In a BLR webinar entitled "Sales Compensation Strategies: How to Motivate and Re-Energize Your Sales Staff in a Challenging Economy," Dan Kleinman, principal of California-based Dan Kleinman Consulting, described the importance of "getting your house in order" and holding true to your seller profile.
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Get Your Report Now!Hire and retain the right people for the right reasons and the right selling. Remember:
- Relationship sellers don't work well in a transactional setting.
- Pure commission sales staff don't work well in team settings.
- Ticket takers aren't sales staff.
Consider and address why someone choose to put a significant portion of their pay at risk. First, there are personal perceptions.
- Their talent
- Their confidence
- Their values
- Their sense of achievement against self, goals and others
But there are also situational factors:
- Management knows what it is doing
- Management knows how to manage sales staff
- Product quality
- Operational quality
- Reputation of the company
- Challenging but achievable goals
Don't use sales staff results to deflect away from management challenges. Management is accountable for:
- Forecasting performance (key management role)
- Strategizing (determining market penetration and product prioritization)
- Tactics (setting assignments, creating structures, setting goals)
- Managing the sales process (people, materials, logistics, service)
- Understanding the competitive environment and customer base
Ensure that the plan doesn't become the excuse for a breakdown in any of the above.
Dan Kleinman is the principal of Dan Kleinman Consulting (www. dankleinmanconsulting.com), a California-based compensation and human resource consulting firm. For the past 18 years, he has served as an independent consultant for a broad spectrum of regional, national, and international companies, providing compensation, performance, organizational planning, and reward-system design services. His last assignment was serving as vice president and manager of compensation, benefits, human resources information systems, and payroll for Charles Schwab.
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