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Member You - Shifting the Sales Compensation Paradigm
Many job seekers tend to overlook job fairs. They can be crowded, busy, competitive and confusing events. But they offer you the opportunity to contact many potential employers all within one place, and they can help you land a job. Here's what you need to do to get the most out of these events: 1. Do advance research. Your goal is to target the most promising employers at upcoming job fairs. To do that, you need to know who those employers are and what they offer. Usually, the promotional materials or advertisements for job fairs will list participating employers and the general types of jobs they have open. Get online and search for information about the companies you are interested in. Knowing more about the companies than the other job seekers who visit their booths will help you make a memorable impression. The more you know, the better. 2. Bring enough r?sum?s. Bring at least 25 copies of your r?sum? (more if it's a large event). 3. Be prepared to fill out applications. Most companies will not accept a r?sum? instead of an application. So
If your goals are to maximize unused plant capacity, optimize your supply chain resources and smooth the bumps in your quarterly business cycles, then the sales compensation plan that follows just might contribute to that end, and help cash flow too. It is based on measuring and compensating sales efforts quarterly.
Baseline Presumption
If your sales team is like most, 80% of the business is generated by the top 20% of your sales force. So why not compensate the star performers and overachievers well for their results every quarter.
Step 1: Take the assigned quota for each individual and break it down to assignment per quarter.
Step 2: Assign a commission rate to that quota as if it were paid at 100% achievement.
Step 3: Determine what reduced rate you would be willing to pay for achievement of quarterly quotas for 70%, 80% and 90% attainment.
Step 4: Decide what graduated commission rate you would be willing to pay for achievement o
If your direct mail lead generation campaigns are typical, the majority of people who respond to your sales letters aren't ready to buy. That's why one of the most important tasks in direct response lead generation is qualifying every inquiry, assigning it to one of four groups.Group 1: Unlikely to buy Up to 20 percent of inquiries are unqualified or unlikely to buy from you. Some people like to collect sales brochures. Others like to waste the time of sales people who pay them personal visits. Others are simply curious. Either way, these people either don't need what you're selling, can't afford it, aren't authorized to make the purchase, or aren't ready to buy any time soon.Group 2: Starting their buying process Around 35 percent of the folks who respond to your direct mail lead generation offer have just started their buying process. They are discovering their need, looking for solutions, and poking around on Google and other places to see what's available to help them with their business challenge. These people are looking for information.
How do you protect cash positions while balancing the seemingly contradictory problem of keeping cost of sales under control and your sales force intact while revenues decrease. Compensating sales efforts appropriately is one solution for protecting margins, profit and cash. Solving this issue may take creating a new paradigm for sales representative compensation.
Longing For the Good Old Days
It was like a feeding frenzy when business was booming, backlogs were steadily increasing and customers were paying regularly. Just like the stock market, everyone was chirping ‘go baby go’. But times have changed; no doubt your business plan has changed too. Now how we compensate a sales force properly is these market conditions needs to be revisited also.
Sales Force Goals
What are the goals of your sales force? Maybe they have only a sales goal. Perhaps they have a sales and revenue goal, where revenue is net sales after returns, adjustments and back charges. Possibly they have a profitability goal too since your organization desires quality, not merely quantity. Regardless of times, determining how to keep sales incentives appropriate without resorting to Draconian measures that annihilate the heart of the sales organization – both literally and psychologically, is vital too.
Let The Incentive Methods Begin
Compensation on Sales Volume
The most traditional of all methods, it carries with it some in-built shortcomings. If the plan pays commission rates based on total dollar value of the orders, then the rep has little incentive to dramatically exceed the established quota. If you will, the rate is the rate, no matter what, no matter how much is sold.
Compensation Rate with Accelerators
In this plan quarterly targets accumulate to an annual quota. When these quarterly quotas are achieved, the next accelerated commission rate gets activated. This strategy does provide additional incentive over the flat commission rate plan though since the rep is striving for the next higher commission rate at all times. Shortcoming: the sales rep is only working toward the average rate.
