By: David Johnston, President, Surgesoft

The concept of Sales 2.0 being the future of selling is fraught with a number of unresolved issues and tenets that while not nullifying its influence, certainly add caveats to the claim. To quote Selling Power magazine, Sales 2.0 will bring "productivity-enhancing technologies that transform selling from an art to a science". In no way do I deny the positive impact that customer-focused technologies will have on the selling process, I do believe that their adoption and ability to influence buying decisions will take time and require structural changes in the relationships between buyers and sellers.

The phrase, 'Garbage in... Garbage Out' is often used to describe the problems associated with poor data quality in systems applications. Nowhere is this more applicable than in Incentive Compensation Management (ICM) and Sales Performance Management (SPM) SaaS applications. Most often, the data used in these applications is pulled from different legacy systems (e.g.: Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS), Financial, Order Entry, ERP). The trouble is that these systems have been developed over the years to address different and specific needs for the organization, and usually not for sales. Therefore, when you attempt to integrate the data from these disparate systems you find that it doesn't always align nicely the way that you would like it. This why a SaaS application is so beneficial in addressing the incentive/performance needs of the sales organization.

By: Adam Johnston, Surgesoft Inc.

In an article posted by Sue Barrett at SmartCompany.com recently, the question "What is the right incentive scheme for my sales team?" was raised.