What Is The Role Of Sales Commissions In Your Company?

What Is The Role Of Sales Commissions In Your Company?

If I Were a Customer and You Were My Sales Rep ...

... Here's How I'd Like You to be Paid

How do you feel when your sales rep earns a commission or wins a trip when you buy from them?

How does the customer win?

• Does the sales rep understand your needs and interests?
• Will they navigate your buying cycle so that you can do things at your pace?
• Are they concerned about your entire experience before, during and after the sale?
• How do you know what's behind their recommendation?  Is it truly your best interests, or an internal SPIF, or selling what's in stock, or inventory liquidation, etc.?  Do they need this sale in order to make quota?

I'd prefer to know that the sales rep is being compensated based [to a large degree] on my level of satisfaction.  If the entire team that is involved in designing and delivering my solution also shares in the rewards and recognition, then, I'll know they have a vested interest in my satisfaction and I'm not doing all the work.

Does anyone other than the sales rep win?

• How does the account team or project team win?
• Does their company win?

Companies can differentiate themselves by taking a fresh look at their compensation programs.  They need to be designed so that the degree of customer satisfaction and the degree to which their company wins determines the degree to which sales team members become eligible to win. Earned deal or project compensation can be shared among team members depending on individual roles and contribution.

By John Bernardi

Closers Earn Face Time

Here's Another Way That Top Closers Earn Face Time

Yes, being referred by a trusted lead source and managing a quality customer portfolio are tried and true weapons for finding new prospects and quickly and efficiently converting them to close-mode sales opportunities. But online tools can also be a formidable weapon in your business development arsenal if used wisely.

Social networks, email marketing and other online tools are great BizD resources for preliminary research, staying in touch and featuring your best ideas to get yourself noticed - but don't allow them to trap you into thinking that they are closing tools.

Recruit them to be your point guard who sets up the plays so that you can score easy buckets at trade shows, sales interviews, etc.

Just like the skilled marketing person who blends eye catching layout with content, let your online efforts capture attention and help you earn the right to present content in person after which the prospect says, "I'm glad I made time for that".

Why do my LinkedIn connections only appear when they have new connections?  I'd like to read more posts from them.

Likeability Vs. Desirability

Likeability and/or Desirability

Essential Traits for Being Selected

To me, likeability reveals DNA for building a strong network and bringing out the best in others, while desirability is earned by delivering a beneficial result, or providing advantage or pleasure.

What is the golden ratio of desirability [a] to likeability [b]?  Can desirable people thrive with a low likeability factor?  How brightly must their product or service shine as the obvious choice to buyers?  Are they artificially likeable for as long as they continue to help their customers look good based on the excellent results produced by their product or service?

Can likeable people survive for a longer period of time when their products or services aren't always the obvious choice?

How would you want your [a] and [b] to be rated by your customers, prospects and channel partners?

It's Not Micromanaging

Do Employees Say You're Micromanaging Them?

Ever had an employee whose inner child sets you on your heels when they say "you're micro managing me"?

Here's a basketball analogy that you can use to differentiate micromanaging from what you're really doing.

The Right Approach to Practice Optimizes Chances to Win

The best coach/manager leadership persona has vision to structure the team and design a style of play that integrates cohesive rhythm on offense with intensive continuity on defense by players who execute as a seamless unit through teamwork and communication.

The coaching staff avoids ambiguity by breaking down each play in order to transform goals into individual responsibilities and specific steps.  Multidimensional, skilled players fit this style of play each season.  They have strong fundamentals [shoot, pass, dribble, create floor balance, move the ball, move without the ball, exploit mismatches, know when to dish or shoot].

Professionals welcome the opportunity to participate in hours of film sessions listening to coaches and team mates candidly criticize their game and identify opportunities to improve their game.  Imagine if they viewed this as micromanaging?

Sales Rep Optimism - Key to Winning

After watching today's 5-minute video on SellingPower.com, I thought about the psychologist's one-sided premise. I'd like to present Side B to complement his hypothesis.  He took the employer-centric view because he wants to sell candidate evaluation services.  He suggests that companies must look for people who have optimism built into their DNA because it can't be taught.  I agree, but I also believe that there are company-centric and transactionally oriented companies like Oracle, HP, EMC, Sprint, Salesforce.com and many others that cause sales reps who are naturally optimistic to suppress this trait because they just can bring themselves to opt-in.

It's likely that an innately optimistic sales person with the necessary professional and technical skills along with a natural competitive drive will produce average results if their company does not possess its own DNA traits that build employee and customer allegiance.  Otherwise, sales reps won't commit their personal resources, only their time and physical energy.  Yuck!

Successful People Surround Themselves With Others Who Complement Them

I hear successful executives say this all the time, "I know what I'm good at and what I'm not good at.  My success depends on finding other people to fill my gaps."

Sales organizations are quick to title their people as "sales executives".  If they are truly executives and want to be successful, then why should it be expected that each one is fully competent in everything necessary to produce a thriving sales organization?  No one is good at all the things necessary to fulfill the sales role including proposal writing, finding new business, giving presentations, relationship building, closing the "golden spike" deal, etc.

I think the compensation system disables sales leaders from doing the right thing with respect to organizing for success.  In most sales situations, team selling is essential.  If companies were able to break down the role into positions just like on a baseball team, there'd be someone playing first base, pitching, driving in runs, etc.  And the right compensation scheme would naturally fit into place.

So, how can we make this happen and not let singular sales rep commission entitlement be the deciding factor?