If you are like most sales managers, you expect a lot from your sales reps. Above all, you expect them to meet and, perhaps, exceed the quotas you set for them.

Can they do it?
Your sales reps can't control whether a prospect needs, wants, or can afford your company's products or services. They can't control whether a current customer needs to place a reorder. They can't control the nature or frequency of your competitor's marketing, advertising, pricing, or promotions that eat away at your market share. They can't control the market demand for your product or service or the local, regional, national, or global economic forces that impact that demand.

You can help.
The only thing your salespeople can control -- and the element you can help them manage -- is their own behavior. Regardless of the economy, market demand, or the competition, there are specific activities you can help them focus on and hold them accountable for performing daily, weekly, and monthly - - activities that will keep them moving toward the accomplishment of their goals ... and yours.

What can you do?
Sales come from two sources: new customers and existing customers. Let's start with new customers. What can you do to help and encourage your salespeople to identify new customers? Here are some suggestions:

Establish a prospecting plan -- one that identifies specific activities such as cold calling, networking, and generating referrals to be performed on a regularly scheduled and recurring basis.

Hold your salespeople accountable to the prospecting plan activities. By monitoring activities and results, you can identify inefficiencies and areas where you can help them improve their skills.

Hold your salespeople accountable for contacting a specific number of prospects daily or weekly. Make sure they are doing more than "going through the motions." Activity is important; results are more important.

Identify and inform your salespeople about specific target markets to focus on and the unique advantages your products or services provide for those markets. Help them develop a "prospecting message" specific to those target markets.

Inform your salespeople about the company's marketing and advertising activities so they can capitalize on those efforts.

If you make sure that your people are doing a little bit all of the time, they won't fall into the trap of having to do a lot at crunch time.

Plan to succeed.
Now, let's turn our attention to existing accounts. Proper planning for existing accounts is as critical as new business development planning. Maintaining profitable accounts and weeding out and replacing unprofitable accounts should be a prime objective. Here are some things you can do to assist your salespeople:

Identify criteria your salespeople can use to analyze and categorize accounts in relation to growth potential. Growth potential may be based on the market the customer serves and/or the number of products they currently buy from you.

Analyze the amount of time salespeople invest with each account category. Determine if their time is being invested wisely in relation to the account's growth potential.

Help your salespeople develop specific growth plans for each account category. If, for instance, an account has been cherry-picking your product line, buying only your most competitively priced (and least profitable) items, the goal would be to broaden the depth of their purchases or, perhaps, replace them.

When you help your salespeople focus on business development activities they can control, expectations will be met -- yours and theirs.

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