This month, Tom Reilly offers six tips for creating a value-added sales culture in your company.

Hire the right people. You want more than a warm body in a hot territory. To select the right person, study the job through the prism of your objectives. Staff your sales force with salespeople that help you accomplish your mission and add value to your sales team. They're everywhere. One popular myth is that salespeople exist only in the ranks of salespeople in your industry. If you rely solely on industry talent, you deprive yourself of the larger pool of candidates.

Set goals that motivate. Goals motivate and de-motivate. Goals give purpose to your sales efforts. They tell you that your salespeople are on track with your company's mission. Set performance and productivity goals. Performance goals describe sales behavior: for example, number of calls to make. Productivity goals are achievement targets: for example, sales revenue. Sales goals should also reflect how you want your salespeople to spend their time—pursuing new business versus maintaining and growing existing business.

Train your salespeople for success. The average salesperson receives one week of training per year—mostly product oriented. Step one in training is the needs analysis. Identify the gap between where your salespeople are and where you want them to be. The decision to do the training yourself or use someone else rests on your priorities and available resources. Prepare a play book for your salespeople with all the vital information they need to be successful in their jobs: product information, company information, selling skills, technology tips, competitive information, etc.

Pay for performance. There are two fundamental questions to ask yourself: “What do we want to reward and reinforce?” and “Are we getting as good as we're giving, and giving as good as we're getting?” Do you want your salespeople to focus on profit or volume? Product mix? Repeat or new business? Focus on perceived equity issues with your sales force to ensure they're getting as good as they're giving and you feel you're getting as good as you're giving.

Motivate your salespeople. Motivation comes from within—the energy that impels action—a blend of internal and external forces operating on the person. As a sales coach, you create an environment in which the salesperson's internal motivation to achieve flourishes. Everyone is motivated; they are motivated to do what is important to them, not necessarily what is important to you. When motivating your salespeople, consider their needs, cognitions and emotions. There are things that are intrinsically and extrinsically rewarding. Your job is to make sure your sales jobs offer your staff both types of rewards.

Coach your salespeople to success. Coaching is the fundamental sales management responsibility. You can't coach from the locker room; you must be on the field with your team. Coaching is teaching, mentoring, guiding and grading. The effective coach puts the spotlight on the reps. Coaching is an all-the-time, anyplace activity. You provide two types of feedback: quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative feedback tells how much the salesperson is accomplishing. Qualitative feedback tells how well the salesperson is performing.

The great opportunity in business today is to shore up your sales management infrastructure. Companies that focus on building sales management infrastructures enjoy a significant advantage.