Sales Performance Review

Because selling is the most essential function of every company, there is no job more important than that of sales manager. Extraordinary sales managers play multiple roles, all of which are crucial to a firm's short-term and long-term success.

Imagine a sales leader who's looking over data from exit interviews with salespeople who've left his company in the last year. Among the departing reps, 32% left primarily because of their relationship with their first line manager, 27% left primarily because of inadequate pay, and 21% left primarily because of the lack of promotion opportunities

The question: What should the sales leader do to fix this problem?

Is it time to upgrade the first line managers, enhance pay, revisit promotion opportunities--or some combination of the three?

There's more to the story than meets the eye here. Let ...

Sales managers have to assume a multitude of roles. They have to make sure their team hits the weekly figures, quarterly targets and yearly goals. They're responsible for coaching and motivating their team, to make sure they have the right skills to develop, and they need to know how to develop and execute a successful sales strategy.

But being a good sales manager isn't just about being able to sell well: it requires great business sense, tactical planning and excellent leadership skills. When a sales manager achieves this balancing act then the rewards can be rich – better commission ...

Distrust often marks the relationship between sales and marketing, but numerous points of cooperation do exist, specialists in each field say.

Kotler, international marketing professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, says that while marketing originally existed to provide sales with collateral material and awareness-raising ads, an imbalance arose as CMOs increasingly took their seats at the C-suite table.

“Before, marketing was seen as a service function, and no one thought it should be participating in company strategy,” Kotler said. As a result of that change, he said, CMOs are now taking more direct control of the ...