Generally Accepted Selling Principles: Is Your Company GASP-Compliant?

In the last issue, we began a discussion of the need for an organization to adopt Generally Accepted Sales Principles. Principle 1 was with respect to the need for a Sales lexicon. We continue with Principle 2.

Principle 2 – Posted Targets

There's an old saving – aim at nothing, and you'll hit it every time.

But of course, you won't maximize revenue.

It's really simple. No sales effort is optimally productive unless everyone knows what the sales targets are, and who owns what responsibility for delivering them. And this applies not only to salespeople, but everyone in the company, because everyone can (and should) contribute to the sales effort in some way. Even if indirectly.

At all times, everyone should also know where the company is at, relative to those sales targets. Especially of course those who have direct responsibility for closing deals, but keeping everyone else “in the know” in terms of how the sales effort is progressing, keeps everyone with their eye on the prize. It's sales, in the end, that pay everyone's salary. So everyone has a vested interest in hitting sales targets.

As a hint, we suggest breaking down annual sales targets into smaller pieces (quarterly or monthly). This keeps the focus more immediate, and does not let the organization as readily slide into believing that even if they're running behind, they can “catch up” later on. Every day counts. Every day must move the organization closer to its sales goals. Breaking up the annual targets also supports more effort on the part of the salesforce (and others) to actually get revenue earlier in the year.

And that, of course, is good for everyone.

Next issue, Principle 3 – Inspection

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