The last few months have been like no other in my professional lifetime. The economic meltdown and shift in political direction will have significant impact on the business environment. My next few blogs will detail what this all means for sales leaders.....
 
Be prepared to manage the cost side of your business as tightly as you manage your revenue forecast. Budgets will be slashed and sales leaders will have to justify every dollar spent.

Just recently, I have observed CFO's make the following statements to sales leaders:

-      Headcount ("Make due with less")
-      Compensation ("lower base salaries, utilize more variable compensation")
-      Offsite meetings ("cancel or do a web cast")
-      Lead generation programs ("waste of money right now")
-      Retention bonuses for top performers ("Why? Where are they going to go?")

To get their fair share of the budget, sales leaders must develop data that shows the financial return of various sales expenditures. For example, if you have $100k of discretionary funds to spend, what would the return be if the money was invested in headcount, compensation spiffs, or a lead generation campaign? Ability to produce cost / return analysis builds credibility with CFO's during budget negotiations.

Managing a shrinking budget requires objective thinking. Analyze each component of the sales budget to determine where you get the most bang for the buck.
 

Please share your ideas on which sales expenditures provide the best financial returns...