by Frank Cespedes | Nov 12, 2014 | Aligning Strategy and Sales, Articles
Putting the right team on the field is crucial, especially in sales, where differences in individual performance are greater than in other functions. Studies in B2B contexts find that rep performance in similar territories often varies by 300 percent, while in retail...
by Frank Cespedes | Nov 6, 2014 | Aligning Strategy and Sales, Articles
Perhaps it’s time for a re-think of “Death of a Salesman.” After two decades of talk about the “new economy” and the “disruption” of certain professions by the Internet, you might think that sales as we know it is as stale and outdated as Willy Loman — a function that...
by Frank Cespedes | Oct 28, 2014 | Aligning Strategy and Sales, Articles
Strategy has shrunk. For many firms and even for some prominent strategy consultants, the concept is now nothing more than “just-in-time decision making” or “a few critical initiatives” or other variations on “adaptability.” Driving this view is a set of assumptions:...
by Frank Cespedes | Oct 20, 2014 | Aligning Strategy and Sales, Articles
Let’s consider some common assertions with respect to sales compensation that in my experience, are often false. The fear is that “complex” plans can cause salespeople to spend too much time calculating payoffs instead of selling and taking care of...
by Frank Cespedes | Oct 15, 2014 | Aligning Strategy and Sales, Articles
Sales compensation is a perennial topic at most companies. There are many different ways to pay salespeople, and money is important. Business history is full of firms that got what they paid for (e.g., reps who, responding to their volume-driven incentives, failed to...
by Frank Cespedes | Oct 7, 2014 | Aligning Strategy and Sales, Articles
Sales leaders face a conundrum when selecting sales managers from the rep ranks. Most firms have examples of successful salespeople who are disasters as managers because they persist in the same behaviors as a manager that helped them excel as an individual...
