The most successful salespeople are serial entrepreneurs.  They view their territory as their franchise and their job is to grow it.  But how do they generate consistent revenue gains year in and year out?  They drive for long-term growth funded by month-to-month and quarter-to-quarter execution of their territory-level business plan.

Let's take a look at the following sections of a territory plan that always have legs.

I recently ran a session on the use of gap assessment thinking to manage an existing account.  The purpose of this thinking is to continuously be aware of our client's challenges and better understand their business.  If we do this, we have a shot at creating and delivering a current, customized, relevant and differentiated value proposition that justifies an ongoing service relationship.

“George” is the senior vice president of administration for a Fortune 50 corporation and a long-time client. He has 3,000 employees reporting to him, and thousands of suppliers sell to his company. How can he discover what kind of value each of those suppliers can offer? This is a challenge for both our client and the suppliers.

Your reputation is built upon other people's perception of your values, concern for their needs, history of fulfilling your commitments, and your track record for producing results. Your reputation is the foundation upon which high-value customer relationships are built.

The perceptive, major account salesperson will look for opportunities to deliver "gifts" to customer executives in a manner and at a time that will yield maximum impact for both the customer and the seller's company. Value-added actions with the biggest impact include:

IDC recently surveyed some 300 buyers. Question: Which of the following is the #1 thing sales reps can do to improve the value of the relationship between the buyer and the vendor they represent?