Dave Mattson

To produce and grow at the rate which you need to be successful, you must have a dynamic sales team. The team must be formed through careful planning, hard work, and collaborative efforts. From a 10,000-foot view, this may seem easily accomplished, but let’s go more in-depth and tackle some of the inherent challenges with hiring and onboarding the right team.

Today’s sales professionals find themselves facing unprecedented, and often uncomfortable, change. More and more salespeople have larger territories than they used to have, and are responsible for selling a wider range of products and services than they’ve ever sold. They've got a lot to do, and they usually have less time in which to do it than they had last year.

Communication is important to a growing business and sales team, but that’s only part of the equation. Employee development is another key aspect for continued growth and success. While this topic is often incorporated into business plans, it’s commonly overlooked and bypassed in pursuit of other priorities. Below are four reasons why employee development should be at the top of the list.

I never thought of the late, great baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra as much of an expert on sales and sales management. Then I came across this memorable quote attributed to the legendary Yankee catcher and manager: “If you don't know where you're going, you'll wind up somewhere else.”

People have a comfort zone in which they prefer to operate. They may occasionally venture outside the boundary of their comfort zone, but typically only for brief periods.

As salespeople, our industry is always shifting. As a result, our jobs depend on staying ahead of the curve. To avoid falling behind, we should be constantly learning, creating, and innovating. Being forward-thinking pays off in numerous ways, but below are three of the most important reasons why innovation in the workplace is necessary.

Improving your efficiency or effectiveness is only as good as your method of determining and evaluating success. It’s easy to earn a win here or there, but repeated success over a long period of time can only be done through hard work, analysis, and reinforcement. Below, I have outlined five ways to gauge the success of your team, how you got there, and what to do to keep it up.

If you were to go to the dictionary and look up the definition of the word “Success,” you’d be likely to find something like this:​ SUCCESS (n): the accomplishment of a desired aim or purpose.

It’s the first week of January. In your rearview mirror, you had a great sales year in 2017. Ahead of you is a brand-new chapter, full of possibility and promise. While it’s important to celebrate your recent successes and create a plan to be even better this year, don’t get ahead of yourself. All too often, salespeople get complacent after having a great fourth  quarter,  and take their foot off the gas as the new year rolls in. Starting small and avoiding common missteps is the best way to ensure success for yourself and your team.

In today’s world, many managers don’t get to develop people the way they would like. It’s harder and harder to spend quality time with all the team members so managers must make sure each interaction delivers value for everyone. This means creating structure and clarity around all interactions with the team–or, as David Sandler put it, eliminating mutual mystification.