By Adele Crane. Adele Crane, is the best selling author of two titles, “Improving Sales Force Efficiencies” and “Get Sales Focused”. A world renowned business consultant and Director of Sales Focus International, Adele has 20 years of experience specializing in cultural change, knowledge management and the diagnosis of businesses and individuals that contribute to change.
When the […]

I am working on a project right now where I am implementing a new sales compensation plan that will better align with our new ‘Customer Intimate’ orientation. That being we serve a well defined set of accounts or markets and we bring them solutions, not products, not transactions but complete answers to their problems.
So I […]

At my office I am in the middle of a compensation plan change for the sales team. Unfortunately I did not anticipate the amount of “static energy” that would be generated amongst the team as a result of my authentic and early communication around the changes.
I have outlined the purpose for the change (based on […]

Source: “Lead Response Management New Research Summary” by Dave Elkington and James Oldroyd.
A recent survey by Inside Sales and MIT uncovers some interesting stats about when the best time to contact new prospects might be. Among the findings:

Wednesday and Thursdays are the best days to contact new prospects. In addition to being almost 50% more […]

By one of my frequent guest contributors, MJ Gilhooley: 
In order to determine exactly what we even mean by Networking, let’s go to good old Webster’s Dictionary for a definition.
Definition: Networking - The exchange of information or services among individuals, groups or institutions.
The meaning today is still as broad as it was back in 1997 when […]

Influence management is the ability to get things done with and through others that you have no direct influence over while direct is doing the same thing wiht people that work for you or that you compensate in some way.
Which is more valuable? What job roles require which type?
Way back in the early 80’s I […]

This article contributed by my special guest, MJ Gilhooley.
The importance of maximizing technology, rather than hiding behind it, is worthy of note in today’s tech-crazed business culture. Regardless of our server size or our dashboard widgets, blogs and blackberry’s, enduring business is still the result of key, well maintained human relationships.
While the argument remains that […]

There is really nothing new about a sales organization encouraging their staff’s to be ethical in their business behavior.
Many companies though are finding that taking this stance to a whole new level is getting great results.
Organizations from the Direct Selling Association to the Wall Street Journal are echoing the message. Companies can increase their sales […]

The last decade has brought many changes to the sales profession, the internet, global competition and ever more demanding customers. This means you have to continuously look at new strategies for achieving sales success for your business.
Two key items you should keep in mind are the new sales roles the marketplace requires and how to compensate […]

In the consulting and technology service world one of the most important measures that is used is utilization, productivity or billable hours. Production and manufacturing employees are sometimes measured in similar ways.
What this measurement tells you is how much of a resource is being used for the purpose you intended versus what the available resource […]