Motivation on the Run

Hiring, Firing, and compensation packages were the highlight of yesterday’s all day seminar sponsored by Cisco and TechData, and I decided the long day was worth it as I dragged my tired body to the elevator and into the car for the hour+ drive home.

Acumen Management Group’s Ken Thorenson delivered two days worth of information in an eight hour day, with too few breaks and barely thirty minutes for lunch, but he kept the pace fast and tight, which controlled the group’s interest. We learned about hiring, firing, compensation packages, business building, leadership and management, and building market dominance, and yes, each of these could be a full day by itself, but our flight was at the 30,000 feet level.

Acumen Management Group was started nine years ago to deliver training and consulting to businesses, specializing in sales management programs. Thorenson’s company was hired by Cisco and TechData to present the training to their partners with the thought that better managed companies would produce more sales, and more sales would increase Cisco and Techdata’s revenue in the long run. I like their thinking and take advantage of these type events when possible especially when learning the cost is normally $1395/person. It was good stuff…

The discussion on slow hiring and fast firing was lively and spirited, with recommendations on testing firms and the many stages of the interview process with a lot of examples and thought provoking questions. From there we jumped right into compensation plans, talking about base versus draws, simple versus elaborate, and how best to apply the right motivation through the pay plans. This was extremely interesting to me because of the motivational component and how to build different packages for different corporate goals.

My favorite quote of the day from a sales manager perspective was:

My phrase is Price is the last thing you negotiate, which coupled with the above statement from Thorenson, makes a great one-two punch for your salesmen. They need to understand that you don’t compete against the strengths of the competition, but the weaknesses. Drill that home and success will follow as they realize price isn’t as important as they thought with most customers. Become the trusted adviser and price becomes a small part of the process.

I witnessed a lot of note taking by the audience, so I believe the seminar was a great success and I will remember the name, Acumen Management Group, for future reference. If you need a consulting company specializing in sales management, head to their website.