Find best practices on how to align sales compensation with business strategy and ensure optimal administration and integration with other departments.
On the surface, quota setting seems easy: allocate the corporate sales target down through the ranks. In practice, quota setting is very complicated, which introduces many opportunities for error. In most cases, each quota setting blunder diminishes sales force performance. Here is my top ten list of quota setting mistakes—from bad to worst. #10. “Black […]
A growing number of high-profile legal cases make a painfully clear point: aggressive, revenue-only sales incentive plans can lead to unethical sales behavior, customer backlash, and punitive governmental fines and regulations. The most infamous cases involve Wells Fargo, GlaxoSmithKline, and Purdue Phama in the USA, Lloyds Bank in the UK, and Australia’s four largest banks. […]
The following article is based on an interview with Mark Roberge. He is an Advisor to HubSpot and former Chief Revenue Officer of HubSpot’s Sales Division. Mark is the bestselling author of the award-winning book, The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to Go from $0 to $100 Million. In our interview […]
“Equal Pay!” chanted the crowds in New York at the victory parade. The U.S. Women’s Soccer Team had just electrified the world with their fourth consecutive World Cup Championship. And they challenged the conscience of the world by demanding “Equal Pay,” compared to men. Why should they get “Equal Pay?” Because they earned it. Not […]
During a drive from Atlanta to Chapel Hill, Mark Donnolo was interviewed about his forthcoming book: Quotas! Design Thinking to Solve Your Biggest Sales Challenge (due October 15, 2019). The following is a summary of that conversation. What motivated you to write a book on quotas? The topic of quotas has become something of a […]
In 2006, Philip Kotler, Neil Rackham, and Suj Krishnaswamy published the classic “Ending the War Between Sales and Marketing” in Harvard Business Review. Have things changed? Christian Sarkar caught up with Kotler and Rackham to get an update. How have things changed since the 2006 article? Is there still a war between sales and marketing? […]
While Daniel Pink had many powerful insights and recommendations for the sales profession in his book To Sell is Human, in one key respect he was wrong. He asserted the sales profession was flourishing, but it is actually struggling. Digital technology is fundamentally disrupting the sales function. Sales Jobs are Stagnant A rigorous analysis […]
