But before we can even discuss Sales 2.0, I must confess that most companies have yet to get on board with good old Sales 1.x! Most companies are still selling without formalized sales processes, effective strategies and effective tactics. Most companies still have their salespeople show up, present, demo, quote and wait for the business.

Are Sales Cycles Really Getting Shorter?
I read an article that claimed that winning sales cycles are getting shorter. While I agree with everything else in the article, I questioned the 23% shorter because our substantial data does not support this claim. So where could the discrepancy be? Let's start with the author's statement, "from qualify to close has reduced by a little more than 23%".

What is Maximum Effort on the Sales Force?
You've observed salespeople who were focused, efficient and effective for months at a time. Very few distractions, good balance of new opportunities and closable opportunities, and everything moved along as it should, driven by these great salespeople. And when they perform like this for long stretches at a time, that is maximum effort.

Can the Beatles Help You Close Big Deals?

Back in the 60's, three companies were competing for attention. But they weren't retailers, manufacturers or service providers. Despite that, they had features and benefits that caused people to follow and buy from them. Some people didn't care for any of the three and bought from alternative sources. Some preferred just one or the other. And some bought from all three. They were the big winners of their day. Who were they? Try The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones. Check out the following table which, if they were traditional sellers, could have been used to tout their features and benefits.

When, How and Why Salespeople Discount Products and Services
When I pick up the dogs, Heather gives me the bill. When it's $140, I pay, she gets the dogs for me, and we leave. However, when the bill is $800, Heather gets really uncomfortable, and begins editing the invoice and always seems to get it under $650. Nice, right? Only if you're a customer. If you're Bob, the owner, who has no clue she is doing this, what must it be like for him?

Sales Success Secrets from Beyond the Grave
I have included some very controversial material in this article so I'll start with the easy stuff and finish with the material you may not want to read. I have some insights from three totally unrelated books as well as an unrelated article that I had a chance to read last week. I found common themes that relate directly to sales and sales management success.

Which Half of Your Sales or Management Effort is Working?
As inidcated by John Wanamaker's famous quote, frequency is an important element of marketing. It is also an important element of selling and of sales management...

The Importance Of The 80/20 Rule In Becoming A Top-Performing Sales Manager
Being a top sales manager means being above average, which translates to getting more done with less effort. That’s what distinguishes a top sales manager from a mediocre one. But how do YOU become a top sales manager?

Who Really Achieves Success in Sales?
Whether you have been in sales a short time or for years, achieve a level of success that is rooted in integrity...The kind of success that cannot be matched.

Maintain Long-Term Success As A Top Sales Manager By Offering Products And Services As Solutions, Not Commodities
The job of a top sales manager is a lot like old-school video gaming. The more you succeed, the deeper you get into the game, the harder the challenges get thrown your way. And the same is true for sustaining the revenue growth of a large company. Success breeds imitation.

Something Old and Something New - Apply Both for Sales Success
The phrase "something old and something new," which is often heard while brides are getting married, can be applied to using social media tools successfully. Many companies jump on the new idea band wagon, often discarding old ideas and methodologies that still produce results. Let's take a look at two ways you should combine new social media with good 'ole fashioned sales principles.

Track, Measure, Learn to Turn Your Prospects Into Customers
Accountability is one of the most important terms in sales. Without it, you have no hope of improving your sales progress. Accountability is far less about making sure people do their jobs, it is about helping people do their jobs better.

Get Your Sales Reps to Sell Like Corky

What is the highest performing stock in terms of total return over the over the course of the past 40 years? It's not Microsoft. No, its not Cisco Systems. It's not GE. It's not even Intel. You ready? Its Walgreen's Drug Stores. Walgreen's? You gotta be kidding me! The drugstore chain? Yep, its true. How they did it is even cooler than that fact that they did it in the first place. In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins investigates how they actually did it. And the answer is very simple. All that Cork Walgreen, the founder of Walgreen's did is that he took a long hard look at what his business did really well and then channeled all his energies into that one thing. In essence, he figured out exactly what Walgreen's could be the best in the world at and channeled all of their efforts into achieving that one thing.

A Top Sales Manager Adapts To The Situation…And Not The Other Way Around
Sales managers are hired to solve problems. They’re also hired to lead, but they end up spending an enormous time solving problems within the sales team. Say a sales person is showing consistently poor performance? Take it to the sales manager. Quarterly sales stink? Let the sales manager handle it. Hiring a new sales person? Let the sales manager take that one.

There is no ‘I’ in ‘Team’!
And there is no ‘T’ in ‘sales’. Performance based compensation works very well as a means of motivating sales people. There are other ways although few understand them and among those who do, even fewer consider these other ways to be a practical alternative.

Proper Time Management Earns Trust and Success

If you are regularly rescheduling, canceling, missing, or late to meetings you must read this article. Keeping your time commitments is a success secret that I share with every client. However, many do not take it seriously at first. They find it hard to accept that time management provides such a big opportunity. This is particularly true in Miami, where being late and canceling meetings is an epidemic of grave proportions. Resistance notwithstanding, time management is a concept that is basic and simple to apply, and the positive results are astronomical. Whether you are in sales, management, or working your way up the ladder, being on time and keeping your meetings can be a goldmine. I have had clients partially apply this secret and the results are automatic. Interested? Then read on!

Remove Distractions to Ignite Sales Growth – Part 1

The most common thief of sales growth is distraction. Based on my experience, I estimate that on average, employees lose 40% of their time to distractions. This number ranges between 30% and 60%, depending on the company they work for, and can reach as high as 70%, depending on the individual. Distractions can be classified into two types: 1) leadership and organization; and 2) individual-specific. The leadership and organization distractions can be categorized into poor sales support, customer service mishaps, products that do not meet client needs, bad sales management, and poor communications. “Individual-specific” distractions refer to daily mental or situational conditions faced by the salesperson. Part I deals with leadership and organization because these have a more dramatic impact on growth than most companies realize

Need For Approval and Sales Don’t Mix
“Need for approval” is the second-most powerful and most common weakness we find in sales management and their people. Research conducted by Objective Management concluded that someone with “need for approval” will be about 35% less effective than someone without this weakness. The reason?

You Cant Afford Average Salespeople
Pitfalls of order-taking salespeople.

Levels of Sales Competence
Most salespeople and sales managers often are unaware of where they fit on the sales effectiveness continuum. Dave Mather, a 30+ years sales trainer explains the basics of sales competence levels. His experience shows that less than 6% of salespeople ever reach to top level.

ProblemSolving's Problem
Problem-solving is deeply entrenched in our business culture. Dave Mather, a 30+ year business consultant, describes the pitfalls of being a habitual problem-solver and why this might hurt business results.

Consignment --- A Sales Adventure

Once upon a time, many years ago when I was a young, ambitious salesman selling flat, rolled steel, I called on one potentially large account for months and months with zero success. I was going nowhere fast. The only thing I got from this rather large, burly looking professional purchasing agent was frustration. He knew I was young and short on experience and, I believe he actually enjoyed watching me squirm month after month. I tried every sales technique I had ever learned. Of course, he was familiar with every one of them and had seen them many times before. Nothing seemed to work on this guy. I just couldn't reach him. So, I went back to something very basic that most of us in sales (especially we Baby Boomers) learned from day one. I remember the words from my most cherished mentor, "Build a relationship son. Get the man to like you

First Call --- Last Look

A former colleague of mind was fond of quoting what he considered "less competent" sales people who claim--- "My customers don't give last looks." His response; "Well, that just means someone else is getting it - Batman!" I really love that quote. Unfortunately it doesn't go far enough. The real question is what do you do when you get last look? Do you automatically match the low price? Unfortunately, that is the first response of most sales people. In fact, it is often the first response of many managers. The real test is how you maintain the business at a price that is profitable, acceptable and meets your margin objectives. Can you sell the customer at a higher price when he has a lower priced quote staring him in the face?

Gone Are the Days… Revitalizing Sales Reps for the New Century

As an "A" player in the New Century you must build business-to-business relationships through channels that other team members can service. The special buyer/salesman relationship isn't dead, golf is still allowed, entertainment is still acceptable, but the degree to which these tools are used has changed. Certainly, the focus and the gray matter behind the sales planning process must contribute more to the long-term goals of the organization. The sales representative in the New Century ensures that their products, their services and their company becomes the channel of choice. The primary objective is the same. "First Call and Last Look," but the methodology has evolved to a higher level. Transactions are no longer managed by the field sales representative.

Sales Planning during Economic Crisis

A formal sales plan for 2010 is probably the most important activity that you should engage in during the economic challenges we are facing now and throughout the year. I am not talking about the typical DREF, (Delusional Rectal Exaggerated Forecast) that many of us have become accustomed to. I am talking about a realistic, documented plan that lists the specific activities required to accomplish the objectives set for targeted accounts with identified growth potential... A sales plan is a schedule of events and responsibilities that details the actions to be taken in order to accomplish the goals and objectives necessary to be successful during these turbulent times. The plan ensures everyone knows what needs to get done, coordinates their efforts and keeps close track of progress.

Understanding Customers

Companies must create and use formal methods to gather customer feedback and improve communication. Best Practice companies have a source of information about what customers think of them that does not come from their sales people. Sales people make stuff up; sorry, they do. Sales people often provide customer information and that is fine. You need to listen to your sales force. There is no question about that, but Best Practice companies have a way of getting input directly from customers. • What do you think of us? • How are we doing? • What are the practices that our competitors provide to you that you really value?

You Survived Economic Crisis ------ Now What?

Is the recovery on its way? Some will have you believe the signs are there. At any rate, you have survived what seems to be the worst that can be thrown at you from an economic stand point. What now? We can’t possibly believe that its time to return to business as usual. That questionable beginning glow of the recovery beam, although welcome, must not cloud your judgment in preparing to face an entirely different business landscape that requires that we run our businesses differently.

