Adequately training our sales people requires more time than just a one hour webcast.  Could we please have some kind of sales training bootcamp?

Adjust strategy and don't throw good money after bad to save executive face.

Advertise, Advertise, Advertise

All of our lives would be easier if sales reps would take the time to learn the tools and processes that have been created to assist them.

Allow marketing more access to customers.

Always go into a customer with the view that they will be a reference.

Back off and let marketing do its job

Be a leader

Be a model!

Be consistent and knowledgable of what features you want. It causes R&D/Production great difficulty that Sales keeps changing its mind on its priorities and release dates.

be firm with prices, and don't offer such high discounts

Be less tool focused and more solution focused!

Be more accessible.

Be more daring. Be customer oriented not only shareholder oriented.

Be more particular about who we do business with.  Educate, then target the companies who want to do business with us.  Establish a one-to-one relationship by doing whatever it takes to make them our customer.

Be more proactive and strategic rather than reactive in our operations

Be more responsive: return my phone calls and emails in a timely manner.  When you ask for something with a deadline the least you can do is give me the respect and read it!

Be realistic about delivery dates, and revenue forecasts.

Become knowledgeable about product management

become more externally focused, i.e. start working on the business versus in the business.

Being that you've now proven our suspicions that you're incompetent and care only about today's sales, what exactly do you think we will be doing in a year, other than looking for new employment?

Believe what the market is telling you, not just your sales people.

Better leadership of sales team.

Broaden the customer base, work harder and smarter.

Budgets have been slashed to the point that we can no longer do decent research in our effort to collect requirements. No wonder our new products are missing the mark and our old products are failing to evolve as they should.

Business Development team should really be one level higher in the organization (at the same level than "Sales" and "Consulting/R&D", not included in S&M).

Can you show up every once in a while and let us know what's going on with our customer relationships since we're not allowed to call/visit any customer.

Carry a specific number for my product and get some SC specialists that line up with that number!

Change from a financially driven company to a market driven company

change pricing

Clearly articulate and drive the entire org (not just marketing) toward a strategy that goes beyond the generalilties of a mission statement.

Commit yourself to the product plan

COMMUNICATE--when out there selling, make sure to include Product Management so things aren't promised that we can't deliver upon, or that end up costing more money to create than the revenue gained.

communicate the reorgs in a timely manner

Communicate your plans more clearly and more often.

Concentrate on selling, and leave the minute details of the marketing and product management to me--the time you spend worrying about these details will not translate into sales.

Concentrate on your own team's performance

Conduct market research with real customers or prospects before deciding to build the next "gee-whiz" application/feature.

congratulations on your promotion.

Consider the value of multiple channels and that of a product line

Considering past product management, appreciate the expertise in these current roles-you have the best people-support and respect their experience.

Consistency begets consistency which begets success.

consult with me before promising we can deliver

Create a long-term strategy

Create separate quotas for separate product lines.

Cross-train your team.

Customers are just as important as internal development teams.

Cut our sales force in half TODAY by eliminating the money-grubbing account reps who know nothing about customer relationships!

Define my role more clearly and then let me do my job

Demand better training and validation from marketing before sending sales people into the killing field of go-nowhere "solutions."

Demand that your sales team take responsibility for their own education.

Determine a strategy and stick with it instead of chasing every deal good or bad, small or large.

Distill the messages you want to send me.  Don't have every rep call me with their thoughts. I am as busy as you are.

Do less better!

Do the right thing for the company and put a gun in your mouth.

Do we understand why we are trying to sell into particular markets and what gaps exist in relation to our product offering

do what you say, not what you preach

do you know the difference between management and leadership?

Do you know where the market is going?

do your job--not marketing's job!

Does not take advantage of tools available to him.

Doesn't fully understand the product potential internally and externally to the business

doesn't understand that the PMs' constant hand holding of sales is taking away from critical research and development time.

Don't be so afraid to let me visit your customers

don't be such a prick

don't change strategy on a whim!

Don't confuse sales with installation--refocus your customers questions.

Don't ignore the obvious in hopes that it will just go away because you want it to.

Don't just talk to us about how "bad" we're doing our jobs.  At least give us some credit for the stuff that you think we're doing right and show us some appreciation.  It's always bad comments that we get from you--not the great things that you're seeing.

Don't let guys that don't know the product talk to potential customers.

Don't let your sales force give in to price so early

Don't make promises that I have to keep!

Don't micro-manage & don't put customer support issues as a higher priority over new development without at least discussing the priorities/business case/revenue opportunities first.

Don't micro-manage.

