The Forward Thinking Sales Manager Begins with the End in Mind

If an outside sale is truly a sales process, then there are steps involved for each sale. Since we agree on this fact, it makes sense to manage salespeople towards each of the steps in the sales process. The best way to manage these steps is taking them one at a time, moving forward each step toward the sales close.

Fake Sales Calls from Competitors; Note to Sales Managers

Have you ever been shopped by your competition and they call up and ask questions and you put a salesperson on it to see if they can answer all their questions and turn the incoming call into a sales call.

Is your Sales Plan Engineered by Design or by Default?

This article walks through the best practices approach to engineering a winning sales plan.

Sales Manager Tip #28; The Informed Prospect

A good sales manager must stay in touch with each and every salesperson in the sales force that is working for the company. It is essential to find out from the salespeople what prospects are saying to them and which objections that the salespeople are getting in the field from potential customers and prospects.

Business Lead Lists

Business lead lists can be classified into a number of categories. They can be based on the various characteristics of the customers, such as age, sex and education. They can also be based on the geographical and other characteristics of the markets.

Great Sales Managers Make Less than all their Sales People

Are you a great sales manager? Well if you really are a great sales manager then every single one of the sales people under you should be making more than your salary, unless your company is paying you an additional stipend on the total amount of sales on your team.

Sales Management and Managing Sales

For those engaged in sales management and trying to control a group of self-starter type sales people you can just imagine how hard it is. In all the commotion, chaos and controversy they have to manage in shear terror of handling all that is coming at them.

Small Companies Really Can Compete - Here's How

A small improvement in bidding techniques and tactics can lead to a disproportionately large increase in the number of contracts won.

How to Run a Sales Blitz

Follow these five elements to increase the success of your next sales blitz.

Sales Incentive Program Design

There is a process for developing sales commissions with respect to overall sales compensation that can be followed. The principles are quite easy. The variables include the amount of base salary that you pay to an individual (if any), and the percentage of total compensation that base salary represents in relationship to the incentive program itself.

Don't Outsource Inside Sales

Insource it! There are lots of companies out there offering outsourced telesales and lead generation on a pay per lead basis. Indeed, our own experience in the past in having performed those sorts of services for clients shows that there’s a large demand for that service. A better way is to bring that function inside your company where you can more tightly manage and control it.

Time Expectations

In our modern world, we are bound by time. This being the case, we have certain expectations about how long it will take us to accomplish our various tasks. Time often becomes distorted through our perceptions and expectations.

Vision Precedes Victory

Vision that is shared is cohesive and bonding. A common vision pulls people together toward the same goals and objectives. Influential people have clearly defined visions that are forward-looking and filled with great excitement and anticipation. More than anything else in life, vision-whether it's yours or somebody else's-dictates daily decisions.