Blog Post
Fairness matters to salespeople. Research conducted by University of Houston professor Mike Ahearne proved that eliminating overachievement rates and capping payout in the sales comp plan will result in reduced revenue. Even some studies and research in the animal kingdom can be used to better understand salesperson behavior. One study...Read more
Webcast
Re-boarding the Sales Force: Leveraging Onboarding Principles to Keep Seasoned Salespeople Sharp 
8 April 2016
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Enlightened sales organizations invest in salesperson "onboarding" - a structured effort to speed new salespeople up the learning curve. As our recent research shows, successful onboarding dramatically impacts salesperson productivity and new hire success rates. A newly emerging idea attempts to leverage this approach for veteran salespeople too. Called "re-boarding,"...Read more
Research
Research Brief: Assessment of Sales Opportunities
5 April 2016
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Accurately assessing opportunity is an essential competency for sales organizations. It underpins critical resource allocation decisions, such as how and where to deploy salespeople, and it determines how essential work is prioritized within the sales force. Opportunity assessment involves a continuum of activities, from identifying and qualifying leads, to sizing...Read more
Sales organizations demand a daunting breadth of planning expertise: from prioritizing high-level objectives to align with firm strategy, to allocating limited resources to adequately cover opportunities, to establishing tactical performance goals at multiple levels within the organization, and, along the way, coordinating input from many corporate functions, on behalf of...Read more
Research
Research Brief: Hiring Top Sales Management Talent
4 April 2016
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Sales managers play a vital role in high-performing sales organizations; sourcing and developing effective managers is therefore critical to any firm fielding a sales force. It’s a challenge approached in two ways: sourcing talent from outside the firm, or developing internal talent – usually salespeople promoted into their first management...Read more
This research focuses on how business-to-business firms support sales manager development through training. It surveys the training practices in use, the training topics and managerial competencies deemed important, the effectiveness of various training approaches, and management’s priorities in improving training efforts. The research attempts to benchmark firm investment in sales...Read more
Webcast
Solving Sales Operations Biggest Challenges in 2016
24 March 2016
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Sales operations leaders play a crucial role in translating firm objectives into actionable sales force plans and programs and ultimately achieving sales growth. In fact, recent research from the SMA shows that sales operations' responsibilities are expanding, and that sales operations departments face increasing pressure to deliver both strategic and...Read more
Webcast
Improving the Sales Organization’s Change Readiness
15 March 2016
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As markets and buyer preferences change, so too must the sales organizations that serve them. Sales forces slow to adapt compete at a disadvantage to faster-moving competitors. This webcast examines capabilities essential for sales forces in dynamic markets, including: Optimizing coverage Aligning account assignments Managing sales capacity (i.e. recruitment, hiring,...Read more
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