COMPENSATING, TRAINING MANAGING & MOTIVATING …

COMPENSATING, TRAINING,MANAGING & MOTIVATINGSUCCESSFUL SALESPEOPLE

COMPANY CONFIDENTIAL: FOR HOTSY DISTRIBUTORS ONLY • MAY NOT BE COPIED OR DISTRIBUTED WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM HOTSY

2 MANAGING SALESPEOPLE

This Hotsy Best Practices bookletrepresents the collective bestpractices from the Hotsy distribu-tors and our own personal experi-ence on how to compensate,train, manage and motivate suc-cessful salespeople.

While virtually all HotsyDistributors readily admit salesmanagement is extremely impor-tant, even essential, to growing abusiness, many Distributors haveconfided that it’s not theirstrength.

This Best Practices booklet maybe just “what the doctorordered” as it contains manypractical techniques for managing salespeople.

Great Hotsy sales managers tendto achieve 50%, 100%, even200% greater revenue and profitthan poor sales managers. Higherrevenues and profits per salesper-son also have a significant impacton the income of the salesperson,which in turn makes it easier toretain top performers.

Read through this booklet andidentify those areas whereimprovement can be made inyour company. Your HotsyRegional Sales Manager will glad-ly help you develop and executea plan.

Effective sales management isenough for some people. Itrequires establishing expectations

with each salesperson, monitor-ing their performance to plan,coaching them through weakareas, and holding them account-able. This can lead to confronta-tions and may make some ownersand sales managers uncomfort-able.

While it requires effort, whenexpectations are established up-front and administration is clearlyspelled out, the process can befairly painless. Be assured thatdoing it right will be reflected onyour company’s bottom line.

We encourage you to put theideas in this Best Practices book-let to work. If you have addition-al information on your own suc-cess that you would like to sharewith other Hotsy distributors,please let us know so that we canincorporate that information intothe next revision of this Guide.

Finally, for those who implementideas from this booklet, pleasereport back on your experience.Nothing drives change morepowerfully than testimonialsfrom fellow Hotsy distributors.

— Frank Rotondi, Hotsy Great Lakes RSM

— David TylerHotsy General Manager

Hotsy Distributor Best Practices

Here are the hottest ideas—shared by fellow Hotsy distributors—on how to compensate, train, manage

and motivate successful salespeople

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Compensating Your Sales Team . . . . . .3• Creating the right balance• Pay on revenues or on gross margin?• How to encourage prospecting• Written compensation plans

Training Successful Salespeople . . . . .7• Sample four-week training agenda• Mistakes to avoid• New trainee checklists and evaluation

Managing Successful Salespeople . .15• What every sales manager needs to know• Components of a sales plan• Sales territory management• Time management tools• Sample sales forms

Motivating Salespeople . . . . . . . . . .28• How to choose a sales incentive plan• How to budget a sales incentive plan• Pre-employment testing• Do’s and don’ts of hiring• Confidentiality agreement• Non-competition agreement

MANAGING SALESPEOPLE 3

COMPENSATING YOUR SALES TEAMGuiding Principles to Compensation

To attract, retain and motivate the best salespeople youshould pay them what they are worth. Then by using propertraining, managing and motivation techniques you shouldmake those well paid salespeople worth more to you thanyou pay them.

Sales force compensation involves not only salary, commis-sion and bonus but fringe benefits and reimbursed expenses.Your company’s compensation plan should communicate tosalespeople where you want them to focus. A good compen-sation plan loses its effectiveness when applied to a weak orpoorly trained sales staff.

Some managers/owners push off their sales managementresponsibility by rationalizing that the compensation planwill direct all their salespeople's behavior. The ultimateexample – companies that compensate on 100% perform-ance pay, which is usually 100% commission based on rev-enue or margins. In those situations the manager/ownerdoes not spend enough time and thought in:

• Hiring

• Training

• Planning

• Motivating

• Evaluating

They claim that a 100% commission plan will attract andself-select the right people that will work hard, train them-selves, and motivate themselves. These are dangerous andcostly assumptions!

The problems with a 100% straight commission plan for newsalespeople are multiple:

• It is difficult to get 100% commission salespeople topromote new products or seek new customers.

• Sales people are content to stay within their comfortzones of established customers and familiar products

• 100% commission provides low security

• 100% commission creates great fluctuations in earnings

• 100% commission creates higher sale staff turnover

• 100% commission is a rep not an employee – unlikeemployees, most won’t be providing the company with

valuable information, and taking direction from man-agement is not a leading priority

Straight commission programs do reward certain salespeo-ple. They reward the top performers of any workforce topush themselves to greater levels of achievement. These aresalespeople who are driven by the need to achieve. They willseek higher levels of performance no matter what the com-pensation plan.

There was a time when straight commission programs madea lot of sense when the only measurements you could easilycreate were measurements of sales and gross profits. It madesense, then, to use those measurements of sales and grossprofits as a way of rewarding a salesperson. Today's informa-tion systems are far more sophisticated, allowing managersthe option to measure sale behavior much more finely thanjust sales and gross profits.

All of this leads us to an obvious conclusion. If you are cur-rently paying your sales force on a 100% commission plan, itis time to examine some alternatives.

In constructing a sales compensation plan you should firstdecide the dollars of compensation for a top performingsalesperson. A top performing sales person in the pressurewasher industry should generally earn $60,000 to $100,000 inincome annually. For your top-performing salesperson, what% of their income is base pay vs. commission?

Base salaries vary by market conditions. Most Hotsy distribu-tors pay new salespeople a base salary of $500 a week. Mostalso pay gas, some provide a vehicle, and most provide a cellphone. As a salesperson builds their business and income,most distributors switch to or offer a commission-only planand/or a commission draw plan that provides greaterincome. This works for many successful Hotsy distributors,but many other successful distributors strongly favor a basesalary plan. With a base salary you gain the advantagesabove of a more loyal and contributing employee, plus it canhelp keep your salesperson’s spouse feel more comfortable,and the value of that should not be discounted.

Creating The Right Balance

The right balance between commissions and base compensa-tion must reflect both the company’s and the salespeople'sneeds. You need to attract, retain and motivate salespeoplewho produce desired levels of sales at expected margins, at acost that generates profits and allows a % return on salesand invested capital.

Good salespeople need a compensation plan that relievesthem of basic financial worries, gives them pride in whatthey earn, reflects their qualifications and experience andequals or betters your competition. For that compensationplan, you can expect an employee, not a free-lance sales per-son. You will obtain better results with fewer but more qual-

ified & higher paid salespeople than you will with a largersales force that is filled with less qualified, lower paid peo-ple. One outstanding salesperson is more profitable thantwo mediocre salespeople. Two outstanding salespeople canmake a company and make a substantial impact on prof-itability.

Know What You Are Competing Against

A beginning Sales Representative 1, as defined by salary.com,has the following characteristics:

• Develops new prospects and interacts with existing cus-tomers to increase sales of an organization's productsand/or services.

• May require an associate's degree or its equivalent with1-4 years of experience in the field or in a related area.

• Familiar with standard concepts, practices, and proce-dures within a particular field.

• Relies on limited experience and judgment to plan andaccomplish goals.

• Performs a variety of tasks. Works under general super-vision; typically reports to a supervisor or manager.

• A certain degree of creativity and latitude is required.

The median expected salary for a typical Sales Represen-tative 1 in Chicago, IL, is $55,922.

25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile

$47,494 $55,922 $67,198

The median total cash compensation for a typical SalesRepresentative 1 in Chicago, IL, is $64,758.

25th Percentile Median 75th Percentile

$53,814 $64,758 $79,445

The median total compensation including benefits for a typi-cal Sales Representative I in Chicago, IL, is $88,198.

In small cities and rural areas these typical compensation fig-ures are reduced 15% to 25%. This basic market pricingreport was prepared using a Certified CompensationProfessionals' analysis of survey data collected from thou-sands of HR departments at employers of all sizes, industriesand geographies. Some combination of salary and commis-sion represents the most widely used form of sales compen-sation.

Combination plans can be targeted to encourage specificbehavior and actions such as call reports and selling of spe-cific products.

Pay On Revenues Or On Gross Margin?

Commission plans can be based on revenues or on gross mar-gin. Paying on revenues is very straight-forward. Commissionrates don’t have to be the same for all product lines. Forexample, you may want to pay a higher commission rate foran initial detergent sale, in order to incent your salespeopleto establish new detergent accounts. You may also want tohave a tiered commission rate that pays out at a lower per-centage if the machine is discounted more than 10%.

