Sales: HOW TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN A TOP-NOTCH SALES FORCE

HOW TO ATTRACT AND RETAIN A TOP-NOTCH SALES FORCE

Written by Leni Chauvin

A couple of years ago, a mailing list to which I subscribe had a question from a participant who owned a real estate franchise. She wanted some advice about how to both attract and retain a top notch sales force.

Well, for me, repparttar answer was very simple. Just apply repparttar 127427 golden rule of networking: treat other people repparttar 127428 way you would want to be treated and watch them beat a path to your door, AND stay there, too! Treat them as if they're invisible, take them for granted, ignore repparttar 127429 PERSON behind repparttar 127430 salesPERSON and watch them run like an Olympic Gold Medalist. Since a lot of repparttar 127431 subscribers to Networking Gazette are business owners or sales managers (or coaches to business owners and sales managers), I thought I'd share some of repparttar 127432 suggestions I gave repparttar 127433 franchise owner. I've edited repparttar 127434 content a bit to try to make repparttar 127435 information apply to any field of work. I started off by asking her:

How involved are you in your industry? Are you active in your local chapters of your professional associations? Are there opportunities for you to speak in front of these groups, serve on committees, write articles, teach a professional development course? Do a first rate job volunteering for these organizations, and you will get you a lot of attention and respect from repparttar 127436 people you're seeking:top producers. Quality begets quality.

Regarding retaining employees, you can not only keep employees, but you can turn them into your greatest recruiters if you treat them like your most important customers! In a way that's exactly what they are because they are generating an income for you, repparttar 127437 same as a customer does. When customers are happy, they tell their friends. When employees are happy, they tell their colleagues.

Some simple suggestions for keeping your sales people happy and creating your own in-house cheering section:

--Remember their birthdays. Send them birthday cards. Wish them a happy birthday--doesn't cost a cent, yet it's so easy to overlook! Put a cupcake on their desk. Have a birthday present delivered to their homes! Sound outlandish? At one time I worked for a large company (2,600 employees in our office). Every single person in that company had a gift delivered to their home on their birthday! One year it was an umbrella (everyone got repparttar 127438 same gift so you can purchase in bulk). The next it was a beautiful brass ruler. Nothing had repparttar 127439 company logo on it. It was NOT a promotional product. It was a show of appreciation. This one does cost a bit, but that's why you have a marketing budget, right? :-)

To Sell to a Woman, You Must Understand the Woman

Written by Lisa Lake

The hand that rocks repparttar

cradle is

hand that rules repparttar 127427

world. Truer words have never been spoken, especially when we consider repparttar 127428

progress that women have made in society. Their hands no longer stick to rocking repparttar 127429

cradle, but they still rule repparttar 127430

world.

If you are to succeed in marketing a product or service, you must remember that women control 85% of all purchases. Marketers need to consider that there are certain innate differences between men and women.

Keep these ideas in mind when targeting women in your marketing strategies:

* Women spend a higher percentage of time thinking about others, whether it be their children or their boyfriend. Women will agonize over repparttar 127431 perfect gift. Women buy toys and school clothes for repparttar 127432 kids. Where men do their Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve, Women may start as early as September.

Why do women go to all this trouble? Because they love to buy repparttar 127433 right thing. Let them know that you have repparttar 127434 right thing!

* Because women are doing repparttar 127435 buying, for themselves as well as others, you have to figure out what woman want. Mel Gibson had to learn that lesson repparttar 127436 hard way, but it isn’t too complicated.

One thing to consider is that women will usually purchase repparttar 127437 more attractive product if repparttar 127438 quality is as high as a competitor’s product. Women have a keen design sense and often value form as much as function.

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