Flip through some random job descriptions for frontline sales managers on CareerBuilder or Monster. Take a look at the job descriptions for frontline sales managers from a number of industries. Look closely at the responsibilities and duties the manager is expected to handle. What do you find?
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One of the many questions that I frequently hear when working with new clients is in regards to what the rules are for the length of resumes. I especially hear this from new graduates concerned about staying in the one page format. I usually respond with something like, “It really depends, lets take a look at what you’ve got”. 

For most new graduates and job seekers with less than two or three years of experience, a one page resume is typical, fitting and usually expected. The new job seekers will benefit from showcasing their educational experience in the top area of the resume, leaving the Professional Experience for the end of the document.  
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For most sales managers, data isn’t a gold mine of opportunity—it’s a quagmire of senseless boredom and useless numbers signifying nothing—with one exception, of course, that bottom-line sales number.

Managers who are not working with sales metrics technology have access to a fair amount of data that can help them manage and coach their sales teams more effectively. Although call reports, pipeline reports, customer status reports, and commission reports are far from ideal in terms of compiling specific data on the sales team and individual team members, these reports can if used correctly reveal a substantial amount of data about the health and activities of the team and individual team members.
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I’m looking for a few salespeople, sales managers and corporate executives to interview to be featured on The Management Curve blog.  The Management Curve is a blog dedicated to examining and discussing how the new sales technologies of Client Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Performance Management (SPM), and Sales Force Automation (SFA) is changing and will continue to change how the sales function is managed the impact the technology has on salespeople, managers, executives, and the company.
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Every time I think I have my business running smoothly, I hear about something new, or at least new to me, that could help my clients or my business. Even though I am already too busy, my curiosity typically gets the better of me and I end up checking it out.  

I usually do a mental categorizing of the new information putting in into three distinct areas; immediate use, long-term possibility and not interested. I don’t have too many not interested items because I have found that although I have no intention of taking my business or clients in a certain direction today, many times I have had to re-research information, products or services that I previously discounted.  
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This is a repost of my article, “Stop Prospecting Forever,” which originally appeared in Advisor Today, the largest circulation financial services magazine in the world and the official publication of the National Association for Insurance and Financial Advisors. I’m reprinting this as I just learned the article has been selected as one of the 10 best articles written in 2007 according to Advisor Today. I hope you enjoy it.

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If you’re still struggling with lead generation and not getting enough qualified prospects, you may want to try “referralspecting.” Instead of depending on cold calls, direct mail or company-provided leads, become an advisor who generates significant numbers of referrals. If you follow these four steps religiously, you can get most of your business—with more and better-qualified prospects—from client referrals within just a few months.

1. Set the expectations from the beginning.
To generate large numbers of referrals, you must establish the expectation of a large number of qualified referrals from the beginning. The traditional referral-gathering formula is: Make the sale, do a good job, ask for referrals. Most advisors seek referrals to new prospects using this typical formula with the “ask” at the end—and see typically poor results. Make it clear from the outset that you work on a referral basis and fully expect the client to have referrals for you at the appropriate time. Start during the initial meeting with the prospect, continue throughout the sales process, and follow up after the sale.
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There is a new debate just beginning to bubble to the surface and it promises to be lively and the views divergent. Forty years ago computer technology sent a man to the moon. Thirty years ago computer technology began taking over the running of autos, trucks, trains and the rest of our transportation system. Twenty years ago computer technology began to change forever how small businesses are run. Ten years ago computer technology began to change how we shop, find information, and even communicate with one another.

Now, finally, computer technology is just beginning to tackle the greatest mystery of all—what do salespeople and sales managers really do with their time? How do they really find new prospects? Who are those prospects? What do they sell them? How long is the sales cycle really? These and dozens of other questions are in the process of slowly being answered.
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We salespeople have a way of convincing ourselves that we spend more time and energy doing the things we don’t enjoy than we really do. We fret about low sales and wonder how we could spend so much time prospecting and marketing with so little return. We become discouraged because we aren’t closing sales and wonder why our closing ratio has dropped so dramatically. We blast our market with direct mail and can’t figure out why the response on the mailing is so much lower than in the past.

Some of us really do spend a great deal of time prospecting and marketing and a significant drop in production is, of course, a danger sign. Likewise, some do see precipitous drops in their closing ratio or response to their direct mail pieces. These also are danger signs.
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Today my friend Lee Salz of Sales Dodo fame launches a new business site designed to help salespeople, managers, business owners, professionals, and other business people increase their efficiency and effectiveness.  Business Expert Webinars offers business only related webinars that cover the spectrum of business topics.

Lee has gathered together an incredible group of over 120 hand selected top experts and gurus from around the world to offer the best webinar training courses you can get are extremely reasonable cost.  These one-hour courses are not the typical “come on” to sell books, DVD’s, CD’s, or anything else.  These are strictly hard-core training courses taught by leading trainers and consultants in their respective areas.
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