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Sales Management Minute: The First Step To Designing A Winning Sales Compensation Plan

Is your sales compensation plan helping you get the most from your sales people? Listen to this episode of the Sales Management Minute to learn the first question to ask yourself when designing an effective sales compensation plan. http://www.salesarchitects.net/salesdet.php?aid=92

Prospecting Letters Still Open Doors

Im often asked about the effectiveness of letters as a prospecting strategy in todays electronic world. You see email, cold calling, and webinar tips, but rarely hear about letters. Direct mail has fallen off considerably. Anything suspected to be a sales approach gets tossed in the name of productivity savings. Its harder than ever to ensure your letter reaches the intended recipient. Even when you pay the extra money to send it via Express Mail its frequently an assistant who opens your letter and determines if the boss will read it. As a result, many sellers have given up on letters. And yet, you are frequently presented with golden opportunities to use them to make an impression and get in the door with top executives. Recently Sarah, a seller I work with, discovered that a number of her target prospects were named to the Top Places to Work list for her metropolitan area. Lists of companies being recognized like Sarahs prospect are published every day. Announ

How Much Should We Budget For Sales Training?

If youre on a calendar year your VP of Sales is probably in the initial research phase of preparing their budget for next year. How much will they put in for sales training? How much should they? What kind of training should you invest in? Is there anything you can do to make sure you maximize the impact of your training investment? 1. How much should we budget for sales training? A good rule of thumb for a high-performing sales organization is to invest somewhere between 3-6% of your sales payroll on additional sales training and development. So for a 10-person sales team where each sales person is making $100k, that would be $3,000-$6,000 per person, or $30-$60k for the department. If your sales team is already operating at a high level, you may be able to scale that back. If you have neglected investing in sales training and development, you may need to increase this budget until your sales team consistently performs at a high level. 2. What kind of training shoul

Are Your Sales Managers Controlling Their Emotions?

I was having a conversation with my colleague Tim Hagan this morning about the tendency for sales management to react (and sometimes overreact) too quickly. The consequences can be devastating to the sales teams motivation and the overall morale of the company. All the research shows that customers first make decisions on an emotional level and then rationalize their decision intellectually. So the last thing you want is a demoralized sales force with a bad outlook. As we talked about a few specific coaching situations were both in, I gave the example of playing racquetball. One of the mistakes beginning racquetball players make is playing too aggressive - they dart back and forth and try to smash the ball as hard as they can as soon as they can. More experienced players have learned the value of waiting for the ball to bounce. They dont have to run as far, they conserve energy, they change the pace of play, and when they pause to let the ball bounce off the back wall they

5 Sales Motivation Hacks From A Sales Coach For Sales Professionals all Sales Management

1. Get Started! There will be some days you just dont feel motivated to complete your sales activities and everything you do will feel like an uphill battle. Instead of focusing on how hard the task is, or how long it will take you to complete it, tell yourself you just have to get started. Many times, getting started is the hardest part. Once you actually start, it is generally not as hard as you thought it would be. 2. Make It Fun. We often put things off because it feels like hard work. Though hard work might be a part of it, the trick is to find what would make it fun for you? If you can add some fun into the process, it will become easier and more enjoyable. 3. Have Some Patience. Many of us expect immediate results, and with that expectation, it can be more challenging to stay motivated when the quick results dont take place. If you want to run a marathon, you wont be able to do it overnight and the same thing is true for the sales results you desire. If you dont see