Gross margin as typically calculated by Hotsy distributors isrevenue minus machine cost, freight, and dealer prep.Paying on gross margin dollars has a few disadvantages:

• You will be sharing your costs and margins with yoursalespeople

• Commissions are more complicated to calculate

Paying on gross margin also has several significant advan-tages:

• When you pay on a percentage of gross margin, you aresharing the profit while protecting your margins

• If the purchase price is discounted, the salesperson takesthe same hit you do, vs. much smaller pain for the sales-person if you pay on a percentage of revenue. Forexample, if you pay a commission of 15% of revenuesand the machine is discounted $200, it costs your sales-person 15% or $30. If you pay a commission of 35% ofgross margin and the machine is discounted $200, itcosts your salesperson 35% or $70. Paying on gross mar-gin helps minimize deep discounting.

• It’s a lot easier to write a big commission check if it’s a% of gross margin, because you are assured that themajority of the profit is yours.

Successful Hotsy distributors have had success using bothprograms. If you are going to pay on revenues you will needto be a much stronger sales manager in order to create asales culture that minimizes discounting.

Setting Performance Targets

Most companies pay a set commission rate regardless if asalesperson sells 1 Hotsy or 20 machines. This doesn’t encour-age the specific behavior you want to see:

• Set a monthly quota (for example, $25,000 a month)

• A quota must be in writing and must be presented tothe salesperson as the monthly sales level or margin dol-lars that you expect the salesperson to achieve.

• If the salesperson meets the quota, pay the set commis-sion rate



• If the salesperson exceeds the quota, pay the highercommission rate

• If the salesperson misses the quota you pay a lowercommission rate

Sample Commission Rate For Base-Weighted Compensation

This sample plan should be used only with established sales-people (year or more experience). This sample is not suggest-ed for first year salespeople. The percentage listed is only anexample. Use your own commission payment percentagewith this scale. The scale applies whether you pay on a % ofrevenue or a % of gross margin.

Percent Achievedof Quota Commission Rate

>=<50% 5% Minimum Rate

>= 70% 6%

>= 80% 6.5%

>= 90% 8%

>= 100% 10%

>= 110% 12%

>= 120% 15% Maximum Rate

Sample Incentive Method for Beating Quota— Three Consecutive Months over 120%

• $1,500 Flat Bonus In addition to 15%

• Extra week of vacation

The count starts over with the 4th month.

Pay Accelerators

Pay Accelerator plans can be used to push for product diver-sity. Set monthly pay accelerator quotas for equipment,detergents, and APWs. Work together with your sales staffwhen setting quotas. If the quotas are met for all threeproduct lines reward salespeople with an added bonus. Thereward should be very enticing!

Example of a Pay Accelerator— Quota to Hit on Each Product Line

Equipment Sales Monthly $20,000

Detergent Sales $5,000

APW Sales $5,000

Additional 5% bonus on top of commissions for hitting all three quotas

Don't be upset if the salesperson makes more money thanyou think he needs. A large commission represents a win-winsituation for both the salesperson and the distributor. It’s acheck you’ll be happy to write. Say thank you and continueto watch your sales grow.

Vary Commission Rates To Encourage High-Profit Sales

Consider paying a higher commission rate for sales that arehigher margin. Paying a high commission for an initial soapsale encourages salespeople to sign up new soap accounts.Pay them even more for a tote account.

Pay a higher commission for accessory sales, if the price isnot discounted. Accessories are rarely discounted, and acces-sories are an advantage because they help differentiate theHotsy proposal from a proposal by a less sophisticated com-petitor or from a catalog or the internet.

Pay a higher commission for the initial payment on a sched-uled maintenance agreement. It will encourage them to sellthe contracts.

Vary Commission Rates To Encourage Prospecting

A common complaint among Hotsy distributors is “My sales-people won’t prospect.” If you’ve been a Hotsy distributorfor a number of years, then a certain amount of business isgoing to come your way from re-orders. As you know, youcan literally wait for the phone to ring, and it will. It’s there-fore frustrating and galling to write a commission check fora sale that wasn’t earned. If your salesperson who has theterritory keeps in contact with the customer, etc. that’s onething, and an easier check to write. When your salespersonhasn’t stayed in contact with the customer, then it’s a painfulcheck to write.

An added problem is that some salespeople are comfortablewith their income level, and “waiting for the phone to ring”produces sufficient income to keep them happy. These“retired in place” salespeople won’t be helping you growyour business. During the slow economic times a few yearsback, many of you found you could lay off these types ofsalespeople and see little or no drop in revenues – the orderscame in anyway and you handled them personally.

It is possible to get salespeople to prospect and grow yourbusiness:

• First, you want to hire salespeople who live to prospect– see the Hiring Outstanding Salespeople Best PracticesGuide for salesperson testing that identifies “hunters”.

• Second, you need to establish a culture of prospectingin your company. This includes reviewing their sales fun-nel with them weekly and reviewing the source of theirleads and setting your expectations of leads fromprospecting.

• Third, you can vary your commission rate based on thesource of the lead.

Use your commission structure to reward the behaviors youwant to see. For a sale in the salesperson’s assigned territory,pay a different commission rate determined by the source ofthe lead that resulted in the sale:


• If the sale is to a previous customer, and the salespersonhas not made a personal visit there in over six months,then you pay the standard (reduced) commission rate.

• If the sale is to a previous customer, and the salespersonhas made a personal visit there within the last sixmonths, then you pay the commission rate plus 20%.

• If the sale is to a new customer, and the salesperson hasnever been there, then you pay the commission rateplus 20% - such sales can be from referrals etc.

• If the sale is to a new customer, and the salesperson hasbeen there within six months, then you pay the commis-sion rate plus 40%.

Using a variable commission rate based on the source of thelead and the salesperson’s activity with the account is impos-sible to administer unless your company has a prospect andcustomer database. The most common system used by Hotsydistributors is an ACT! database. The salesperson recordseach prospect call and visit and the information is uploadedto a central database. This requires sales management disci-pline to get salespeople to always use the ACT! system, butwhen their income is at stake, it’s much easier. You haveaccess to the central database and can see the dates anyprospect notes were entered, and the detailed notes.

Is a variable commission rate more work? You bet. But it isvery powerful. If your goal is to grow your business then youneed to give your salespeople a financial incentive toprospect, and a financial disincentive to wait for the phoneto ring.

Compensation Plans Must Be Seen As Fair

Compensation plans are de-motivators if your salespeopleperceive the pan as unfair. For example, orders that a sales-person’s customers phone, fax or e-mail directly to the officeshould be credited to the salesperson, just as if it had beenwritten in the field. Nothing kills a salespersons enthusiasmmore than “house accounts” sold into the area of theirresponsibility.

Compensation plans should be self-explanatory and pre-dictable. Your sales force should be motivated by the plannot frustrated by it.

Written Compensation Plans

Compensation plans must be in writing. Each salespersonshould receive, sign and return their annual compensationplan. This prevents misunderstandings on commission struc-tures. The plan must clearly explain what their pay will befor every possible achievement.

Written compensation plans also allow you to discuss with

your salespeople their total cost. Most managers neverexplain or sometimes fully understand themselves how mucha salesperson costs them. It’s important for the salespersonand the sales manager to have a mutual understanding ofthe costs your company pays every month to support thesalesperson.

Once a year the manager should review and document withthe salesperson the cost of putting them on the road. Discusspast and projected earnings, salary, commissions, then allreimbursed expenses and benefits costs. To make this num-ber more meaningful, show it as a percentage of the sales-person’s territory revenues. Then divide it by the number ofdays that a salesperson works each year and the number ofhours they work each day. You can then divide it by thenumber of prospecting calls or number of new accounts. Youcan show your salesperson what it costs you a day to pay forthem, what each sales call costs, etc.

• Have your salespeople keep a time log of their activitiesthat drive sales, show the cost per hour of the sales relatedtime

• You and your salespeople will benefit from reviewingthose numbers

• Use the numbers to discuss how to increase productivity

• What inputs will increase their outputs?

• Ask the salesperson how they can spend more time in salesrelated activities.

Frequent Mistakes In Sales Force Compensation

Your sales force compensation plan is crucial to the financialsuccess of your company. Designing one that is right for yourcompany requires discipline. Implementing it requires consis-tency. Above all, insure that your plan drives the behavioryou must have from your salespeople. Do avoid these mis-takes:

• Not rewarding salespeople financially for specific actionsor results important to your company’s success

• Not rewarding superior results

• Not reflecting the type of salesperson you wish toattract through performance pay vs. fixed pay

• House accounts

• Revising your sales comp plan mid-year to keep moremoney for your bottom line.


TRAINING SUCCESSFUL SALESPEOPLEOverview of Training Requirements

For your salespeople to be successful they need training inthese areas:

• Products

• Competitors

• Customer base

• Sales skills

Training is best provided through an on-going process of setprograms, coaching and sales meetings. This requires consid-erable investment on the part of the sales manager orowner, but if you hired the right person (see the Hotsy BestPractices Guide To Hiring Successful Salespeople) then thatinvestment in your time will yield substantial financialrewards. You can and should also use other employees tohelp train new salespeople, but make sure you don’t use anemployee with a bad attitude, or an employee that willteach your new salesperson bad habits

A well-trained salesperson will have greater productivity, willenjoy their job more, thus reducing turnover, and will haveincreased confidence and motivation which leads toincreased sales.

