Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 9, 2014

Companies have long developed and managed their sales people differently from other employees, placing great emphasis on individual performance. Even in sales, network performance now accounts for about 44% of the impact. On the most effective sales teams, particularly B2B, the individual no longer reigns supreme.

Sales 14

Sales Sales Compensation Compliance 14

Harvard Business Review

JULY 11, 2011

A distribution company pays its salespeople entirely though commissions on sales. Salespeople keep their accounts permanently after making a sale. Sales leaders want to realign accounts more equitably across salespeople to give newer salespeople a better chance to succeed while providing customers with better service.

Sales 14

Sales Sales Metrics Compensation 14

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 30, 2017

Success in a sales force requires having strong talent up and down the organization. A weak salesperson will weaken a sales territory, a bad sales manager will damage their team and dampen results in their region, and a poor sales leader will eventually ruin the entire sales force.

Sales 15

Sales Sales Compensation Sales Management 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 7, 2015

Companies are using more analytics to enable better sales force decisions, yet one area that is still too frequently undervalued is sales territory design, or the way in which the responsibility for accounts is assigned to salespeople or sales teams. Is the sales force targeting the wrong accounts?

Sales 14

Sales Sales Metrics Accounts 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 3, 2012

No sales force consists entirely of stars; sales staffs are usually made up mainly of solid performers, with smaller groups of laggards and rainmakers. Though most compensation plans approach these three groups as if they were the same, research shows that each is motivated by something different.

Sales 16

Sales Sales Compensation Sales Management 16

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 16, 2015

In the case of a sales organization, money, time, and effort allocated to accounts A and B are resources not available for accounts C, D, and so on. Keep in mind: Customers’ buying processes have no interest in accommodating your planning process, so sales must respond account by account.

Sales 14

Sales Sales Strategic Planning KPI 14

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 12, 2017

Further, on the off-chance that training is consistent and continuous, reps aren’t usually provided with coaching or given serious performance evaluations during which development (not only compensation) is discussed. Regional sales managers then select the best videos and use them as examples of engaging sales presentations.

Sales 14

Sales Sales Sales Management Insurance 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 22, 2017

Selling is a performance art, and “making the number” should be the goal of any sales organization, but a closed deal is an outcome and a lagging indicator; it can’t be used by the salesperson or sales manager to improve future outcomes. Let’s fix your account prioritization.”

Metrics 14

Metrics Sales Sales Sales Funnel 14

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 5, 2012

If you spend much time around salespeople, it won't take long before you hear them griping about the issue that is the profession's biggest trouble spot: disagreement over the market potential of a group of accounts or a territory. A regional sales director says: "The Pittsburgh territory is vacant again. Sales force deployment.

Sales 10

Sales Sales Sales Management Accounts 10

Harvard Business Review

JULY 8, 2016

Customer relationship management software revolutionized how companies manage their sales pipelines. It also allowed organizations to communicate and coordinate more effectively across large sales account teams. Now a new breed of software applications is reshaping sales force management.

Sales 12

Sales Sales Software Sales Management 12

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

Hence, the customer-selection criteria of sales managers, and call patterns of sales reps, directly impact the first value-creation lever: which projects the firm invests in. But most sales compensation plans focus purely on volume incentives. In effect, the C-suite is saying to salespeople: “go forth and multiply!”

Sales 14

Sales Sales Accounts Payable Assets 14

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 1, 2016

Analysts and investors track company performance against quarterly goals, so company executives push the sales team to deliver on the company’s promise to the investment community. Sales leaders divide the national sales goal among sales managers, who allocate their portion of the goal to their salespeople.

Sales 12

Sales Sales Compensation Sales Management 12

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 1, 2014

A small proportion of worker’s compensation claims account for a large proportion of complexity, contention, delay and losses for AIG: 10% of claims account for almost 60% of costs. First applied to worker’s compensation, the same approaches are being now being rolled-out across multiple businesses.

Insurance 14

Insurance Change Management Compensation Sales Management 14

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 13, 2015

Some argue that having a single global plan for each sales role (e.g. the same pay mix, metrics, plan type, and payout curve in every country) is beneficial : “A global plan aligns with the needs of global customers and creates uniformly effective and fair compensation. Consider three approaches that can work.

