Blog

3rd Consideration in Selling Today: Disciplined Timing

Posted by David Wallace on January 25, 2022

This is my fourth note in a continuing series discussing the five considerations that sales reps must employ when selling in today’s world. They are pull versus push marketing, media choices, disciplined timing, selling cycles and buying cycles. Today, we’ll look at disciplined timing. Disciplined Timing Discipline is necessary when communicating, whether it’s daily, weekly, […]

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2nd Consideration In Selling Today – Media Choices

Posted by David Wallace on January 19, 2022

This is my third note in a continuing series discussing the five considerations that sales reps must employ when selling in today’s world. They are pull versus push marketing, media choices, disciplined timing, selling cycles and buying cycles. Today, we’ll look at media choices. Media Choices Which media or combination of media should you use […]

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1st Consideration in Selling Today: Pull and Push Marketing

Posted by David Wallace on January 12, 2022

In my last post, I identified five considerations that sales reps must employ when selling in today’s world. They are pull and push marketing, media choices, disciplined timing, selling cycles and buying cycles. Today, we’ll look at pull and push marketing.  Pull versus Push By some estimates, customers and prospects conduct nearly half of their […]

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5 Considerations When Selling in Today’s World

Posted by David Wallace on January 4, 2022

Long gone are the days of selling via drop-in cold calls, extended lunches, and afternoons of golf. They’ve been replaced with social media campaigns, text messages and Zoom calls. Selling today requires planning and discipline. Five considerations must go into your sales call planning efforts today. Pull and push marketing – Use a combination of […]

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The One Thing You Should Do to Drive Consistent Sales

Posted by David Wallace on December 6, 2021

Concern… anxiety… fear of limitations. These are common reactions from small business owners and founders when I recommend implementing sales processes. They are concerned that a process-driven sales organization will stifle creativity and innovation. They also express concern that processes will make their company less nimble and agile. In a word, they are concerned about […]

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Do You Drive Customer Success?

Posted by David Wallace on November 12, 2021

Many companies focus on marketing and sales. After all, marketing helps you understand on your markets, find prospects, and communicate your message so that they become receptive to your products and services. Sales uncovers prospects’ needs, develops solutions and drives revenue by applying those solutions to meet the customers’ needs. However, once the sale is […]

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Base Salary – What Should I Expect in Return?

Posted by David Wallace on September 20, 2021

No sales representative earns his or her base salary for just “showing up.”  Your sales compensation plan needs to specify clearly the activities for which reps are paid a base salary.  Here’s some language I’ve used in the past: Base salary is paid for the timely and accurate completion of administrative and other tasks associated […]

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Base Salary + Commission – What’s the Optimal Mix?

Posted by David Wallace on September 14, 2021

The debate is ongoing about what percentage of total compensation should be base vs. commissions.  Ideally, you want to pay enough base salary so that your sales rep doesn’t need to worry about meeting basic obligations such as food, rent/mortgage and car payments. But you want to avoid paying too much.  You don’t want your […]

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Straight Commissions = Low Cost of Sales + Motivated Reps?

Posted by David Wallace on September 7, 2021

Here’s a false argument:  Hiring straight commission sales reps can reduce your cost of sales and motivate reps. I’ve often heard business leaders say, “Let’s hire reps at 100% commission.  If they don’t work out, we’ll replace them and they haven’t cost us a penny.”  Even at 100% commission, bringing new sales reps into a […]

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Sales Compensation Plans – Why Pay a Base Salary?

Posted by David Wallace on September 1, 2021

I see many postings by companies looking to hire sales professionals on straight commission.  Their logic is that if a sales representative is good, the rep will have no problem “eating what they kill.” Sounds too good to be true, huh? Well it is, because you usually “get what you pay for.”  Let’s look closely […]

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