Sales --- Woe is Me!

I hear a variation of the following statements quite often these days. Sales people complain about the economy as well. But, are comments like these a fair assessment or explanation for the sales challenges faced in this economic environment? Are they true statements? "Sales just doesn't get it. They aren't getting the results we need and the economy is their easy excuse." "Maybe we need to change our compensation plan." " We need a new Sales Manager." "Training hasn't been effective." "Our sales people have lost their energy." "The Economy Sucks." Let's examine the reality of the situation that most of us find ourselves facing today.

Go on Vacation to Grow Your Business
If you want to improve your business, go on vacation. Vacation is a great time to decompress, not accomplish anything meaningful, and eliminate any noise coming from an alarm clock. It's also a great time to observe customer service and sales. My vacations have always left me with a few business takeaways. Here are some observations:

Selling to CEOs Tip 22 - Get 100% of Business from 100% of Your Clients
Being the preferred supplier takes more than good work. Learn 2 easy steps to attain preferred status with your accounts. All it takes is a few extra meetings. Learn the 2 steps in this article/ video.

Selling is a Profession that Requires Professional Leadership

Sales management holds the key to meeting company objectives. Effective sales management must build the platform for success. Salespeople are not the easiest group in the company to manage. If they were they would not be salespeople. Selling is not easy. It takes a special talent, self motivation, self discipline, a passion to succeed and the ability to accept rejection. The reality of the situation is simple. The majority of salespeople are not managed well. Today our sales environment leans toward a more multifaceted atmosphere; salespeople must become strategists with a plan. This plan requires more knowledge about the business, better relationships and better solutions. Some old school (Lone wolf) salespeople may believe they know what it takes. They have the experience. They've been around a long time.

Empower Your Sales People By Providing Them With Positive Behavioral Feedback
The sales manager is the sales rep's direct line of communication between himself and his performance. If this line is cut, if the sales manager is somewhat incompetent or won't do his job properly, then the company has a problem. One of the most important factors that could influence a sales rep's growth in his career is the sales manager's ability to do his job well.

Don’t Read This…Unless You Want To Have A Really Good Sales Meeting

We’ve all sat through God-awful boring sales meetings right? Not exactly a good time, as I’m sure you’d agree… Has the thought ever occurred to you that your sales reps might feel like this almost every time you call a sales meeting? “Positively absurd” you say! Well, if you are one of the few who does have the need to inject a little vigor in your next sales meeting, then read on… Try this to spice things up: next time you call a sales meeting, try a little “lead by being led” reverse psyschology on your sales reps to get them involved in the process of choosing topics. All you do is simply ask your sales reps a week or two before the sales meeting what they most want to hear about is the best way to get them engaged and helps to “spruce things up”. After all, if you ask them what they want to hear about in the meeting you

No more Sales Hiring Mistakes
A sales hiring mistake costs more than most sales managers care to contemplate. Apart from the loss of good will and the expenses associated with replacement, there is the missed opportunity cost. There is no way to recover the sales that the right sales person would have made. Read on for ideas, tips, and reliable ways to eliminate or minimise sales hiring mistakes.

Profile Customers to Manage Opportunities

Customer Profiles can be used in conjunction with Key Account Plans to strategize and report on revenue opportunities with senior management. Additionally, these tools can be further leveraged to internally communicate target customers for training purposes. The equivalent of this tool for external uses is a Case Study. Use Demand Metric’s Customer Profile Template to more effectively manage sales opportunities by providing a simple reporting tool for senior sales management.

Conducting an Effective Territory Review

All companies are in constant need of aggressive, creative and resourceful salespeople to have their products specified, accepted and used by customers. Without informed and capable field salespeople, no company could hope to compete in the marketplace today. But how often have any of us stopped to consider the fact that good salespeople, the kind who can help a company really grow, don't just happen to come along by chance or fate. There is no such thing as a "born salesperson," because selling ability is much more than an intangible given that a person either has or doesn't have. Granted, selling does require certain attributes in a person. He or she should, for example, be basically outgoing in manner and capable of making a genuinely favorable impression almost immediately.

Off the Cuff --- Sales Execution

Execution involves the day-to-day activities of the salesperson. For most industries, this entails both planned, proactive tasks and opportunistic, reactive events that the salesperson uncovers by doing the right things in the right place at the right time. It's critical that the progress of the tasks in target action plans is carefully monitored to avoid surprises. This is the equivalent of monitoring your daily exercise before the effects start to show up on the scale. The SEP circumvents the most common mistake made in distribution today: trying to manage results. You must manage activities because it's the activities that produce results. Once the results are in, the horse is out of the barn and everything you do from that point on is reactive. If you proactively manage the activities, the expected results will follow.

Shoot From the Hip Sales Mentality - Ten Steps that Focus on Sales Success

Sales people all do what they do with good intent and because they believe... it is the right thing to do! However is it the most productive thing to do? Remember, sales people will sell what you pay them to sell. If you want them to sell shovels but their incentive is based on selling hammers --- they will sell hammers. We as human beings are habitual; and habits form routines. As sales people we all form a subconscious sales approach or routine. During tough economic times sales people do not change. Instead they become extreme in their behavior. They may run faster but not work smarter. The solution is not simple but it's obvious that doing more of what isn't working is not the answer.

Has Your Sales Force Lost Their Passion

Nowadays, salespeople must be problem solvers able to generate solutions for customers in their time of need. Therefore, they must possess a great deal of knowledge about your customers' business. They must actually define what those needs are because the customer may not know, nor take the time to explain if they do know. Customers want you to have the knowledge and intelligence to comprehend and analyze their problems before showing up at the door. Customers will listen and buy from the salesperson that finds the "pain" and takes it away. Sometimes going back to the basics is part of the answer to rekindling the passion. That means revisiting best practice in all areas including targeting, goal setting, customer profiling and action planning.

Sales Management - 7 Selling Tips on Handling Price, Price, Price
You hear the price excuse or issue all the time. Well, here’s 7 ways to handle price objections and demands for the lowest price.

Selling Change
If we're to learn from history, then we must accept the fact that change - either in the form of innovation, continuous improvement or both - is a critical component of growth and ongoing success. But, truth be told, people tend to resist change; so, how might we, as managers or business owners best go about getting the team to accept it?

Selling Attitude!
Selling is a people business. People buy from people, and most often, from people that they like. But what makes one sales rep more likeable than the next? Surely all, or at least most sellers try to be likeable! Attitude makes the difference.

6 Proven Strategies For Sales Managers
Do you know why most sales managers aren't exceptional? Well, because they do the same things that ordinary sales managers do. Here are 6 proven strategies that will separate you from the pack.

Three Proven Methods To Turn Around Your Sales Underachievers
Something’s got to be done – and fast. These guys are killing your company’s sales performance. When dealing with underperforming sales people, you can’t delay.

Lead the way

Sales needs to be led from the top and it needs to be on the agenda of the ‘C’ suite, and this will mean from the CEO down, including the CFO, COO, and CIO. Even if the ‘C’ suite never has contact with an external customer (which I strongly advise against) they need to know how to lead, sell in, and support the sales effort. Why? Despite millions, if not billions, of dollars being invested in sales training, CRM systems and the like, many leaders are realising that their frontend processes, backend systems, culture (including those staff who have not traditionally seen themselves involved in sales), and sales methodologies are not aligned with their customers.

Collaboration – The New Competition
Over the coming years, we will see collaboration become the new competition. Markets around the world are crying out for collaboration as innovation and differentiation become scarce in a sea of commoditised products and services. Sales people who see themselves as collaborators, both internally (colleagues, departments) and externally (customers, competitors), will prosper more than ever.

Nine things to do that will give you more time
Sweeping strategies make a difference. Adopt the right approach to managing time and forget about the discipline. This is not just another time management article. There are some high level strategies that I know from personal experience lead to a greater sense of control. Read on and seize the initiative in your world.

Compensating Our Sales Folks
Our continued fascination with making an appointment as a precursor to making a sale is based on the belief that a buyer will buy based on the strength of the presentation. And although we get extremely low closing rates, we continue to do it and often throw more sellers at the problem, doing the same activity. That’s the definition of insanity!

The Value of a Value Propostion
Understand how a value proposition can assist in promoting your business and positioning your company.

Secrets of Selling to the "C" Suite
Learn the secrets of getting in front of decision makers and learning how to close business with those that can.

How to Get Better Results with Cold Calling
Learn the secrets to gain better results from cold calling success.

Negotiation Tactics
Understand the art of negotiation and win any conversation with minimal concession.

Winning Business with Referrals
Use referrals to decrease labor and increase your percentage of closed business and new revenue.

How to Increase the Sales Pipeline
Learn how to produce more leads with less labor

The Importance of Customer Service
Gain insights of how to use customer service as a branding and marketing differentiator.

Seven Irresitable Laws of Customer Service
Create customer service tools that set you apart from competitive forces and make you and your company a client magnet.

Solving the Customer Service Puzzle
Learn the simple rules of customer service to assist your organization create the differentiation required to create allure.

Why is Sales Management so Tough

This question has challenged every business and leader since even before the days of "The Death of a Salesman" a great book by Arthur Miller. Managing a sales force is quite different from selling to a customer. It requires different skill sets. And yet a common mistake we make when filling the Sales Managers position is that we take our top sales person and promote them to Sales Manager. That decision fails more often then it succeeds. The reason is simple --- "A Sales Managers primary responsibility is not to focus on selling". The Sales Managers primary responsibility is to focus on the promotion of sales. It's about leadership.

SMM 1 \| The #1 Factor To Achieving Sales Management Success
On this episode of sales management mastery we are going to get into a little bit about what we what to accomplish on this show. As well as, introduce one of our core foundational concepts that is absolutely essential to becoming a top sales manager.

