Peak Sales Recruiting

Small business owners are often tempted to offer stock to key managers and employees as an incentive for them to stay and grow with the company. When an employee asks for stock as part of his or her compensation, business owners often see this as a vote of confidence from staff and a way to [...]

From time to time you will be in a salary negotiation with a sales candidate when they pull out a salary survey as evidence they are worth the compensation they are asking for. So how much weight do you place on salary surveys? The answer depends on a few factors: Was the survey conducted in [...]

We previously wrote about the impact of compensation plans on the behavior of sales reps (see Sales Comp Plans and The Age-Old Debate About What Motivates Sales Reps and Are Sales Reps Motivated by Money) and I just ran across this insightful post at the Sales 2.0 Network which shows in 2010, when the sales professionals were [...]

It has happened to all of us. One of your top sales reps enters your office to speak and closes the door behind them. You can tell by the look on their face that bad news is coming and they inform you that they have taken a position with another firm and submit their resignation. [...]

The hunter vs. farmer categorization for sales roles is a crude way to segment the sales function, but it is often a useful distinction, particularly when it comes to comp plan strategy. While new business development roles and existing account management roles both share the goal of generating sales, the roles are fundamentally different and [...]

If you are a sales manager who has pushed your team to peak performance over the last few years at your company, you have accomplished an impressive feat, given these economic conditions. You might think you deserve a raise for your performance and you likely do, but since so many good people are still out [...]

The ideal scenario for many businesses is to have a sales team of reps who are paid on contract, with no base salary and receiving 100% of their compensation in the form of commissions. And why not? Most employers would like their reps to assume all the risk of performing and be highly motivated to [...]

I ran across this great post  What Really Motivates Sales People.  The author, Jim Keenan, a sales exec who also writes the A Sales Guy blog, shares thoughts about the significance of money in motivating sales reps. He also shares comments from members of his linkedin group. The bottom line from his perspective is that [...]

We recently responded to the following question on Linkedin: Sure seems like nobody wants to work for commission only anymore.. selling software … Anybody know why? Its a job. Great question and I agree with the other posters here – this is a rough economy and people know that in many companies, the sales aren’t [...]

A few days ago I bought a new cellphone at a retail outlet and thought I would share the experience since it highlights how not to design a comp plan (no need to mention the company). The store rep was great, engaging me, asking questions, showing various different products and sharing facts and opinions on [...]