This year, the demand for the temporary employees has picked up considerably.  Your business is growing and you have come to the conclusion that you need some additional help to keep the momentum going.  If you currently do not have a full sales team in place, you’ll definitely want to hire some strong business development professionals who will help make your staffing firm more visible, bring new prospects into your pipeline and close opportunities.

But what is the proper way to motivate and compensate them to ensure you are driving their performance in the direction you desire?  The design of an effective sales compensation plan is a process that matches the expectations for the sales position to the results and activities of the sales representative.  The best compensation plans focus an individual’s drive to succeed toward the specific results desired from the position.  One of the great skills any sales person possesses is the ability to figure out what the compensation plan is rewarding and, maybe as important, what the plan is dis-incenting.

Over my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many staffing organizations as well as managing sales people in my own staffing business and know the many questions and expectations that a talented sales professional will need answered —compensation always being one of them. Some of the most common concerns a true sales professional should hold are:

• What is the message and differentiated competitive advantage thesales team should be delivering to our target market?
• What is the game plan or strategy the company employs to reach the target market?
• What types of guidance, training and tools will I receive?
• And lastly, how will my total compensation be structured and what can I reasonably expect to make if I am successful?

Since these are questions that come up frequently, the People 2.0 team invited a leader in the sales arena, Mark Donnolo, managing partner of SalesGlobe and The Sales Leadership Forum to take part in a 4-part webinar series titled, “The CEO’s Keys to Increasing Sales Productivity” which will further explore the topics mentioned above.  Together, Mark and I will share our experience, powerful strategies and insight on creating differentiation, developing effective sales strategies, developing a team, and driving sales performance.

You may recognize Mark from the 2011 Staffing Industry Analyst’s Executive Forum where he was a speaker, and most recently, a guest author in the SI Review in which he outlined how to properly compensate your sales organization.  I invite you to read Mark’s latest article, “Beyond Numbers” and be sure to register for the first webinar in the series, “Differentiate Your Firm with a Clear Value Proposition” on May 18th at 2PM EST.