No sales plan?
Posted by Teanna Spence on Mon, Mar 16, 2009 @ 03:24 PM
I just spoke to a manager responsible for sales comp who told me his
sales planswere not done and that he would not get back to them for at least 6 more weeks.
It's March 16th, for 75% of US companies that means it is now 2 weeks from the end of the 1st quarter. Its way past 10pm, where is your sales comp plan? If you have not rolled out your plans, how do your sales reps know what their goals are, have you been able to motivate your team with no plans? As a manager you are probably frustrated that you can't motivate your team to do what you need them to do in this recession, "sell, sell, sell!" As a sales person, you are probably begging for a comp plan to better understand what you will and can make during the year. It's an all around de-motivating situation.
As a former sales person with commission rates that would change quarterly, I remember the two weeks at the beginning of the quarter, waiting for my incentive program, to feel really motivated to get out there and sell the way the company needed. But if I didn't see the numbers and understand what I was going to make, it sure didn't move me to make more calls or try to get PO's in early in the quarter.
People talk about organizational theory and the psychology of motivation. It's not a science; good sales people are hungry for money. Show them how to make it, with a clear comp plan and they will work to get to their numbers and accelerators. So many organizations are damaging their teams' motivation and morale just because they can't put a number in front of their team and say "GO!"
I understand this year presents some new challenges... but the economy makes it doubly important to roll these out...
So, I am saying it "GO!" for the sake of reviving the economy in this recession, build your plans for your teams TODAY!!! If you need help, call/email/tweet/message me, I will help you get it figured out!
For those of you on a calendar year that don't have your sales plans finished, help me better understand what's holding you up? What is taking priority?