I think that most business owners would agree with me that the most important people in their organizations are their salespeople. Those of you who have read my columns or listened to my radio show over the years know that, and historically, the people who create an organization’s revenue are also the people whom that organization can least afford to lose.

Coincidentally, these people are also the highest-paid individuals in the company.

If you run your own business, you know exactly why this is so. And, if you’re questioning why I’m saying this, you probably have never had to make your own payroll.

Because it is the sales people who enable you to make that payroll!

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote the immortal words, “All men are created equal.” Apparently, old TJ wasn’t thinking about salespeople!

But it never ceases to amaze me how successful companies, and once they’ve reached “escape velocity”, begin to knee-hobble their revenue-producers. Sometimes I watch this happen and just shake my head. It’s downright sinful.

Generally, the chronology goes something like this:

• Company begins.
• Company is comprised of three key founders – the “Inventor,” the “Bean-Counter,” and the “Salesman.”
• After a few months of fits and starts, things begin to find their groove. Eventually, the Inventor perfects a terrific product and the Salesperson begins selling that product. The Bean-Counter keeps track of everything. Everything is nice and simple.
• Company grows, each year setting new highs in both sales and profits.
• Then a Giant Corporation (“GC”) comes along. This Giant Corporation soon offers giant money to all three Founders. Founders then take this money and ride off into the sunset.
• New owners (“GC”) thus inherit an organization of hundreds of people. Roughly 20 percent of these people are in the sales department.
• GC immediately begins reorganizing all departments, beginning with sales.
• Less than five years later, the rotting carcass of this company is sold back to the original founders for the Princely sum of $1.00. Original Founder and his eldest son begin the process of starting anew.

Or, something like that.

The part I did not elaborate on was the reorganization of the sales and marketing group. Let me now do this.

Generally, the “professional” managers who take over a company like the one described above have almost no idea as to how great salespeople should be treated. Why this is, I don’t know. (Maybe because “Managing Sales People” is just not taught in our MBA programs?) So, and lacking both experience and understanding of the human condition, these recently-minted MBA’s turn to the one thing they do know…”metrics”…and so they begin to “institute metric management practices” throughout the sales department.

Care to know what that $10-phrase really means? Thought you would…and so I’m now going to tell you about a real company (name withheld) and exactly what they did to a very successful startup that I’m personally familiar with.

Here goes.

This company, a multi-hundred-million-dollar organization with 60 percent gross and 25 percent net margins, was successful primarily because its salespeople were very, very good at what they did. These individuals, and in their own unique way, built marvelous relationships with their prospects and customers.

It took years to do this. But their salespeople really worked hard at building trust and delivering service. These salespeople knew the names of each of their customer’s children. They also knew exactly why each of their customers were successful. In short, their customers weren’t going anywhere else for their products and services.

But regardless of the margins indicated above, the buyer of our very successful organization still wasn’t satisfied. (Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they were now paying heavy juice on the money they borrowed to buy them in the first place?) So, they brought in their Ivy-League MBAs. “Just to review a few things.”

And here’s what these MBA’s did:

• First, they insisted that each and every salesperson make, “a minimum of seven sales visits each day,” excluding Fridays.
• Of these sales calls, a “minimum of three” had to be with existing customers. These were to be face-to-face meetings. No phone calls were allowed. Breakfast and/or lunch meetings? Strictly verboten.
• This company insisted that each and every salesperson be available for a conference call each and every day, starting at 7:00 am and ending at 7:30 am. Each salesperson had two minutes to summarize his/her previous day’s performance.
• Also, each salesperson was required, and at the end of the day, to report in on their scheduled appointments for the next day. (Woe be to the poor bastard who “made up” a sales call just to get by. These people actually spot-checked the next day’s appointments!)
• Expense reports were scrutinized to the penny. There were max limits on overnight hotel stays, and there were similar maximums on meal reimbursements. Entertainment was out of the question. You want to entertain? That’s out of your pocket.
• The only thing I didn’t hear was what I will call “the string.” What is the string, you ask? Well, the string was from my very first (and only) job. The crazy son-of-a-gun that owned that business would actually break out a piece of string and use it to measure the distance between the points on the map where we sales folk sought mileage reimbursement. I used to cringe whenever I saw “the string” come out of his desk drawer.

Of course, all of this served only to alienate and disaffect the salespeople in that organization. I remember working with an older woman (Older, hell! She was probably all of 38! But to me, she was ancient!) who was a savvy and talented sales producer. Left to her own devices, this lady could easily have pulled in the quota for the entire four-person department.

But, because the boss (Cautioned be damned…his name was Ed H.) had “stringed” her one too many times, she began to do just the minimum. In fact, she eventually began to operate her own business on the side. I’ll never forget one client whom she would frequently call on. This guy’s name was “Dr. Nice”. Well, it turns out that old “Dr. Nice” was in actuality her boyfriend, and thus a guy who would do nothing but sing praises of her whenever Ed would call to see if she had actually been there. (Yes, he checked up on physical sales calls, too.)

Now, let’s talk about how you should treat your salespeople.

What would you say is the single most important thing any great salesperson needs? If you guessed “strokes” I congratulate you! In fact, you just earned your sales manager wings.

Because, that is exactly what salespeople need most. They need attention and they need recognition.

In fact, and until I came to understand my golden retriever, I didn’t think there was any living thing that required more attention than a high-producing salesperson.

So, give it to them. Give them recognition!

Look, recognition costs you nothing, and it pays off forever. (There’s a terrific line from the movie, “Patton,” wherein Karl Malden, playing the role of General Omar Bradley, says about General George Patton, “Give George a headline and he’s good for another 25 miles.” George Patton was that much of an ego-maniac.)

I have in my 40 years of managing salespeople learned a great deal about how to positively motivate those same salespeople. Here are just a few things that also seem to work very well:

• Titles – They cost you nothing and salespeople love them! The young ones love a vice president title on their business cards, I think, because then they can hand them out in bars. The older ones know that titles are terrific resume-builders. (This, of course, is something you don’t want.)
• Technology – For whatever reason, the great salespeople love their techno-toys. So, what’s it cost you for an iPad? Or a Smart Phone? Or even a laptop? You’ll get paid back a hundred-fold.
• Freedom – Lastly, great salespeople almost demand freedom. They love to be free and the last thing they want is someone breathing down their necks. How hard is this to provide? So lay off the endless report requirements and keep your silly meetings (you know, the ones where YOU stand up and tell stories about how terrific a salesman you were in YOUR day!) to a MINIMUM!
• Other – There are many other things you can do to keep your salespeople happy. Included among them are “perks”, such as mini-trips, keys to the company condo in Florida, corner offices, free dry-cleaning, and one of my favorites – a “tab” at the local saloon. Man, do they love showing this kind of power off to their clients.

Take this advice and then take the extra money and time it will generate to figure out something that is really important --- like just what your next product or service is going to be.

Good luck!