SalesForceXP: May/June 2008 Coverstory: Sales Revival: GoalQuest, a patented sales incentive strategy, has managers singing its praises for getting even ordinary performersto produce extraordinary results.

FEATURESTORY

Sales Revival

GoalQuest, a patented sales incentive strategy, has managers singing its praises for getting even ordinary performers to produce extraordinary results

by Paul Nolan

There comes a time in every sales manager's career when nothing short of a sales salvation seems in order. Or perhaps an exorcism to drive out the demons of disenchantment that pervade everyone on your team except those perennial top producers.

Managers through the ages have fallen back on the same mix of sales stimulants—increased promotions, decreased prices, or daylong rah-rah sessions that, as often as not, are devoid of any practical action steps for your reps. Some produce results (albeit short-term), others make as much sense as counting calories at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Rise as one, my sales management brethren, put your palms to the sky, and shout "Hallelujah!"

There is path of righteousness! A path that leads not only to better sales quarters, but to instilling better sales habits for the long run. A path that is proven to produce results not only from the hard-chargers who come through no matter the circumstances, but also from a sales team's middle-of-the-packers—those hard-to-motivate meddlers who seemingly check out the minute a sales campaign kicks in.

It's a powerful elixir, brothers and sisters. It's a program that, as its creators say, takes the intensity and potential of goal-setting techniques that motivational ministers such as Zig Ziglar and Tony Robbins preach about and puts it on wheels.

It's GoalQuest^®, and sales managers across the land have discovered it's something worth singing about.