Don't promise a new feature and time frame without consulting PMs. It creates long term problems

Don't promise the customer functionality we don't have yet.

Don't promise what we can't deliver.

Don't promise work that is not currently in scope for the next release.

Don't sell features that we don't provide without asking development!!!

Don't sell features.

Don't sell futures!!

Don't sell vapor ware and expect implementations to be able to meet the sale agreements.

Don't shoot the messenger!

Don't try to do his own copy writing and advertising layout.

Empower business development managers (kind of equivalent to Marketing Program Manager in your terminology)- and not only on paper-

engage in more solutions conversations, not technical

Executive leadership needs to be consistent. Different departments are not always in synch.

Existing customer satisfaction is important and should be factored into any upcoming release.  Driving releases by market needs alone is short-sighted.  Existing customers are our best references.

Finish what you start

Fire him, hire someone who gets it and doesn't whine like a 2 year old.

Fire the incompetents. Keep the team focused.

First learn to sell what we HAVE--stop selling what we don't.

fix the comp plan

Fix the demo--we work hard on producing quality software and the demo does nothing to show off our competitive differentiators.

Focus on both top line and bottom line

Focus on selling and turn programs, events and similar MarComm activities over to the Marketing group.

Focus on selling my products!

Focus on the customers needs and not just current sales opportunities.

Focus on the customers' needs, not on keeping your job!

Focus on the plan and work the plan

Focus on the Real Deals

Focus the Field on selling value, not on discounting to win business

Focus!!

focus, focus, focus, ...

Follow the guidance product mgmt is providing--we have proven we can help you with major customer opportunities... stop encouraging the internal competition/politics within our (downsizing) company!

Follow the leads I gave you. Follow the big projects now!

Follow the product strategy. It works.

From study to practice

future product releases.

gain credibility by spending time out of the office with customers, prospects and evaluators.

Get a clue

Get a clue!

Get a clue.

Get a great contact management tool and share info! Let Marketing go with sales to be flies on the wall!

Get a mitt and get in the game

get connected into corporate strategy

Get f******d!

Get focused and stay on strategy, the knee jerk reactive mode we are in is costing us value in the long run.

Get involved or get out

Get me a bigger budget, and I'll get you a better product!

get me on a bonus plan

Get more involved, be more inclusive of everyone on the team.

Get more technical

Get off your ass and start selling the product!  Why does everyone do all the work for you and you get the commission.  Closer my ass!  Learn how to use the computer.

Get off your ego and help our departments work together in unison.

Get on board!

Get out of my way and think it through.

Get product management more involved with the end customer.

Get rid of our senior mgmt.

Get rid of the wrong people

Get sales people who think they need to understand our products to sell them!

Get someone who can actually learn what our products do and then help our customers apply them.

Get the sales force to use the tools at their disposal. Sell what you have, don't whine about what you don't have!

Get to know my product

Get to know our products & increase the professionalism of our sales presence.

Get us out of the technical day to day grind with development.  We are not project managers

Get with the program!

Get your head out of your ass!

Get your people trained so I don't have to do so many demos.

Get your sales people to read the materials we give them.

Get your shit together

Give me a budget of my own

Give me a channel manager and a good marcom person so I can focus on more strategic activities such as prospect, market, industry and  competitive research for unsolved problems and business opportunities

Give me a clear direction.

Give me an educated and competent sales force to work with so i can move from tactical to strategic task

Give me focus of the channel to sell--and allow me to focus on strategic vs. tactical.

Give me more money!

Give the sales force more technical training so they can understand how our products solve customer problems.

give us a budget, and let us build the funnel for you.

Give us a sales projection by product/product line.

Give us more business use cases for use in staying ahead,

go ahead and commit more specialized sales resources for the most successful products, including ours, regardless of the internal political conflict, simply because it is working

Go get em...  And I need a forecast too...

Go prospecting

Good for business

Good job

good job

Good job selling what we have!

Great Job!

Great Job!!!

Great job.

greedy

Has an incredible way with customer relationships.  Leaves the product knowledge to us.

Have a plan, have a strategy

Have confidence in me to run with a project and not micro manage me.

Have some balls.

Have the sales people be more tactical in their selling efforts

He is dynamic, a great salesman, and a hard worker.

He lets others do his dirty work.

He needs to communicate with the group a little more.

He needs to decide what products are important to his organization and make that decision known.

He needs to organize events/plans by more than 21 days.

He should take product costs into more consideration during the sales cycle.

Help me develop and implement more sound processes & procedures, training for our marketing/product managers (self-included), and mean of working smarter instead of harder.

