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Lee Salz

Lee B. Salz is a leading sales management strategist, award-winning author and creator of The Revenue Accelerator, a first of its kind sales person onboarding technology system (written about on ERE). Learn more about The Revenue Accelerator and request a demo at TheRevenueAccelerator.com. To learn more about Lee or reach him, visit SalesArchitects.net. His new eBook was just published, called Sales Person Onboarding Best Practices, which presents the business case for onboarding and how to put it into practice in your company. For a limited time, you can access it for free.

Lee Salz RSS feed Articles by Lee Salz...

The 1 Factor That Guarantees Sales Managers Miss Their Revenue Quotas

by
Lee Salz
Oct 24, 2011, 10:57 am ET

There is a common belief that the primary cause of a sales team missing its revenue goal is a dry sales pipeline. If a sales team doesn’t have a healthy prospect pipeline, trouble lies ahead. Yet, there is a pipeline that is more impactful to the financial health of the business than even the sales... [full article »]

The 6 Salesperson Onboarding Mistakes That Can Lead to Disaster

by
Lee Salz
Oct 18, 2011, 5:48 am ET

When a sales candidate accepts a job offer, everyone is all smiles. Yet, those smiles can quickly turn upside down if you are making any of these salesperson onboarding mistakes. [full article »]

You’re Setting Up Your New Hire Salespeople for Failure

by
Lee Salz
May 2, 2011, 12:34 pm ET

You’ve hired your rainmaker! The hard work is over and now it’s time for the dollars to roll in. After all, you’ve just hired a great salesperson. Take her to the office, hand her a prospecting list, and success is imminent! Oh, if only this formula worked. [full article »]

Should You Promote Your Top Sales Person to Sales Manager?

by
Lee Salz
Dec 8, 2009, 5:05 am ET

Early Greek mythology tells tales of sailors lured by Sirens. Their sweet music mesmerized the sailors and led them to believe that the illusion was reality. Ultimately, those sailors who blindly followed the tunes crashed their ships on the rocks and their boats sank. Sirens lure business executives and small business owners too. The song... [full article »]

The Power of a Needs Analysis Strategy When Recruiting Sales Candidates

by
Lee Salz
Jul 28, 2009, 5:17 am ET

David walks into Mr. Stevens’ office for a first meeting. He shakes Mr. Stevens’ hand, opens his briefcase, and proceeds to lecture about the greatness of his products. The harangue lasts about 45 minutes. As he continues to talk, David packs up his materials, again shakes Mr. Stevens’ hand, and walks out of the office.... [full article »]

Beware of Hiring Your Competitor’s Salespeople

by
Lee Salz
Jun 3, 2009, 5:13 am ET

Hiring salespeople from the competition always seems like a no-brainer, but there are many pitfalls with this hiring strategy. Life would be grand if we could sprinkle a few seeds in the ground, fertilize, add water … and a great salesperson would sprout. This is truly a pipedream, but one often pursued by small business... [full article »]

Key Strategies to Hire the Right Vice President of Sales

by
Lee Salz
Mar 12, 2009, 5:55 am ET

Years ago, I was interviewing for a Vice President of Sales position with a mid-sized services firm. Everything was going well with my interview with the CEO of the company, and then the question came. It is the favorite question of CEOs everywhere. Yet, it is also the most ridiculous question to ask a Vice... [full article »]

The New Employee’s First Day

by
Lee Salz
Jan 2, 2009, 5:22 am ET

Originally published April 8, 2008. It’s a great day at Newman Industries! For the last month, it has been actively recruiting a hot candidate to join its sales team. Today, Steven Harmon agreed to join. Newman sees him as a true rainmaker. The recruiter and sales manager share high-fives. Mission accomplished! Spike the ball in... [full article »]

7 Things to Look for in a Sales Manager

by
Lee Salz
Nov 14, 2008, 5:12 am ET

Many execs put industry experience at the top of their criteria list for sales-management candidates. “The successful applicant will have 10 years experience in the widget industry.” Hogwash! The end result of this approach is that companies hire the industry retreads. [full article »]

Make Better Offers

by
Lee Salz
Oct 2, 2008, 5:05 am ET

After a lengthy screening process, the hiring committee feels it has found the right candidate for the company. Now comes the tricky part: how do you design an offer and go through the offer stage of the process without damaging the relationship with the candidate? Many companies are not prepared to go through the offer... [full article »]

Sales Candidate Attributes: Desired or Required

by
Lee Salz
May 6, 2008

Close your eyes. Now think of the perfect mate. Are you done? Close your eyes again. Think some more. How long is your list of requirements of the perfect mate? Are there five of them? Ten? Perhaps, you have 20 requirements. Think about your list again. Are each of those really requirements of your ideal... [full article »]

Secrets Buried in a Salesperson’s Resume

by
Lee Salz
Mar 4, 2008

In my sales management career, I would bet that I’ve seen about 5,000 resumes for salespeople. Yet, I still haven’t seen one that shows someone who has achieved 40% of quota. Every single resume shows 100%, 200%, or 2,000,000% of goal. Where are all of the people who have had less-than-stellar sales performances? Did they... [full article »]

Motivating the Passive Sales Candidate

by
Lee Salz
Feb 19, 2008

I was never very good in science class, which is probably why I’m not a doctor today. Yet, I remember vividly the exercise on heated atoms. The experiment started with a flask of water and a Bunsen burner. When the flame from the Bunsen burner was applied to the flask, the atoms would dart all... [full article »]

Are Job Applicants Destroying Your Brand?

by
Lee Salz
Jan 11, 2008

Phil walks into his favorite retailer to apply for a job. He sits down at the kiosk and begins to fill out the employment application. He fumbles through the online form and realizes that he forgot to enter his apartment number. He clicks the browser to go back to the prior page. In doing so,... [full article »]

Why Can’t I Hire the Right Salespeople?

by
Lee Salz
Nov 27, 2007

Candidate screening is one of the most difficult tasks that recruiters and managers face. Most will tell you that screening sales talent is the toughest of all. Why? Salespeople are trained in the art of persuasion. They know how to provide the desired responses to the questions. Even more daunting is when you are interviewing... [full article »]

Identifying the Right Sales Talent for Your Company

by
Lee Salz
Nov 21, 2007

I recently had the opportunity to speak to a group of CEOs about their sales recruitment needs. To make a point, I mentioned to them that my friend Willie McMoney had heard that I was speaking to this group and asked that I mention he was looking for a new sales home. I shared Willie’s... [full article »]

5 Keys to Hiring the Right Sales Manager

by
Lee Salz
Oct 24, 2007

There are few decisions more critical for a company than the hiring of the leadership of their sales organization. Yet, few know how to do it well. Many err and “promote” their best seller to a sales management position. Why this is called a promotion is beyond me. The job of the sales manager is... [full article »]

12 Keys to Tuning Up Your Sales Force

by
Lee Salz
Oct 16, 2007

Many cars today tell the driver when it is time to perform maintenance. Even better, some tell the driver that maintenance is needed in 1,000 miles with updates along the way. It would be great if as a business executive or small business owner, you had this kind of technology at your fingertips. Unfortunately, managing... [full article »]