Is your sales force holding your future hostage?

Many business owners choose to avoid this question because it's a difficult one to ask, but the answer is the key to true entrepreneurial success.

Here are some specific actions that can be taken to guide sales teams to greater success:

1. Set realistic sales goals and create daily action plans to achieve them: Stretch your salespeople to take action, but be realistic about what can be accomplished.
   
   
2. Develop behavior models that ensure high performance and uncover mediocrity: Understand that the right behavior combined with the right hire will yield success.
   
   
3. Brief and debrief all key sales calls: Take the time to meet with salespeople to review the strategy for key sales calls and then, after the call, review what happened.
   
   
4. Use team selling to model success: Make joint calls to model the proper behavior and coach the strategy and tactics that need modification.
   
   
5. Make prospecting for new business the number one priority for the sales force: Direct your salespeople to get in front of more new prospects each week. This is the lifeblood of your future growth.
   
   
6. Better penetrate your existing customers: If you sell multiple products or services, set a goal to ensure each customer is presented with the opportunity to purchase your full line.
   
   
7. Eliminate the time wasters that sap the time of high performers and give the low performers excuses for poor results. Instead, determine those preventing your sales team from more field time and eliminate the roadblocks.
   
   
8. Make sure the outside sales staff is not stuck performing the duties of the inside service staff: All internal departments must step up and be more effective in order to eliminate the consistent need to follow up by the sales team.
   
   
9. Look for unproductive activities and excuse-making: Formally address the busy work and whining syndrome many low performers exhibit. This behavior is annoying and creates a negative environment that pulls the entire company's attitude down.