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8 Ways to Keep Sales Teams
Focused and Fired Up

The ONLY way to weather turbulent times is with the willing engagement of a focused, fired-up, capably led work force. While many owners and managers are sweating their numbers, they take their eyes off their people...who are probably the best answer to getting the numbers back.

Your only hope of surviving a weak economy is to have the willing - not reluctant and not half-hearted - engagement of everyone in your work force. Here are eight things every business owner and manager ought to be doing...

9 Tips to Boost Sales Now

There are a lot of ways to increase productivity in your sales force. Incentives are pretty simple – they are awards offered to someone who can earn them, contingent on that individual’s performance against a specific set of rules – and unlike threats, they’re measurable. Incentives are rewards over and above compensation and are usually used for specific, short-term initiatives.

These nine tips (4 bonus tips in this online version!) will help you make the most of your incentive investment and your people as you wade through the murky waters of this economic downturn...

Our mission is to provide insights on sales management from the smartest people in the business, but space limits how much of their knowledge we can share in print. Here are links to some of the sources mentioned in our print issue:

Beware the business cliché, whether it’s communication with your customers, your sales team or your boss. Clichés make it easy to talk without really saying anything, says business writer Seth Godin. Check your communication against Godin’s Encyclopedia of Business Clichés here:
www.squidoo.com/businesscliches

Strategic planning in these tumultuous times is tricky, but a report from McKinsey Quarterly emphasizes that it doesn’t have to be an exercise in anxiety – or futility. Read the McKinsey consultants’ three tips for 2009 here:
www.mckinseyquarterly.com

Are you a jerk? Management consultant Scott Berkun shares 10 reasons why managers fall out of favor with their team:
www.scottberkun.com/blog/2009/top-ten-reasons-managers-become-assholes