Accelerators and Year End Bonus
Add a flat amount as a bonus when over quota attainment is reached. This will incrementally incentivize. Shortcoming: the sales force sees the bonus as paid out at plan year-end, which usually is paid after a years worth of effort and energy. It does not give them the ability to earn the bonus in the present.
Net: traditional sales compensation plans are back end loaded, i.e. a payout is awarded after successive sales hurdles are reached or as the plan year ends for over goal performance. That’s wonderful if everyone makes quota every quarter, not a likely scenario – especially in this economy.
Coping with a Few Realities
All businesses, regardless of market space, are seeing declining revenues due to fewer actual orders with lower order value. The fact is cash once collected amounts to less.
We can improve margins and cash by cutting variable sales expenses. On the surface this looks like a no-brainer. However, you could be triggering call reluctance behavior. Customers being paid attention to now will be stronger customers when the economy improves. Besides you risk having your competition fill the void your sales staff is creating by fewer customer and prospect calls.
Less revenue and cash means a staff headcount reduction. Or should it? If you cut sales staff now when business improves you will need to staff up again. The knowledge base of severed employees will take time to be gained back by new sales members resulting in an unproductive learning curve for you and them.
An intelligent sales incentive program is one that compensates for achievement according to the company’s business plan. And in these economic times every company in America has had to modify their business plan.
A New Paradigm
If your goals are to maximize unused plant capacity, optimize your supply chain resources and smooth the bumps in your quarterly business cycles, then the sales compensation plan that follows just might contribute to that end, and help cash flow too. It is based on measuring and compensating sales efforts quarterly.
Baseline Presumption
If your sales team is like most, 80% of the business is generated by the top 20% of your sales force. So why not compensate the star performers and overachievers well for their results every quarter.
Step 1: Take the assigned quota for each individual and break it down to assignment per quarter.
Step 2: Assign a commission rate to that quota as if it were paid at 100% achievement.
Step 3: Determine what reduced rate you would be willing to pay for achievement of quarterly quotas for 70%, 80% and 90% attainment.
Step 4: Decide what graduated commission rate you would be willing to pay for achievement ov
Using the right keywords on your electronic resume may just give your application a boost in today's competitive job market. Here's why.These days, many large companies enlist the aid of scanning software to help them sift through the large numbers of applications they receive for a vacancy. Using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology can enable a busy HR department to come up with a 'long list' of candidates who meet specific criteria and who could be considered for interview.Creating a resume or cover letter that's suitable for scanning isn't just a question of computer-friendly formatting. Layout matters, to be sure -- and in order for the software to 'read' your resume cleanly, you'll need to make certain that you follow some basic guidelines with regard to choice of non-fancy fonts, placement of key data and crisp, smudge-free print quality. But it's also likely that a scanned resume will be searched for keywords which match the needs of the job.One possible way to find out whether your next targeted employer will scan your application might be simply to call the HR department and ask if they would l
Let The Incentive Methods Begin
Compensation on Sales Volume
The most traditional of all methods, it carries with it some in-built shortcomings. If the plan pays commission rates based on total dollar value of the orders, then the rep has little incentive to dramatically exceed the established quota. If you will, the rate is the rate, no matter what, no matter how much is sold.
Compensation Rate with Accelerators
In this plan quarterly targets accumulate to an annual quota. When these quarterly quotas are achieved, the next accelerated commission rate gets activated. This strategy does provide additional incentive over the flat commission rate plan though since the rep is striving for the next higher commission rate at all times. Shortcoming: the sales rep is only working toward the average rate.
Accelerators and Year End Bonus
Add a flat amount as a bonus when over quota attainment is reached. This will incrementally incentivize. Shortcoming: the sales force sees the bonus as paid out at plan year-end, which usually is paid after a years worth of effort and energy. It does not give them the ability to earn the bonus in the present.
