Effective Branding Can Drive Your Sales Growth (Marketing Series-Part 1 of 4)
Introduction by Don McMahan-FlyCloud Consulting, (Outsourced VP of Sales) This week kicks off our four-part marketing series with an intro to branding blog by my longtime marketing partner and guru, Robert Friedman of FearLess Branding. Robert does more than just help you develop a winning and cool brand strategy, as I do […]
Territories Assigned by Account Size (Part III of a IV-part series)
The current trend among technology companies (and others) is to assign accounts based on company size. While definition of size varies across the market, the three categories generally defined are: SMB (small, medium businesses) Mid-Market Enterprise Gartner defines SMBs by the number of employees and annual revenue they have. The attribute used most often is […]
Geographic vs Open Territories-(Part II of a IV Part Series)
Most of my professional life has revolved around well-defined geographic territories, defined by state borders or sometimes down to the local zip code levels. When you are developing a sales strategy, why is this a good thing compared to other territory management strategies? Some benefits: Efficiencies of time/travel expenses Clear accountability Concentration of effort Long […]
Sales Territories-What Works Best? (Part 1 of a 4 part series…)
Since the beginning of time, man (or woman) have fought over boundaries defining, their farm, their country and yes, even their sales territory. Gangs kill over turf and so do nation states. Drug wars are all about territory with millions at stake, so we can see that territories defined has universal value. In this series […]
Turnover Is a Costly Problem for Sales Managers
Steve LePatner’s insights on employee turnover are spot on. The impact on the organization can be especially costly for sales organizations for several reasons: Loss of revenue is an immediate and certain issue when you lose salespeople Recruiting and hiring new sales talent often takes longer than other positions Disruption of customer relationships, often the […]
Admiring the Problem and Stupid Sales Call Questions…
A great post below from my fellow Sales Xceleration Advisor Bill Morrow. I’d like to add to his observations by reminding all salespeople that perhaps the dumbest questions are the ones you should have asked and did not. Did you ever leave a call and say jeez, “I wish I had asked him who else […]
New Sales Agility Tool To Assess Your Company Sales Mojo
For a quick assessment of your company’s sales readiness, check out our new Sales Agility Assessment. Take the short assessment or email me for the full 40 question deeper dive into all the components of your sales process. At FlyCloud consulting I use the proven Sales Xceleration platform to grow and manage sales in any […]
Tying It All Together-Manage Your Sales Compensation, Manage Your Success-Part V and the Final Chapter of Sales Compensation…
We have talked about the key components of successful sales compensation plans that include: Timing and frequency of changing compensation plans Aligning comp plans with the top and bottom lines of the business. Strategic and tactical goals Rewarding the behavior you need to run the business More complex products generally require richer compensation programs Paying […]
Managing Sales Growth with the Right Compensation Plan-Part III of a V Part Series on Compensation
Do you pay commissions on revenue or margin, or a bit of both? It depends. Many channel companies that live on razor thin margins, by necessity use margin (or gross profit, contribution margin) as the sole indicator of sales success. Most small business owners know you cannot pay the bills with revenue, it is all […]
Sales Compensation Plans-Part II-What Should A Sales Comp Plan Look Like?
Compensation plans for salespeople come in all shapes and sizes, with the general rule that the more complex and difficult the sale, the more you will need to pay salespeople to sell it. That is true across all industries, from hard goods to cloud based software. What is also true is generally plans will have […]