High performance is an avowed objective of most modern organizations. The world we live in and the competition we face is quite mind-boggling. It’s a war out there and the prize that one seeks is the customer. Customers have never had it so good. From product differentiation to high focus on quality, the customer is indeed the king. With the advent of the Internet and amazing advances in information technology, the customer has a plethora of choices and perhaps a surfeit of information regarding products and services that are available at the very click of a mouse-button. Near perfect information is quite a possibility because of the proliferation of information as well as the means of reaching out to the widest audience not only nationally but even globally. Borders have ceased to matter as companies battle for supremacy in the global village.

Sales behavior is an element that is quite critical and key to a company’s success and performance at the marketplace. For companies that depend on sales to ramp up revenue, sales behavior is what could well spell the difference between spectacular success and abject failure. There have been many studies, which show a direct link between efficacy of sales and the success of the company both in terms of top line as well as bottom line growth. A company could have top class products and service offerings, but if the sales mechanism is faulty, revenue growth could be stunted. There have been instances galore where a company with just similar or comparable products has indeed won the battle for the customer on the strength of its highly motivated sales force. The enthusiasm and confidence of a transformed sales force rubs off in very real terms in the market place and there have been enough studies as well as observations to corroborate this undeniable fact.

A large part of the responsibility for transforming sales behavior is to do with the leadership of the sales function along with able support of the HR function. If the generals (sales top management) are slack, the sales people (foot soldiers) are more likely to have lacklustre performance. It is imperative for the leadership to lead from the front and spur high performance among the ranks. HR can support this by ensuring superior recruitment, motivation of high performers through reward and recognition mechanisms as well as building a culture where high performance is actively nurtured. If these concerted steps are taken, high performance would naturally follow.