Set Your Daily Training Objectives

One of the disciplines required in conducting and effectivetraining program for a new salesperson is to set daily train-ing objectives, coupled with testing on that day’s objective.

Each ride-along, meeting, shop day or office day of trainingshould start by informing your salesperson of the trainingobjective for that day. Make sure the salesperson clearlyunderstands what they are expected to learn that day, andthe testing that they will receive to confirm their knowl-edge. It is strongly recommended that these daily objectivesbe in writing. Examples of daily objectives are:

• Learning the company’s pricing and pricing policies

• Conducting a 555 demo

• Telephone prospecting to current accounts

• Closing skills

• Competitor information

At the end of each day of training, conduct a written test ordemonstration test on that day’s training objective.

For written tests, the answer sheet becomes a training toolin identifying the subject areas that the salesperson has notyet mastered. Some cautions:

• Don’t make the mistake of thinking they will be welltrained after riding with a service tech for a day or two.Your salesperson needs to feel confident they cananswer the prospect’s questions about the machines. Ifthey don’t have this confidence, they are far less likelyto prospect aggressively for new customers.

• Don’t make the mistake of thinking your salesperson iswell trained because they memorize product literature –they must be able to translate product features intobenefits for the specific customer and application.

• Don’t make the mistake of thinking your salesperson iswell trained because they listened to you speak to themabout products and markets. Have them prove theirknowledge through testing

Training checklist

Establish a written training checklist of subjects that must becovered in the course of the new salesperson’s training. Thejob description you created for this position can form thebasis of the training checklist. Make sure all the responsibili-ties listed on the job description are incorporated into yourtraining program. Your training checklist will likely includethe following key topics:

• Product knowledge

• Demonstrations

• Application knowledge

• Competitors

• Competitive advantages

• Customer base knowledge

• Industry knowledge

• Selling skills

• Pricing

• Organization

• Reporting requirements

• Company policies

• Time and territory management

• Resolving conflicts

Some of these topics may require several days of trainingand in-the-field time in order to master the subject matter.In setting your training agenda and the number of days andactivities required for each topic, encourage feedback fromnew sales hires that have been through the training. Whatdid they learn? What areas need to be added? What areasneed to be covered in greater detail?

Salespeople need to be involved in the checklist. Have themtrack their progress on their training list agenda.


SAMPLE: FOUR WEEK TRAINING AGENDAWeek One Training Activity Person ResponsibleMonday Call on customers with trainer Sales Manager

Applications trainingTuesday Review competition and Hotsy product line Sales ManagerWednesday Work in service department covering specific topics Service ManagerThursday Service department cover specific topics Service ManagerFriday Enter orders, answer phones Office Manager

Complete weekly activity report 30 minute meeting with manager – Q&A session

Week Two Training Activity Person ResponsibleMonday Call on customers with trainer Sales Manager

Applications trainingTuesday Review customer files Office Manager

Review competitors and Hotsy product line Sales ManagerWednesday Ride with service tech on field calls – focus on problems at hand Service ManagerThursday Ride with service tech on field calls/deliver and set-up equipment Service Manager Friday Call on customers Sales Manager

Applications trainingComplete weekly activity report 30 minute meeting with manager – Q&A session

Week Three Training Activity Person ResponsibleMonday Paperwork review and procedure/Sales skills Hotsy RSM/Sales Mgr.

Weekly and monthly plannerDaily Call ReportsQuarterly Sales Plan

Tuesday Set up presentation binder Hotsy RSM/Sales Mgr.Review customer and prospect profiles Writing quotes Continue paperwork review

Wednesday Create sales plan Hotsy RSM/Sales Mgr.Time management skills Make cold calls on prospects

Thursday Review sales materials and tools Hotsy RSMSelling skills training

Friday Learn how to demo a machine Sales ManagerConduct a live demoPlan next week activities Complete weekly activity report 30 minute meeting with manager – Q&A session

Week Four Training Activity Person ResponsibleMonday Prospect on phone to previous customers & set appointments Sales ManagerTuesday Prospect on phone to new prospects & set appointments Sales ManagerWednesday Meet with potential customers Sales Manager

Detergent sales trainingThursday Meet with potential customers Sales Manager

Make in-person cold calls to prospect for new businessFriday Meet with potential customers Sales Manager

Demo a parts washerSet up following weeks activitiesComplete weekly activity report 30 minute meeting with manager – Q&A session


Remember to end each day’s training with a written test onrelevant content covered that day. The salesperson can keepthe test as training aid to refresh their knowledge. Also,answer any questions posed by the salesperson.

The above training agenda will get your salesperson started.You can increase their sales and your profits by providingadditional training once they have proven themselves. Theywill need additional training on prospecting, demonstratingpressure washers, applications, selling APWs, selling deter-gents and fixed orifice systems, selling scheduled mainte-nance programs, and selling customized systems (remotes,accessories, etc.).

Salesperson Training – An Alternative Approach

Using the Training Agenda above, it takes 4 weeks beforeyou can comfortably turn a new salesperson loose on theirown to sell. That’s a great deal of time and energy investedin someone before finding out whether they can sell foryou. One alternative several Hotsy distributors do is to starta new salesperson off by having them sell APWs exclusively.There are several advantages to this approach:

• Your salesperson can be trained and ready to sell in aweek, rather than in 4 weeks or 8 weeks with pressurewashers.

• The required product knowledge for APWs is far lessthan that of pressure washers, because the APWs are allmechanically similar, the applications are quite similar,and an effective demo makes the sale.

• Demos can start right away - the service department candeliver and pick up APW demos until such time as thesalesperson gets a truck (charge them a set-up fee outof their commission for APWs sold following a demo).

• You will know within a month of their start datewhether the person you hired will be a successful sales-person. You will see their prospect funnel, see theirwork habits, see whether they will get out in the field,see their effectiveness at identifying good prospectsfrom tire kickers, see their closing skills, and see theircustomer relations skills. In contrast, it may take you 3-6 months to make the same determination with a newsalesperson selling pressure washers.

• If you add pressure washers to their responsibilities in 3months or 6 months you will have the advantage of apressure washer salesperson who always keeps the APWsales opportunity in mind when they meet with aprospect. They know the APW line and will be lookingfor applications as part of their pressure washer salesprocess.

Making your new salesperson an APW-only salesperson tostart will reduce your training time and training investment,while generating revenue faster. This helps to substantially

reduce the financial risk of hiring a new salesperson.Consider this approach if you know your territory can growif you have more successful salespeople on staff.

Role Playing and Coaching

Role playing is a great training technique because it allowsthe salesperson to perform in a less critical environment, andallows you to assess whether the salesperson is ready tomake calls alone. Role playing trains your salespeople torecognize and handle a variety of reactions and situations.Set up real-world scenarios that you may have encounteredin the past. Practice scenarios with different types of buyers.

Role playing can be stressful for your new salespersonbecause he or she doesn’t want to look bad in front of you.Therefore, your attitude in approaching the role play ses-sions is crucial. Approach it as a true learning situation, nota test. It’s an opportunity to hone their skills without blow-ing it in front of a customer.

You cannot teach and hone sales skills solely in the class-room, however. You need to accompany salespeople into thefield. You must determine where in the sales cycle the rep isstruggling before developing an improvement strategy.

Frequent Sales Training Mistakes

Successful training is up to you as the sales manager. Itrequires a serious commitment of time. It can be hard tokeep your commitment under the pressure of day-to-dayresponsibilities. Below are the most common training mis-takes in training Hotsy salespeople:

• No written plan

• Not devoting enough time to training on a daily basis

• Not riding with new salespeople

• Not enough hands-on training and outside training

• Too much focus on product

• Not enough focus on customers, competitors and sellingskills

• Not quickly firing a new salesperson who is not workingout and likely won’t work out

If a salesperson is not working out, or if your gut tells youthe salesperson won’t work out, then fire the person fast.It’s too expensive to keep a mediocre player. The sooner youcut the person loose, the sooner you can start the process tohire an outstanding salesperson.

When you provide the necessary training, you increase thelikelihood that your new salesperson will perform to or evenbeyond your expectations.