Help me help you.

Help me hold the line with the CEO to place quality over the "latest thing".  My VP of Sales is actually very good on this, but it is our primary task sometimes it seems.

Help me keep panic from spreading in the sales force around new licensing plans

Help us make the pitch for the value of your classes so that we can get our attendance funded.

Help your sales reps focus on selling, not on paperwork!

He's a good guy, but the sales reps whine too much about insignificant features (which no one uses anyways) that aren't in our product but are in a competitor's product...

He's has a case of whiplash requirements and changes his mind constantly

He's shortsighted, doesn't often act in the best interest of the company, and powered solely by compensation opportunity.  Unfortunately as well, comp is determined by sales and an ex-sales guy runs the company...

Hire a Sales force that really knows how to sell Software, independent of our hardware product offerings.

Hire intelligent / skilled personnel that know the technology and can sell, not just take orders.

hire more enterprise sales staff for our product line..

Hire more sales support staff (systems engineers, reps, etc.) with industry experience

Hire sales people that sale value through understanding the consumer problems......

Hire sales people who know how to create presentations and develop sales strategies.

Hire sales staff with extensive sales expertise.

Hire some "hunter sales people!"  Our sales people ONLY sell to existing customers!!

His group works wonders with clients. Would like to see what they can do with Prospects!

Hoards information too much.

Hold people accountable and don't be afraid to make big personnel changes in your organization

Hold the line on discounting, and discipline those who make false statements about product capabilities.

How about a talent upgrade?

how can i better serve your reps (what tools are most effective)

How can there be true Teamwork when Sales is always King?

How can we get aligned across Sales, Marketing, & Product Management?

How much do YOU make?"?

how's your job search coming? Any crumbs you can toss this way?

I am capable of more that you allow me to be.

I am not a sales support person.

I am not here for sales support. I'm supposed to be working on product.

I am not talking with customers and that is a problem

I can give you a quality product or I can give you one today, which do you want?

I can say anything to him.

I can say just about anything to my VP sales, without reprisals

I have a great, open relationship with my Sales VP.  Anything I've ever wanted to say, I have already.

I have an open relationship with my VP of Sales and do not fear reprisal generally as we report to different managers who are peers w/in the organization

I need a budget.

I need better forecasting.

I need more of your time so we can talk about issues.

I need to get out of the office more and be in front of Customers!!!

I need to know about all prospects

I talk with him every day as a peer as I do with the President so there is no fear...and the question is, are we prepared to stick with our customer-driven strategic development priorities or allow them to be constantly altered by customer-driven situational sales priorities related to quarterly revenue targets?...this is our constant dilemma.

I think he is doing a great job.

I wish Sales took the time (and bothered) to learn about the product they are supposed to be trying to sell!

I wish the sales people would read the positioning documents I produce.

I wish we had one.

I wish you would involve me earlier in strategic decisions. My team is always brought in after the fact, if at all.

I wish you would make your vision more clear to me and the rest of the team.

I work too many hours, don't have enough internal support, and would like for you to read the gads of information that is available to you to sell these products. I am not 1-800-sales support. BUT, if I got a percentage of the commissioned, I might be :-)

I'd ask him for the best way to reach the sales people with my message.

If a tree falls in the forest ... make sure that I'm aware of sales activity.

If i get you to the CIO and he nods based on our pitch, but your team doesn't close it, it is a sales issue.

if it's not in the development cycle don't sell it--sell what we have instead

If something isn't working to promote the product, inform marketing.  Don't try to address the problem on your own.

If we expect to succeed in the future, then the Sales department needs to get routine discounting and the amount of discounting under control.

If you change our job descriptions and responsibilities without communicating it to the rest of the Marketing team, nothing will change except our stress level.

If you make a decision stick with it, make adjustments when necessary. Stop waiting to make everyone happy

If you make your sales people read content we produce on the product and competition, we wouldn't have to constantly baby-sit them when they meet with customers and prospects.

If you sell what we have now, we can do a better job of developing what you need to sell next.  Don't sell what you think we need next.

If your sales force really wants to know what's going on with the product, tell them to shut up and listen.

I'm not sales support.

Improve communications between the field and corporate

Improvements to project evaluation are needed, in regards to resources and prioritization.

Incent your sales staff to support marketing activities, such as loss analysis, responding requests to get info on sales challenges (product related)

Incentivize Sales to learn more about my products and do more than take orders

Increase my base or I'm outa here.

Increase sales of additional products to existing customers

Integrity is key to successful long-term customer relationships.

