Portfolio Company Best Practices—Give Salespeople Free Range, but Establish an Outer Perimeter

The business world teems with myriad opinions regarding the best way to manage salespeople; yet, investors and managers essentially agree that individual agendas are impossible to eliminate in the world of sales management. Often salespeople conduct their business segregated from the core management team, which may result in a focus on accomplishing individual goals rather than on making the company successful. These situations may drive near-term gains but almost always lead to longer-term profit margin erosion. One of the primary culprits for such misalignment is the sales commissions program, which is likely to undermine any sense of unity and common purpose in a business.