SAMPLE: TRAINING CHECKLIST

Subject Date completed Instructor Comments

1. PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

A. Pressure washers _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Flow/pressure _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Pumps _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Drives: belt vs. direct _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Electric motors _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Trigger gun system _______________ ________________ ____________________________

- Types _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Unloader valves _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Coils _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Burners _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Nozzles _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Hoses _______________ ________________ ____________________________

B. APWS _______________ ________________ ____________________________

C. Detergents _______________ ________________ ____________________________

2. COMPETITION

Mi-T-M _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Alkota _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Aaladin _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Landa _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Kärcher _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Etc. _______________ ________________ ____________________________

3. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES / ISSUES

Pricing _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Availability _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Name recognition _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Key customers _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Market share _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Strengths and weaknesses _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Service _______________ ________________ ____________________________

4. PAPERWORK

Weekly activity planner _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Hotsy quote tracker _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Daily call reports _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Expense reports _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Customer files _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Presentation binder _______________ ________________ ____________________________


Subject Date completed Instructor Comments

5. TIME & TERRITORY MANAGEMENT

Number of calls per week _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Types of calls per week _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Territory zones and loops _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Daily planner _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Weekly call schedule _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Planning and goal setting _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Managing time w/ customers _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Managing time betwn calls _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Time logs / time wasters _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Direct mailers _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Briefcase organization sys _______________ ________________ ____________________________

6. COMPANY POLICIES

Pricing _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Entertainment _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Operations _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Evaluations / pay raises _______________ ________________ ____________________________

7. SELLING SKILLS

Prospecting _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Making appointments _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Pre-call planning _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Researching accounts _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Call objectives _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Discovering the need _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Listening _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Demos _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Bringing prospects to shop _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Getting referral leads _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Trade-ins _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Holding prices _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Testimonial-based selling _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Creating testimonial book _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Solutions _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Proposals _______________ ________________ ____________________________

Closing _______________ ________________ ____________________________

SAMPLE: CALL CHECKLIST FOR SALESPEOPLE IN TRAINING

Customer Company Name _________________________________________________ Date _________________

Contact Name _____________________________________________ Tel __________________________________


PRE-CALL PLANNING

❏ Establish objectives

❏ Strategy for reaching objectives

❏ Customer problems and needs

❏ Possible customer objections

❏ Customer’s personal interests

❏ Using probing questions to discover needs

❏ Review customer file

❏ Review what happened on last visit

■ What are the long term goals for this account?

• Detergent_________________________________

• Parts/accessories___________________________

• Larger equipment_________________________

• More equipment__________________________

• Scheduled maintenance agreement_________

__________________________________________

• APWs_____________________________________

DURING THE CALL, DID I...

❏ Establish rapport?

❏ Build a relationship?

❏ Use customer profile?

❏ Review last visit with customer?

❏ Suggest solutions?

❏ Ask questions to discover needs/problemsor opportunities?

❏ Use general line statements?

❏ Appear well organized?

❏ Use references?

❏ Act like a consultant? Think like I was the customer?

❏ Ask the closing question?

❏ Review the solution?

❏ Present pricing?

❏ Get the order?

POST-CALL REVIEW

■ What went well_____________________________

____________________________________________

■ What didn’t?________________________________

____________________________________________

■ Did I achieve my objective? ❏ Yes ❏ No

■ What can I add to the customer profile? ______

____________________________________________

■ What's my next call objective with this

customer/prospect?__________________________

____________________________________________

❏ Record the visit into ACT or notes

❏ List the prospect on my Tracking Sheet


SAMPLE: CALL SHEET FOR SALESPEOPLE IN TRAINING

Company Name _________________________________________________ Phone __________________________

Address _________________________________________________________________________________________

City / State / Zip __________________________________________________________________________________

Contact Name ____________________________________________ Title __________________________________

Department _________________________________________ Email ______________________________________

❏ Decision Maker ❏ Recommends Only Budget $__________ Last Contact Date ____________________

Customer History_________________________________________________________________________________

ADVERTISING❏ Yellow Pages❏ Website❏ Advertisement❏ Tradeshow❏ Other _______________

TYPE❏ Prospect - Cold Call❏ Lead❏ Referral❏ Current Customer❏ Walk In❏ Call In❏ Other _______________

INDUSTRY❏ Trucking❏ Heavy Equipment❏ Excavating❏ Food Processing❏ Manufacturing❏ Agriculture❏ Construction❏ Transportation❏ Other _______________

EQUIPMENT❏ Hot Water PW❏ Cold Water PW❏ APW❏ Other _______________

AVAILABLE POWER❏ Electrical

❏ 115V ❏ 208V❏ 230V, 1ph or ❏ 3ph❏ 460V ❏ 575V

❏ Gasoline❏ Diesel

AVAILABLE FUEL❏ Fuel Oil / Kerosene❏ Diesel❏ Natural Gas❏ LP Gas❏ Electric

CLEANING❏ Dirt❏ Oil❏ Grease❏ Road Film❏ Adhesive❏ Other _______________

USAGE PER WEEK❏ 1 - 2 Hours❏ 3 - 6 Hours❏ 7 - 9 Hours❏ 10 - 20 Hours❏ 20 - 30 Hours❏ Over 40 Hours

DETERGENT USED❏ Hotsy❏ Zep❏ Dish Soap❏ Other _______________

DETERGENT USAGEPER WEEK❏ 0 - 5 Gal❏ 5 - 10 Gal❏ 10 - 25 Gal

WATER CONDITIONS❏ 0 Grains Hard❏ 1 - 3 Grains Hard❏ 4 - 8 Grains Hard❏ 9 - 12 Grains Hard❏ 13 - 18 Grains Hard❏ 18 - 23 Grains Hard❏ 24 - 30 Grains Hard❏ Other________________

OPTIONS❏ Remote Controls❏ Additional Drops❏ Remote Soap❏ Auto Start Stop❏ Time Delay Shutdown❏ Thermal Shutdown❏ Auto Ignition System

ACCESSORIES❏ None❏ Hose Reel❏ Turbo Nozzle❏ Flat Surface Cleaner❏ Wand Extensions❏ Foamer❏ Downstream Injection❏ Other _______________

CURRENT EQUIP.❏ Hotsy❏ Aaladin❏ Alkota❏ Delco❏ Other___________________

EQUIPMENT AGE❏ New❏ 1 - 3 Years❏ 4 - 6 Years

CONDITION❏ Excellent❏ Good / Fair❏ Fair

TRADE IN❏ Yes ❏ No❏ Value $______________

SVC STICKER PLACED❏ Yes ❏ No

WILL PURCHASE IN❏ 0 - 7 Days❏ 8 - 14 Days❏ 15 - 21 Days

LEASE INTEREST❏ Yes ❏ No

PM PLAN BENEFITSDiscussed With Customer?❏ Yes ❏ NoCustomer A Candidate?❏ Yes ❏ No

❏ Kärcher❏ Landa❏ Mi-T-M❏ None

❏ 6 - 8 Years❏ 8 - 10 Years❏ 10+ Years

❏ Poor❏ Unusable

❏ 1 Month❏ Over 1 Mo.

❏ 25 - 40 Gal❏ 40 - 55 Gal❏ Over 55 Gal

GOALS OF THE CALL❏ Set Up Appointment❏ Obtain Profile❏ Solve Customer Problem❏ Set Up Demo❏ Conduct Demo❏ Install Equipment❏ Deliver Equipment / Detergent❏ 25-Point Inspection❏ Discuss PM Plan❏ Follow Up After Purchase

GOALS OF THE CUSTOMER________________________________________

________________________________________

WAYS TO HELP CUSTOMER________________________________________

________________________________________

OBJECTIONS OR CONCERNS________________________________________

________________________________________

SOLUTIONS TO CONCERNS________________________________________

________________________________________

CUSTOMER HOT BUTTONS________________________________________

________________________________________

RESULT OF THIS CALL❏ No Interest❏ No Budget❏ Needs More Profiling❏ Qualified Prospect❏ Customer Evaluating❏ High Interest

NEXT ACTION________________________________________

Follow Up Date __________________

❏ Quote❏ Committed to Buy❏ Sale❏ Satisfied Customer❏ Unsatisifed

Customer


SAMPLE: SALESPERSON EVALUATION SHEET

Salesperson _________________________________________________________________________ Date_________________

PERFORMANCE SCALEPoor Fair/Average Good Excellent

Product knowledge ____ ____ ____ ____

Account knowledge ____ ____ ____ ____

Presentation ____ ____ ____ ____

Preparation for calls ____ ____ ____ ____

Knowledge of customers needs ____ ____ ____ ____

Visits have purpose ____ ____ ____ ____

Quote or Proposal was made or delivered ____ ____ ____ ____

❏ Yes ❏ No

Personal Rapport with customer ____ ____ ____ ____

Reporting ____ ____ ____ ____

Call frequency ____ ____ ____ ____

Territory route / coverage ____ ____ ____ ____

Questioning technique ____ ____ ____ ____

Appearance ____ ____ ____ ____

Closing skills ____ ____ ____ ____

Comfort level ____ ____ ____ ____

Attitude ____ ____ ____ ____

Working with others ____ ____ ____ ____

Gross sales ____ ____ ____ ____

Gross margins ____ ____ ____ ____

Overall performance ____ ____ ____ ____

Evaluation and Personal Recommendations: Primary areas for improvement and recommendations for improvingyour job performance are listed below:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


MANAGING SUCCESSFUL SALESPEOPLEWhat Every Sales Manager Needs to Know

The Requirements Of Sales Management

Your sales force is only as good as the sales managementthey receive. It all starts at the top! Successful Hotsy distribu-tors realize sales management is an important part of theirbusiness. They either devote considerable time to sales man-agement, or hire someone who can do so effectively if theycan’t. The key to effective sales management is to keep con-trol while motivating salespeople to maximize their contri-bution as members of a strong team.

