After studying the sales practices of leading organizations, Tafaro & Associates found the following practices to be extremely important in combating the challenge of sales force productivity:

• Develop a symbiotic relationship between sales and marketing aligned with the way your prospects chose to buy.
• Implement demand generation and social media marketing using a problem-based approach.
• Invest in lead nurturing and focus sales resources on those prospects that are ready to buy.
• Develop a logical and repeatable sales process reinforced with active management and coaching.
• Develop sales strategies that emphasize competitive differentiation and value creation.
• Define the key variables that influence sales performance and continuously measure them.
• Foster continuous improvement by providing ongoing training to address areas requiring remedial work.
• Seek formal collaborative relations with key customers and new distribution partners.