Understanding the Sales Force

In his industry, his current revenue would be mediocre at best. But what if one of your salespeople was comfortable doing half of what you needed him to do?  What if one of your salespeople reacted badly to increased expectations?  What if he couldn’t work under pressure?  What would you do?  Would you:

In addition to my Blog, I have some other resources for the sales force scattered around the internet.  Over at work.com I have written a Guide to Sales Force Development and over at Squidoo.com I created a Lens to the World of Sales and Selling. 

I have been recommending a book for more than 20 years to help overcome Need for Approval, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman.

Dan and I just had lunch last month, and today he sent me an email and allowed me to pass it on to my subscribers, friends and clients.

Seth Godin got it right again today.  It’s not unusual for me to disagree with his posts on the subject of salespeople and sales forces but today I agree with his rant about salespeople who are good vs. salespeople who are great. 

Here’s another example of a candidate whose sales assessment came to life when he emailed the senior recruiter after taking the assessment.  See if you can recognize him coming to life too! 

I’ve previously written about sales compensation, with the average salesperson earning $96,000, a good salespeople earning $135,000 (varies by industry and geography) and poor and entry level salespeople earning around $67,000.  Several companies have recently asked me about how to hire salespeople when you can’t afford to pay even the entry level sales compensation.