I am a big believer in the performance and productivity of the sales team; that sales people have to be part of the team as well as understand that their success relies on how well they work with other groups in the company.

Having said that, sales people must see themselves as CEOs of their own business. They must see their sales territory as their company. A great sales person works backwards from their personal profitability goal.

How much money do I want to take home? (How much commission/profit do I need to earn?
What is my win rate?
How many sales calls do I need to make with my win rate in order to meet my take-home goal?
The personal accountability of understanding that one’s performance and productivity drives what ends up in the wallet is key.

As leaders, it is our job to make sure that our sales people have the tools and leadership and guidance to be incented to sell what we want them to sell; and that they meet their commission goals.

Guidance – in the form of a good commission structure tied to a sales plan that maps to your company budget! Too often I see that the company plan is not cascaded into a well structured sales plan – and when that happens, you can be sure that the guidance to the sales people falls apart.

And when that happens, either your sales people don’t sell what you need them to sell, or they don’t have the critical guidance to achieve the goals of their business! A good sales plan is one whose commission structure is clearly cascaded to align with company objectives – volume, margin, product …

Give your salespeople the tools, leadership and guidance to manage their business and achieve their goals.

And they will achieve yours!