Sales 12

Sales Sales Compensation Administration 12

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

Sales tasks. Account management, personal selling, distributor management, merchandising, sales compensation design, and numerous other sales management activities typically fall within the purview of Sales. Marketing tasks.

Sales 14

Sales Sales Marketing Implementation 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 20, 2016

direct sales, selling partners, inside sales, e-channels) or sales role (e.g. generalist, specialist, key account manager) is best suited for different customers or sales activities. It requires directing and managing salespeople using the right metrics, operating cadence, and performance management process.

Sales 14

Sales Sales Compensation Operations 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 23, 2017

He recommends the transformational style of leadership, in which a manager provides support and positive feedback to their staff, building respect, commitment, and cooperation within a workforce. For example, my friend Terri is the regional sales manager for a medical device company, which was acquired by a larger firm six months ago.

Sales 15

Sales Sales Sales Management Assets 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 8, 2015

Their innovation efforts tend to be focused wholly on the creation of new value; meanwhile, the question of how exactly they will be compensated for it usually goes unexamined. One typical reason is that top executives haven’t managed to clarify something even more fundamental: how much priority they place on increasing profit margins.

Revenue 13

Revenue KPI Sales Sales 13

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 9, 2012

Size the sales organization at a profitable investment level that provides ideal customer coverage. Define a sales structure and sales roles that enable effectiveness (high sales for the effort) as well as efficiency (low cost for the effort). Create and sustain a sales culture of accountability, achievement and ethics.

Sales 8

Sales Sales Retention Performance Management 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 31, 2016

Although the partner initially told her the new job was a better opportunity with more compensation, he later admitted that he didn’t think his career would progress fast enough in his current role. “The net of it was [that] he was very happy with the leadership we were providing, his compensation, and intellectual stimulation.

Performance Review 15

Performance Review Travel Compensation Retention 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 1, 2014

A small proportion of worker’s compensation claims account for a large proportion of complexity, contention, delay and losses for AIG: 10% of claims account for almost 60% of costs. First applied to worker’s compensation, the same approaches are being now being rolled-out across multiple businesses.

Insurance 8

Insurance Compensation Sales Management Change Management 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 28, 2015

For any change to stick, the CMO and COO need to have joint accountability and create incentives that reward collaboration. In fact, between 30 and 50 percent of their bonus compensation is based on reaching their joint targets. When sales managers saw a rush of customers, they could put more people on the front desk.

Operations 12

Operations Metrics Onboarding Sales 12

AIHR

AUGUST 10, 2020

A good job classification leads to fair, equitable, and consistent compensation ensures that senior jobs have higher requirements in terms of performance and capabilities, and enables succession planning to more senior roles. They are also commonly used in organizations with very structured career paths, like accountancy or law firms.

Compensation 98

Compensation Accounts Sales Sales 98

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 6, 2016

They were at a conference, with industry contacts all around, using their corporate expense accounts. Ada was right about her compensation, too: With salary, bonuses, and stock options (which still had a year to vest), her package was sort of insane. He was the CFO of their company, a software start-up with about 75 employees.

Sales 13

Sales Sales Recruitment Sales Management 13

AIHR

DECEMBER 20, 2022

Determine the content of a job and its value to the company to offer fair compensation packages. You also need to take into account the rapidly changing nature of work – although this may, at the same time, be a reason to do the job analysis in the first place. It will improve employee performance and engagement. Red Clover HR.

Job Analysis 98

Job Analysis Sales Sales Recruitment 98

LSA Global

JANUARY 6, 2025

They faced a few challenges: The current sales team had varied skills and experience. Too many sales reps treated all accounts and opportunities the same even though they represented different value. The sales team was struggling to grow strategic sales accounts and increase portfolio mix.

SaaS 68

SaaS Software Sales Sales 68

AIHR

OCTOBER 14, 2024

Vertical The employee advances to a higher position with additional responsibilities, compensation, and authority. An employer promotes a Payroll Executive to Payroll Manager. An Account Specialist receives a promotion to Account Manager, but their salary remains the same (for the time being).

Onboarding 98

Onboarding Compensation Succession Planning Benefits 98

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

What really matters is how technology, data, and analytics can help salespeople, sales managers, and leaders improve fundamental sales force decisions and processes. Consider account targeting. Closing the loop by providing an assessment of how effective account targeting was so as to inform better future decisions.

Sales 14

Sales Sales Sales Management Accounts 14