Internal customer service is important to the support of our customers.  We are failing in this area.

It is time to hold all Product Managers accountable for writing realistic business cases and understanding P&L implications.

It is your responsibility (not mine) to hold your sales people accountable for reaching the targeted customers.

it would be nice to have one :-)

It's our fault you can't sell more because the product doesn't work. It's development's fault for not working "with" me, rather, "against" me when I try to communicate my customer requirements. [I wonder when development will realize that we must make products that SELL].

Keep fighting for a market-driven strategy.

Keep it simple--don't overdo the processes and metrics because they are taking more time than the execution.

Keep learning about Marketing...

keep me in the loop!!!

Keep me in the Loop...

Keep the squeaky wheels within your sales force under control

Keep up the great job.

Keeping salespeople's morale "high" by keeping them uninformed of what our product really can and cannot do makes absolutely no sense to me.

Know more about problems and how our product solves those problems.

Know what you promise.

Know your customer.

Know your customer's needs and requirements.

Know your products

learn how to do your well job so that i don't feel the need to do it for you

Learn how to make decisions and communicate

Learn how to position the product and stop asking for more competitive analysis information

Learn how to sell the products we have rather than custom "one-offs" for customers

Learn the company products and understand how they can be used in more than on situation

Learn the product better and understand the value proposition

Learn the product.

Learn the products, know the business we sell to, and be tactfully aggressive.

learn the products.

Learn to demonstrate the product without my help. Then I will be able to focus on Product Marketing more and make your job easier.

Learn to read. Teach your people to read.

Learn to sell value, not price

Leave my stuff alone

Leave.

Less is more. Embrace white space!

Let Marketing do what it is designed to.  Not sales support.  We are a strategic organization, not just tactical.

Let me develop a long term roadmap and stick to it.

let me do my job

Let me do my job, and stop interfering. The area I work in is not an area that the corporation understands. Trust in my judgment, I know what I am talking about.

LET ME TALK TO THE CUSTOMERS!!!!

Let product management train your people on proper messaging for clients, we do know them better than you think.

Let us focus on the market needs, not just your "latest deal". Listen more and talk less.

Let's analyze the information and make a plan.  Let's follow the plan for more than a week before we change it again.

Let's be more careful on qualification so we minimize over promising and then under delivering.

Let's collaborate more between sales and marketing and be customer driven together.

Let's communicate more.

Let's create a product hierarchy that clarifies how our different offerings work together.

Let's focus on selling and not politics.

Let's get some go getters on this sales team & hit some numbers!

Lets make sure our people negotiate better with the customers/prospects.

Let's put together a solid sales script and demo script so the idiots that you have working for you might be able to present to a customer and get it right.

let's work together--in synch.

Lighten Up

Listen and communication are the keys--you don't need more tools; you need to work with the ones you currently have more effectively!

Listen to both existing customers and prospects.  Retention (references) is just as important as expansion.

Listen to marketing.

Listen to what the field is telling you!

Listen to your customers

Listen to your employees they have the best insight into customer needs.

Long range strategic plans

lose the ego and focus on the market and what's happening

Make a decision and stick with it.

Make a decision!

Make a decision. Right or wrong, make a decision. Indecision kills innovation, leads to demotivation and eventually a lack of market share

Make all your sales people do the demo exactly as I do it and your sales will increase.

Make big changes incrementally--and pilot big technology changes with 1 product to test the market before betting the company.

Make sales goals more realistic.

Make sure sales people really follow business plans by product/solutions/business areas !

Make sure that you are getting me involved at the right time in the sales process

Make sure you understand the limitations and capabilities we're committing to the customers in our products. Don't expect delivery dates to synch with incentive plans, especially where product development entails discovery.

Make sure your people attend product training sessions

Make sure your Sales team keep us current re what their needs are and when we organize training, make sure they all attend

Make up your mind!

Manage a customer's long term relationship based on their business model and not by our quarterly goals

Manage your sales team, be concerned with profit, New channels do not equal new products

Manage, don't just supervise. Care about what's important, not about what's urgent. Address key problems, not just little ones.

market share or profitability.  pick one.

Marketing is not only sales support for current pipeline.  We are looking at FY 04 and beyond already.

minimize the product license discounts

More access to data so we can measure results

More communication please.

more customer focus

Most of the technical product and application training that I give to the sales reps is wasted.  In general, they don't really understand the application of some of our products.  There are a few sales reps who really dig in and understand, but most aren't willing to do their own homework to really learn the applications.  I'm tired of hearing the sales reps complain "we need more training!" or "we need more tools!", when they're not effectively using what they've already been given.  I do the best I can, but who has the time or budget in this business environment to sit around dreaming up training topics and producing sales tools!

