The State of the Sales Department
 
A recent survey from Sales and Marketing Management Magazine shows that sales results continue to improve.
 
Sales departments had a strong 2005 and are looking forward to more in the new year. The annual Sales Compensation Trends Survey conducted by The Alexander Group finds that sales departments have shaken off the worries of the early part of the decade and are forging ahead.
 
"2005 was a winner for sales departments. While individual companies' sales results may have varied, more sales departments found their good fortune of 2004 continue right into 2005," says David J. Cichelli, survey editor. "The poor sales results of 2002 and 2003 have been long forgotten by most sales departments. [And] more optimism is planned for 2006."
 
Among the trends from the survey:

• Average compensation earnings rose 5.4 percent, beating the 3.6 percent overall wage inflation for the year. Still,that's a slowdown from 2004 when pay gains jumped 8.4 percent.
  
• A 6.6 percent average increase is predicted for 2006.
  
• 66 percent of companies had sales person turnover in
  2005 of less than 10 percent.
  
• 60 percent of companies offered a referral bonus for new hires; 38 percent offer a signing bonus to some new hires. The average signing bonus was $7,345.
  
• 95 percent of companies plan some type of change in sales compensation in 2006. 14 percent will make major program changes, 32 percent plan significant changes to some of the plans, and 48 percent  will make minor tweaks.
  
• 51 percent have sales personnel located in two or more major regions of the world. Within this group, 29 percent use a single worldwide compensation plan, 37 percent use a hybrid plan, and 33 percent craft new plans.
  
• 50 percent of companies plan to grow sales staffs in the coming year
   
  The about information courtesy of:
   
  Mike Stewart Sales Dynamics
  Hiring and Developing High-Performance Sales Teams Sales Assessments, Training, Management and Motivation