Myths of Sales Management: The Entrepreneurial Salesperson

by Dave Kahle

Many sales models are built on the concept of the entrepreneurial salesperson. There was a time when this model was effective, but in today’s competitive economy, there are serious difficulties with the entrepreneurial model. Let’s consider this together.

I just had a phone conversation with a client who had a familiar story to tell. He had built his business on the model of an entrepreneurial sales force. Give them a territory, pay them straight commission, and tell them they are in business for themselves, free to develop the customers they chose with the products they wanted.

For a couple decades it had worked well.  The business grew and expanded. More entrepreneurial salespeople were added, and the model was duplicated over and over again.

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So far so good. But then the growth in sales began to slow down. Three flat or declining years in a row has caused this company president to question the status quo. Not only is business flat, but he’s unable to get his sales force to promote the lines that he wants to promote, he’s unable to get them to use some of the new technology that the company wants them to use, and he’s unable to get them to prospect for new customers.  Now he’s faced with an experienced sales force, who for the most part, are unmanageable.   

The culprit? A sales model that was built on the concept of the entrepreneurial salesperson. There was a time when this model was effective, but... READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.