Motivate me more!

motivate your reps more to spend more time selling

My job is boring.

My salary does not reflect what I do and as such I have begun to take a very slack attitude to my job (ie. surf the net). There has not been any incentive for me to be more productive. The only thing keeping me at this job is the bad job market in my area.

My VP of Sales depends on me saying anything I want without fear of reprisal

Need a field sales team

Need more resources to cover all areas of the business

Need more time and resources for career development and technical improvement.

need to be more than a one-product company

Need to better engage with a prospect to determine their needs and map them to a solution not a product.

Need to cut down on the large discounts, especially at the end of a quarter.  Why do you believe that our product is LESS valuable at the end of a quarter?

Need to focus on target markets

Need to pay me more money.

needs to be more in touch with reality

No longer discount the daily billing rate!

No more fire drills.

No plan, no execution.

no risk no gain

Non US money might not be green, but we still want it!

Not every transaction needs to be an exception.  If you want us to provide pertinent data analysis, we need the consistent raw data to analyze.  Garbage in, garbage out.

Not everyone has the same unrealistic expectations as you.

Nothing negative--I have a good relationship with the sales department and the VP of sales, and I think he does a good job.

One customer does not make a market

Open up the channels of communication within your organization and to other company departments.

Our current org. structure & policies insulate PM from the customers to the extent that valuable market input is filtered or lost.

Our Products are good, sell what we have today, not what we will have in two years.

Our sales teams need more training on how to sell our products strategically, and we should never give a discount without expecting something in return from the customer.

Our vp acts like a sales person. He doesn't act like an officer of the company.

Our VP is not a very good leader within our team and does not appropriately/adequately represent Product Management with other departments.

Overloaded with work

Pay attention to the little guys

Pay me more!

pay more attention to developing customer relations than to  internal jockeying for your next promotion

Please be sure you are on the same page as product development with regard to release dates for products. Please be sure you are on the same page as marketing with regard to release dates for sales tools and collateral. Please do not commit us publicly to dates you have not discussed and cleared with us.

Please get a business plan & stick to it-- coach your salespeople to learn to follow directions about positioning, the product, and how to sell.

Please have your sales teams leave me alone.

Please have your staff read the materials produced by Product Mgt. and Product Marketing to assist in the positioning and sale of the applications.

Please keep your people focused on selling the current products, rather than giving up so easily and bringing in PM to discuss futures.

Please let me get face-to-face with prospects and lost prospects to understand their business problems.

Please read and distribute the product information and collateral that I provide (rather than having your sales managers call me).

Please see me if you have any questions or need additional information about the product...please do not assume anything...

Please try to understand the dynamics of the industry your people sell to.  It is very different than your prior experience.

Practice what you preach!  Don't go in to sell someone a piece of technology.  Find out what their business problems are, and help them solve them.

Product and Sales are a team--work with us as such

Product Management (Managers) are aware of what is needed in our products.  However, our shortage of development resources (programmers) does not allow us to add the necessary functionality to the products.  We already know the requirements. Sell what you have.

Product Management is an important concept for the corporation and we need upper management support and buyin to ensure its success.

Products don't just appear....!

Provide feedback for all win/loss and what the customers like/dislike about our products.

Provide me more feedback about customers' comments during a sale.

Pull your head out of your ass!  How about selling what you have and quit worrying about what you don't have because you don't understand it anyway.

qualify opportunities

Quit micromanaging.  Our styles are different but objectives should be the same.

Quit promising enhancements without Product Management involvement.

Quit selling futures

Quit talking

Read the literature and ensure your sales managers do the same.

Reduce the number of products we sell and focus on the cash cows....we try and meet revenue targets by expanding product lines at the expense of profitability. Our objects should profitability based.

Reinforce the importance (insist) of product knowledge to your field representatives.

Remember what made our company successful in the past years.  Let's not chase the latest software fad of the month.  CRM, SCM etc.

Remember, there only 24 hours in a day and I am only supposed to work 8 of those......

Reorganize the sales for to work more coordinated

Replace our technical marketing department ad agency, give me more help so I can go out and spend time visiting customers, then when I tell them what the users want allow us to build it

Restructure to be more aligned with product and marketing initiatives and to support teaming with other groups.  Enhance specialty areas

Re-visit the compensation plan to positively align incentives to my product!

Sales are improving.

Sales needs to visit customers more face to face.

