1. EvaluateYourSalesForce Let me clarify what I mean by evaluate. You know the results you are getting from your people, but do you know why you are getting those results? You may know some of the “why” but do your

people know?

Salespeople are an interesting group to manage and train. The best tend to be self motivated, independent and risk takers, which means they don’t take kindly to being told what and how to do things.

It has been my experience that the most effective way of training your salespeople is to help them achieve individual realization. Our evaluation process enables your salespeople to see for themselves the improvements they need to make. When

you achieve individual realization, you are already halfway towards making the changes you need to improve the results you are getting.

2. SalesProcessDocumentation Figure out the strategies and tactics you use to acquire a customer. The metaphor we use is the one outlined in Dave Kurlans’ book, Baseline Selling: How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know About the Game of

Baseball. The bases (right) illustrate points in the sales process.

Do you have your process documented? When you do this your salespeople know which activities to leverage and when. If you don’t,

it is no wonder your salespeople appear to be focused on the wrong things at the wrong times. You will say to yourself, “if they could

just manage their time better they would sell more” and you will send your people off to a “time management” seminar in hopes

that it will cure them. Inreality,itisnotabouttimeasmuchas itisaboutfocusanddirection.

1. The baTTer’s box is Lead Generation. have you

identified your ideal customer before you get to

the plate and start swinging?

2. home To FirsT is all the activities it takes to get

an appointment with someone you suspect will buy.

3. FirsT To second is all the activities it takes to

determine their buying motives.

4. second To Third is all the activities it takes

to determine their timeline, budget, and

decision process.

5. Third To home is all the activities it takes to

close down a deal.

SalesForceDevelopmentisanintegratedapproachtoorganicallyandsystematicallygrowingsales.Thisprocessfocusesonimprovingthepeople,systemsandstrategiesthatimpactsalesperformance.

Nine steps to gettingyour sales force to over achieve.

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3. SalesManagementSkillDevelopment Develop the people who develop your salespeople —the ones developing your revenue. Do this so they

can support the salespeople who must execute the strategies. You will want to train them on coaching, mentoring and holding your salespeople accountable, because these three learned skill sets don’t come naturally to your managers.

4. Recruitment Typically, what we find from our Sales Force Audit is

that 20% of the sales force is in the wrong seat. An improved sales selection process is needed to

hire salespeople who can and will be more effective at executing the sales process.

5. SalesSkillDevelopment Use this to develop those salespeople who can’t yet execute the strategies.

6. On-goingFieldCoaching Your sales managers, who were trained ahead of your salespeople, should be able to effectively

coach their salespeople to reinforce what they are learning in the training.

7. CompensationandIncentives Compensation drives behavior. The correct compensation plan targets the behaviors and activities that your salespeople need to complete in order to execute the sales process. (See step one.)

8. SystemsandProcesses The structure that makes this all work is your systems

and processes. Your systems should support your efforts instead of your efforts supporting the systems. Your processes ensure quality and consistency. Both your systems and your processes need to support the mission of the sales force.

9. Accountability Most managers do this poorly because they don’t know what to hold their salespeople accountable to. Once identified and monitored, key accountabilities increase the salesperson’s odds of success.

• Resist the temptation to embrace the sales fad of the moment. Some companies see strategy as key and continue to change their approach when one after another fails. Ironically, the strategies fail only when there isn’t alignment and the people can’t execute the new strategy.

• Manycompaniesprovidesalestrainingbutfailtoprovide it in the context of the strategies, or before the strategies, sales management, systems and

processes have been fortified.

• Somecompaniesseecompensationasthekeyandfail to provide their people with the skills and tools needed to leverage the compensation plan or take advantage of incentives.

WhenaSalesForceDevelopmentprogramisutilized,companieswillseeadramaticimprovementineffort,urgency,consistencyandresults.

WhenaSalesForceDevelopmentprogramisembraced,companieswillseeanimprovementinmorale,retentionandselection.

WhenIntegratedSalesForceDevelopmenthasbeenmadeapartofthecompany’sculture,salesandprofitsareinsulatedagainstfluctuationsintheeconomy.

Avoid these pitfAlls if you wAnt sustAinAble results: