Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - (Page 19) “When we unveiled the new plan, it was like Christmas for three-year-olds,” Stein relates. He worked with each rep before they went on calls to ensure they had all the resources they needed to succeed. They all made quota. Both Stein and Grossman agree that key salespeople should be involved in formulating the comp plan. “Management should provide and explain a ‘straw model’ of the plan to a key group of salespeople—then let them tear it apart and put it back together,” Grossman says. “Sales should be allowed to challenge the design. If you allow this to happen, you will have a happier, more engaged group of salespeople.” Stein suggests inviting your best salesperson and the one most respected by his or her peers to review the plan. Once you have a workable comp plan, you need to have quarterly or even monthly monitoring of the plan to make sure your salespeople have the proper support and are maximizing their potential. “Management needs to admit when it isn’t doing enough to support the salesperson,” Stein says, “and be willing to make them whole by giving them the resources they need, or even paying double commissions for a quarter, until you have a new sales mechanism in place. On the flip side of that, Grossman says that managers should not be reluctant to make changes mid-year if business requires it. “Employees will understand if they are told why the changes need to be made,” he explains. “They won’t like it, but they’ll understand if that manager has built up credibility with his sales force over time.” Lastly, if a company’s goals change from volume to profitability, the comp plans will have to reflect that. “The salesperson has to understand the connection between the company’s goals and their comp plan,” Grossman says. “The care you take to roll the plan out well, so that everyone understands why the changes are being made, is paramount.” www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com MARCH/APRIL 2008 SALES &MARKETING MANAGEMENT 19 http://www.neversellalone.com http://www.neversellalone.com http://www.neversellalone.com http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Brian Tracy University Sales Marketing Management Cover Story: Lessons From the Master Maximum Mobility Training Technology Incentives/Motivation Travel/Meetings Book Excerpt - Value Merchants The Way I See It - End the Discounting Habit Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 (Page Cover1) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 (Page Cover2) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 (Page 1) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 (Page 2) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Contents (Page 3) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Contents (Page 4) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Editor's Letter (Page 5) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Brian Tracy University (Page 6) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Brian Tracy University (Page 7) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Sales (Page 8) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Sales (Page 9) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Sales (Page 10) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Sales (Page 11) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Marketing (Page 12) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Marketing (Page 13) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Marketing (Page 14) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Marketing (Page 15) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Management (Page 16) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Management (Page 17) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Management (Page 18) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Management (Page 19) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Cover Story: Lessons From the Master (Page 20) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Cover Story: Lessons From the Master (Page 21) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Cover Story: Lessons From the Master (Page 22) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Cover Story: Lessons From the Master (Page 23) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Cover Story: Lessons From the Master (Page 24) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Cover Story: Lessons From the Master (Page 25) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Maximum Mobility (Page 26) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Maximum Mobility (Page 27) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Maximum Mobility (Page 28) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Maximum Mobility (Page 29) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Training (Page 30) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Training (Page 31) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Training (Page 32) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Technology (Page 33) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Technology (Page 34) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Technology (Page 35) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Incentives/Motivation (Page 36) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Incentives/Motivation (Page 37) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Incentives/Motivation (Page 38) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Incentives/Motivation (Page 39) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Travel/Meetings (Page 40) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Travel/Meetings (Page 41) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Book Excerpt - Value Merchants (Page 42) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Book Excerpt - Value Merchants (Page 43) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Book Excerpt - Value Merchants (Page 44) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Book Excerpt - Value Merchants (Page 45) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Book Excerpt - Value Merchants (Page 46) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - Book Excerpt - Value Merchants (Page 47) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - The Way I See It - End the Discounting Habit (Page 48) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - The Way I See It - End the Discounting Habit (Page Cover3) Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - The Way I See It - End the Discounting Habit (Page Cover4)
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.