It’s the ONLY way to get money into the company. Let me repeat that. THE ONLY WAY to get money INTO the company. Everyone else spends money. R&D;, admin, tech support, customer service, finance, they all spend. Only sales gets money in the door.

Therefore, take care of your sales force, take care of your sales people, but don’t coddle them if they can’t perform.

Not everyone can sell everything. If a sales person can’t hack it, let him go. However, if the guy is bringing good sales, real sales, then let him work. If he doesn’t get the company get into trouble, doesn’t over promise and under deliver, the do what you need to do to keep him. If he wants a blackberry, and company policy is only to get cell phones, he gets a blackberry.

Take care of your sales, make sure you know how your company is doing. Don’t run out of cash. Your sales force will make sure you won’t. A healthy cash-flow will solve a lot of problems.