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<item>  <title><![CDATA[Building A High Performance Sales Team]]></title>   <link>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1771</link>   <description><![CDATA[A great salesperson does not equal a great sales manager. It seems natural for the best performing salespeople to become promoted to positions of sales managers. However, many sales managers struggle in that role because they lack the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities to fully support their sales teams as they should. What made my former sales manager such a good one was that he knew how to MANAGE me. Focusing less on sales techniques and more on accountability, goal-setting, and time-management techniques. Those fundamentals are just as relevant today, in my work with Directors and sales managers within SMEs and MNCs. Heres a step-bystep process for building a high performance sales team by implementing the following five strategies:<b>Becoming a sales coach</b>Your sales team is looking to you for guidance, direction, and yes, coaching. There is one thing you absolutely must do to become a great sales coach for your team. Become a visionary. What is your vision for the depar]]></description>   <guid>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1771</guid>   <pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:00:00 CST</pubDate>  </item><item>  <title><![CDATA[Selling And The Dark Side Of Goal Setting]]></title>   <link>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1751</link>   <description><![CDATA[What drives you ahead or holds you back is in your subconscious mind. Make sure goals are high enough and set guidelines for your subconscious mind to accept your goals.Be sure goals are realistic and raise them as you find success. However overstretched goals often compromise efforts. If your subconscious mind figures out you cannot accomplish something, its likely to move on to new ideas.To get motivated is one thing but to stay motivated long-term is a different issue. Lofty goals can take additional time, extra effort, and strong persistence than simple accomplishments.Effective goal setting is mind-mapping success. Goals shouldnt trap you into unfilled commitments and potential failure.The Dark Side Of Goal SettingWe set our goals for personal reasons. Companies set goals for their reasons. Setting sales goals has collective reasons.However, when sales goals are arbitrarily set without regard to realistic objectives, salespeople who fall short of goals ma]]></description>   <guid>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1751</guid>   <pubDate>Fri, 04 Feb 2011 12:00:00 CST</pubDate>  </item><item>  <title><![CDATA[Promoting Your Best Salesrep To Manager? Not So Fast...]]></title>   <link>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1696</link>   <description><![CDATA[The skills and traits for success in a sales management position overlap but are very different for success in a direct selling role.  That means that if that salesrep, no matter how well they have performed, does not possess the specific skills and traits required for success in that management job, they are likely going to fail.Heres a fact for you:  Scott Hudson, Vice President-Sales and Marketing at HR Chally, tells me that,<b>"85% of sales superstars fail in sales management."</b>I know that executives are faced with a tough decision when a top salesrep comes to them demanding a management position.  Ive spent a fair amount of time working with reps and managers on that very issue over the years.By the time this situation occurs, it is usually too late for a positive outcome.  The salesrep may have told her colleagues or family about their plan and staying in their current position may not be any longer possible.  (When this situation does occur, its a sign that]]></description>   <guid>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1696</guid>   <pubDate>Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:00:00 CST</pubDate>  </item><item>  <title><![CDATA[Measuring Sales Performance]]></title>   <link>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1694</link>   <description><![CDATA[When we ask sales executives how they measure sales performance, 60% of them tell us that they dont have a performance measurement system in place. Of the remaining 40%, a majority depend solely on a single lagging indicator:  performance against quota/budget. If other metrics are even mentioned, they are typically the size/trending of their pipeline, the number of sales calls per week, or the percentage of proposals they submit resulting in a win. When you consider a typical enterprise, youll find that almost every department has a set of processes or procedures and metrics by which performance is measured: finance (GAAP), manufacturing (ISO 9000 and/or Six Sigma), customer service (customer satisfaction, such as Net Promoter), HR (employee retention, 360 degree surveys), logistics (throughput, on-time delivery), Information Technology (TCO: Total Cost of Ownership1), and even marketing (direct marketing campaign conversion rates, for example). In most companies, the last bastion ]]></description>   <guid>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1694</guid>   <pubDate>Sun, 17 Oct 2010 12:00:00 CST</pubDate>  </item><item>  <title><![CDATA[Are You Flying Blind?]]></title>   <link>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1656</link>   <description><![CDATA[I was in a conversation with a CEO last week asking questions about their sales organization, the critical sales ratios they monitor, how frequently they meet, what they accomplish during their sales meetings, turnover on their sales team, profit margins, their competitive landscape, and a host of other issues.  As I asked these questions I could see the CEO was getting more and more frustrated.Finally he just threw up his hands and said "Look, I dont track any of that stuff.  I just watch the results they put up and until recently I didnt have to worry about it!"  Heres the mistake I made - by asking so many detailed questions I painted managing the sales organization as a complex, mysterious and difficult to understand process.  Its not, but it does require top management attention and you cant manage it simply by looking at the results .As CEO you dont have to track every last detail - leave that for your VP of Sales and your sales managers - but here are four key ]]></description>   <guid>http://www.salesresources.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1656</guid>   <pubDate>Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:00:00 CST</pubDate>  </item>
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