Articles by Steve Cummins
Were you at the beach this summer? Did you take a good book with you? While most people grab the latest John Grisham, or maybe a good historical novel, you'll find me with my nose in a business book (I know....how sad!). So now that we're headed into cooler days, I thought I'd share a … Continue reading Top Five Sales & Marketing Books to Drive Your Strategy
Sales compensation plans are at the heart of your sales strategy. The way your sales team sells will be driven by the way their pay is structured. And the same goes for those around them. At one company I worked at, sales management was paid on revenue, and marketing management was paid on profit margin. … Continue reading How Hubspot Evolved Their Sales Incentives
Selling through a network of third-party reps or sales agents can be a challenge. How do you get more than your fair share of their time? When I was marketing a line of electronic components at Panasonic, we spent a lot of time thinking about the most effective ways to work with our sales partners. … Continue reading Are You The Sales Rep’s Emotional Favorite?
Have you ever run a contest where a salesperson hit a big bonus or qualified for a trip by gaming the system? If you’re in Sales or Marketing management, it’s almost inevitable. It’s unfortunate, and it’s frustrating, and you’ll vow to never let that happen again. But the fear of repeating it can often lead to over complicated … Continue reading Keeping it Simple – Sales Incentives
If that’s the first question that comes to mind when you start your sales planning then, congratulations – you’ve already decided that this is an investment, not a cost. And while many marketing programs require money to be spent without a clear path to an ROI calculation, the beauty of a sales incentive is that … Continue reading How Much Should I Invest in a Sales Incentive Program?
“Do you mind if I include the extended warranty with your purchase? It costs $149, but the final price to you will be the same.” This sounds like a sales scam – add something in at the last minute to boost the value of the purchase. But in this case, I had already negotiated a … Continue reading Sales Incentives and Unintended Consequences
It's Day Two of your Sales Meeting. Pete is droning on about his customers in SouthWest II territory. It’s the eighth regional sales presentation of the day. No-one is paying attention (maybe not even Pete…) You’ve taken your sales team off the street for three days, spent thousands of dollars to fly them to a conference room … Continue reading Sales Meetings – Snoozapalooza or Motivational Tool?