Effective sales managers must:

• Have Integrity and earn salespeople's trust. Trust is thefoundation of any relationship. Trust means your word isas good as gold. Trust is not what you preach, it’s whatyou do.

• Set goals and expectations in writing. Good sales managersset clear expectations and realistic goals.

• Create and execute plans. Good sales managers have awritten plan and focus their team on the activities thatwill achieve the goals of that plan.

• Build, grow and develop a great team. Good sales man-agers provide ongoing coaching, training and develop-ment, and they quickly replace salespeople who aren’t cut-ting it.

• Focus themselves and their sales teams on dollar- produc-ing activities. Good managers provide their teams with thetools and guidance on activities that drive sales and chas-tise salespeople engaged in low-result activities.

• Provide Feedback. Even good salespeople stop workinghard when the sales manager fails to provide objectivefeedback and positive reinforcement of their successes.

• Build enthusiasm. Get creative. Have contests that encour-age salespeople to prospect more, set appointments anddemonstrate more products.

• Establish the work ethic you expect. How many hours a dayand a week should they work? How many hours per dayand per week should they spend out in the field awayfrom the office?

• Get Involved. Be highly visible to your customers and high-ly accessible to your sales team.

• Lead salespeople to improvement. It’s not enough to be a

sales administrator. You need to lead your sales team. Topperformance in selling management means engaging eachsalesperson in a never-ending improvement process.

• Have a game plan, link rewards to goals, obtain commit-ment and support, & monitor the effectiveness.

Sales Plans

Great sales management requires a written sales plan.Successful and dominant sales teams follow a sales plandeveloped by management. they don’t complain or whineabout the competition, high prices or the economy becausethey have already planned for how to handle these situa-tions.

The sales plan must not be some “academic” plan that yourwrite and then put in a drawer. For you and for your sales-people, the Sales Plan must be a blueprint you use through-out the year to help achieve your sales objectives. If writingthe plan is just an academic exercise, then don’t botherdoing one.

A format that works well has bullets instead of paragraphs.Such a format is easily upgradeable and easy to work from.For each major objective or goal for the year, create high-lights of the “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why” and“how” the objective will be accomplished. If you don’testablish who is responsible, the timeline, and the actionplan, in writing, then your Sale Plan objectives for the yearare just wishes, not plans.

Components Of A Sales Plan

Generate your key objectives and goals. Preferably keepeach one to 10 words or less. The objective must be clear,measurable, and obtainable.

Strategies – what’s the strategy for achieving the company’sobjectives and goals?

• Vision and direction

• Positioning in the market

• Strategies for certain markets and customers

• Differentiating actions planned

• Key concepts and customer messages to employ

Analyze the external factors that impact your business andyour Sales Plan:

• The economy

• The industry

• Trends

• Markets for pressure washers, parts washers anddetergents

• Competition vs. You: strengths, weaknesses, opportu-nities, threats


Action plan for each objective of your plan

• Who, what, where, when, why, how

• Company resources required that will be provide

Marketing plan for lead generation

• Contact with the current customer base

• Advertising

• Trade shows

• Promotions and other marketing

Compensation plan for the year

• Describe the strategy, format and desired results

• Include Incentives – commissions, bonuses, draws andother variables

• Long-term rewards

Plan revisions

• State how effectiveness will be monitored and excep-tions managed

Controls — lay out the tools and processes to monitor per-formance and how frequently they will be used.

• Business reviews

• Business indicators that will be monitored

• Regular sales plan updating

• Performance reviews for each salesperson

• Individual sales plans developed by each salespersonand approved by the sales manager

• Forecasts using the sales funnels of each salesperson

• Sales process reviews –what’s working and what’s notworking in closing business

• Quarterly, monthly, weekly sales reports

Customers – describe your customer base and list their priori-ties, issues, and trends

• Major customer classes

• Customer retention plan

• Customers at risk of being lost

• New customer recruitment plan

Expenses — analyze all the costs associated with your salesteam

Organization — document the steps you will take to buildand strengthen your company and your employees

• New hires planned for the year

• Training plan for existing and for new salespeople

• New hire criteria and search processes

• Performance management

• Job descriptions – responsibilities and roles

Recognition — how will you recognize individuals and thesales team?

• Awards

• Special Incentives

• Perks

Results — what items will you use to measure your goals ona daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis?

• Revenue

• Sales

• Market penetration

• Percent of revenue from new customers

• Key sales activities

• Orders

• Profitability

• Product mix

• Bookings

• Margins

Selling — what major activities will bring in business?

• Quote and presentation guidelines

• Promotion plans

• Sales aids

• Special “sale” plans

• Salesperson territory management plans and tactics

What new technologies will you use and how will it benefitboth your company and your customers.

• Website?

• Sales force automation – ACT, Goldmine, etc.?

• PCs?

• Palms?

Through the process of creating a sales plan you will gain agreater understanding of your business, and you will feelmore in control and more confident about yourself, yoursales team and your direction. A well thought-out plan helpslighten the load. Creating a company sales plan sets a goodexample for salespeople, who should have plans for theirown territories. Planning it out will cause you to stop and,and it forces you and your salespeople out of your currentactivity ruts.


Salesperson Territory Plan

Creating a territory plan will provide your salespeople with aroadmap to success. Creating a territory plan will lower youroverall involvement time with salespeople – Monthly reviewsof the progress against the actual plan will allow you to seethe weak points.

Creating territory plans make good things happen:

• They provide direction

• Measure performance

• Clarify roles

• Give salespeople something to strive for

• Help make your overall vision attainable

Things you can do:

• Work together with your salespeople to create theplan

• Make sure the plan is specific

• Make sure it is measurable

• Make sure it’s attainable

• Make sure it’s relevant

• Use past and present sales trends to help create partof the plan

Salesperson Territory Sales Plan Content

Each salesperson should develop his or her own TerritorySales Plan, with your guidance. The plan should include thefollowing content:

Primary Objective

• Sales numbers from previous year

• Quota by month (mutually set number, may includequotas by product line)

Quota is the sales level considered the lowest accept-able standard (quota should always be achieved)

• Goal number

Goal is the achievable stretch number that a goodsalesperson should be able to meet (sales goals shouldbe a dollar figure that is higher than the quota figure)

• What will you accomplish this year?

Strategies & Tactics

• What will you do?

• Who will you call on?

• Why?

• How will you find them?

• How will you market to them?

• What will you get by doing it?

• How will you do it?

• How many prospect telephone calls will you makeeach day? Each week? Each month?

• How many sales calls will you make each day? Eachweek? Each month?

Opportunities

• What opportunities for growth are out there in yourterritory?

• What is happening in your territory that may createopportunities during the year?

Competitive advantages

• Company

• Personal

Competition

• Who?

• What are their strengths?

• What are their weaknesses?

• What are their strategies to compete against you?

• What are your strategies to compete against them?

Strengths and Weaknesses

• What strengths do you bring that will help you suc-ceed?

• What weaknesses do you need to manage or over-come in order to succeed?

Action Plans

• Specific actions you will take by area and by customertype in order to achieve your sales goals

Management Help

• What assistance would you like from your manager?

• What additional training do you need?

• What ride-alongs would be helpful

• Can the company help with any special accounts ofyours?

• How else can the company help you succeed?


Using the Territory Sales Plan As A Management Tool

The simple act of having salespeople write down their plansand review them with you increases the chance of the planactually happening by as much as 75%. It is essential thatyou:

• Meet with each salesperson to finalize and approvethe plan;

• Meet weekly to review their sales performance toplan;

• Meet quarterly for a plan review and update.

The sample Weekly Planner above is a quick and easy formyou can create for each sales territory.

Setting Quotas

Establish your guidelines for defining quotas:

• Historical trends

• Last year’s revenues

• National standards of Hotsy sales

• Territory analysis – what does the salesperson believe

can be sold in that territory based on existing pipelineand recent trends?

• What is your growth expectation?

• Make the quota number realistic – what can be donein the market’s current state?

• Make the goal number a challenge – the goals setshould require each salesperson to work hard to meettheir goal.

Set a quota for each salesperson based on:

• Tenure – the longer the tenure the larger and moredeveloped the salesperson’s pipeline and contact baseshould be

• Sales skills – which salespeople have the sales skillsthat are likely to results in higher sales?

