Keep Them Focused As the sales manager, as the officer-in-command of your sales team, one of your key responsibilities is to keep your people focused on the most valuable activities they can engage in every day, all day long, to generate sales results. According to a study done at Columbia University, the average salesperson only...

Satisfy Salespeople’s Basic Needs Everyone has basic needs that must be met before people can perform at their best. One of your jobs as the sales manager is to structure the work so that these needs are satisfied and the salesperson is both psychologically and emotionally free to achieve sales results. Maslow’s Hierarchy Psychologist Abraham...

Plan Sales Activities The 80/20 rule applies to all areas of life, especially in all areas of sales. The fact is that only 20 percent of salespeople are genuinely proactive. They can “plan their work and work their plan.” Fully 80 percent of salespeople need a track to run on. They need clear and specific...

Develop Winning Salespeople The starting point of building a top team of excellent salespeople is to carefully recruit them in the first place. Generally speaking, people don’t change. This is why 95 percent of your success as a sales manager will be determined by your selection process in the first place. The second key to...

Reward Sales Performance In life, business, and sales, everyone wants to feel like a winner. How do you get the winning feeling? Simple. You win and you get rewarded for your win! Whenever you accomplish a goal or achieve something worthwhile, such as making a sale or hitting your quota, you feel as if you...

Improve Your Leadership Style The one factor that can be changed immediately in the performance formula, and that can bring about almost immediate improvements in performance, is leadership style. Everything that you do to improve your own personal leadership abilities will act as a multiplier for your sales force and increase their sales results. The...

Practice the Performance Formula Each person behaves at a certain level today and can behave at a higher level in the future. The performance formula is A × M = P (ability times motivation equals performance). It is your attitude more than your aptitude that determines your attitude. Ability is a function of aptitude, the...