Net: traditional sales compensation plans are back end loaded, i.e. a payout is awarded after successive sales hurdles are reached or as the plan year ends for over goal performance. That’s wonderful if everyone makes quota every quarter, not a likely scenario – especially in this economy.
Coping with a Few Realities
All businesses, regardless of market space, are seeing declining revenues due to fewer actual orders with lower order value. The fact is cash once collected amounts to less.
We can improve margins and cash by cutting variable sales expenses. On the surface this looks like a no-brainer. However, you could be triggering call reluctance behavior. Customers being paid attention to now will be stronger customers when the economy improves. Besides you risk having your competition fill the void your sales staff is creating by fewer customer and prospect calls.
Less revenue and cash means a staff headcount reduction. Or should it? If you cut sales staff now when business improves you will need to staff up again. The knowledge base of severed employees will take time to be gained back by new sales members resulting in an unproductive learning curve for you and them.
An intelligent sales incentive program is one that compensates for achievement according to the company’s business plan. And in these economic times every company in America has had to modify their business plan.
A New Paradigm
If your goals are to maximize unused plant capacity, optimize your supply chain resources and smooth the bumps in your quarterly business cycles, then the sales compensation plan that follows just might contribute to that end, and help cash flow too. It is based on measuring and compensating sales efforts quarterly.
Baseline Presumption
If your sales team is like most, 80% of the business is generated by the top 20% of your sales force. So why not compensate the star performers and overachievers well for their results every quarter.
Step 1: Take the assigned quota for each individual and break it down to assignment per quarter.
Step 2: Assign a commission rate to that quota as if it were paid at 100% achievement.
Step 3: Determine what reduced rate you would be willing to pay for achievement of quarterly quotas for 70%, 80% and 90% attainment.
Step 4: Decide what graduated commission rate you would be willing to pay for achievement o
We all want great service, whether we are buying our weekly groceries from a store, or want a billing hitch resolved at our local utilities provider. Whether it's getting our car fixed, or a great meal in a restaurant. So we can holler and complain about how poor customer service and satisfaction has become - or we can do something about it ourselves, when we have those one-to-one opportunities with a real person.Be positive and confidentBusy sales staff are under pressure and they like to deal with people who are clear and know what they want - then they can get on with their next customer! So perk up, do your homework and have everything ready and clear.Smile - a little!By adopting a positive demeanour, making eye contact and being friendly, you will be one in twenty who is. Don't try it too much, or that will irritate too, but just nice, friendly and a little smiley will work wonders!Don't Use Their NameThis will vary culturally. In the UK, sales people don't like to be called by their name at all. So be careful - if you know it fits wherever you live and
Accelerators and Year End Bonus
Add a flat amount as a bonus when over quota attainment is reached. This will incrementally incentivize. Shortcoming: the sales force sees the bonus as paid out at plan year-end, which usually is paid after a years worth of effort and energy. It does not give them the ability to earn the bonus in the present.
Net: traditional sales compensation plans are back end loaded, i.e. a payout is awarded after successive sales hurdles are reached or as the plan year ends for over goal performance. That’s wonderful if everyone makes quota every quarter, not a likely scenario – especially in this economy.
Coping with a Few Realities
All businesses, regardless of market space, are seeing declining revenues due to fewer actual orders with lower order value. The fact is cash once collected amounts to less.
We can improve margins and cash by cutting variable sales expenses. On the surface this looks like a no-brainer. However, you could be triggering call reluctance behavior. Customers being paid attention to now will be stronger customers when the economy improves. Besides you risk having your competition fill the void your sales staff is creating by fewer customer and prospect calls.
Less revenue and cash means a staff headcount reduction. Or should it? If you cut sales staff now when business improves you will need to staff up again. The knowledge base of severed employees will take time to be gained back by new sales members resulting in an unproductive learning curve for you and them.
