Focus on the importance of sales plans. Many salespeople are quick to laugh off the idea. To a great many, sales plans are a mere formality used by organizations at the start of the year to provide forecast data to C-level executives. Once those forecasts are adjusted to acceptable levels, what happens to the sales plans? Typically, the plans are filed away only to be glanced at quarterly, biannually, or never again. Here are four advantages of having a practical sales plan.

Early this April, Pivotal Advisors partnered with The Sales Management Association to host a Webinar to give sales managers specific insight into how they can win more time for strategic, team- and sales-cultivating work. Titled “Visibility for the CEO, Sanity for the Sales Manager,” the Webinar was an opportunity for us to share proven best practices in managing up. However, because leisurely moments are so rare for sales managers, we have summarized in this blog, the three best practices in managing up discussed in the Webinar.

Does this sound familiar? Six months ago, you promoted "Bob," an outstanding salesperson who has excellent skills and the respect of the sales team to sales leader. Today, Bob is busier than ever — on calls with the other salespeople, helping to close their deals. The new salesperson hired to replace Bob is struggling, generating less revenue than Bob did in his former role.

You may think a successful start to sales training begins with a room full of eager, well-prepped trainees. It might be a good start for the trainer, but a successful sales training program must start with an entirely different audience: the sales leader.