SMM 2 \| 3 Proven Sales Management Techniques To Establish Trust With Your Salespeople
On this week's episode of Sales Management Mastery we're going to talk about what's in it for you to placing deposits in the trust account, plus three proven methods to establish trust with your salespeople so that you can drive your company's sales revenues.

SMM 3 \| The Secret To Fighting Mediocrity In Your Sales Team
Let's talk a little bit today about some of the corporate buzz words that you probably hear flying around in corporate America today. Most of the people that listen to the show are sales managers and/or general managers of large and small organizations. The corporate buzz words have been going around for a quite some time.

SMM 4 \| A Simple Way To Lead Your Sales Team To Sales Stardom
On this episode of Sales Management Mastery we are going to teach you how to lead you sales team to sales stardom using our "lead by being led" sales leadership strategy.

SMM 7 \| 7 Quick Ways To Lead a Sales Team To Maximum Sales Impact!
On this episode of Sales Management Mastery we're going to give you 7 quick ways to lead a sales team for maximum sales impact.

Selling and Attitude
Discover how much you attitude counts in trying to sell your products and services.

How to Survive in Volatile Times
Learn the art of companies that can survive in any economy and why they are built to last.

The Lazy Sale’s Manager’s Way To Coach Salespeople

A couple years back when I took over a sales team, I was hired as a sales manager, before I left the corporate world to train sales managers fulltime. I was a sales manager for a few Fortune 500 and Nasdeq 100, and some smaller company's as wekll. I did that for many years. but one of the organizations that I started with, going back 8 or 9 years now, it was an organization that I really wanted to be a part of because they had an excellent record and a tremendous amount of opportunity.

4 Proven Methods to Motivate Salespeople…Gently

Great leaders in business, especially those in the sales world, have often regarded people skills as their greatest assets in motivating as well as leading. There are lots of opportunities for sales managers to motivate even during mundane every day activities. They could be anything from, taking corrective action, to criticism, to anything during the normal course of business, there is always the opportunity to motivate. Don't understand the power of some of these very simple techniques. This is the stuff that separates the men from the boys, and the women from the girls when it comes to superior sales management; motivating under ordinary circumstances.

How To Motivate Salespeople The Easy Way

One of the things that prompted us to talk about this today is that I am just continually amazed at the number of sales managers that have absolutely no clue as to what actually motivates their sales reps. It's really one of the most popular requests that we get at Sales Management Mastery is what motivate salespeople? In fact, in all the all line polls that we have done of sales manager, CEO's, sales trainers, this comes up as the number on demand for anyone engaged in our surveys on line. Which is "how do you motivate salespeople?"

How To Become A “Silent Sales Leader”
On this episode of Sales Management Mastery we teach you how to use silent might to empower you sales leadership with 5 powerful techniques

Whine or Shine ---- Sales Management

Jimmy Jo Bonds was hired by ABC Heating as their new Vice President of Sales. ABC Heating and Air Conditioning has seventeen branches across the Midwest. Jimmy is replacing the former VP of Sales due to stagnant sales (zero growth) that did not improve for five years running. Jimmy has quite an impressive resume as a "Product Manager". Jimmy's primary challenge was stated very clearly by his boss the President...... "I need you to focus on Growing Market Share!" The president went on to promise Jimmy all the support and resources he would need to get the job done. Jimmy has eighteen sales people and a National Accounts Manager reporting directly to him.

Puddles in the Parking Lot

It was a cold October morning in Dayton, Ohio and as I left my house at 7am the skies opened up and it began to pour. It wasn't cold enough to turn the rain into ice but it was still chilly enough that I turned on the heater. Today we were having customers in. Not just any customer - General Motors was visiting our branch and we were going to make a presentation trying to secure all the distribution business for two of their local manufacturing facilities. We had a plan and we had rehearsed our game plan over and over.

Why you should stop trying to delight your customers

Delighting customers does not build loyalty. Reducing customers’ effort does. These were the findings from a large customer service survey conducted by the Customer Contact Council (CCC), and featured in the July edition of the Harvard Business Review. The survey’s aim was to get answers to three questions: 1. How important is customer service to loyalty? 2. Which customer service activities increase loyalty, and which don’t? 3. Can companies increase loyalty without raising their customer service operating costs? After conducting structured interviews with customer service leaders and a study of more than 75,000 customers, the CCC uncovered three findings...

Latest findings from the world of Sales Transformation

I recently had the opportunity to MC and attend the Optimising the Sales Force Conference – OSF2010 which was the follow up to the inaugural OSF2009. Building on last year’s success, this year’s conference was attended by over 120 high level sales leaders across Australia. Once again I was privileged to be part of the panel of international and local experts presenting on this year’s topic, Sales Transformation. This was the second time in Australia that we have had the opportunity to come together as a profession and share ideas and discuss important matters moving forward, and from the looks of it, we will be doing this again. The feedback from our international sales experts was that this was one of the best forums in the world.

Through the looking glass

Many sales people are tired of being told that they need to sell like someone else to be successful. Many are unsure of what they should be modelling. Too often they are told to ‘just be like’ someone else but with no reference to what that actually looks like they are left poking around in the dark mimicking the ‘star’ performer and left feeling unauthentic. And ‘big sticks’, bribes or fear don’t help either. Most people, and especially sales people, want to be the best they can be but without having to be someone else. Clearly defining what good performance looks like is key. Here is a model we use where we focus on three key areas...

Why we should put the Trainer back into Sales Management

Up until 20 years ago, a key function of a sales manager’s role was the regular training of their sales people. What did this look like? Well, something like this: weekly 1 hour power training sessions for the sales team focusing on honing key skills, bi-monthly half day or 1 day sessions drilling down on account planning, strategy, market and product knowledge, and formal class room training usually employing external, expert training providers on a once or twice yearly basis to boost their teams to the next level. This was all supplemented by sales meetings and one-on-one coaching. Many sales managers of yesteryear were good trainers. However, through my observations across many businesses, the training component has been replaced by compliance.

Why we should put the Trainer back into Sales Management

The Forces of Sales Motivation
No one has gotten more press on motivation, over the course of time, than Abraham Maslow. Each person, as we know, is truly motivated by a series of physiological then safety and security and belonging needs which Maslow goes into in his "Needs Hierarchy Theory".

7 Poisonous Sins of Trying to sell
Sales is a precarious profession that requires a process. Many believe that selling is an easy profession but it takes moxie, patience and more importantly strategies that pave the way to success. Discover the seven secrets to selling success.

The Seven Forces of Sales Motivation, Part 2
On this episode of Sales Management mastery we go into part 2 of our series on the Seven Forces of Sales Motivation. We continue with forces 5 through 7 and further develop our understanding with our psychology of motivating people As a quick review, we went through the first 4 of the 7 forces of sales motivation on last week’s episode.

Masterful Reprimands – The Best Sales Management Training
As effective as Masterful Praisings are in reinforcing good behavior, reprimands are as effective at curtailing bad behavior. We call em, you guessed it..."Masterful Reprimands".

Why Money Doesn’t Motivate Salespeople
Where your sales rep actually falls on this continuum will makeup what we call their “motivational profile”. There are the 7 Forces of basic motivation, and they get this primarily from their genetic makeup. The point of our first two shows was to show you that the motivations of your sales people today really don’t differ a whole lot from how they were motivated as kids.

Sales Management \| How To Be A Flexible Sales Leader
Sales managers are hired to solve problems. They’re also hired to lead, but they end up spending an enormous time solving problems within the sales team. Say a sales person is showing consistently poor performance? Take it to the sales manager. Quarterly sales stink? Let the sales manager handle it. Hiring a new sales person? Let the sales manager take that one.

Three Steps to Successful Sales Forecasting
In most businesses this (the 4th) quarter is the busiest and much sales effort is focused on getting the best results from these critical weeks. However good sales managers are also preparing get to grips with next year's sales targets. This article gives you three simple steps to successful forecasting

The Secret Sauce to Sales Management Success Part 1
It's not a secret, but goal setting, and goal setting specifically used in the right way as a sales manager is the absolute secret sauce to you getting the best from your sales people to achieve ultimate sales success to you getting the best from your sales people.

You Are Today
One of the biggest mistakes made by companies and individuals is waiting until January to do business planning. By then the New Year has started and the effects of your efforts won't be seen for several months. By then you are behind.

Sales Management \| How To Save A Ton Of Time Hiring A Sales Superstar
With the hundreds of sales resumes you will likely screen for the position that you have open, you really need a methodical way to screen a resume and get the sense of what the candidate is all about.

Sales Management \| 5 Proven Methods To Screen Out A Bad Sales Hire
No sales manager wants to make the torturous mistake of hiring a complete sales dud. Although a few are bound to slip in, in order to prevent this from happening to you, there are a number of ways that you can screen out a great sales rep resume, prior to actually meeting with them face to face.

As A Sales Manager, How Do You Know When You’ve Made A Hiring Error?
All this time I’ve been talking about the techniques and the right ways to manage your sales team. But here is the thing: when is enough enough? When do you get to throw in the towel and say, “Sales isn’t your true calling. I’m afraid I’m going to have to let you go”?

Five Steps to Leading Sales Force Restructuring
It’s that time of year again when sales executives in the industry must justify the cost of their sales force in light of products going off patent, lack of formulary coverage, and changing dynamics in the industry.

10 Greatest Pharmaceutical Sales Myths: Exposed

For most pharmaceutical companies the sales force is still their most expensive promotional resource. I have to agree with IMS when they stated that "Although the majority of senior executives recognise the need to change their commercial models, many are struggling with how to do so". The key to start developing new commercial models is, understanding what myths may be holding you back from propelling you company's growth curve.

