Sales Management Matters

Salesperson/manager ride-alongs are common practice; we’d guess almost everyone reading this has participated in one, either from the driver’s seat, or as a shotgun-riding manager. We wondered: how do sales organizations get the most out of these interactions? We asked Catalytic Advisors’ Everett Hill to present a webcast on this topic on January 27th. His presentation offered ...

A recent conversation with a COO got us thinking. After meeting with a top CRM vendor our client said: “Did you hear the number of times and ways they referenced sales transformation? Since when did segmenting the business, re-designing the sales process, and enabling it with better tools become a major transformation? “Sales Transformation” has become the new “Re-engineering.”  Certainly, there’s a lot of sound and fury out there about the need to ...

Our members are thinking hard about sales productivity. Some are scrambling to react to unexpected growth; others to cratering demand. Many are re-aligning sales organizations as markets around them change unpredictably. They’re in turns exhilarated, terrified, or uncertain in the current economic environment, but their focus on making salespeople more productive is remarkably c ...

We hate conference bags. If you're attending SMA's 2011 Annual Conference, don't plan on getting one. Who wants to schlep stuff you didn't ask for in a bag you'll never use again? Instead, our conference attendees get a Poken. Poken is a small device that enables our attendees, speakers, and exhibitors to connect with each other and exchange digital information with a ...

We've assembled three pieces of sales coaching content from our Resource Library, and we're making it available free to non-members! The kit includes slides from SMA's recent Sales Coaching Practices Research, a Manager's One-on-One Coaching Session Worksheet from AXIOM Sales Force Development, and a presentation from Callidus on Building the Perfect Sales Rep. Get the free kit, or (as an SM ...

Sizing the Sales Force View more presentations from The SMA Sales Management Association Is your sales force the right size? That’s a question many CxOs ask this time of year at the approach of the budgeting and planning season. On Tuesday of this week Axtria's Charlie Thompson will lead a webcast presentation on sales force sizing. Here are two slides from the presentation that will give you an idea of the frameworks he'll use in addressing this perennial leadershi ...

SMA's Chicago Chapter meets 14 July for a breakfast and panel discussion at Tech Nexus Chicago. The panel will be moderated by Craig Wortmann, University of Chicago's Booth School of Business Professor of Entrepreneurial Selling and former software company CEO. This breakfast presentation and panel will explore the key issues sales leaders must address at each stage of the business life cycle. Panelis ...

We’re looking forward to our upcoming workshop in Chicago, Mastering Sales Management. Held in conjunction with DePaul University’s Center for Sales Leadership, the workshop will feature speakers from The Sales Management Association and Vantage Point Performance. The workshop offers an advanced survey of competencies shared by high performing sales leaders, practical insights in ...

A sick compensation plan is often the harbinger of much bigger problems with sales organization effectiveness. Diagnose the the comp plan problem quickly enough, and you stand a chance of heading off disaster. Frequent SMA contributor Scott Sands details how effective diagnostics keep productive sales organizations clear of danger, while maintaining alignment between business objectives, sales organiza ...

Before The Sales Management Association launched, taxidermists had more options than sales managers in selecting a professional association. This despite the fact that companies stuff an astonishing amount of expense into the corporate cavity called the sales organization.  Realizing value from these investments hinges on the front-line sales manager, who most directly influences the sales organizati ...

More year-end lists forecasting the best jobs for 2011: US News & World Report includes "Sales Manager" in its list of "50 Best Careers of 2011." A recent addition to the list, "it's a job making a comeback with the economy." SMA gets a mention and quote. Check out the article here: Best Careers of 2011: Sales Manager. ...

Sales Management Matters will begin in October December. Stay tuned. We launch Dec 30! ...