Colleen’s Blog

This is one of the topics I will be covering at the Sales Summit Oct 4th at Dreamforce this year as I dive into the topic of Sales Acceleration. Want to create and sustain a top-performing sales team and get the steady growth you need for your business? Rethink the relationship your sales team has with the money you pay them for what they do. Conventional commission plans are at the heart of a problem that’s shockingly widespread in sales organizations today: underperforming salespeople remain employed far too long the the same workplace. Even worse: there remains a stubborn unwillingness to do anything about it. Let’s look at how this happens, the reasons why it remains a problem, and how you can solve it.

As you know, organization is simply one of those “must-have” skills that a salesperson must possess in order to be successful. Let’s make a distinction - being organized in sales doesn’t mean having a spotless office with perfect stacks of paper and a strategically placed hand sanitizer beside your computer. Being organized means having one contact management system that you use every day to manage all client files, your complete calendar, your tasks and all the information you need to prepare for each sales call. You must get yourself organized with a true sales force automation system such as InfusionSoft, Landslide, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM or OnContact because they become your sales dashboard.  While I’m not endorsing any of the aforementioned systems, I do highly recommend using a proven CRM system to help with your day-to-day activities.