Sales planning

Sales staff need to understand the customer needs, to do so they should be gathering customer profile data and collection /reporting of that data should be a job requirement. It would be helpful if more of the sales staff understood how to match the needs with the products we offer

Sales staff needs to understand the products.

Salespeople cannot be spoon-fed

Sell more of the existing product and less custom work.

Sell more or the ship will sink!

Sell more please.

Sell more!

Sell more!

Sell more!  Talk to existing customers more!  Show me the sales opportunities your team created.

Sell our product for what it can do today

Sell some and get your guys educated. :)

Sell the value of the product, DON'T discount the heck out of it!

Sell what we already have or what has been agreed as a management team that it's okay to sell.

sell what we have

Sell what we have

SELL what we have built.

Sell what we have!

Sell what we have, not what they want us to have.

Sell what we have, not what you want us to have.

Sell what we have.

Sell what we've got now!

Sell what you have not what is being developed.

Sell what you have today--not what you want us to build tomorrow

Sell what you have, not what you don't have

Sell what you have.

Sell with what you got!!!

Set a course, define priorities, and stick to them.

show some leadership--provide product quotas or other incentives for new products to give them a jump start with the sales team

smart, aggressive

Solution definition is about more than the feature of the day.

Someone needs to be charge and we need clear measurable objectives that were empowered to attain

Spend less time thinking what more marketing can do for them and spend more time on how they can become better selling.

Stay out of the markets we can't support until we figure out how to support them.

Stick to the market segments that we are supposed to be targeting and stop selling stuff that we don't have.

Stick to the pricing--don't discount big products and try to make up the difference by nickel-and-diming our customers to death.

stick with the strategy

Stop allowing sales to sell deals below cost, with features we cannot deliver and in too short a period of time.

Stop appeasing analysts

stop babying the sales force--you should be able to expect things of them--like to update prospecting tools, and to research and understand the prospect prior to making the call.  Relying on others (e.g. marketing) to spoon-feed the sales force isn't helping to close business.  Prospects are savvy--they expect a sales person to know their business, and be able to think on their feet--not to recite something prepared by marketing.

Stop being so political

stop blocking the communication to sales reps who are in contact with customers all the time

Stop complaining about marketing and listen to me !

Stop discounting...sell the value!!!

Stop giving mixed messages and playing the politics game so well.

stop letting competitors determine our marketing program (stop being "me too")

stop making excuses and focus

Stop making excuses.

Stop micromanaging everything in this company and trust some people.

Stop micro-managing. Get more staff. Offer better compensation.

Stop nickel and diming our customers for every service.  Bundle it into the costs to insure successful implementations

Stop promising products we haven't released (or approved development funds for) and sell what we have finished.

Stop promising the world

Stop providing the answers without asking the hard questions.

Stop re-organizing every 6-9 months...

Stop seeking the ideal product or perfect sales process and just sell something.

Stop selling products we have not developed yet.

Stop selling stuff that doesn't exist.

Stop selling things that do not already exist within our product set.

Stop selling what we don't make

Stop telling the customer that we have functionality in the product that isn't "IN" the product.

Stop using lack of functionality as an excuse for not being able to sell

Stop whining, start selling new products.  Invest in product training for your sales force

Structure compensation such that it drives better service and growth, and doesn't simply reward someone for closing a deal.

Supply better market data on what potential customers are really asking for.

take more risk;

Teach your guys about product functionality

Tell me honestly what is keeping you from making sales

Tell me what problems you need solved and what you want different--honestly

Tell me what you need (from marketing) to be successful... not what you want...and then assume we know what we are doing!

Tell me what you want!  Don't make me guess.

Tell me which sales support materials are needed to help the highest percentage of your sales force.

Tell us what we need to sell

Tell your people to LEARN THE PRODUCT.

Tell your people to stop telling customers that we can do something that isn't there. Playing catch up makes it harder to become a leader.

Tell your sales people not to be so lazy. Encourage them to learn the product, understand the value proposition and the customer problem. Stop them from discounting to sell.

Tells us the strategy so that we can focus on what is important.

that a failure to introduce an integrated approach to opportunity (marketing, sales, product management, re-sales etc) will undermine our effectiveness

That we need to be better organized as a team with vision and strategy clearly communicated.

That which gets rewarded...gets done!!

That's part of our problem--no true sales or marketing depts, therefore no accountability.

The corporate strategy needs attention.

The key thing for salespeople to learn is not how to demonstrate the product, rather how to qualify customers.

The product will work consistently and expand very quickly with new market opportunities

The real goal is beyond the end of next quarter, don't focus exclusively on short term results

The sales force needs to have a clear understanding of the solutions they sale.

