continue to perform even when circumstances are beyond their control,”
Bakosh says.
His team at Accenture tracks how
much money companies invest on sales
force training. “What matters is not
the amount of money spent but what
managers are training them on,” Bakosh
asserts. About 62 percent of sales are
written by 20 percent of sales reps, he
says. “What is different about them from
the other 80 percent of the sales force?”
It is perhaps easier to determine
which management characteristics dif-
ferentiate high-performing sales forces
from their low-performing counter-
parts. Consistent coaching and writing
specific steps into the sales process are
key, Bakosh says. “Sales managers who
do these two things generate 15 percent
higher efficiency.”
Despite the vital role sales reps play
in a company, many initially enter the
field unprepared. In fact, only a few
dozen U.S. universities offer a sales
major. Ramon Avila, Ph.D., is the direc-
tor of the H.H. Gregg Center for Profes-
sional Selling at Ball State University,
which introduced its sales major in fall
2010. According to Avila, the typical
business school program in the United
States teaches students about leader-
ship and management.
“A student coming out of undergrad
is not going to be in sales management.
Instead, we’re teaching skills associated
specifically with selling.”
Ball State’s sales curriculum
focuses on all the essentials: sales pro-
cess, prospect information gathering,
presentations, handling sales resis-
tance and closing the deal. Students
learn skills such as asking questions
and listening, and they are required to
take courses in communication theory.
Additionally, students are exposed to
software commonly used by sales reps,
including Excel, customer relationship
management programs, Outlook and
even social networking tools.
“Our students experience the entire
sales process because they work with
real companies,” Avila says, noting that
Fortune 500 players are showing an
interest in hiring his students.
This comes as no surprise to Accenture’s Bakosh. “When we ask CEOs
of Fortune 500 companies to rate the
most important workforce within their
Although the
sales profession
requires no
diploma, license
or formal training,
sales reps often are
placed in charge of
arguably the most
essential aspect of
a business.
companies, they invariably name the
sales force. Yet we are just beginning to
offer that particular function as a major.”
A More Nuanced
Approach to Incentives
Managers should reward sales reps for
best practices and make it “part of the
sales culture,” says Gerhard Gschwandtner, founder and CEO of Selling Power.
His company publishes Selling Power
magazine and offers webinars and white
papers for professionals.
“With sales managers tied into
[customer relationship management],
compensation programs are shifting
dramatically,” he says. “It is silly to reward
salespeople for quantity alone—you need
to reward for quality as well.”