• Territory and market potential – each territory couldbe different, analyze them!

• Competition – is the competition stronger in any par-ticular salesperson’s territory?

• Sales team involvement

WEEKLY PLANNER

TAMA BENTON

IOWA

MAHASKA KEOKUK

5462

WAPELLO90

JASPER

MARSHALL

POWESHIEK

7950

64

86 6

48

OTTUMWA

MARSHALLTOWN

Salesperson _______________________________________

Week of _______________________, 20___

Monday ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thursday ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TERRITORY 3

Plan your workWork your plan


It’s important that your sales team buys in to the process forsetting quotas and that they believe the quotas assigned areachievable:

• Hold a meeting

• Have your salespeople gather information

• Meet with each salesperson individually

• Explain the process you are going to use to createtheir quotas

• Discuss the factors that might influence their quotas –sales skills, territory, past sales history etc.

• Create a chart, like the one above, to monitorprogress and effectiveness in meeting goals set overtime

SAMPLE: MONTHLY SALES GOAL SHEET2005 ACTUAL JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC TOTAL

New Machines - Hotsy

Parts Washers

Used Machines

New Machines - Other

Parts - New Machines

Parts - Used Machines

Detergents - New Machines

Freight Sales

Machine Discounts

Trade Ins

TOTALS

2005 PLAN OR BUDGET JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC TOTAL

New Machines - Hotsy

Parts Washers

Used Machines

New Machines - Other

Parts - New Machines

Parts - Used Machines

Detergents - New Machines

Freight Sales

Machine Discounts

Trade Ins

TOTALS

THIS MONTH ONLY JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC TOTAL

Over / Under Budget

Percentage

YEAR TO DATE JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC TOTAL

Over / Under Budget

Percentage


PROSPECTING RATIO CALCULATION FORM

Step One: Targets

Salesperson to monitor his or her own sales work for one month and answer these questions:

A. If you contacted 200 suspects (via phone calls, mailings, in-person meetings or a combination of these),how many prospects would result? __________

B. How many of the prospects that you identified in A would turn into hot leads? __________

C. How many of the hot leads you identified in B would you turn into actual sales? __________

Step Two: Ratio

Divide the number on line C by 100. The result is your ratio: __________

Step Three: Goals

A. What is your yearly quota or sales goal, in dollars? $__________

B. What are your projected sales totals, in dollars, from current customers? $__________

C. Subtract B from A to get the amount of new sales dollars needed this year. $__________

D. Enter the dollar amount of your average sale. $__________

E. Divide C by D to get the number of new sales you’ll need this year. $__________

Step Four: Your Bottom Line

Divide E by the ratio you calculated in Step Two. $__________

This is the number of new prospects you'll need to contact in the coming year to reach your yearly target.Now divide that number by 52 and you'll know how many prospects you must contact (via phone calls, mailings, in-person meetings or a combination of these) each week and day to make your quota :

_______ per week

_______ per day

Remember: Aim high! Shoot for 125% of quota if you want to hit 110%


Territory Assignment

To maximize your sales staff’s productivity, each salesperson’sterritory must have equal potential based on present andpotential number and type of accounts and the salesperson’spotential call rate. The goal should be for your salespeopleto make the optimum number of qualified calls on the rightcustomers and prospects in economical fashion.

Proper territory sizing and deployment will create balance,so that your revenues are not concentrated in a limited num-ber of salespeople. Use prospect list counts and past sales fig-ures to determine territories.

House Accounts And Current Customers

Have your sales team call on your existing customer base.Many distributors refuse to give salespeople access to exist-ing company accounts. That is a costly mistake. Your cus-tomer database holds a tremendous amount of growthpotential for your company. How many customers in yourdatabase have been sold once and never been personallycontacted again?

If your strategy is to wait for them to call you when theyneed accessories, service, parts, detergent or new equipment,you are losing money. Who is taking care of their needsnow? Your competition? Internet catalog houses?

Have your sales team make 10 phone calls a day to yourexisting customer base. They can then prospect for newaccounts in proximity to those set appointments. This can bedone through cold-calling and/or through using territorymapping to identify locations of prospects.

It costs you less to sell to an existing customer than to createa new one, so make sure you are getting the maximum

potential from all your accounts. By effectively calling on andservicing your entire customer base can raise your sales 15%a year and carry you through rough times.

Having salespeople call on your existing base while meetingtheir goals for new prospects helps to:

• Build good sales force habits

• Assist your sales team through selling slumps

• Ensure your sales team is getting the maximum dollarsfrom all your accounts

• Increase your sales

Lost sales to “House Accounts” that are not being properlyserviced are more costly than then commissions paid to sales-people for calling on those accounts. Abolish “HouseAccounts”. They are costing you money!


Time Management and Time Logs

Salespeople have a tendency to resist training in time man-agement. Most managers hesitate to get involved. Their rea-soning is “a good salesperson doesn’t need assistance in thisarea.” Think again!Ask your sales people to list their top tendaily activities in declining order of importance related tomeeting their sales goals. Prepare a time log asking sales-people to track the amount of time they spend at each ofthose activities daily.

Have your salespeople analyze the amount of time spent inthe four most important categories that drive sales againstthe four least important. Usually the most important cate-gories will account for less than 30% of a salesperson’s time.On the following pages are forms for Time Log Analysis, andProspecting Ratio Analysis. Meet with each salesperson toreview their completed forms. Using the Time Log Analysisand the Prospecting Ratio Analysis gets the attention of aperformance-paid salesperson. Together, work out a timemanagement plan to shift the salesperson’s time to moreproductive and profitable activities.

Improving Salesperson Time Management

Use your sales team’s suggestions for increasing time devot-ed to activities most important to increasing sales and agree

to a course of action. Organize territories into four zonesand break down into sub-zones (by zip-codes) for larger ter-ritories. Have your salespeople spend a day per week or aweek per month in each zone – have them work the zone ina loop or cloverleaf pattern. Leave one day per week openfor unplanned events.

Experienced salespeople don’t like being told how to organ-ize their day. So you can present your suggestions solely asaids and let them tell you how they plan to organize theirschedule. Provide suggestions and information where youfeel necessary.

Some sales managers feel that helping their people managetheir time is not worth their effort because it represents askill possessed by every salesperson. But what if properscheduling resulted in just one more sales call per day?That’s 240 more sales calls per salesperson per year.Considered this way, maybe time management deserves andneeds your time and attention.

Be sure your salespeople are planning their calls at least aweek in advance and that they put their plans in writing.Who will they see? What will they accomplish? Be sure yoursalespeople don’t call on unqualified leads that have notbeen properly screened. Selling time is too valuable to wasteon low potential prospects. Be sure your salespeople use the

TIME LOG ANALYSIS FORMActual Desirable

Activity In quarter-hours Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Total TotalIn front of customers / prospects ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______On phone with customers ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______On phone prospecting ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______On phone assisting customers ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______In office preparing quotes ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______In office preparing for sales calls ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______Working with the service department

• Delivering equipment ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______• Solving customer problems ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______

Windshield time ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______Paperwork and report writing ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______Training ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______Sales meetings ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______In office – other ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ _______ _______

How would you like to allocate your time to increase your sales?___________________________________________ What needs to be changed to accomplish this?____________________________________________________________Comments _____________________________________________________________________________________________


telephone and e-mail as much as possible. Salespeople typi-cally underutilize the phone! Be sure your salespeopleunderstand what hours you want them to work and howoften you want them in the office. Set some standards. Besure your salespeople don’t bury themselves in paperworkand use it as an excuse for not selling. If done correctly,paperwork takes up very small amounts of time andimproves productivity.

Time management improvement tactics include:

• Encouraging your salespeople to set daily objectives

• Using sales meetings and ride-alongs with your salesteam to train salespeople in time management

• At sales meetings have salesmen discuss best practicesand time wasters

• Make reporting forms as simple as possible in order toreduce the time required to complete them

Required Sales Reports

Why use reports?

• Focus salespeople on the task at hand

• Provide you with account information in case yoursalesperson suddenly goes away

• If used correctly they can identify areas for improve-ment

• If used correctly they can identify trends in the mar-ketplace

• Salespeople may provide a better way if given thechance to express themselves

Required Reports

• Daily/Weekly Activity Report

• Monthly Activity Report

• Quote Tracking Hot Sheet

• Quarterly Territory Sales Plan Review

Daily/Weekly Activity Reports

• Your salespeople should provide you with a short dailyor weekly activity report. This report is for yourreview and can help identify any problems or success-es with your salespeople.

• Use the daily or weekly reports in conjunction withthe monthly report when you meet with your sales-people at your monthly meeting. Do they match up?

• These reports take no more than 15 minutes to com-plete – see sample daily report

Monthly Activity Report

• Should be a summary of the weekly reports

• List calls made

• List closing ratio

• List sales by products

• List lost sales - To whom? Why?