The sales people need better training, and should be able to demo and understand the product without relying on a pre-sales resource.

The sales team merely acts as a mediator between the customer and product management.  They need to be better informed on our products.

the sales teams need to make training more of a priority...with sales process as well as product training.

The sky isn't really falling!

There are not enough hours in the day, for what needs to be said to the VP of sales.  Perhaps the best thing would be, I quit.

There are some serous bottlenecks within the organization which prevent us from achieving our sales goals.

There is a lot to be done to succeed

There is not enough space here to say.

There is one particular channel (field sales in a specific region) that we should completely shut down and start over.  They do not know what they are doing.

There is very little connection between sales and marketing relationships.

There's nothing that I could say that would be more powerful than simply watching his ability/inability to read sales opportunities and close business.

they do not make an attempt to learn the product and the value of it

They don't have a clue what it takes to build a product, just expect them to appear when they need it.

They need to know more about the product from a technical standpoint.

They need to know our products better and our client's overall needs, not just those the client chooses to bring to them or that sales THINK are related to our products.

They're all afraid of their clients.  Fire everyone and start over!

think about what the market needs in 6-18 months

Think out of the box--the consumers and users of data generated from by IT are changing--it's a new audience.

Think past the quarter.

Think strategically, not next week!

Think with your head...not with your mouth.

Tie your discount practices to commissions

Too focused on our old market

too short term focused

train the help desk to be more professional and knowledgable about our products, as they represent us to the consumer.

Train your boys to know the product.

Train your own damn sales people, or shop around for ones that are technically savvy.

Train your people better on the technical aspects of the products.

Train your people how to qualify and sell software, and if they don't perform, let them go.

Train your people in how to SELL!!!

Train your sales force!

Treat product management as a partner in the sales process not as a gatekeeper to the engineering department

Trust marketing. Understand that we can't do things in an hour, but we can deliver in a day. We know our market, that's our job! Therefore, when we are offering promotions to help our salespeople, trust that we have done our homework and aren't trying to undercut your authority.

Trust me...I know what I'm doing.

Trust us...we're under pressure to deliver too.

Trust your top leaders to do their job, openly give them credit for their ideas and go to bat for them upline.

Try to think and act more strategic.  Only focusing on the issues of this quarter leaves too many opportunities untapped.

Understand how a customer's business problem maps to our products

Understand how to properly apply the product to customer needs.

Understand the positioning!  Use the sales toos we have.  Work hard to ID what we don't have.  Learn the product.  Learn the market

Utilize better prospect qualification strategies that will yield better results.

Verticalize the sales force to focus on specific markets and create distribution channels for small accounts.

Very cordial, customer friendly, but mostly leans towards the customer in a dispute or economic decision.

We all need to get on the same page.

We are not a job shop! The idea is to build one product and sell it many times.

We are not the T-shirt people.

We are wasting a lot of money, and here are some examples...

We are way too reactionary and there is no long term basis upon which to build a business

We cannot derail product development in favor of tactical, deal-specific issues without understanding the overall impact to release schedules and broader market demands.  No surprises there :-)

We can't do everything, it is imperative to prioritize.

We could get good results if we moved away from inside out approach and started to listen to the market.

We have a great product don't under sale it!

We have good communication

We have to ask our customers before we decided what we want to do

We have too many channel conflicts.

we need a long term plan

We need a more organized marketing strategy

We need a services sales channel

We need an investment in sales force automation to gain a clear picture of the market and  our competitive stance.

We need another person in the marketing department to handle collateral and campaigns.

We need CRM

We need enough staff to handle the workload

We need everyone in the Product Marketing and Product Management to have hand's on knowledge of the product.

We need field reps with technical knowledge!

We need more focus.

We need more open discussion about product priorities and agreement on them before talking to eng. about

We need to allow more time to build it right!

We need to better understand the market.

We need to concentrate more on the problems our customers face, rather than the features of our product

We need to do more solution selling (I tell him all the time)

We need to focus more on CREATING more "good" revenue (i.e. recurring product/license revenue) rather than professional services revenue from project consulting.

We need to focus on the needs of the many instead of the needs of the few (customers)

We need to get customer involvement in our product development and management process.

We need to get some clarity on where we are headed as a company and make the tough decisions to get us there!

We need to invest in understanding market needs more.

We need to more members in the Product Management group. We need more developers. We need a release manager. We need to have Product Marketing (not Product Management) take a more active role in supporting the sales group (from a technical standpoint).

We need to not just talk solution selling--we need to DO solution selling.

