Sales managers and VPs have a tough nut to crack. They have to get a bunch of people to sell more. The focus of this effort is usually on getting the people to work harder. I would suggest that their focus should be on making the salespersons's job easier. Sales is often considered something of a numbers game. You make so many calls, email, etc. You get so many sales. When you want more sales, you make more calls. Brute force. A better approach is to streamline the process and make it more efficient. If it's easier to go from a call to a meeting, or from a meeting to a proposal, then you'll get more results for the same effort. So, how can this be done? To be sure, some sales techniques already exist for this. Training is the most common. If a salesperson is better at making a call, then s/he will get better results. This again focuses on the person, and so training is expensive. You have to train each person individually. (Group training is possible, but it's not as effective.) Luckily, there is something that can be mass produced and that will improve salesforce efficiency: sales tools. These are typically marketing-generated materials that are used by the sales force. Powerpoint presentations, collateral, and so on. When produced skillfully, and when used effectively, these tools can greatly enhance the productivity of the salesforce. I'm not talking about the usual bombardment of the sales team with ill-conceived collateral. Those days are gone. What I am talking about is intelligently conceived communications tools that make the salesperson's job easier. When this is accomplished, you get good alignment between marketing and sales, and both become very efficient. Next time we'll talk about how to make sales tool more intelligent.