Five Ways for Sales Leaders to Stay Inspired

Paul Smith is the Sales Director of a leading pharmaceutical company. He has been in the industry for the last 10 years and has been a star in his various sales and marketing roles. His recent promotion, finds him managing managers. His leadership style has always been one of pace setting and leading by example. Having just gone through a sales force downsizing Paul has adopted an inspirational leadership style.

Sales Management Case Studies Inspired Five Ways for Sales Leaders to Stay

Tale of Two Clients - Sales Training! :) versus Saaaales Training (:

Here's an interesting comparison for you. Two client companies are on the exact same sales development time line. (Same time line but separate from each other - they don't even know about each other) Both of their sales forces went through sales force evaluations at the exact same time. Both of their sales management teams were developed at the same time. Both of their sales organizations received sales infrastructure help (sales process, sales pipeline, metrics, sales recruiting process, etc).

How Can Anyone Spend That Much Time on Sales Coaching?
If you aren't the low price leader or one of the two or three best-known brands in your industry, and if buying from you does NOT represent the safe choice for your customers, then you are an underdog. And if you are an underdog, you had better be providing comprehensive sales and sales management training and coaching because you can't compete on price or reputation.

The Search for Perfection - How it Can Ruin Your Sales Efforts
Sometimes perfection is good but sometimes there is a strange dark side. First the good and then, in the fifth paragraph, I'll share the frightening dark side with you.

Tale of Two Clients - Sales Training :) vs. SAAAALES TRAINING :(
You've heard it before. It flows down hill. Your organization can only be as effective as the weakest leadership link. When it comes to a sales development initiative, you must start out committed and remain committed to drive the process until the change you demand has been accomplished. Anything short of that is a formula for failure.

Sales Recruiting - How Long Can You Retain The New Salesperson?
Back in April, I posted an article that was actually my third in a series on Sales Longevity - the science of predicting sales turnover. In that article I provided a link to my latest White Paper on the subject and suggested that this new science would someday become a new feature in our already cutting edge Sales Candidate Assessments. Well, that day is upon us.

10 CEO's and the Impact They Have on their Sales Forces
I don't mean to paint a picture that depicts CEO's as the problem, but in some companies, they are the problem. In 9 of the 10 examples I described above they were the problem but unlike this article, it happens in only about 50% of the cases, not 90%. So if you are a CEO or know one, what should you do when getting help for your sales organization?

Sales Coaching is Like Baseball - How Do You Rate?

Really? Whiffle Ball in the back yard? Sandlot? Little League? Babe Ruth? High School? American Legion? College? Cape Cod League? Independent League? First Round Draft Pick? Signed by a Major League Team? High Minors? Cup of Coffee in the Bigs? Utility Player on a Major League Team? Every Day Player? All Star? MVP? Hall of Fame? When it comes to coaching, most sales managers have done the baseball equivilent of Sandlot - they messed around at it and had some fun.

Top 5 Sales Recruiting Observations of 2010
Today, I'll make some observations about the sales recruiting activity taking place this summer that either reinforces some of the things I've said in the past, or modifies my original stance. In no particular order, but of equal importance:

10 Reasons Why Sales Commitment Has Become More Important
A comparison of selling today with selling over the past 20 years shows that selling is significantly more challenging today than ever before. Let's take a look at 10 of the factors that explain this shift in difficulty:

5 Frustrations that Derail the Sales Force
I write a lot about the things that frustrate Presidents, CEO's, Sales VP's and Salespeople. Yesterday, somebody asked what frustrates me so I attempted to tackle that question here. I'm very steady and what you see on Monday, you'll probably get on Tuesday and Wednesday too. That said, there are things that will make me eat faster or more often, and here you can read my top 5:

10 Tips for Hiring Salespeople for Your Company
This is a perfect time to be hiring - the economy is quickly turning around - heading into an upswing - and you must have excellent salespeople to find opportunities and get them closed by outselling your competitors.

The Role of Preparation in Developing Top Salespeople

The Internet has made it easier than ever for prospects to find your company, a benefit of Sales 2.0. The upside is that your leads are coming from unexpected places and you are getting audiences with prospects you may not have found ten years ago. The downside is that this has changed the sales process, accelerated the sales cycle and in some cases, made it more difficult than ever for companies to close these new found opportunities.

Is Your Law Firm Anything Like Your Sales Consulting Firm?

Did you ever stop to think about how much or how little you rely on your advisers? Not your board, not your board of advisers, but your business advisers. These are the individuals from outside of your company that you trust to direct, recommend, advise, consult and help with decisions, strategies, options and solutions to put your business in the best possible position to succeed. Take a look at the portfolio of advisers to the left.

Call Reluctance - Causes, Factors and Predictors
Historically, when salespeople have failed, has most often been because of their inability to get appointments. We are able to identify the three factors that indicate a call-reluctance problem - a malady that is career-threatening for salespeople who are expected to hunt.

What are Reasonable Sales Management Expectations?
I am often asked which of the various services we provide to companies can be done in-house, by the executive team. Fair question. Answer: All of them. So why would companies use us or others with our expertise? Answer: Because when they try to do it in-house they aren't able to get most of it right:

Sales Coaching - Are Sales Managers Any Good at This Function?
I've written extensively about sales coaching before. Yesterday, a fairly typical day, I coached 4 different sales experts and 2 clients on how to more effectively coach salespeople and sales managers. I have noticed that most sales managers believe that they're fairly good at coaching when, in reality, most of them are very ineffective at it. Why?

Salesperson ROI - How Long Must They Stick to Pay Off? Part 1
Is there a connection between sales success and tenure? Is it really a given that a successful salesperson will stick around longer than an unsuccessful salesperson?

Top 10 Rules for Getting Your Salespeople to Follow Your Sales Process
Sales Management's number one priority is to assure that their salespeople don't fall into old habits, take shortcuts, get lazy, or avoid steps in the sales process where they aren't as skilled or comfortable. Once your customized, optimized, integrated sales process is in place and introduced, my top 10 rules for all things sales process, strategy and tactics are:

Should Special Effects Determine If You Have the Right Salespeople?
One of the answers we usually provide when we evaluate a sales force is whether or not a company has the right salespeople. Of course we must know, right for what?

Sales Management - Eagerness vs. Resistance
For one, Frank Belzer, my guest, is known for his ability to keep his pipeline filled and he discussed the things that motivate him to consistently do that.

Real Live Coaching Call - Coaching Salespeople
Clients who receive sales management coaching, training and development come to know what an effective sales coaching conversation sounds like. You may not be privy to that so you might find last week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts helpful.

Real Live Coaching Call - Coaching a Salesperson
Chris Mott was my guest and he coached a live caller for about 30 minutes. Listen to the show for a better sense of what every coaching conversation should sound like. The following email was received from the live caller the day after the scheduled sales call:

What Makes You Think You Have a Sales or Recruiting Process?
Whether it's a recruiting process or a sales process, it should always include a combination of best practices, milestones, steps and stages conducted in the proper sequence, with the proper expectations, in an appropriate time frame.

Your Sales and Sales Management Questions Answered - Part 2
In an article last week, I provided the post to a sales competency contest. The final question in that survey asked the participants for any sales issues they needed help with. Today I'll answer the first four of those questions below:

Sales Leadership - It's Not About the Title
We ended up spending much of the show talking about Sales Leadership and the three most predominant types we see:

1st of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions

This is the 1st in the series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #1 - COACHING In its simplest form, sales coaching consists of the following two activities: 1. Pre-Call Strategizing - coaching prior to selected calls to make sure that the salesperson has a good reason for having the upcoming call, a desired outcome, a game plan or strategy, and the appropriate questions/dialog to achieve the desired outcome. 2. Post-Call Debriefing - coaching after selected calls to discover the true outcome of the call, why the salesperson got that outcome, and what they could have done differently or more effectively...

2nd of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
This is the 2nd in the series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #1 - ACCOUNTABILITY In its simplest form, sales accountability consists of the following: * Holding salespeople accountable to something measurable - metrics - on a daily basis * Being more demanding - being firmer and tougher * Eliminating Excuse Making - people take responsibility for their results More...

3rd of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
This is the third in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #3 - MOTIVATION Motivating your salespeople comes down to getting them to: 1. Do what they won't do on their own; 2. Change their behavior; 3. Do more of what they are already doing; 4. Have more of a sense of urgency; 5. Over Achieve More...

4th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
This is the 4th in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #4 - RECRUITING The most important things to understand about consistently recruiting strong, successful salespeople are:

5th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
This is the 5th in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #5 - DEVELOPMENT Development is the ongoing development of your salespeople. It includes - and goes beyond:

6th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
This is the 6th in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #6 - LEADERSHIP Sales Leadership includes but is not limited to:

7th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
There isn't a person in the company who must work more on developing relationships than an individual in a sales management role, whether it be a line level sales manager or the World Wide VP of Sales. But developing a relationship does not mean that one should become friends.

8th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
Systems and processes are your sales infrastructure - everything that is not your people. A lot of us use the two words interchangeably. So what is the difference between systems and processes?

Sales Training is not a luxury – it’s essential
Keeping you and your sales team ‘match fit’ and actively engaged in the market place selling effectively is paramount to your survival and success in today’s market. Yet too many businesses, large and small, do not train their sales teams in the vital skills needed in the much more consultative, value add, less product focused market of today.

Thinking of promoting your best sales performer to sales manager? Think again!
Many businesses have made the mistake of promoting their best performing sales person into the role of sales manager. Their logic – well they are great at selling, they’ll be great at sales management. Sadly most of these situations end in disaster.

Evalulate your Sales Team
You should always be evaluating your sales team

Top 7 Reasons Sales Managers Fail
Have you been scratching your head wondering why your sales team is not hitting revenue goals and aren't going to succumb to blaming the economy? Do you feel like you're doing everything you can and giving your all as a manager but are not getting consistent results? Read on to determine if you are a product of these 7 reasons sales managers fail.

