Over my career as a sales expert, I’ve personally and contractually worked with over 500 sales organizations. I’ve learned some things. Here’s one: Very few chief sales officers have a good handle on the economics of the sales force. And very few entrepreneurs think about the economics of a sales system.

Almost everyone can tell you what the amounts of the various categories on a P&L statement indicate. So, sales salaries, expenses, advertising costs, etc. are readily at hand. However, very few decision makers dig deeper. And that means that significant information is never uncovered, and decisions are made on the basis of superficial, and often flawed, information. Let’s dig deeper.