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 […]
Read more...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 […]
Read more...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 […]
Read more...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 […]
Read more...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 […]
Read more...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 […]
Read more...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 […]
Read more...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 […]
Read more...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 […]
Read more...Many commissions plans are easy to understand and easy to administer. Basically, they pay a percentage of revenue or gross profit for every sale. The plans encourage sales reps to sell as much as they can, driving revenue and growth for the company. When paying sales commissions, the company simply multiplies the total sales the […]
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