The document attached to a brand-new appliance reads, "Follow these instructions and your appliance should provide many years of enjoyment." Hmm…what a great tag to send along with any newly hired sales rep, don't you think? I mean, come on, how many of us rising through the ranks of sales remember our "worst" organization to which it seemed we gave our lives and souls—only to feel like we were used and abused worse than a widow when buying a new car?
It started me thinking: If salespeople came with instructions and a warranty, how would the little booklet read? Well, in all honesty, I have to believe if it were written well, it would be about the size of a Manhattan phonebook. So, rather than enumerating all the ways to take care of your sales professional for maximum performance, I thought I would just provide a top ten list.
1. Salespeople are not necessarily marketing people.
Some folks hire salespeople thinking that they can get the salesperson to create whatever marketing materials they need. They can, but that approach may not be the best one. Do you really want your logo designed by a third-grader with crayons? No matter how well you screen your salesperson for success in sales, it doesn't mean he will have the real marketing knowledge to generate art, write marketing copy, research competitors, create and support a brand identity, or do other tasks outside of his expertise area. Okay, if you hired and screened him for that job, then those skills should be natural, but do you know how many companies simply underserve the marketing needs of their salesperson? Every day, hundreds of salespeople are hired and shown to a cubicle with a computer and telephone and given the loose direction to "go sell something." The fact is, if you think your salespeople are really good marketing people, you are putting your corporate face at risk—and all your marketing materials in the hands of a person you probably are not taking care of well enough to stay. If you annoy your salesperson enough, what do you really think she is going to do with your marketing materials when she leaves?
2. Feed them. Really.
Just as with a man, the way to a salesperson’s heart is through his stomach. While a trip to the local “gentlemen’s club” may not be a legitimate sales expense (unless, of course, in your business it is), a good meal should always be a fair expense. If you think you can maintain a per diem that causes them to starve, think again. I know sales folks who have forced the customers to pay for their meals on sales calls. Do you think that really leaves a good impression?
3. Pay them. Really!
One would think this point is overly obvious, right? One would be wrong. I am not just talking about the lunacy in most instances of trying build your business on the back of some poor schmuck you talked into working for commissions only because you were too broke to build your business like you knew what you were doing. Instead, I am talking about the under-capitalized companies that write payroll checks that bounce. If I ever hear, "Here's your check. Can you just hold it a week while we get some money in?" again, it will be an eon too soon. Some folks get this wild idea they can start a business with the latest, greatest idea in their head, and because they are so enamored with themselves for thinking of it, they presume everyone else will be just as enamored. Multiplying that arrogance with continued stupidity, they then run around trying to talk salespeople into working for free or "commission only." While I certainly understand that there are commission-based sales positions (I am not really talking about those), the abusive entrepreneurs who think the sun rises and sets on the strength of their own ideas. For them, I have one little piece of data: "Yes, your ‘stuff’ stinks too." If you can't afford a sales professional, quit crying about it and find a way to fund your business.
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