Sales Management Matters

Sales Management Association underwriter The TAS Group advises clients on Sales Performance Automation – a “salesperson centric approach to increasing revenue, improving sales forecasts and metrics, and continually reinforcing best practices.” SPA uses technology to enable sales methodology, and deliver just-in-time training to salespeople when it matters the most – at the...Read more

Brad Stevens is the head men’s basketball coach at Butler University, and is already a coaching legend at age 34. His team competes tonight for the NCAA title for the second year in a row. Who knew he was a former Eli Lilly sales comp wonk? The NY Times weekend...Read more

Two executives are given departmental budgets: one is a CIO, the other a Chief Sales Officer. The CIO buys a lot of software and hardware; the CSO a lot of sales training. What steps will each take in order to make sure they get a solid ROI on their departments’...Read more

Sales Management Association underwriter Better Sales Comp Consultants has redesigned its site, which looks great. BSCC's Per Torgesen provides an excellent series of posts there on practical tips for sales compensation plan design. His most recent covers "making the sausage" – the sometimes messy process of creating compensation plans for...Read more

Lots of new college graduates get thrown at sales jobs. Almost none of them planned on a sales career. But sales forces have a persistent need for new recruits, vague qualifications, and the promise of solid income – and that’s a happy combination for many new grads, freshly sobered to...Read more

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 Sales Management Association contributor Scott Sands details how effective diagnostics keep productive sales organizations clear of...Read more

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...Read more

We’re updating a research effort that met with lots of interest last year. The research explores key challenges and priorities of Sales Operations departments. Developed by the Sales Management Association’s Sales Operations Advisory Board, we presented last year’s results at The Conference Board’s Sales Operations Leadership Conference (with help from...Read more