An intelligent sales incentive program is one that compensates for achievement according to the company’s business plan. And in these economic times every company in America has had to modify their business plan.
A New Paradigm
If your goals are to maximize unused plant capacity, optimize your supply chain resources and smooth the bumps in your quarterly business cycles, then the sales compensation plan that follows just might contribute to that end, and help cash flow too. It is based on measuring and compensating sales efforts quarterly.
Baseline Presumption
If your sales team is like most, 80% of the business is generated by the top 20% of your sales force. So why not compensate the star performers and overachievers well for their results every quarter.
Step 1: Take the assigned quota for each individual and break it down to assignment per quarter.
Step 2: Assign a commission rate to that quota as if it were paid at 100% achievement.
Step 3: Determine what reduced rate you would be willing to pay for achievement of quarterly quotas for 70%, 80% and 90% attainment.
Step 4: Decide what graduated commission rate you would be willing to pay for achievement o
1. The most successful products solve a problem. You may think you have a great idea, but if it doesn’t solve a real problem, then you’ll have a tough time generating interest. A good rule of thumb when brainstorming a new idea is to look for the problem first. Find out where consumers are experiencing pain, and then find a way to relieve it.• Example: If a manufacturer designed a special blend of potting soil that made it so people never had to water plants, the new potting soil would be solving a problem. People would no longer need to remember to water plants or spend time caring for them. On the flip side, if that same manufacturer designed a special blend of potting soil that was red instead of black, the manufacturer isn’t really solving a real problem as the color of potting soil does not present a problem to most consumers.2. Products that are dependent on another product are cumbersome. Innovation leads to change which leads to better products. Manufacturers are constantly improving their products to keep existing customers and attract new ones. If you create a product that depends on another product or attaches
We can improve margins and cash by cutting variable sales expenses. On the surface this looks like a no-brainer. However, you could be triggering call reluctance behavior. Customers being paid attention to now will be stronger customers when the economy improves. Besides you risk having your competition fill the void your sales staff is creating by fewer customer and prospect calls.
Less revenue and cash means a staff headcount reduction. Or should it? If you cut sales staff now when business improves you will need to staff up again. The knowledge base of severed employees will take time to be gained back by new sales members resulting in an unproductive learning curve for you and them.
An intelligent sales incentive program is one that compensates for achievement according to the company’s business plan. And in these economic times every company in America has had to modify their business plan.
A New Paradigm
If your goals are to maximize unused plant capacity, optimize your supply chain resources and smooth the bumps in your quarterly business cycles, then the sales compensation plan that follows just might contribute to that end, and help cash flow too. It is based on measuring and compensating sales efforts quarterly.
Baseline Presumption
If your sales team is like most, 80% of the business is generated by the top 20% of your sales force. So why not compensate the star performers and overachievers well for their results every quarter.
Step 1: Take the assigned quota for each individual and break it down to assignment per quarter.
Step 2: Assign a commission rate to that quota as if it were paid at 100% achievement.
Step 3: Determine what reduced rate you would be willing to pay for achievement of quarterly quotas for 70%, 80% and 90% attainment.
Step 4: Decide what graduated commission rate you would be willing to pay for achievement o
Promotional products are not limited to a single objective. There's a lot more to promotional products than promotion itself. Here are 9 reasons why your promotional budget will pay off:1) Promotional products promote brand awareness and customer recall. Brand awareness and loyalty will be developed as customers use the promotional items you’ve given them..2) Promotional products announce change in your business. Your business can use customized items to advertise your new products or your newly opened branch. They can be your mobile billboard on imprinted shirts or bumper stickers.3) Promotional products help create tradeshow traffic. It has been shown that all it takes is a small gift to build tradeshow traffic. Promotional products help you get more prospects for your business.4) Promotional products enhance the image of the company. These items build customer goodwill. They can be a token of appreciation for marketing research participants, guest speakers, and other friends visiting your office.5) Promotional products help inform the public. They can be an instrument for public awareness campaigns
If your goals are to maximize unused plant capacity, optimize your supply chain resources and smooth the bumps in your quarterly business cycles, then the sales compensation plan that follows just might contribute to that end, and help cash flow too. It is based on measuring and compensating sales efforts quarterly.
