Last week, I was discussing an eMarketing, Web seminar and warm call strategy with one of my sales agents, who I will refer to as Joe. He's worked with me for almost 6 months, and has done very well. We were discussing our outbound lead generation programs when the conversation turned to our mutual and virtual business lifestyle. He started by commenting about his car.

Because your recruiting efforts can leave your business swimming in profits or drowning under the tide of missed opportunities, it's not something you want to rush into. And yet, that's exactly what thousands of companies will do at the first sign of a bump in demand. Eager to put new faces in the field, they'll bring in as many fresh bodies as they can and hope that a few work out.

By failing to take care of the clients we have, we cause ourselves a number of self-inflicted wounds. First, we stop the flow of valuable add-on sales and upgrades that we could have gotten; few buyers will come back to you after they've seen that you don't care about keeping their business.

Unfortunately, though, it's just as likely that they'll spend a lot of money, waste a week's worth of time, and frustrate their sales staff. That's because planning an effective national sales meeting is harder than simply renting a conference room and reading off a handful of memos.

For over 27 years, I have worked with numerous organizations to improve their selling effectiveness. In the last several months stemming from the recessions, my phone rings frequently requesting help. At issue, the need to move more product as firms seeks higher margins during volatile times.

Yes, paying sales commissions is the standard. Almost every sales department has such an incentive. But, is it really the best way to go? If you have trained your sales force well and given them the tools they need to succeed, it may be more effective to remove sales commissions and pay quarterly bonuses based on personal success, team success and company success.