I met with a client yesterday and came away asking myself a simple but critical question.  Before I give you the question allow me to set the stage. The client has 15 sales people who are paid 6 figures and who generate millions in gross margin. The client is a mfg rep firm so they make nothing, buy nothing, they just do pure selling.   They have highly "Professional" sales people who maintain all the relationships with their customers. The owner of the company feels they are missing opportunities because the sales people are "Sandbagging" opportunities.  By sandbagging, I mean that they are holding good deals up because that will keep their sales quota low.  However, he is obviously afraid to add increased accountability to the mix because he "trusts" his guys, or even will lose his best sales guys to the competition.  

Most CRM guys will come in offering some system that will force the sales people to enter in all opportunities.  My experience is that CRM systems will not improve the situation.  

So the question is:  

   "What two things could I have my sales people do that would improve their effectiveness?"


Any suggestions?  

I am going keep you posted as to how this develops.