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2012-10-15 12:23:57
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.