Many sales executives are heading into 2004 with tight purse strings and an eye toward cultivating existing relationships and gaining market share. As a result, sales managers are being given marching orders to look for new ways to keep costs down while boosting productivity. Fortunately, the answer is not that difficult. Here are some practical ways to do both. Cut back on print marketing material. Most of the time, when a prospect says "Send me literature," it is just a polite way to get the salesperson off the phone. Stuffing a large envelope with every piece of company literature - which will all be tossed in the circular file - is very expensive. Instead, use your literature as "leave behinds" that support and review what the salesperson presented in person. Another way to cut costs is to reduce or eliminate direct mail campaigns. Response rate has dropped from 1% - 2% to 0.5% - 1%, and less than 25% of those who respond are qualified. Make your salespeople your competitive edge. They are the major difference between your company and your top competitors. The best way to assure your competitive advantage is to provide your sales team with advanced sales training. Tactics and script training has very little value. What works is training that deals with buyer behaviors, psychology of selling, and better people skills. A good ongoing, facilitator-based training program will net a return of 20:1 to 35:1 on investment. It is money well spent that produces more revenue.

Free White Papers We have free white papers on effective sales pitches and designing top performing sales teams available at our website.

Reduce the amount of "no pay" activity from your sales team.

Which is a better way for a salesperson to spend two hours: preparing a report to support the sales manager at a monthly meeting, or researching the next two companies they are going to call on?

Implement SFI's "Building an Organization that Sells" hiring and recruiting processes.

Building a successful sales team takes more than hiring salespeople who are geared toward a specific customer or market. The ideal candidate has to be able to sell within the existing company's culture and be comfortable with the company's processes. Involving a third party like SFI allows experts to hire the right salesperson utilizing an impartial, non-emotional approach and validation to the company's choices. The money spent on third party involvement will easily pay for itself by reducing costly turnover and bringing strong salespeople on board who can get up to speed and produce revenue more quickly.

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About Sales Focus Inc. Sales Focus Inc. is a consulting, training and outsourcing company that focuses strictly on sales. We help our clients during these difficult times to take business away from the competition. In down economic times, focused companies will not only survive, but also thrive! We offer cost containment and profit enhancement solutions. Profit enhancement is a different mindset than cost cutting. Cost cutting means doing less of something; profit enhancement implies doing more of something that will boost the bottom line. We represent the concept of focused profit enhancement solutions.

Sales Focus is driven towards a single goal: "Generating Immediate Revenue for our Clients! " Whether it's implementing our S.O.L.D. Methodology, Developing Specialized Training Programs or Launching an Outsourced Sales Force, we remain focused on the goal of TACTICALLY GENERATING RAPID REVENUE.

For more Information or to see if we are a good fit with your company, contact us directly at 866.840.8305 or 410.442.5600, or send us an email at info@SalesFocusInc.com or visit our web site: www.SalesFocusInc.com. Request a free white paper while calling us or visiting our website.

Sales Focus Inc. 3210 Florence Road, Suite B Woodbine, Maryland 21797 P. 410.442.5600 F. 410.581.8306 Toll Free: 866.840.8305 URL: www.SalesFocusInc.com