While the sales staff need to understand the value proposition of the company’s product or service, it is equally important that everyone else in the company have that same understanding. The website, collateral, and even the receptionist all need to be ’singing from the same hymnbook’ so to speak. There is no better way to do this than involve executive management.

One of the most important tools a salesman can have is a set of criteria to qualify prospects against. A good qualification matrix will prevent the sales guy from ‘elephant hunting’ and instead keep him focused on opportunities that are achievable. THese criteria need to be developed in cooperation with management.

Finally, most CEOs really don’t know how to measure a salesman’s success except for counting closed deals. This is no way to run a company. The CEO needs to understand the leading indicators of sales activity and measure the sales staff’s activity my those indicators. Unfortunately, most CEOs don’t even know what those indicators are.