• List salesperson questions concerns and areas theywould like to receive assistance in.

If your salespeople are properly organized this reportwill take less then 15 minutes a month to complete. Ifyou don’t review and discuss these monthly reports theyare USELESS!

Quote Tracking Hot Sheet

The Quote Tracking Hot Sheet [see form on next page] is anessential sales management tool. At a glance it tells you:

• Whether the salesperson has an adequate prospectfunnel for the next 30, 60, and 90 days

• The likelihood that the salesperson will meet quota for themonth

• The machines you will likely need in inventory

• The ability of your salesperson to discern between realprospects and tire kickers

• The status of each outstanding quote

• Which competitors are taking business from you and why

The Quote Tracking Hot Sheet should be completed at theend of each week and reviewed with the salesperson andthe sales team each Monday morning at a sales meeting.

This sheet can provide focus and drive salesmen to hit num-bers on a daily basis. They also know that you are watchingtheir prospecting, proposals, and closing ratios closely.

The Quote Tracking Hot Sheet can be done on a computer orpencil & paper. Even better is using ACT! for prospect man-agement, customer tracking, and quote tracking. ACT! is farsuperior to a paper & pencil system. It will prompt you whena follow-up call is scheduled, allow you as sales manager tosee all prospect activity, and will easily generate reports.


QUOTE TRACKING "HOT SHEET"Salesperson: ________________________________ Revenue objective per month: $___________

Week ending: ________________________________ Mark with an " * " those likely to close next week

Close in next 30 days Date Date Date Odds Likely

Decision Maker Source First Last Last Date Machine(s) Dollars Of Close

Company Name Contact Name Of Lead Visited Visited Called Quoted Quoted Quoted Sale Date Status

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Close in next 60 days Total $

11

12

13

14

15

Close in next 90 days Total $

16

17

18

19

20

Total $

LOST OPPORTUNITIES - Prospects that dropped off the list from the previous week

Possible Bought

Company Name Future Sale? Competitor? Brand? Describe Why This Opportunity Was Lost, Or Dropped From The List

1

2

3

QUOTE TRACKING “HOT SHEET”

Quarterly Territory Sales Plan Review

This review has two components [See form on the nextpage]:

1. A report showing actual sales to quota by productline, and specifics regarding the results of the quarter

2. A review and update to their Territory SalesManagement Plan

Required Paperwork

Salespeople will try to do as little paperwork as possible.You must set due dates for reports and enforce those duedates. Tell your salespeople how you intend to use theinformation. Tell your salespeople how their input benefitsthe business. Follow through on the reports with feedbackface-to-face with the salesperson. They won’t want to dothe reports if they think you won’t use the reports.

Frequent mistakes in managing salespeople

“Where having a sales contest this month. First prize is aCadillac, second prize is a set of steak knives, third prize isyou’re fired!”

— Alec Baldwin’s sales manger character from the movie “Glen Garry Glenn Ross”

Mistakes to avoid:

• Not measuring salespeople's use of time with timelogs and time wasters

• Not coaching salespeople on territory management,travel routes, time allocation

• Not holding sales meetings

• Not requiring or reviewing reports

• Not creating a sales quota

• Changing comp plans in mid-stream

• Not providing your sales team access to “houseaccounts”

• Not recognizing salespeople

• No plan!


SAMPLE: QUARTERLY TERRITORY SALES PLAN REVIEW

Salesperson ______________________________________________________________________________________

Territory ______________________________________________________ Date ____________________________

DOLLAR SALES BY PRODUCT

Product Quarterly Quota Actual Sales

HW Pressure Washers $______________ $______________

CW Pressure Washers $______________ $______________

Automatic Parts Washers $______________ $______________

Accessories $______________ $______________

Detergents $______________ $______________

Scheduled Maintenance Agreements $______________ $______________

TOTAL $______________ $______________

Necessary sales per week each month $______________

Necessary sales per day each month $______________

Factors that might prevent you from reaching quarterly goals: _______________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Effects of lost or inactive customers vs. previous quarter $______________

Changes you will make in territory coverage, customer coverage, and product line emphasis:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Number of customer calls you plan to make a week? ______________

Number of prospect calls you plan to make a week? ______________

What assistance would you like from your manager this quarter to reach your goals?

Training __________________________________________________________________________________

Ride-Alongs __________________________________________________________________________________

Accounts __________________________________________________________________________________

Other __________________________________________________________________________________


SALESPERSON John Doe OUTSIDE SALES REPORT DATE 4/16/04

Company Name/ ContactInfo

Phone #

Typ

e o

f call

Sta

tus

Prod

uct

Need

s

Ord

er

Referrals Comments/Help Items

A

rriv

ed

Dep

arte

d

B.B Trucking Inc.

Jenny Walsh - Contact

1345 W. Adams

Century, IL 60167

773-867-5309

C-A

N HP

W

X

Joe Smith

Reliance Trucking

Century, IL

Cold called happened to be in the market for a new HPW and

purchased on the spot, check received expected delivery date

4/23/04.

7:3

0 a

m

8:3

0 p

m

Reliance Trucking

Joe Smith - Contact

5467 E. Bender

Century, IL 60166

773-555-1234

C-A

N AP

W

None Referral from Ed Walsh Cold called, interested in APW –

Delivery time frame and pricing are issues, talk with the boss and

see what we can come up with.

8:4

5 a

m

9:1

5 a

m

Ford Motor Co.

Deb Kiley - Contact

345 Henry Ford Lane

Century, IL 60166

773-555-7800

Ext. 3456

A UC

HP

W-

CH

-SR

XEd Esposito

Maintenance

Ford Motor

Company Ext. 3574

Currently using competition, happy with the equipment but

service is lacking. Looking for a detergent to clean plant trans.

Equipment/ pricing not a major concern if product does the job.

Set up service call for Tuesday along with detergent follow up call. 9:3

0 a

m

10:4

5 a

m

Chico’s Bail Bonds

Chico Juarez – Contact

765 Busted Lane

Century, IL 60166

773-555-2323

D N CW

X

State Penitentiary

Jim Rider

Chico contacted me last week for a demo, clean parking lot and

sidewalks. Purchased unit and 50 feet extra hose.

Visa Card payment see sales order for number.

11:1

0

am

11:3

0

am

Mangy Manufacturing

Ed Mangy – Contact

26 W 124 Prairie

Century, IL 60169

773-555-0912

A-F

E HP

W/C

H/P

A

X

Several see comments Follow up on unit purchased last week. All good! Purchased 55

gallon drum of CH and finally agreed that he needed hose reel on

unit. 3 referrals for service and 1 for equipment.

12

:45

pm

1:1

5 p

m

Type of Call Symbols

C- Cold CallD- DemonstrationA – AppointmentF- Follow UP

Status of Co. Symbols:

N – NewR- ReactivationE- Existing CustomerUC – Use Competitor

Product Needs Symbols

HPW - Hot water UnitCW - Cold Water UnitAPW - Parts WasherCH - ChemicalSR – ServiceP - Parts

Daily Totals

Cold Calls 20 New Customers 2 Time departed Office 7:00 amAppointments 4 Reactivated Customers 0 Time Returned to Office 2:45 pmDemonstrations 1 Existing Customers 1 Beginning Miles 34 522Phone Calls 20 Competitor Customers 1 Ending Miles 34,577Quotes 1 Referrals 5 Total Miles 55

SAMPLE: DAILY REPORT

Page 2 of Daily ReportIssues

1. This report is taking up valuable selling time

Sales manager’s suggestion: Take 2-5 minutes after your call fill out the report section, the remaining daily total section should take less than 5minutes if you use the report this way. This report supplies us all with valuable information that can help close additional sales, raise efficiency inevery department, the bottom line is this report ( if used correctly) actually creates more selling time and sales which equates to more money foryou. Another added bonus any questions or issues will be fresh in your mind

2. Competition A is attacking my customer base offering to beat pricing on every deal.

Sales Manager Suggestion: Follow up with existing customers, differentiate yourself and our products from the competitions, benefit sell- explainwhy our products and our services are worth the cost. Take the emphasis of price and arrange easy to buy terms (let’s discuss this in detail at ourFriday meeting)

Daily Log6:30 am- 7:00 am 10- Phone calls

7:00 am – 2:30pm Appointments/demos and prospecting in territory zone 2

2:15 pm -3:15 pm Paper work 10 phone calls

3:15 pm – 3:30 pm Prepare truck for tomorrow

Daily GoalsDaily Sales Goal: $1500Actual Sales Today: $3750Monthly Sales Goal: $35,000Actual Sales to Date $26,000Daily New Customer Goal 2Actual New Customers Today 3Daily Appointment/Demos Goal 4Actual Appointment and Demos 5Daily Phone call goals 25Actual Phone calls 20Prospecting Goal ( includes phone calls) 40Actual prospecting 40


SAMPLE: MONTHLY REPORT

Salesperson: Ed GrimlyTerritory: 2Date: May 31, 2004

Accomplishments:• Sales $45,000.00• Over Quota• Hit performance quota on Detergents, APWs and HWPWs

Number of customer visits: 80

Number of phone calls (prospecting only): 720

Number of quotes: 45

Lost sales: 4

Reasons for lost sales: Lack of follow-up. New competitor salesman took a sale.

