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Turn Motivation Inside Out

Working late, rushing to get a proposal ready for overnight couriers, and

shrewd negotiating over the telephone to set up appointments are just a few of

the tasks performed by inside sales teams that all too often go unrecognized

and unrewarded. This can cause resentment between them and a company's outside

reps. Not so at The VINE Co., a fast-growing maker of victim-notification

systems in Louisville.

At VINE, the inside sales-support people are paid commissions as well. "Our

selling cycle can run as long as nine months," says CEO Mike Davis. "The inside

sales team works very hard to move the sale along. If we didn't offer these

people incentives, our selling cycle could drag out much longer."

Davis reports that the insiders' commission was originally tied to the number

of meetings they set up and other intermediate objectives. But that system was

scrapped after the meetings they were setting up did not lead to signed

contracts. "Since the objective is the same for the inside sales-support

staffers as it is for the outside sales reps, we now tie the inside sales

commission directly to the performance of the outside sales rep they work

with," says Davis. He adds that the outside sales team also makes a conscious

effort to call in and give its inside support staffers feedback on how the

meetings went, so that they are motivated to keep the ball rolling. The setup

is paying off. From a staff of two in 1995, the company has grown so much that

it expects to employ 83 people by the end of 1998.