Want to Boost Technology Sales? Incent Your Support Staff
Want to Boost Technology Sales? Incent Your Support Staff
This proactive approach will get more employees involved in the search for sales leads and keep them from sitting idly by when new business opportunities come their way. It's important that all members of your company's team understand they can contribute greatly to improving the company's bottom line by becoming proponents. Once they realize this responsibility, and understand that they're only helping themselves and their own job security, the results come quickly.
To help achieve this understanding, many companies are choosing to establish bonuses or even commissions for their tech team when they contribute to a sale. This added incentive may be all it takes to drive sales, and there are a number of ways to implement a successful plan.
Here are some things you can do:
Bonuses
The challenge with many professionals who are not part of the sales team is that they are "risk adverse" (a good reason for not choosing to work as a salesperson on commission). With bonuses you can incent people to focus on your current priorities. No pre-planning. No thinking a year in advance to identify what you think the market will want you to sell.
With the support team you might pay bonuses for every qualified lead or even changes in project scope that they close. When you feel a need to quickly focus on a specific product or the need for leads in general, establish and announce a bonus to be earned with in a defined time period – then watch people's behaviors change.
Management by Objectives
Management by Objective (MBO) operates similarly to a bonus, except it requires a bit more planning. MBOs are established as a part of a person's commission plan with a defined quarterly dollar amount set aside for accomplishment of pre-defined objectives. At the start of each quarter, the manager identifies 3-5 objectives for the individual that can be accomplished within the quarter. The objectives must be measurable, so success or failure is clear at the end of the quarter.
The best objectives are ones a person can accomplish without outside resources that can hinder success. MBOs can be earned in part of whole depending on the individual's results. Examples of support staff MBOs might be to revise the current company sales demo or meet with three new manager-level contacts at the customer site.
Adopt a leveraged plan
A leveraged plan merely says the compensation plan includes components beyond salary. If the compensation plan includes MBOs or commissions, it is leveraged. Support staff typically prefers compensation plans with less risk, or leverage, than a sales person. MBOs are the least risky. A company may choose to add a commissions component to encourage support staff to consistently find, develop and close specific types of opportunities. Typically these are up-sell or renewal opportunities associated with a project, maintenance renewal, or additional product.
One organization is training its phone technical support staff to close the sales on recommendations they make during support calls. The technicians already have the customer's trust and understand the customer's needs. Even with the commissions being paid to the technicians, their cost of sales are decreasing while customer satisfaction and revenue are increasing.
Once a compensation plan has been established, it's critical to provide training to help people feel they are being given the skills and tools to meet the new expectations. Goals are fine, but unless people have a clear understanding of how they can reach those goals the effort won't follow.
If you are expecting your support people to uncover leads on current projects or during customer service calls, train them in listening and questioning for needs. If your expectation is they will close opportunities, train them to handle objections and close the sale. If your expectation is to expand the company's base of contacts in an account, train them to ask for referrals and listen for openings.
Management Coaching
Once you've trained the support staff, remember to support them through management coaching. Coaching sessions will help your management team reinforce and model the behavior you are expecting from the support team.
Compensation planning is tricky. You want to motivate your people while focusing on the company's strategic initiatives. It's a delicate balance that isn't always the same for every employee, yet done right, can reap rewards far beyond the expectations of a person's role.
With the right compensation plan in place, your entire team will get more involved in looking for sales leads and take satisfaction in the fact that they are benefiting from the sales generated by their efforts.
Want to Boost Technology Sales Incent Your Support Staff - To learn more about this author, visit 's Website.
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Clues for sales are everywhere, and many times they fall in the lap of someone who is not part of your company's sales team. While most of these leads are passed along to a sales professional, it's not a bad idea to provide incentives to the support team to continue to look for clues.
This proactive approach will get more employees involved in the search for sales leads and keep them from sitting idly by when new business opportunities come their way. It's important that all members of your company's team understand they can contribute greatly to improving the company's bottom line by becoming proponents. Once they realize this responsibility, and understand that they're only helping themselves and their own job security, the results come quickly.
To help achieve this understanding, many companies are choosing to establish bonuses or even commissions for their tech team when they contribute to a sale. This added incentive may be all it takes to drive sales, and there are a number of ways to implement a successful plan.
Here are some things you can do:
Bonuses
The challenge with many professionals who are not part of the sales team is that they are "risk adverse" (a good reason for not choosing to work as a salesperson on commission). With bonuses you can incent people to focus on your current priorities. No pre-planning. No thinking a year in advance to identify what you think the market will want you to sell.
With the support team you might pay bonuses for every qualified lead or even changes in project scope that they close. When you feel a need to quickly focus on a specific product or the need for leads in general, establish and announce a bonus to be earned with in a defined time period – then watch people's behaviors change.
Management by Objectives
Management by Objective (MBO) operates similarly to a bonus, except it requires a bit more planning. MBOs are established as a part of a person's commission plan with a defined quarterly dollar amount set aside for accomplishment of pre-defined objectives. At the start of each quarter, the manager identifies 3-5 objectives for the individual that can be accomplished within the quarter. The objectives must be measurable, so success or failure is clear at the end of the quarter.
The best objectives are ones a person can accomplish without outside resources that can hinder success. MBOs can be earned in part of whole depending on the individual's results. Examples of support staff MBOs might be to revise the current company sales demo or meet with three new manager-level contacts at the customer site.
Adopt a leveraged plan
A leveraged plan merely says the compensation plan includes components beyond salary. If the compensation plan includes MBOs or commissions, it is leveraged. Support staff typically prefers compensation plans with less risk, or leverage, than a sales person. MBOs are the least risky. A company may choose to add a commissions component to encourage support staff to consistently find, develop and close specific types of opportunities. Typically these are up-sell or renewal opportunities associated with a project, maintenance renewal, or additional product.
One organization is training its phone technical support staff to close the sales on recommendations they make during support calls. The technicians already have the customer's trust and understand the customer's needs. Even with the commissions being paid to the technicians, their cost of sales are decreasing while customer satisfaction and revenue are increasing.
Once a compensation plan has been established, it's critical to provide training to help people feel they are being given the skills and tools to meet the new expectations. Goals are fine, but unless people have a clear understanding of how they can reach those goals the effort won't follow.
If you are expecting your support people to uncover leads on current projects or during customer service calls, train them in listening and questioning for needs. If your expectation is they will close opportunities, train them to handle objections and close the sale. If your expectation is to expand the company's base of contacts in an account, train them to ask for referrals and listen for openings.
Management Coaching
Once you've trained the support staff, remember to support them through management coaching. Coaching sessions will help your management team reinforce and model the behavior you are expecting from the support team.
Compensation planning is tricky. You want to motivate your people while focusing on the company's strategic initiatives. It's a delicate balance that isn't always the same for every employee, yet done right, can reap rewards far beyond the expectations of a person's role.
With the right compensation plan in place, your entire team will get more involved in looking for sales leads and take satisfaction in the fact that they are benefiting from the sales generated by their efforts.
Want to Boost Technology Sales Incent Your Support Staff - To learn more about this author, visit 's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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