Archive

Sales Objectives and How to Achieve Them

This article originally appeared here in the Sales Management Association blog. Part Three of a Four Part Series In previous installments from our book Cracking the Sales Management Code (see part 1 and part 2), we shared research findings that revealed three types of sales force metrics, Sales Activities, Sales Objectives, and Business Results. We also identified five discrete sales […]

12 Reasons Your Sales Force Will Fail to Make Quota

This post originally appeared here on the Selling Power blog. 2018 is well under way, and sales teams are working to ensure a successful year. Sales leaders have prepared their teams to reach this year’s goals, and the emphasis now is on successful execution. Even if you’ve hired and retained the best people, you may […]

2 Enemies of Improved Sales Management: Inertia and Gravity

This post originally appeared here int he Sales and Marketing Management blog. Frontline sales managers have a difficult job. In fact, we think they have the hardest job in any sales organization. Unfortunately, they’re also a neglected role in most of the companies we know. Despite the varied and intense demands put on sales managers, […]

Top Sales World Article: For a Quick Path to Quota, Inject Some Coaching into Your Pipeline Reviews

Why Forecasting and Pipeline Management Are (and Should Be) Two Different Things

This article originally appeared here in the salesforce.com blog Quotable. Pipeline management and forecasting are both important to a sales force. Consequently, companies invest heavily in specialized technology and tools just to manage these two activities. However, the true magnitude of the investment is only known when the time and energy expended by the sales […]

Is Your Real Problem with Your Forecasts or Your Sales Team?

This post originally appeared here in the salesforce.com blog Quotable. Sales forecasting is a hot topic. From allocating company resources to communicating expectations to investors, sales forecasts play a key role in maintaining a healthy enterprise. Over the past two years, in conversations with senior sales executives, most have expressed anxiety over their team’s ability […]

The 3 Metrics that Reveal a Healthy Sales Pipeline

What’s your answer to the following question: How healthy is your sales pipeline right now? I bet I know the question you actually answered… How big is my sales pipeline right now? It’s a classic reaction to think first about the size of your sales pipeline – a reaction that is predicated on the belief […]

How Do You Measure Sales Management?

This post originally appeared here in the ATD blog. In some ways, the sales force is the most measured function in any company. All salespeople have a number (a quota) assigned to them, and progress toward that number is tracked maniacally. However, anyone who has ever tried to measure the ability of a sales team […]

2017 Sales Quotas – How to Have One Heck of a Year!

As a sales leader, you naturally want to get the most out of 2017 and have a good year. If you’re unsure of your path to action, I’d like offer you a chance to do something radically different in 2017, by suggesting you follow these steps. First, identify company strategies currently yielding only marginal improvements, […]

Why Your New Sales Technology Tools Won’t Solve Your Sales Problem

This post originally appeared here in the Selling Power blog. All sales organizations have problems. Sales technologies or tools solve problems. Logic would seem to tell us that all we need to do is match a technology to a problem and voilà – problem solved! Yet, as every sales leader knows, this is not how […]