We need to prioritize what is most important.  With limited resources, everything cannot be done well. We need more focus.

We need to sell based on the quality of our products and the ROI that a customer can recognize by using our products to address their business needs, NOT by "lowest cost" or by discounting the product.

We need to separate product management from product marketing.

We need to spend more time working closer with the customer

We need to spend some time educating your staff and I need access to their call notes.

We need to train and hold the sales team accountable for what and how they sell.  We have a good product and value proposition, these guys don't have to be out there selling s**T that isn't in the software!

We need to work together, not against each other.

We sell information--not software.

weak, no sales process, no real authority on his sales reps

We're becoming too much of a sales oriented company (what the next prospect wants) rather than a market-driven product company.

We're too focused on the tactical, if we spend time now on strategy I can reduce the scrambling we're always doing on the sales support side.

What do you need that you're not getting?

What is our strategic vision.

What is your sales strategy?

What you are currently doing is not working. Do something else!

when are you going to let us train your sales people to sell our products?

When will we actually commit to marketing?

When you ask the Director of Product Management for advice on whether or not to do a "one-off" project to win a new deal, take it.

Where is the the win/loss report?

Who is our target customer, and shouldn't our product reflect this?

Why aren't we spending more time actually learning what our customers really care about in our product line-up?

Why do we have to fit round pegs in square holes just because the CEO says so!!!

Why do we need to always discount

Why do you think it is bad to have a technical knowledge of the product and actively seek people who are atechnical?

Why don't your salespeople do their homework and learn what a product can and cannot do?

Why the hell aren't you supporting our products?

You are doing a great job.  There are too many sales guys who still don't understand the positioning, however, and don't sell consultatively.

You are VP of Sales, not VP of Sales+Marketing. Stop wasting time reviewing text of marketing materials, and spend more time selling!

You cannot effectively sell a technology service without including a technology person in the normal sales chain

You could do a better job positioning our products if you spent more time with the product marketing teams.

You do the selling, I'll do the marketing

You don't have the right people selling the product

You don't own the customers--the whole company does!

You have no idea the value of the marketing team and how their projects affect your sales teams success.

You know all the product deficiencies that you said we had and that we have now rectified. When are you going to start selling this stuff

You need a better understanding of the strategic value of MarComm, you need to better support us in our never-ending "battles" with sales. It's not a turf war, we're not the T-shirt and ink pen people, we're not the secretaries...

You need to commit to a sales target and profitability matrix

You need to develop a better understanding of the role of Marketing and your role in supporting Marketing.

You need to do more sales and marketing and less product management.

You need to find new customers, and not just sell to existing customers.

You need to have your sales reps focus on selling the products/services we have productized and stop selling one-off solutions that won't scale and cost us $$.

You need to instill a spirit of teamwork in your many of your sales people.  They need to work cooperatively with other departments in the organization.  A house divided on itself will not long stand.  Egos need to be kept in check for the good of the company.

You need to make a commitment of time to allow the sales teams to become knowledgable and competent with the products they have to sell.  They need to become self-sufficient.

You need to make more decisions on your own without needing to go to the EVP of the company and head of engineering!

You need to reorg to have application or vertical specific reps.

You need to sell and not beg.  You need to understand the value we provide and the benefit customers receive from our software.

You need to spend less time on outbound and a lot more time on inbound issues

You need to tell your people to collaborate with Product Marketing much more often, so that they're very aware of current and future projects (so that they can convey accurate information) ... AND so that Product Marketing doesn't have to always chase them to convey information.

You need to think about growth of your personnel (promotions, job responsibilities, etc) to help grow your business.

You need to treat internal associates with the same respect that you apply to our clients.

You need to work on building a grass-roots organization that supports you, as your direct and indirect reports do not like, and more importantly, do not respect you.

You promise anything for a sale

You think we should position the product HOW?

You worry about selling, we'll bring the products to market your customers require.

Your field sales don't do prospecting, your telesales come in at too low a level, and 80% of them have little domain knowledge or situational fluency. This is costing us major bucks!

Your opinion, although interesting, is irrelevant.  Show me how much more revenue you can generate if we provide the feature you say you have to have.

Your opinion, my career!

Your people are not trained.

Your sales force needs more discipline.

Your sales people are disorganized.  They do not know how to determine what is the pain point of a given account and marshal the correct resources to convince them they we have a solution to that pain.

Your sales people are not knowledgeable and they are not motivated.

Your Sales people don't understand how to build relationships.  Our customers are dying to see them

You're opinion, while interesting, is not relevant!