Sales and Sales Management Simplified
Let's get to the basics of sales and sales management and make it as simple as possible by using some of my favorite baseball analogies.

The Magic of the Sales Force Evaluation
Companies that evaluate their sales forces benefit from the insights, predictions, and findings that come from the wealth of relevant information. In addition to the many surprises, including problems they weren't aware of, they learn of many opportunities too.

Top 25 Prerequisites for Successful Sales Training and Development
Before an inside or outside expert can help you develop your sales force, there are at least 25 milestones that must take place or the initiative will probably fail. Development has much less to do with content, curriculum, and methodology than it does with the person, or people who will do the developing.

Sales Leads...
Looking at a familiar phrase from a different perspective, how does your organization's leadership lead or impact the selling process?

Time To Sell
As business owners or sales managers, one thing we can all do to boost profits, productivity as well as longevity in our sales ranks is to get our sales people working on the right things. Of course, before we can accomplish this, we need to be truthfully-aware of what they're working on now...

Bench Strength and a Hard Driving Sales Force
He also spoke at length about the right way for companies to use value to decommoditize their products and services. Bill elaborated about the difference between real selling and demonstrating and presenting. His 5 tips for owners, presidents, and CEO's? He said that things really aren't terribly different other than money being tighter. So he said:

When should we appoint a Sales Manager?

For many start ups and small businesses having a full time sales manager in place is not a viable option. Firstly, there is usually no one to lead and manage in the sales function however, the function of sales management should be on your â€˜To Do Listâ€™ as a business owner/manager even if you are sales managing yourself. Paying attention to your sales activities and results, developing your sales strategy and plan, knowing who to target, etc. all form part of a sales manager's role.

How do I lead and manage a virtual or remote sales team?

More and more organisations are adopting virtual teaming and remote working. They are doing this to achieve wider reach and tighter integration, reduce their carbon footprint, decentralise operations and allow their staff to benefit from less travel and more home working. This type of work environment has been around in sales teams for a long time, and with the advent of technology, a sales person may not even have to come into the â€˜officeâ€™ for weeks.

Why hiring or keeping the 600lb sales gorilla is a mistake

For many years the legend of the 600lb sales gorilla or Alpha sales superstar has been strutting the hallways and boardrooms of businesses. Often revered for achieving top of the league ladder sales results, yet feared by many for their aggressive, manipulative, ego centric, demanding, intimidating antics, countless CEOâ€™s and sales managers have allowed these sales prima donnas to remain in their sales teams but at what cost to their sales team and their business?

Add Structure with Processes and Procedures
Have you hit a ceiling in your business model? Is winging it and flying by the seat of your pants no longer helping you reach your growth goals? Discover why structure is necessary and how it can produce quality results through additional individual and team accountability. Read on...

Bounce Back Power is Emotional Resilience
It's not how fast or hard that you fall that matters, it's how quick and strong that you bounce back into the game that makes the difference! Get the power of emotional resilience working for you! Read on...

Certainty and Decisiveness Breeds Confidence
Why must you lead others with certainty and decisiveness? How will a lack of these qualities hurt you and your team? Read on to learn more...

Crank it Up With Performance Evaluations
People need feedback! You hurt your people and yourself with inconsistent or non existent performance evaluations, they are worthy of the effort! Learn why performance evaluations are necessary and how to leverage them to improve overall results! Learn more, read on...

Creating a Champions Environment
The most fertile soil and ideal growing environment produces the ultimate crop! Discover why you must play a role in creating a champions environment and how you can accomplish this objective. Read on...

How Setting the Example Builds Great Teams
We live in a monkey see, monkey do world! Men and women want to follow those who aren't affraid to lead the way not with their words, but with their example. Discover how setting the example can make the difference for you, read on...

Knowing Your Players is Worth the Time Investment
It takes time to get to know the people on your team. Treating people as individuals and understanding how they are wired and what makes the tick enables you to meet them at their needs and coach them for maximize performance. Learn how to do this more effectively and why it is necessary, read on...

Leadership Style
What is your Leadership style and what impact will it have on those that you wish to lead? Read on...

Start Managing Using Your Sales Team’s Talents & Stop Focusing on Their Weaknesses

From you role in sales management, do you manage from a perspective focusing on existing talents or from a weakness one? If you truthfully answered from a more negative than positive focus, then can you answer this question?: Why do winning teams win because of their strengths or their weaknesses? Now is the team to change your management style especially if you wish to increase sales and have a high performance sales team.

The Secret Sauce to Sales Management Success! Part 2
The "secret sauce" to sales management success is getting your sales reps to set their own goals for themselves.

The REAL Secrets to Sales Management Motivation

Motivating your sales team is just one aspect of the job of a sales manager, but it is all encompassing in that it also includes all of the other things that you do as a sales manager. Sales managers are not only coaching and leading, but there should also be an undercurrent of motivation in everything and anything that you do. And be acutely aware that every interaction that you have and every message that you send has to have an undercurrent of motivation associated with it in order to keep your sales people at peak performance, especially in today’s economy when sales are tougher to get, it is very important to have a highly motivated sales team to push you towards your goals as a sales manager and towards the goals of the organization.

Two Proven Methods To Supercharge Your Sales Force
The sales person who is motivated primarily by praise and encouragement is probably the most prevalent motivational profile that you will have on your sales team.

Don’t Make This Sales Management Mistake
You need to set the tone and set out a vision of where you want the team to head, over-performance from a sales performance standpoint. As far as leading and motivating, it comes down to individual tactics and techniques that you need to use with each one of your sales people because they are all motivated by different forces.

Don’t Do This as a Sales Manager

When you are setting goals, there are a lot of factors to keep in mind that are danger spots and pitfalls of goal setting. As part of the "don't do this as a sales manager" this is one of the important parts to helping you and your sales people set goals, and to make sure that you keep a very tight leash on those goals. Have control over those goals, and oversee the actions that are being taken to achieve those goals is very important.

The Importance of Sales Management Motivation
The difference between sales performance above expectation and sales performance below expectation is largely determined by small things that a sales manager can do every day to keep his sales team at the top of their game and highly motivated.

7 Proven Methods To Motivate The “People” Salesperson
We have identified 5 separate sales rep motivational profiles. We have discussed a few in previous shows. As we continue on our motivational, leadership and coaching series on personality types and motivational profiles, today we are going to talk about the sales people that are primarily motivated for this need for companionship, and people, and affiliation.

The coming together of Sales Leaders in Austalia

I recently had the opportunity to attend the inaugural Optimising the Sales Force Conference along with over 120 high level sales leaders across Australia. I was privileged to be part of the panel of international and local experts presenting on sales effectiveness where we explored the latest research on sales strategy, leadership, learning and development, sales management, sales people, and current market trends. This was the first time in Australia we have had the opportunity to come together as a profession and share ideas and discuss important matters moving forward.

How a Top Sales Manager Gets Their Salespeople to Sell More Stuff!

When do you do your best work? When you feel bad or when you feel good? The obvious answer is when you feel good. No one feels like doing much of anything when they feel bad. When people don't feel so good, they end up doing very little....not a good situation for you. So it begs the question: does the salesperson brimming with confidence sell more than the salesperson who lacks confidence? The answer may seem obvious, but why do so few average sales managers spend the majority of their time building their people's confidence up instead of ripping it down? It could be that many sales managers are former sales salespeople themselves and "seagull sales management" (swoop in, dump on the rep, then fly away), is all they know. In this case, unfortunately, ignorance begets more ignorance...

Why a Top Sales Manager Must Always "Tune Into the Right Frequency"

It's definitely clichéd, but I think this is one of the most critical elements to successful sales management and that is to make sure you are tuned into the right radio frequency with your salespeople. There's only one radio station that your sales executives like to listen to and that radio station is: WIFM. (You might say WIIFM, but let's not get too technical here...). This is the "What's-In-It-For-Me" radio frequency. This is the only station they pay any attention to and if you're not broadcasting on it all the time, 24-7, then your sales reps are gonna switch you over to some other station on XM or Sirius radio...or worse yet, turn off the radio completely!

Why A Top Sales Manager Needs To Be On All His Reps’ “Pre-sets”

You have to be more popular than Howard Stern. You also have to be cooler than Opie and Anthony too. Why? Because one of the most critical elements to successful sales management is to always make sure you are tuned into the radio frequency of your salespeople. Here's why. There's only one radio station that your sales executives like to listen to and that radio station is: WIFM. (You might say WIIFM, but let's not get too technical here...). This is the "What's-In-It-For-Me" radio frequency. This is the only station they pay any attention to and if you're not broadcasting on it all the time, 24-7, then your sales reps are gonna switch you over to some other station on XM or Sirius radio...or worse yet, turn off the radio completely!

Are You A Profit Center or a Profit Drain?
Invariably, salespeople are either profit generators or profit drains. For some reason, “break even” salespeople have been very rare in my career. There’s a deeper level for us salespeople, though. The two questions we must ask ourselves are: Is our employer better off for having us represent them? And… Are our customers better off for doing business with us?

What Seagulls Can Teach You About Top Sales Leadership
Ever work for a " Seagull Sales Manager"? You probably have. A "Seagull Sales Manager" is a sales manager who seldom interacts with his people but occasionally swoops down, dumps on everybody, and then quickly flies away. If you haven't guessed already, this is not exactly the kind of leadership we advocate at Sales Management Mastery...

5 Ways to Grow Your Sales Team
I have wondered for years if there are constants in sales management. Are there principles that would help me help others in the area of management? I realized, first and foremost, that there are two basic types of leaders: bottom line managers and people managers.

What Is Your Sales Team’s A. Q.?

