Value Strategy News: Managing the Cost of Salespeople

The Value Strategy News
Business Performance Improvement

October 20, 2009 Revenue CaptureStrategies

CEO-Coaching Editor: Gerhard Vierthaler

Welcome,

In this issue, part 2 of 2 on managing the cost
of salespeople.

Click here to read part 1 of this article.

I always like hearing from you! Send me your ideas
for the newsletter - or anything else to do with
the Value Strategy Group!

Sincerely,

Gerhard Vierthaler
Editor - The Value Strategy News
Value Strategy Group, LLC
907-222-2703

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Help Salespeople Be More
Productive, Sell More, and Cost Management Less - Part 2
By Paul DiModica

Sales management and executive teams have launched this year's sales plan and are attempting to fill open sales job recs to help maximize their potential and hit their annual forecasts.

Yet, many of these sales forecasts will be missed, sales management will be quietly discussing what to do with unproductive salespeople in the back room, and executive teams will be outwardly frustrated.

So how can sales management prevent this from happening?

First, before I give you this elusive magic formula, let's identify the key asset of your firm in order to sell more.

It is not your product or service.

It is not your delivery system.

It is not your marketing.

It IS your sales team!

Now, you can believe it and sell more, or debate it and sell less.

Firms are quick to pay out $18,000 headhunter fees to "find" the right sales candidate but once the candidate is hired, it is the last time the management team "invests in this asset."

For greater success in your sales reps, invest ongoingly to help them be more successful.

The question any CFO would ask you is how much and how often do you invest to maximize the return on our assets (salespeople)? To calculate this answer let's look at the life cycle of a sales rep to see how to maximize the investment.

Life cycle of a Successful Sales Rep

From the previous Value Strategy News article, we have taken the sales rep success cycle and broken it down further into three distinct quadrants of time and company investment.

Quadrant A: The time frame of hiring and probation.
Quadrant B: The time frame for sales training, sales pipeline development and company support.
Quadrant C: The time frame that reflects the success of a sales rep's account closing.

Most accounting departments do not equate investment in sales training as an investment in asset management. But the term "sales training" is a misnomer. In fact, the key phrase is "sales learning."

Sales Learning ROI Graph

As you can see by the Sales Learning ROI Graph, the greatest sales team ROI is when you invest in ongoing training and company support in Quadrant A and B and then continue into Quadrant C. As you move further away from the actual hire date, you will see that the success and level of ROI is determined by the ongoing support provided to the sales rep. So, training intermittently or at the end of a sales rep success cycle will return you the smallest level of ROI.

Sales learning must be consistent or else you are wasting your asset (the sales team).

3 Steps to Maximize a Sales Rep's Success

Hire slow. Don't rush to fill open sales job slots just because you need a headcount.
Train often and early. Your asset is your sales team. Invest in them. Provide a strong consistent inside support system and focus most of your training in Quadrant A and B time lines with continued reinforcement in Quadrant C.
Terminate fast. Once a sales rep is in the Quadrant C timeframe and is unproductive, you cannot continue to carry them. As mentioned in last week's email, the average non-productive salesperson costs you at least $85,000 a month while employed.

Invest in your sales team early and often or
risk minimizing your asset's ROI and not hitting
this year's sales quota!

To sell more . . . start protecting your assets by investing!

To read Part 1 of this article, please click here.

P.S. : We hope you enjoy the newsletter and encourage you to
share it with anyone you think might benefit from the
business and skill-building tips it provides.

The Value Strategy News / Revenue Improvement Strategies is published bi-weekly and provides proven tactical and strategic sales techniques to help you accelerate your revenue capture. The Value Strategy News provides best practices that Senior Management, Marketing and Sales Executives can use to increase corporate profitability with proven strategic and tactical sales techniques to help you sell to senior management of Fortune 1000 companies and presidents of privately held firms.

If you wish to send a specific correspondence to Gerhard Vierthaler, please send your message to the editor. If you have a general question or wish to inquire about an event, please send your message to Customer Service.

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Next up:
Salesperson Time- Management

How to Manage Your Time
More Effectively and Sell More
in Less Time

Register Now!

November 6, 2009
12:00 noon AKST

As a value forward marketing and sales strategy formation company, we have developed a detailed teleseminar that will teach specific techniques and methods to help you learn how to increase your sales productivity and your income simultaneously.

Agenda:
* Identify the main obstacles to effective sales time management in your daily routine;

* How to build a personal sales plan that is achievable and measurable;

* Understand the nature of time management and how it controls your income;

* Discover time management tools, techniques and concepts to increase your success

* 7 questions you need to ask yourself about every sales prospect you are spending time with;

* 3 primary types of storytelling methods and which method to use for different types of business situations;

* 5 techniques to build an effective sales time management process that will enhance your productivity and lower your stress;

* Utilize 6 proven time management techniques to improve your productivity;

... and much more.

Limited Seating
Register Now!

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VALUE STRATEGY GROUP
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Gerhard Vierthaler is president and founder of the Value Strategy Group and offers sales &
marketing best practices workshops, business strategy engagements & executive coaching in North America & abroad tailored to clients needs.

We develop dynamic strategies and processes that sustain competitive advantage and company value to succeed in any market condition. Our content rich workshops and strategy sessions on leadership, sales, management and marketing bring about immediate changes and long-term results.

For more information visit valuestrategygroup.com or call 907-222-2703.

Recommendations provided are to be used at your discretion and are provided solely as an independent opinion.

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