Questions: None.

Concerns and issues: Price list outdated. Several equipment deliveries damaged. Local competitor hasbeen attacking my customer base.

Assistance needed: Strategy for fighting off aggressive competitor, closing techniques and phone skills,customer retention practices.

Plans for next month: Continue working territory in zones, complete and implement strategy with salesmanager help for fighting off competitor. Continue current practice of working the phones for over 20calls a day in attempt to average 4 quality face-to-face a day. Current pipeline indicates sales could exceed$50,000 next month.


MOTIVATING SALES-PEOPLE FOR SUCCESSHow to Keep Them Working Smart

Give Your Salespeople Recognition And Support

Salespeople need information and support in order to dotheir jobs. They need to know that you are interested andsupportive. Salespeople need personal praise. A simplethank-you is one of the most effective motivators yet is oneof the most overlooked.

Conduct weekly sales meetings. Meet with your salespeopleas a group, and be upbeat and motivating. Meetings arevaluable for building team spirit, celebrating success, report-ing on progress and unveiling new plans.

Meetings are most effective if they allow for feedback fromthe sales team.

It’s also important and motivating to have one-on-one meet-ings when needed:

• Listen to them

• Encourage feedback

• Reinforce the positives and recognize successes

• Discuss areas that need improvement

• Follow through

Keys to motivating a sales team to success:

• Providing motivation

• Recognizing success

• Create a supportive environment

• Build and maintain trust

• Open the channels of communication

• Make your employees feel wanted and needed

• Develop your greatest asset – your employees

The basic foundation for motivating is providing regularpraise:

• Give praise as soon as the desired goal or behavior isdisplayed

• Be sincere

• Be specific

• Be positive – don’t follow up praise with a criticism

• Do it in front of another person

It’s not always about money. You can classify salespeople'sneeds, goals and motivation by:

• Praise and recognition

• Feeling useful

• Challenge and achievement

• Authority and freedom

• Consistent, competitive leadership

• Advancement

Each salesperson has different goals, aspirations and prob-lems. You need to uncover those areas. What does the sales-man most need to be satisfied?

• Job security?

• Good wages?

• Pleasant work conditions?

• Respect

• Growth?

• Loyalty?

• Structure?

• A thank you?

• Appreciation?

You need a motivational plan for each salesperson, just asyou need a plan in hiring and training and managing.Properly hired, trained and motivated salespeople performbetter, earn more, have better job satisfaction and quit lessoften. Here are the most common reasons people stay withtheir employer, listed in order of popularity and frequency:

• Career growth, learning and development

• Exciting work and challenge

• Meaningful work, making a difference and a contribu-tion

• Great people

• Being a part of a team


• Good boss

• Recognition for work well done

• Fun on the job

• Autonomy, sense of control over my work

• Flexibility--for example, in work hours and dress code

• Fair pay and benefits

• Inspiring leadership

• Pride in organization, its mission and quality of product

• Great work environment

• Location

• Job security

• Family-friendly

• Cutting-edge technology

How do your employees' answers match or differ from thelist above? Find out what truly matters to them by asking. Itsounds too simple and it works so well. Then create cus-tomized, innovative approaches to retaining your talent.Some ideas:

• Personally thank members of your team for doing agood job – Do it often

• Take the time to meet with and listen to them

• Provide them with specific and frequent feedbackabout their performance.

• Support efforts to improve their performance

• Provide information on how the company makes andloses money, upcoming promotions and strategies forcompeting in the market. Explain their roles

• Involve employees in decisions that affect them, theirinvolvement will help ensure a commitment

• Give them a chance to grow and develop new skills ifyou see a solid effort, show them how they can meettheir goals while achieving the company’s quotas

• Focus on creating a work environment that is fun,trusting and open

• Encourage new ideas, suggestions and initiative

• Celebrate successes of the sales team

• Be creative

When it is about money, create an incentive program thatmotivates. Create an incentive program that rewards activi-ties you would like them to improve on. For example,instead of just compensating highest sales growth in num-bers, compensate the most improved or highest closing ratio.This type of incentive will ensure that your sales staff iseffectively tracking their activities.

Choosing The Right Reward Incentive Contest

Sales contests and incentive programs can be used to drivespecific behaviors you want to see. In choosing an incentiveprogram you need to:

• Set realistic goals

• Set specific measurable goals

• Determine your budget

• Determine the motivational factor of the reward

• If the value is between 1-5% of their total compensa-tion it won’t be very motivational

• If the value is over 5%, it is most likely that youremployees will strive and work hard to obtain thatgoal

To determine your budget, you have to evaluate yourexpected results. Provided on page 31 is a sales budget cal-culator. This form will not calculate your budget, but youmay fill in the fields with your information and print out theforms for your records.

Research shows that most companies allocate 5-10% of addi-tional (incremental) gross sales during the program towardsthe total cost of the incentive program.

Program kickoff:

• Introduce the program and focus on the goal

• Why is it important?

• What will it do for the company and its employees?

• What are possible obstacles?

• How are you going to achieve the goal?

• Describe the reward

• What are the criteria for receiving the reward?

• What are the perks of the reward?

• Provide any kickoff motivational materials

The kickoff for the incentive contest is an important step.You want to create excitement and you want everyone to


understand the objectives clearly. It needs to be fun andenergetic.

Provide regular updates on the contest:

• Keep track of how close you and your sales staff areto accomplishing your goal

• Keep everyone up to date

• Create excitement regarding the progress beingmade. Example – if you are 5 machine sales awayfrom the goal with 5 days left, communicate it andencourage everyone to shift into high gear

Concluding the contest:

• Celebrate the success of the program

• Celebrate the success of all the participants

• Present the rewards in front of the entire group

Program wrap-up — analyze the success of your incentivecontest:

• What were some mistakes?

• Where is there room for improvement?

• Who met their sales numbers?

• Who didn’t make their numbers?

• What was your revenue related to the contest?

• What would it have likely been without the pro-gram?

• Did it play an important part of reaching the goalor was it just an added bonus?

• Does your sales team appear stronger and moreeffective?

• Do you have new customers?

• Do you think the reward was an effective motiva-tor?

Your objective should be to motivate salespeople not justto reach quota but to fully capitalize on their potential.

Motivated salespeople produce more dollars of output foreach dollar of input. Motivated salespeople can give you aday and half’s work for a day’s pay, either by workingharder or working smarter.

Frequent Mistakes in Motivating

Mistakes to avoid:

• Failure to measure morale on a continuing basis

• Having one motivation program for all salespeople

• Not planning motivation

• Lack of consistency

• Not asking salespeople for input or sharing ideas

• Having “House Accounts”

• Violating trust

Having Outstanding Salespeople Requires Discipline

If you…

Hire the best

Terminate the rest

Compensate properly

Train your salespeople

Manage your salespeople

Motivate your salespeople

You will retain your best salespeople!


QUARTERLY SALES INCENTIVE PROGRAMHOW TO CALCULATE A BUDGET FOR AN EFFECTIVE

SALES INCENTIVE PROGRAM

A. What are the revenues of last year's comparable quarter? $______________

B. What are this quarter’s expected sales? $______________

C. What is your incentive program sales goal? $______________

D. Estimate your incremental sales. (Suggestion: Subtract B from C) $______________

E. What percent of your incremental sales generated will you allocate towards the cost of the incentive program? (between 5-10% suggested) _______%

F. What is your budget for the incentive program? (E% x D = Budget) $______________

G. What is your budget for the reward? (80% of your suggested incentive program budget [F])$______________

Note: If your budget for the reward must be split up for the winners, will it be enough to keep peoplemotivated?

Example: You figure that you will have $8,000 to allocate towards the reward. 2 sales people meet their quota. Each sales person will receive an award with thevalue of $4,000. Will that motivate them?

To determine the motivational factor of the reward, answer these questions:

H. What is the average salary of your sales force? $______________

I. What is the value of the reward per person? (G divided by the number of people in your team)$______________

J. The value of the reward is what percentage of the average salary? ________%

Remember:

• If the value of J is between 1-5%, it may not be very motivational.

• If the value of J is higher than 5%, it is most likely that your team members will strive for excellence andwork hard to obtain the goal.

So, in this example...if their average salary were $60,000, a $4,000 reward would be between 6 and 7 per-cent of their salary. People would most likely work hard for the reward.

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Part No. 8.914-277.0

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