It has been known for some time that if you want to measure an individual’s intelligence, you administer an Intelligence Quotient test. This has been an accepted method of measuring one’s intelligence for many years. In sales management, intelligence is important, but this does not get you closer to measuring or predicting your sales team’s effectiveness or the ability to predict with any certainty the projections of future sales. How do measure this? With an A. Q. test.

Sales Management Training Tips: Pursuing Sales Results vs. Developing Your Team

I recently had lunch with a highly successful VP of Sales of a Pharmaceutical company. He explained that he was frustrated with the members of his sales management team, who he felt were focused only on results. He worried that they were not spending any time developing their salespeople. At first blush, most of you might easily say you don’t see a problem with that. You wish your sales managers were more focused on delivering the sales numbers. That’s easily understood and probably true in many cases.

Chinese Salespeople May be the Next Group to Outsell Your Salespeople
What are you going to do when, not only are you out priced, out sourced, out willed, out shipped, and out produced, but also out sold - by the Chinese? That is the question posed by my Kurlan & Associates colleague, Frank Belzer, who is blogging from Shanghai, where he is spending the week training Asian companies in the art of sales management.

The Love Index
Why You Can’t Sell Anybody Unless You Love Everybody.

What Every Sales Manager Ought To Know About Sales Leadership
In general, enthusiasm in a sales manager is something that is probably not even talked about a whole lot. It's not something that is typically taught. How do you teach enthusiasm?

5 Proven Sales Rewards for 2011
This is one of the easiest strategies to use to motivate sales people but it is also one of the least effective because sales people are very adept to manipulating sales rewards programs as well as they only give you a short term gain in sales and don’t produce sustained motivation over the long haul.

How Much Crap Do You Put Up With From Your Sales Force?
How much crap do you put up with from your salespeople. How much do they put up with from you?

3 Reason’s to Invest In Sales Management Training
If you want to thrive in difficult times here are 3 reasons why you should invest in sales management training. Your sales force is your company’s most expensive promotional resource. Yet too many sales organizations operate well below their potential. Your front line sales managers are the people who can unlock the potential in your sales organization

Creating a Sales Culture
One of the challenges that many companies face is to create a sales culture when the existing culture is more orientated to customer service and account management.

Same, Same but Different

I came across some research on sales motivation which seems to shed some further light on why it is important to use programs which are culturally specific to your sales peoples motivations and values. A major study of sales motivation presented at the annual convention of the Society for Marketing Advances has revealed significant cultural differences driving sales success. It has helped explain why some of the better made-in-the-USA sales management practices aren't more effective in other nations. The answers may lie in what really provides motivation for salespeople.

5 Ways to Gauge Sales Management Coaching

Most sales leaders would agree that coaching is the most impactful activity a sales manager can do to drive sales team performance. Studies reinforce this by showing that above-average coaches deliver 20 percent more sales. The challenge? Sales management coaching is the weakest-performing activity among managers. How do you know if your managers are effective coaches? Here are five ways to find out.

The Transition from Sales Person to Sales Manager
An article taking about the transition from Sales Person to Sales Manager

6 Killer Tips To Get Promoted to Sales Management in 2011!
For the New Year of 2011, we wanted to give you 6 killer tips on how to get promoted into sales management if you are a sales person right now. If you are a sales manager now, this is something that you may want to advise your ambitious sales people on. One of the roles of a sales manager is to find out what their career goals are.

Why Confusion Between Vision and Mission Statements Hurts Sales Growth and Sales Managers
As a sales manager do you sometimes find confusion between the vision and mission statements? Do not feel bad because you are not alone. Learn how to end the confusion and start realizing your goal goal to increase sales.

Ashamed of being in sales
Over the years I have met many sales people who are really good at selling, have all the ingredients, write great sales results and are highly valued by their companies, yet they never feel satisfied in their sales career. The afflicted sales person just feels a sense of unease and guilt about being in sales, a disquiet that never seems to get resolved.

Costing cutting at the expense of sales? Bad move
I don't know about you, but when markets start to tighten or when things feel a bit uncertain, instead of cost cutting and bunkering down, I have found that you need to do precisely the opposite. You need to invest in your sales efforts with good strategy, sales training, good sales management and good sales coaching.

Selling and managing are not the same
I wrote recently about sales burnout and the challenges many SME business owners have of being all things to all people including, usually, the main sales person and sales manager. Like many people, I have known that selling and managing are not the same thing. They are two very distinct jobs with different demands and expectations.

Burnt-out, tired, had enough?
Sales is not for the faint hearted, nor is running your own business. For those of us who run our own businesses and/or have careers in sales or sales management, we find we are often faced with stressful situations. How do we manage ourselves in times of stress?

You can’t improve salespeople without improving sales management first
I am constantly appalled at the lack of effective sales management in companies these days. Not a week goes by in which I don't see a company make the mistake of focusing exclusively on salespeople in trying to improve sales performance. Experience has shown that sales managers are even more critical than sales people for creating durable performance change

Sales Management Requires a Different Mindset Than Sales
It was on the corner of 82nd Street and 37th Avenue in Queens where 12 year-old Mark Berezow learned to approach strangers and provide them with some compelling reasons to vote for his friend's dad. He believes that experience had a great impact on his ability to sell, manage salespeople and for the past 20 years, help companies grow their sales.

Sales motivation and Compensation Planning
Performance based compensation works very well as a means of motivating sales people. Sales people who are paid commission, tend to be guided by their compensation plan. Read this before you redesign your sales compensation plan.

What Do You Need to Do To Move Your Sales Team To That Next Level?
A recent on-line poll at SmartBrief of nearly 1,400 respondents asked what was the most important skill in this current economy. Even though this was not scientific, the results were interesting especially when looking from a sales management perspective.

Your 1st Day As a Sales Manager
The first few hours after your promotion as a sales manager is crucial. You must set firm goals and realize what needs to get done to make your first management job a successful endeavor.

Why Most Sales Training Doesn't Work
If you invest in sales training, especially now, you also need it to work now, not in 12 months. Why does it take so long for most sales training to make a difference and why does most sales training fail to make the difference you expect? There are a lot of possible reasons and I'll attempt to explain them here.

You Coach but Do Your Salespeople Follow Through?
Sales Managers are often asked for advice on specific opportunities and provide coaching to the salespeople. Often times that's the last they ever hear about that situation from the salesperson, why don't they follow up? Well there are a few reasons...

How to Motivate Your Most Difficult Salesperson, Part 1

And those are the most difficult sales people, the ones that are motivated through a variety of different motivations, but the biggest one is the need to be assertive and to have power of their own. And these are typically the type of sales people that are highly opinionated, they are brash at times, they are boorish at times, they are fiercely independent, and they have a strong desire to have their voices heard.

Get Out of the Way and 8 Tips for Sales Success
This was a very interesting, fast-moving show where Chris shared his 8 tips for sales success, talked about sales management's role in growing sales, the biggest obstacle he had to overcome in order to succeed, how to succeed in this economy, and much, much more. One of his 8 tips? Get out of the way!

Sales Management-Coaching the Team
Sales Team leadership critical for success. Categorizing your sales team.

More Than Half of All Sales Managers Should Consider...

After posting this article two weeks ago, showing the percentage of salespeople who are not trainable, who shouldn't be in sales, and who are elite, it was inevitable that I would be asked to post similar statistics for sales managers. While the number of salespeople we have assessed is greater than 400,000, the number for sales managers is closer to 50,000 - still a more than adequate sample size.

Sales Experts Disagree on the Right Way to Train Salespeople

I was involved in a nearly week long, on line discussion with about a half dozen other sales experts in the Top Sales Experts Group at LinkedIn that to date has included about 41 volleys. The original question, raised by the UK publisher of modernselling.com, asked whether there was a right way or a wrong way to train salespeople. While there was some agreement on some points, there was much disagreement on many points.

Half of All Sales Managers Should Consider...
So there are twice as many sales managers in need of redeployment as salespeople, and 10% more sales managers than salespeople who are untrainable (they know it all?). That means 52% of all sales managers, more than half, should consider doing something else - like selling!

The Difference Between Good and Bad Sales Coaching Questions
You might think you're asking the right questions, but if you're not being as clear and direct as possible, chances are you're leaving somethings uncovered.

The Myth of Sales Habits and Competencies
When they give feedback, Veteran salespeople like to talk about how they "forgot about" this or that, or "got out of the habit of..." Was it really ever a habit if they stopped doing it? What prevents them from admitting that they either never knew it or never did it?

Performance Management - Balancing the Rear-view Mirror
A strategically balanced performance management plan is a key component of effective sales management. The most successful approach is one in which we "balance the rear-view mirror... that is, an approach that consists of analyzing past activities and results as well as taking preemptive action steps and strategies that can impact future results.

Qualities of a Sales Manager: Emotional Intelligence and Leadership – Part 2
In Part 1 of this article, we discussed the overall importance of Emotional Intelligence to the Sales Manager and learned that EI is not just acquired at birth; EI skills can be enhanced or learned.

Sales Management Process: When to Fire Salespeople (and When to Fire Them Up)
Does good Managers like to terminate their Salespeople?

Getting Deals Closed - End of Quarter Sales Gone Mad
Do you experience, "it"? The rush, the craziness, the madness that weeks 11-13 at the end of a quarter bring to a sales force? There's a way to stop it.

What to measure to be phenomenally successful in business

We all have to measure our finances, using an approved accounting system. We may hate it, but it is a requirement by law. Thus we all get an accountant to tell us what we did, how much money we made or lost, how much tax we have to pay, and then most of us sigh a collective sigh of relief, and forget about it. Large businesses use the financial figures, to create management accounts that we use on an ongoing business.

Should you outsource sales management – the key considerations
No matter how great your product or service is, if you don't have people using and buying what you produce, you go out of business. So how do you set up an efficient sales and marketing machine, on a limited budget? Do you have experience in sales management? Would you know how to maximize the potential of a good sales person?

