Posting an improved Sales Performance is a solution which would immediately appeal to many. The One step at a time method advocates that every issue involved in the problem solving process be subject to a process of Differentiation, before an integrated solution is drawn up.

It would indeed be a simplistic argument to attribute the perceived woes of an organisation to Sales Non - Performance.

Before elaborating on What constitutes a Sales Non-Performance, it is essential to place the problem in its proper perspective.

• Increased Inventory of Finished Goods.
• Increase in orders not commensurate with projections.
• Increased competition leading to reduced margins.
• Reduced margins leading to lower profits.
• Fixed Overheads demanding increased sales

Therefore Sales Non - Performance does not mean NOT SELLING.

But Sales Performance today means, making the money required through increased Sales but, with reduced costs - in other words a HEALTHY BOTTOMLINE.

This calls for an entirely different Orientation, an Orientation which might stump not only the Non-Performers but also the Performing Organisations.

Within an organisation too, this paradigm shift in Orientation will affect the members of the Sales Team , and it is imperative that adequate attention be paid towards, retaining the performers, motivating them and training them to look at Improved Performances, and inspired performances not merely as a yardstick of comparative measure among peers but as a necessity to survive and to grow.

Which brings us to the point that if performance has become a necessity, then Performance Oriented Training, becomes imperative.

In performance oriented training inputs the target segments which require Training Inputs can be classified into Five Categories:

• The Aspirants
• The Beginners
• The Performers
• The Fatigued
• The Recently Promoted.

Here that the entire training has been focussed along the ATTITUDINAL Perspective.

It is assumed that, the Organisation has the In-house Resources, to impart training along the FUNCTIONAL lines, or can bring in External Resources to provide training in areas preliminary to Performance.

It is therefore imperative that organisations pay attention to the renewed training requirements so that they can outlast competition sensibly with a healthy Bottomline.

Cross - Functional Skills & Methods:

Technology upgradation of the Sales Team is another important area, because, the need to reduce cost and increase performance, call for a host Cross-Functional Skills.

What an Organisation needs today is a Team of Jokers.

The difference between a joker and a clown is very simple to state. Wheras a joker can make the most difficult of jobs look easy, a clown can make the easiest of jobs look difficult.

Remember the last time that you went to a Circus. There was the Trapeze artist climbing on to the bars, and watching the Artiste perform, it was not difficult to realise that the artiste’s level of Proficiency called for rigorous practice. It was an act of absolute discipline.

Then clambers up the joker, jumping on to the Bars quite casually, swinging around on the Trapeze apparently certain to fall down, executes a couple of somersaults, apparently with no control until either he lands on the nets or a colleague on the Trapeze rescues him. The Joker needs to be as good if not better than the Trapeze Artiste.

After the Trapeze, he would probably clamber on to the Tightrope, and both he & the Tight Rope Artiste go through an act where the Joker is the apparent victim of the Artiste’s technical supe-riority. To perform in an apparently undisciplined manner calls for greater skill and discipline.

Ask them to define training needs !

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(If you would like to the sequel to this paper please call for it.)