The position of sales manager is the most important and yet most underrated position in the company. Just to be straight here by the term” sales manager”, I mean the top sales person in the company, the one who is responsible for managing, measuring and motivating the sales team; the person who is responsible for […]
How To Attract Great Reps
Look we all know that this is one of our industry’s greatest challenges. For a number of reasons not the least being that many board shops have screwed many reps over the years, it is getting more and more difficult to get good reps to represent us. I know that of all the services I […]
Tools For Managing Your Sales Team
Nothing happens by accident anymore, especially when it comes to sales. It used to be so much simpler; you’d buy a good directory, circle those companies that would make good prospects, call them, set up a meeting, go see them and if you did a pretty good job in that meeting you’d get a quote […]
Growing Salespeople From Within Your Company
We all know that finding and hiring good sales people has become a problem. There are just not that many good ones out there right now. They are either, retired, gone to work in other fields or like the old general himself just faded away. So what are you going to do? You need sales […]
Finding Salespeople For Contract Manufacturers
We talked last week about how contract manufacturers need sales and marketing So, being a big proponent of the putting your money where your mouth is school of thought, this week we’re going to talk about finding and hiring the right salespeople to sell your services. “Aren’t sales people alike?” I hear you asking. Yes, […]
When Will PCB Shops Understand Rep Firms?
I spend a lot of my time helping board shops with their rep issues. I spend a lot of time trying to convince these shops that they are going to have to change the way they handle their rep relationships and start treating them as partners rather than second hand citizens if they want this […]
What Would It Take For Reps To Come Back To PCBs?
Simply put, getting reps to sell printed circuit boards is getting harder all the time. Too many have been burned, the competition is too stiff, performance is not up to par, blah, blah, blah, a million reasons why not to sell boards. Don’t get me wrong there some happy reps out there. But, interestingly enough […]
Do You Have The Patience To Be A Great Sales Manager?
I once worked with a company president who hired a salesperson in a new territory on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend and fired him before the Fourth of July weekend. Befuddled, I asked him why. He told me, “Look, the guy had not brought in a single order.” I asked if he had brought […]
Creating Sales Heroes
The making of the best sales team in the world So many people spend time tearing down their sales people. Blaming all of their woes, and worries, on the very people who can make or break a company. I once worked for a PCB shop owner who insisted on having a very expensive annual sales […]
Taking Stock Of Your Rep Network
Do you feel you are getting everything out of your rep team that you should be? Do you a full network of sales reps, reps all over the country yet you are just not getting much out of them? How about these problems? Try these on for size: You keep hiring new reps but you […]