How to Get 'Em to Do What You Want 'Em to

How to Get 'Em to Do What You Want 'Em to : Distributor Sales: "So, the first step in getting your sales people 'to do what you want'em to,' is to decide 'what you want'em to do.'

Ideally, those things proceed directly from your strategic plan. For example, if your strategic plan says that you want to penetrate a new market segment, then you should expect your salespeople to make X calls per month on that segment, or create X new customers within that segment, or do X amount of sales with that segment, or achieve X amount of gross profit with that segment.

The first step is to develop your strategic plan, and then to create expectations for your sales force that directly support that strategic plan.

What, you don't have a strategic plan? That's too bad, you're definitely at a disadvantage. But, you're not disqualified. Just start at step two, and create precise expectations for your sales force. Develop a list of the three to ten most important things you want them to do.

Bringing in a certain amount of sales or gross profits should be one of them, but only one of them.
Next, make sure that your list of expectations are easily, accurately and fairly measurable. This can be difficult. Much of your ability to manage your sales force depends on your ability to measure sales behaviors.
If you're highly automated and use effective sales force software, it'll be a snap. If you're not effectively automated, it'll be much more difficult. "