Tuesday, May 22, 2007

A Better Way to Get Quick Sales Results

New business ventures and emerging companies face a number of critical issues when they deploy or expand
their sales force. Sales performance will likely determine your company’s “Time to Success” and in many
ways, dictate the future for your company.

Sales people are the gateway to your future customers. 90% of all customer interaction with decision makers
and recommenders happens with and through your sales person. Your company’s image will be created in the
customer’s mind by that individual. That person is responsible for presenting your solution, understanding
the customers’ specific needs and adapting your solution to get the sale. Within your company you depend on
Sales to bring in the revenue, accurately forecast the future, keep expenses under control and have a pipeline
that will feed continuous new business.

If you currently have a sales force in place, you face a similar problem. You may need to increase the size of
your sales force or impact the sales team efficiency to achieve the revenue that will bring you to the next
level of success. You cannot afford the time and expense to have your Sales Team operating at the industry
averages where 60% to 75% of the team is NOT making its quota.

In a perfect world, the answer is simple. The logical course of action is to hire experienced top notch sales
representative(s) to solve the problem. This model sales person will combine excellent customer skills with
extensive experience, has marketing savvy and can execute sales in a professional manner.

Unfortunately, reality conspires to make the probability for hiring sales stars very low.

At this stage of your company’s evolution, here are your challenges:

1. Premier sales people are already gainfully employed and are not out looking for a job. The current
turnover rate in technology sales is 36% each year. When you go out to find recruits, you will often be
speaking with one of those people.

2. You have to find these people. The current industry standard is currently 90 to 150 days. The real cost
- advertising, recruitment expenses and agency fees - is in the range of $15K to $45K.
3. You will likely have to make a lucrative offer to get the good people you need. This may include
guarantees, bonuses and draws – all which occur before you receive any sales revenue. If they do
come, will they have the commitment and tenacity to handle the demands of a start up or an emerging
company? If they don’t success early will they stay?
The reality is that you will probably have to settle for 2nd or 3rd tier sales people. The additional time to
train these people and get them to a proficient level adds many months to when anticipated revenue
begins to flow and additional lost time to get your solution to market.

The JAMIS Alternative

JAMIS International offers an attractive alternative that avoids the pitfalls mentioned above. We deliver
results to our selected clients by doing the following:

• Immediately adding the experience, professionalism and proven track record that you will need. We
become an integral part of your company - carrying your business card - being part of your
management team as well as your sales team.
• We understand the unique problems and opportunities of new business ventures and emerging
companies. We have achieved sales and marketing successes in large corporations as well as smaller
companies.
• Developing and executing sales processes that will accelerate sales. This will provide the operational
discipline that will drive the entire sales team to operate efficiently with 60% to 70% of your sales
team reaching quota.
• We assume direct sales responsibility at key accounts and strategic opportunities. We can provide
additional specific skills from our network when you need them.
• Providing measurements that give your management the realistic picture of accomplishments and
challenges.
JAMIS delivers these capabilities with a business model that is more cost effective for you and can achieve
the results you require.

Carmen Lobis is the author of this article. For more information about this article or Successful Technology Sales Training and managing please visit our website at www.Jamis.net

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