Sales Training for Senior Manager Performance Improvement
Sales training courses for senior managers can train, educate and motivate senior sales managers to get their sales force to surpass the sales goals of the company. Advanced sales training for senior sales managers can turn a great senior sales manager into an excellent sales team leader.

Former IBM Pro Lashes Out Over Sales Assessment

A CEO of a fairly large-sized but under-performing OEM asked us to evaluate his sales force. One of the three regional managers, who assessed as poorly as any regional manager could, called to complain about his results. In addition to calling me a toad, Bob said that in the eighties he used to sell and manage at IBM and he led the top performing team. He finished by letting me know that we didn't know what we were talking about and, by the way, he would be picking me up at the airport for the kick-off of their national training initiative.

Action Sales Management Coaching
Have your people set specific goals and connect with them regularly to maintain accountability.

Tools to Make Those in Selling More Successful
Learn the best tools to make you more successful in selling.

Experts Provide Sales Management Help for 2009
A number of experts including, Jill Konrath, Leslie Buterin, Joanne Black, Andy Miller, Danita Bye, Glen Ebersole, Bill Guertin, Alan Rigg, Gregory Stebbins, Jonathan Farrington, and I helped Lee Salz complete his article, Sales Management Speaks Out on Sales Focus Strategy.

Some sales managers are Idiots
Sales Managers don't learn from the success of others. Probably laziness is the reason because we all know what they should do.

The Customer Can't Say Yes When You Are Talking
It doesn't matter if you are selling a product, a concept or yourself. If you are sales person trying to sell the product or service, a husband/wife trying to convince your spouse, or an employee trying to convince your boss. The sooner we learn to shut up and listen, the faster we will get to the outcome we are looking for?

The 3 Keys to Successful Sales Management
Look at your current selling environment and see which one of these keys is missing. Once you find it, you'll now know what to do!

What's a professional sales person?
I often hear my clients lament that they wish they had a more professional sales force. That idea of a "professional sales force" gets a lot of conversation in sales management and sales executive circles. But what exactly does it mean? And why is it a good thing? Here's one person's opinion.

10 Types of Sales Advisers and How to Choose the One Thats Best For You
The question shouldn't be whether you should or shouldn't include a sales expert in your group of inside advisers, the question should be which kind of sales expert you should rely on for advice. [Read More]

Management's Guide to the Top 10 Differences Between Sales Winners and Losers
In this article, I'll ask you to rate each of your salespeople in the 10 areas that differentiate sales winners and sales losers to determine how close you are to having an overachieving sales force...

Professional Sales Management - Key to Sales Success

In an environment where customer demands predominate, because competition is both relentless and increasingly international, the world of selling must accommodate a dramatically changed world of buying. Critically, sales management must catch up to this new world of selling. All too often, many sales forces are populated by dispirited, burned out salespeople and managed by short-term-oriented and narrowly focused sales managers. Indeed many sales forces are managed as if it were 30 years ago and the sales managers themselves were salespeople doing the work, instead of orchestrating the action.

Bad Things Happen When You Leave it Up to Your Sales People
What are your sales people doing, or not doing when you're not looking? If they're not managed effectively here are 10 things they're doing (or not doing).

The "Hidden Persuaders" in Sales

Have you ever wondered why some people are more persuasive than others? The ability to persuade and influence others to see our point of view, or to take some action, is a vital skill and can help us in all areas of our life. Indeed the ability to persuade is a common characteristic of all successful people. It also helps us... "It is possible to become much more persuasive that you are now, and wihin a few hours, by applying some simple but powerful principles of persuasion understood by very few sales people.""

Hiring the Ideal High Value Sales Person Opportunity No 2

More and more companies have invested in higher value products, services, or solutions, which are especially relevant when the economy slows. And yet many sales people, and their managers, are unable to adapt to this new model. So to help some of our customers seize this opportunity to recruit and train to this model, we conducted a number of surveys in order to define some of the key qualities that needed to be found to improve the recruiting of this breed of sales person. This article outlines both the survey methodoloy and the highlights of our findings.

Sales Manager = Sales Training Success
Launching a sales training initiative without the UPFRONT buy-in and participation of your line sales management team is pure folly. In fact, if your sales management team does not believe that they own the sales training, just stop. Stop now.

Questions Every CEO Should Be Asking His Sales Managers
High impact sales questions for CEOs

Bad Apples on the Sales Force - Sales or Sanity?
I've met hundreds of these individuals during the past 25 years and they're all pretty much the same. They're loud, arrogant, know-it-alls that crave attention and will say pretty much anything to get it.

What Can a Trip to Italy Teach You About Managing Your Salespeople?
Fun, entertaining story with 21 lessons for managing salespeople.

Get Prospects to Make Decisions
What you can say to make decision making easier for your prospects.

Sales Management Key Ideas

Sales management is attainment of an organization's sales goals in an effective & efficient manner through planning, staffing, training, leading & controlling organizational resources. Revenue, sales, and sources of funds fuel organizations and the management of that process is the most important function. An essential sales leadership role is to establish a sense of purpose or vision and clear direction to get there. A key element of a business’ strategic 12-month plan is to answer the question: "Where will all the sales come from?" Here are some key ideas about how sell your products effectively, outsell your competitors and how to manage with the customers objections.

Where Does Manhood Fit Into Management?
During my forty years in sales/management I have never seen one example of a man being successful in a leadership role that has let his employer know that he has to discuss the position with his significant other.

Work At Home Options For The Stay At Home Dad

In an increasingly diverse and innovative society there are more and more gender stereotypes that begin to break down. As the career oriented woman in the work place becomes more and more common for many households, the stay-at-home role is being occupied by Dad. Many of these men see the value in family, and the success that their wives have in the business world and willingly step up to the domestic role and finds success and fulfillment in that.

What Makes a Great Salesperson
Here's what you'll need to become a great salesperson. (Hint: Your manager needs to help!)

What would your "top salespeople" do if...
Many times those who you think are your "top salespeople" would be weak if you placed them into different circumstances. Sometimes the only way to recognize their weaknesses is through an assessment. How would your "top performers" react if some of these things happened to them?

How to Kill a Sale
While many managers continue to seek new talents and personnel there is a dire need to look from within to discover sales mechanisms that harm sales teams. Many do not know they exist and many do not know how to identify them so here is a brief look at those applications killing your sales performance.

Ten Ways to Motivate Your Sales Team Without Spending Big Bucks
How do I motivate my sales team? How do I retain top sales talent? At the risk of sounding too simple, there are two proven principles that work well in motivating salespeople: recognition and appreciation. Two simple principles often overlooked because execution takes time and attention.

Don't go through the motions.
Do you dread reviewing the sales numbers with your sales staff? Are you comfortable bringing up unpleasant, but real, sales challenges with your staff? If you want to learn an alternative approach that yields greater results read this attached article from Sandler Training.

Sales Management - You Got The Job Now What
Are you in sales management? Learn how to become a better sales manager, especially if you're making the transition from selling to managing.

How To Interpret Sales Revenue and Economic News
The economic reports can often times be misleading, the benchmark statistics are supposedly a "snapshot" of the economy but seem to be out of tune with what we're seeing with our own two eyes. The same is true with sales revenue. Sometimes the numbers belie what we know is happening right in front of us.

Is Moving From Vendor Up the Ladder Scary to Sales Executives?
Why does learning to move up the ladder from vendor to trusted advisor scare some sales executives? It means change...

Million Dollar Mistakes
Want to avoid common start-up missteps? Read on...

If You Structure Your Sales Force Like The Big Companies...
Why you shouldn't structure your sales force like the big boys.

The Power is in the Question
Does sales management seem to be lost in the wilderness at your company? Was your sales manager your top rated sales person that you promoted based on sales performance? Did your sales manager ever receive any formal sales management training? Do you think your sales force needs to be more aggressive? Are you following best practice principles?

Sales Management ---- Do the Inmates Run the Asylum

Handling sales people that can put up the numbers but break every rule in the book, ones that can’t get along with their peers and drive inside sales people crazy can be very challenging for a sales manager. This will create a situation that ultimately will affect overall company performance regardless of this sales person’s individual success. This is especially true if this sales person holds the sales manager hostage knowing his numbers help keep corporate off the sales managers back.

Do you have Non-Performance Issues on your Sales Team?

All companies are in constant need of aggressive, creative and resourceful salespeople to have their products specified, accepted and used by customers. Without informed and capable field salespeople, no distributorship could hope to compete in the marketplace today. How often have any of us stopped to consider the fact that good salespeople, the kind who can help a company really grow, don’t just happen to come along by chance or fate. There is no such thing as a “born salesperson,” because selling ability is much more than an intangible given that a person either has or doesn’t have.

The Realities of Service Excellence during Recovery
The primary focus of your company’s operations especially during a recovery period should be on having uniformly “Excellent Customer Service”. We define Service Excellence simply as “doing what you say you will do”. This involves setting customer expectations and then delivering on them. If Reality Exceeds Expectations then the Customer Will be Happy

Sales Growth --- The Key Objective
Isn’t sales growth the primary of objective of every sales person out there. It makes the company happy and puts more money in the pocket of the sales person. When the fish were jumping in the boat, sales growth was easy. Today, due to economic uncertainty, the fish are as cooperative. So…….. How do you grow sales today?

Sales Management --Unmask the Confusion of Territory Account Assignment

When I carried a bag, sales territories were defined geographically. Of course, that was in the old days. My daughter calls it the days of Black & White Television. In reality, color television came out when I was still only seven years old. But in the days when I was a field sales rep, the 70’s & 80’s, a sales person got a chunk of geography and you were told this is your patch of dirt. You go out and you farm the territory and you build the business. However, for the most part, if you are going to grow your territory it has to grow by taking market share from the competition. Territories today need to go from being geographically defined to being key account assignment defined. So, in other words, when you use the term, ‘territory’ today, you’re not referring to a patch of dirt.