Baseline Presumption
If your sales team is like most, 80% of the business is generated by the top 20% of your sales force. So why not compensate the star performers and overachievers well for their results every quarter.
Step 1: Take the assigned quota for each individual and break it down to assignment per quarter.
Step 2: Assign a commission rate to that quota as if it were paid at 100% achievement.
Step 3: Determine what reduced rate you would be willing to pay for achievement of quarterly quotas for 70%, 80% and 90% attainment.
Step 4: Decide what graduated commission rate you would be willing to pay for achievement over the quarterly 100% attainment for various levels, e.g. 110%, 120%, etc.
Step 5: Watch the results come in for the first quarter this is implemented.
Step 6: Those sales persons achieving 70% of their quarterly quota, will receive the 70% rate; those at 80%, the 80% rate; those at 90% the 90% rate; those at 100% the 100% rate.
Step 7: Those exceeding 100% in any quarter, receive the effective rate of overachievement.
Why a Floating Commission Plan Works
1.A Floating Compensation Plan can be accommodated to fit any of the ways you measure sales person goal attainment; sales, revenue, sales and revenue or profit.
2.Regardless of the economic fortunes of the enterprise, you keep incentive compensation proportional to measurables like sales, revenue or profits.
3.You conserve outlays of cash; you compensate those contributing higher value to the enterprise by compensating them proportionally higher. To prove the point, investigate your mean sales dollar of revenue and profit for all orders by quarter for the last year. Then contrast the mean percentage rate of commission payout for the entire sales force. You will see that higher commission rates are paid to sales persons that contribute less to the business.
4.You install a measurement mentality in the sales team that is based on quarterly performance, probably the same way you are compensated.
5.You want to keep sales force self-motivation always at peak levels. They will see, especially the 20% mentioned above, that they maximize their income by exceeding quota every quarter. Getting paid in the near term is an incentive too good to ignore.
6.The top 20% rightly will conclude they are being compensated at higher levels than the average and ordinary in the sales force.
7.Psychologically paying immediately following achievement has great motivating effect, especially if your sales force is highly driven for financial reward with near in gratification for their successes.
There are numerous variants, mutations and perturbations to this concept. While we cannot cover all of them here, nonetheless our purpose was to expose a very viable alternative in sales compensation that can be used to drive the sales behavior you wish. It is purely enterprise and situational dependent.
So the real question is can you use it? Before you try it, analyze the financial impact of the new paradigm, or for that matter any new sales compensation would have on the results of the enterprise. Determine if in modifying the plan you influence the type of sales behavior that contributes to your goals and objectives. Then communicate clearly to your sales force how their opportunities will be enhanced, how their earning potentials can be increased with the new plan.
Always remember, nobody likes someone fooling around with his or her compensation plan. When you convey the message thoroughly, the sales force will be more apt to accept the change in a more positive frame of mind. However any change, especially a compensation one, will take time for the sales people to internalize why it is a good thing for them and the company.
Therefore, spend at least two months educating your sales force about the intended changes, what they are expected to do and why it really is in their best interest. Solicit their input; they will feel like they are part of the decision making process instead of having a policy forced on them.
You will see a few unexpected benefits come up immediately. The sales organization will get a mentality that they need to close all available opportunities before the new plan gets implemented. Additionally, you will see prospecting activities rise because they will want to fill up their sales pipelines with new opportunities that will be compensated under the new plan. Net? Everybody wins.
And your best performers (that top 20%) will recognize immediately how they can optimize the co
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