FROM THE
EDITORS
G
GETTING SALES RIGHT IS much more complex
than it used to be. Persuasion is no longer enough.
You need creative people and relevant data in the
tion back at home base. And if you manage a sales
force, you also must know how to keep your talent
engaged and excited.
In their article “Motivating Salespeople: What
Really Works,” Thomas Steenburgh and Michael
Ahearne argue that most companies have their
incentives all wrong. One-size-ts-all compensa-
tion plans undermine team performance, they
say, because salespeople at distinct points on the
performance curve—stars, core performers, and
laggards—vary in how they respond to diferent
inducements. The authors lay out which programs
work best for each segment of your team and ofer
advice on how to structure incentives accordingly.
Sales reps also need more autonomy. Because
customers are armed with more information than
ever before, reps need greater latitude to exercise
judgment. In “Dismantling the Sales Machine,”
Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, and Nicholas
Toman recommend against demanding that reps
comply with set protocols but, instead, encourag-
ing them to come up with creative insights—and
solutions—for customers. Managers who provide
that type of support will foster an environment
that appeals to smart, engaged salespeople who
care about generating value more than getting
extrinsic rewards.
Even the question of who actually makes the
purchase decision has grown knottier. In “Major
Sales: Who Really Does the Buying” Thomas V.
Bonoma advises that sellers identify who is in the
“buying center”—a group that usually includes
initiators, gatekeepers, influencers, deciders,
purchasers, and users. Each one of them makes
choices shaped by diferent—sometimes conict-
ing—forces. Closing the deal may therefore take
skillful investigation and, certainly, emotional
intelligence. But the payof is decidedly worth the
investment.
—The Editors
Making Sales More Protable
2 Harvard Business Review OnPoint|SUMMER 2017|HBR
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