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Determine if you really need one There are sales roles and then there are sales roles.  Many roles are more like customer service roles, which happen to be attached to a revenue target.  The less self-aware people who are in these roles celebrate success when they are up in sales, but blame the market when they are down in sales.  When the revenue generated is due to several variables that are outside of the control of the sales person, when the role is largely qualitative in nature, or complex in that there are a number of different outcomes you’re wanting,... read more»

What about financial incentives? What?  Surely financial incentives drive performance.  It can look that way, because people focus on those financial incentives and achieve the given goals related to those targets (e.g. sell more of product A instead of product B).  It can help to retain people but it doesn’t increase overall performance by as much as the factors below. The 11 factors Now let's go through the eleven most important factors.  It is important to note that to get the best result is sensible to address all seven factors, because one factor that is ignored may block the others from... read more»

What is an open question? An open question is one that allows (or forces) the other person to provide more than just a one word answer.  This is as opposed to a closed question.  For example: Open question: How did you go about helping that customer? Closed question: Did you help the customer? Why use open questions? Open questions are incredible powerful.  They are the key to achieving many positive results with your people. Open questions: ...allow you to properly understand a situation, therefore enabling you to target your feedback and coaching. ...help your employee to think through a problem or... read more»