How is NetSuite’s CRM Different from the One You’re Using?

It’s a common problem – based on the promises, you expect your business management CRM to help you grow your service business. But it simply doesn’t. Take for instance the most commonly used CRM system, Salesforce.com. You try to manage and plan all your growing prospective and booked business so you can intelligently manage your staff resources; but Salesforce.com isn't up to the task. You’re going to have to start looking for other options.

Tenure- Could It Possibly Be a Good Thing For Your Sales Force?
Is there any value for a company in helping people to feel secure about their employment and their future?

Seven Popular Sales Excuses
Now like many of you after 30 years I have pretty much heard almost everything. So when talking about this the other day during a recent sales coaching session I was reminded of the numerous excuses that we all hear from sales representatives. So I sat down with pen to paper and rationalized what I believe of the top seven uses from selling professionals

Retail Sales and Dealing with 4 Different Customer Personalities
As retailers, we deal with many different personality types on a daily basis. Of course each customer is unique, but there is universal agreement that there are four basic personality types - Director, Analytical, Relater and Socializer. Knowing each style and their buying habits will allow you to drastically increase sales and repeat business.

How To Create Value To Avoid The Fatal Flaw In Selling
In sales, preparation is the key to getting a higher price for your products and services. This article shows salespeople how to avoid the fatal flaw in selling.

Conversions, Part Two
How to get a conversion from your Website.

Puppy Training for Salespeople?
Today’s sales training might take some lessons from how dogs learn new and acceptable behaviors. The early formative years are important, but it is still possible to teach an old dog new tricks.

How to take advantage of the change in the employment market when recruiting for new sales staff
How to take advantage of the change in the employment market when recruiting for new sales staff

What sales techniques should be used in the current GEC?
How to take advantage of the Global Economic Crisis.

How Sales Managers can reinvigorate poor sales performers
How Sales Managers can reinvigorate poor sales performers

I have a few exceptional sales people in my team, and if they left for whatever reason, the department would really suffer. What is the best way to retain top quality sales people?
If you have a few exceptional sales people in your team, and if they left for whatever reason, the department would really suffer. What is the best way to retain top quality sales people?

How to Recruit Top Sales Guns

Companies have systems and processes for accounting, shipping, and marketing. It’s time to get a system in place for hiring top guns. These high flying sales folks will make you money, regardless of the economy. Stop using the excuse that it’s hard to hire good salespeople because they interview well and are charming. Sharpen your hiring process, become even better at interviewing and take the first step in making your life easier as a business owner or sales manager.

Do Your Salespeople Really Understand Pipeline Requirements?
I've found that there can be some confusion about how to satisfy pipeline requirements...

Sales Process is to Religion as Sales Methodology is to Prayer
Like religion, a sales process requires some faith...

The Latest Astonishing Findings About Sales Managers
83% of all first year sales managers don't make their numbers. How can we explain something like that?

To Become a Better Salesperson, Find a Mentor
Becoming an award-winning salesperson isn't something you just do, but rather a journey of constant self-improvement. There is another critical component that most top salespeople leverage which is a sales mentor to help guide them along the way.

How Many of Your Salespeople are Addicted to This?
Is there too much "Hopium" on your sales team?

Resolve to Commit
Each year starts out with resolutions and plans to change the way we do things. Well it takes more than just hopes and wishes. You have to resolve to commit and then execute with every action.

Sales Management

Some people might not like the people at the top rung of this industry, thinking they are pushy and aggressive, but the truth is that sales management is one of the most crucial roles in any company. From hiring the right salespeople to training and evaluating them, a sales manager is one of a company’s major make or break factors. How do you find the best people to hire? What do you need to be looking out for? How do you keep your sales force motivated and productive? This article will answer these questions and more.

New Penn State Coach - Just Like Dysfunctional Sales Management

Officials at Penn State will introduce Bill O'Brien as their first new head football coach in nearly 50 years. He will be responsible for rebuilding the football program and through that, the image of the school. That will be one difficult job and it begins immediately. Today, Bill O'Brien is still the offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. Because the Patriots are the #1 seed in the playoffs, Bill O'Brien has another challenging job - preparing and helping the Patriots offense, led by future Hall of Fame Quarterback Tom Brady, to compensate for their own pathetic defense, as they attempt to advance to another Super Bowl championship. Bill O'Brien. One coach - two full time jobs. Both teams need his immediate, undivided attention and won't get all that they need.

Coaching Training Part 3: The 3 Elements of Sales Coaching

To perform at the highest level, a sales manager cannot merely be great manager who drives processes, but never captures the hearts of employees. Likewise, even the best leaders who can effectively collaborate with those on their teams, but never pushes them into the high growth mode of complexity, will not be able to maximize results. It is only when sales coaches are able to effectively manage processes, lead collaboratively, and coach their teams into complexity that they will truly be able to enter the high performance zone.

Without A Strong Sales Process You Will Fail!

In the buyer-seller dance, there is only one person who should lead, and that's you. When the prospect drives the process, your salesperson will fall victim to their stalls and excuses. Even worse, your salesperson will make them real. Unless you have your own systematic approach to selling that keeps you in control over the various aspects of the cycle, one that allows you to monitor and control your interaction for truth, you will fall victim to the prospect's system. And yes, a sale will always get made, but in many cases it will be the prospect selling you, not you selling them.

How a Strategic Sales Management Process can Increase your Profits

Every thriving business days exist to sell products and services to earn profit. This is capitalism at its best. All selling activities are governed through the sales management process employed by companies. In fact, this is the most important, among all managerial tasks that sustain and improve the business. standard procedures and resources that deals with selling. This particular process begins at the exact point where the manufacturing activities had ended. The sales management process is responsible for all phases of the business; starting from product deployment to the delivery to customers and also after sales service.

Management Skills That Drive Performance
Sales Management 303 class was held yesterday down the road at the University of Nebraska, where 54 undergraduate students packed in room 212 of the stately looking College of Business Administration building. As a guest instructor I was supposed to bring some "gray hair" (I fit the description) wisdom and shed some light on the real world of business and sales management.

Sales Objection: “We had a bad experience with your company.”
You never want to hear this phrase from a prospect or a customer. However, if you do, here's how you handle it.

5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Developing Business Acumen
Planning on improving the business acumen of your sales force please watch for these 5 pitfalls.

Can Pharma’s Woes be Tied to Poor Business Acumen?

The Pharmaceutical Industry has undergone enormous change. The number of sales reps has declined significantly over the last 4 years. Declining sales has not only forced the industry to reduce the number of sales reps calling on physicians but has also created the need to better focus on customer needs. The days of adding sales forces are dead and companies are struggling to find ways to deliver value to their customers.

Sales Objection: “I want to make sure the team is comfortable with this decision.”
Many times you are going to run into a timid decision maker. You need to help them through the process. Here's how.

Five Steps to Preventing Sales Management Mistakes in Business
Your decision to hire a sales staff to serve as a frontline for your small business also comes with the great responsibility of providing effective sales management. This will determine how big and successful your business will become in the near future. Here are some serious sales management blunders that you should avoid at all costs.

Sales Management 101: How You Manage Your Sales Action Team

You may not be managing your sales team right now but you should still know the basics of sales management at the least. Your sales force is what brings profit into the company, so it’s important that you keep an eye on it even if you hire sales managers to call the shots. Sales management is what makes or breaks your business. Your sales staff depends on management support so they can be productive. This calls for an organized, creative and attentive management team to define the proper direction of the sales team. They both work as one, and there is no other way around it.

The Basics of Sales Management and Strategic Sales Planning

Sales management is defined as a discipline within the business world that focuses on practical applications of various sales techniques and sales operation management. It is regarded as an important business function in the generation of net sales from the sale of various products and services that eventually results to profit. Such factors are also known as the performance indicators. Sales management responsibilities fall directly to the sales manager, who is typically involved in the sales planning activities of business entities. With respect to sales planning activities, the sales manager takes the helm in the conceptualization and development of sales strategies, the setting of profit-based sales targets, sales forecasting, quotas, demand management and most especially, the writing and executing of an agreed sales plan.

Training Departments Please Oil the Sales Engine
Can the training department of a large company form a true partnership with the sales force?

How To Build A TurboCharged Sales Force
This article describes the proven steps that are required to build a salesforce that consistently "hits the numbers" and takes the company to a leadership position in its industry.

Sales Training - Be Curious
An often overlooked trait of successful sales people is curiosity. If you are not curious by nature, don’t worry; it can be learned. Here’s how:

What Makes a Great Sales Manager?
Sales management is one of the most challenging balancing acts in all the business world. Good sales management is worth its weight in gold. To fully view the valuable products of good sales management, one must go beyond the high gross figures and stout net profits being rung up at the register.

Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - What's Missing?
I also didn't include sales training or sales management training in those 10 sales management functions for generally the same reasons. Those are competencies best left to outside experts. Sales Managers can learn to coach - and it takes a long time to develop the ability to do it effectively - but

Performance Management
A relatively new management buzz phrase, performance management, has been gaining popularity recently. Management, particularly sales management, has always been about getting results so clearly whatever sales managers have been doing prior to the emergence of this new concept should also be known as performance management. The article explains the tasks required to maximize performance.

Complete Sales Reference Manual Now Available
This book includes contributions from 89 sales experts, covering every possible topic, including sales, sales management, sales 2.0, sales process, sales strategy, sales tactics, sales motivation, sales presentations, and sales psychology. It's more like a reference manual!

Sales Training, without supporting Sales Management Training,
Many organizations invest in sales training which is wonderful but unfortunately, they do not invest or even consider supporting sales management training. Sales training will not be effective unless management is onboard. An organization will benefit from efficient use of time and get more “bang for your buck” with supporting sales management training.

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