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Sales Managers
Your 2026 Sales Plan, Simplified
This is the final installment in the goal-setting series, and it brings together a simple, math-based process designed to help you manage both your sales and your income throughout the year.
Nothing here is complicated—but it does require intention.
Let’s summarize what you’ve built.
1. Create a Written Sales Goal for the Year
You’ve already done the hard thinking. Now it’s about clarity and commitment.
- Create a written sales goal for the year
- Calculate it using your commission percentag…
January Sales Skills Series: Goal Setting for Sales Professionals
If you’ve ever set a sales goal with the best intentions…and then watched it quietly fade by March, you’re not alone.
That’s exactly why we kicked off the January Sales Skills Series with Goal Setting for Sales Professionals — a session designed to take goal setting out of the “hope and hustle” category and put it squarely into clear, measurable, workable math.
This session isn’t about dreaming bigger. It’s about building goals you can actually work.
Before you hit play, here’s what you’ll le…
What It Really Takes to Hit Your Sales Goal
This is the third installment in the goal setting theme. In the first two installments, we calculated the minimum written number (basement) and then added to that for the actual goal number.
These numbers might seem high at first glance—especially if they are beyond your current level of performance.
Goals are achieved by actions taken, rather than reactions to a specific number.
The activity level required to achieve your goal needs to be in alignment with the goal. For instance, the activit…
Turning needs into numbers
This is the second note on setting realistic and reasonable goals, starting with covering your basic needs each month. Now that you have your basement expenses (missed last week? Find more info HERE) established, let’s look at what you need to write in sales to accommodate that number.
For this example, I’m going to assume you are paid on written sales.
If your “nut”—what you need to bring home—is $5,000 (your net income), add 25% to that number to calculate your gross income before taxes. Tha…
Before you can hit a target, you need a target worth hitting
Happy New Year! Let’s make this year the best one yet.
This is the first note in a short series on goal setting. You might have already set your goals for the new year—in which case, congratulations. Or you might have started them but not completed them yet, which is great, too. Or maybe you can’t really finish your goals and targets until you get your individual contribution-to-the-team numbers…also good.
Wherever you are, you are here—which is the best place to be.
Before you can hit a targ…
Sales Managers: How to train your team to sell intangibles
Selling the Intangibles: Why This Is Where Sales Are Being Won (or Lost) Right Now
If you’re a sales manager, you don’t need another reminder that sales are harder right now.
Traffic is lighter.
Customers are more cautious.
Price pressure shows up earlier and more often.
And what I’m seeing everywhere is this: Salespeople can still sell the product — but they’re hesitating on the conversations that actually protect margin.
So let's talk about it!
I recently hosted a live session for sales ma…
BE Proactive: Create the Sales You Want
This is the third installment in our series on Being Proactive. If you missed the previous two, I encourage you to go back and read them — they set the foundation for everything we’ll talk about today.
If you are a salesperson in a showroom (retail or trade), or if you manage one, it’s likely that you rely heavily on incoming opportunities — traffic — for new business. That’s understandable.
It’s also understandable that you may consider your greatest competitors to be other showrooms offering…
Proactive or Reactive? Here’s the Difference
This is the first in our December series on Being Proactive. Before we talk about actions, habits, or outreach, it’s helpful to revisit a term that’s become so commonplace — maybe even overused — that we’ve lost some of its power.
Stephen R. Covey introduced “proactive” in Habit 1 of his landmark book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. He wrote that human beings are responsible for their own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate fee…
Reflections from November’s BE Series: Use Gratitude to Drive More Sales—Here’s How
Every month, I look forward to gathering for the Sales BE Series. These sessions always ground me, and our November conversation on gratitude did exactly that. What began as a seasonal topic quickly opened into a deeper discussion about presence, appreciation, team culture, and the small habits that shape our daily work.
I started by admitting that my own gratitude practice had slipped this year. I wasn’t as present or patient as usual, and I could feel it. At a friend’s suggestion, I picked up…
What’s the One Action That Builds Momentum?
Being Coachable: What ONE Action Can You Take Today to Start a New Habit?
For Sales Leaders Everywhere
This is the final post in our series on being coachable. Over the past few weeks, we’ve explored what lies at the very center of it all—who you are, what your goal means to you, and what you’re willing to do to achieve it. Good work!
This closing reflection is for both coaches and students. At its heart, coaching is about keeping the process simple and attainable.
Start Simple
At the begin…
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