TopMark is
a consulting boutique specializing in sales effectiveness
and sales compensation - helping companies create or
sustain a finely tuned, results-oriented sales capability.
We assist leaders of companies to create competitive
advantage by delivering both issue-specific solutions
and important transformations.
We strive to serve our clients exceptionally well
and are guided by the principle that unless a solution
drives materially better results it's nothing more
than an interesting idea.
Do recessions sink all sales-boats equally? Historically, recessions have a way of separating good sales forces from the rest, exposing weaknesses in selling and sales management fundamentals that weren’t obvious in the easier times. Market share and profitability fall faster and farther at those companies whose sales resources have lost their agility. However, successful companies use recessions as a challenge to identify and optimize their selling opportunities.
So, what can a company do to increase its odds of emerging a winner? Click here to download TopMark’s most recent commentary “Invest in Sales Fundamentals to Sell Successfully in this Recession”.
April 1,
2008
Now Free to Participants
The Business Development Performance and Pay Survey
A New Survey Exclusively for Defense and Homeland Security Contractors
Survey Fills Void for Essential Data to
Align Performance, Pay and Incentive Plans with
Business Development Objectives and Strategies
Vermilion, Ohio – May 1, 2008 – TopMark, LLC announces that the Business Development Performance and Pay Survey is now Free to participants.
No currently available survey focuses solely on the complex roles, performance and pay of those challenged with winning business from the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The output from the new Business Development Performance and Pay Survey will enable DoD and DHS contractors to:
Verify that their Business development pay opportunities are appropriately aligned with performance expectations;
Confirm business development team members’ earned pay is competitive given the results delivered;
Highlight what their business development organizations do well; and
Focus their performance and pay investments for optimum results.
The data submission deadline is June 1. Click here to obtain survey and participation material. Survey results are targeted for distribution on August 1, 2008.
TopMark and Sales Force Systems, Inc. have joined forces to produce the Business Development Performance and Pay Survey that focuses on the performance and pay challenges of companies selling to the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
Sales Force Systems has a proven track record of increasing the effectiveness of business development teams and driving profitable revenue growth for its clients. Shortened sales cycles and improved win ratios result from Sales Force Systems’ customer centric and repeatable selling solutions, value-based training, and sales process software that includes just-in-time coaching. Click here to learn how Sales Force Systems can help your salespeople improve their chances of winning as they move their prospects through the sales cycle.
Click here to learn more about the Business Development Performance and Pay Survey.
New Survey Fills Void for Essential Data to Align Performance, Pay and
Incentive Plans with Business Development Objectives and Strategies
A New Survey Exclusively for Defense and Homeland Security Contractors
Vermilion, Ohio – February 1, 2008 – TopMark, LLC announces the Business Development Performance and Pay Survey.
No currently available survey focuses solely on the complex roles, performance and pay of those challenged with winning business from the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. The output from the new Business Development Performance and Pay Survey will enable DoD and DHS contractors to:
Verify that their Business development pay opportunities are appropriately aligned with performance expectations;
Confirm business development team members’ earned pay is competitive given the results delivered;
Highlight what their business development organizations do well; and
Focus their performance and pay investments for optimum results.
The survey enrollment period begins February 1 and runs through April 30, 2008. Click here to obtain survey and participation material. Survey results will be available only to participants and are targeted for distribution on August 1, 2008.
Strategic Relationship -
TopMark has partnered with Involve Technology
to market StreetSmarts™ the
sales knowledge automation software that
improves sales effectiveness while reducing
sales support time and costs. Click
here to learn how StreetSmarts enables
sales representatives to improve close
rates, reduce competitive loses, sell on
value, cross-sell, and up-sell.
April 2006: Sales Compensation –
TopMark announces the rollout of the first
in a series of software products designed
to assist sales management and sales compensation
professionals in designing competitive
and performance-based sales compensation
plans. Click
here to
learn more about TopMark’s Sales
Compensation Market Pricing Template.
Carrie Ellmore-Tallitsch, daughter-in-law of TopMark's founding
partner, is a member of the Martha
Graham Dance Company. A picture of her performing in Circe is
in the top-middle position.
The son of TopMark's founding Partner performs weekly as a jazz
saxophonist and band leader throughout Philadelphia, New Jersey,
and New York. To hear a sample of his music, click
here.
Philadelphia tenor saxophonist Tom Tallitsch signs onto OA2 records for the release of his second album, due out on 2/19/08.
Tom
Tallitsch - Duality (Debut CD)
Eclectic acoustic jazz duo featuring the
warm, modern tenor saxophone of Tom Tallitsch
and the cool, virtuosic acoustic and
nylon string guitar of Dave Manley, performs
original compositions and Jazz/Pop standards.
For preview and purchase, click
here.
The spouse of TopMark's founding partner
is the owner of River
Bend Stitchery -
a cross stitch store in Downtown Vermilion,
Ohio.
Companies — even high performers — hire TopMark to help them achieve better sales focus and performance. The following client solutions illustrate the depth and breath of our sales compensation consulting experience. We do not identify our sales effectiveness relationships due to the strategic nature of the consulting.
The
Trade Adjustment Assistance Program
(TAA) has accepted TopMark, LLC as
a qualified provider of consulting
assistance to US manufacturers responding
to import competition. TAA partners
with manufacturers by offering 50/50
cost sharing through federally sponsored
funding for projects aimed at improving
company competitiveness. click
here for a complete list of Trade
Adjustment Assistance Centers.
First Advantage Corporation First Advantage Corporation selected TopMark to align its sales incentive plans with the Corporation’s cross-sell priorities. First Advantage provides a comprehensive suite of employer solutions specifically designed to reduce the time and cost associated with recruiting, hiring management, screening and ongoing retention processes.
MAG
Industrial Automation Systems MAG
Industrial Automation Systems, a group of leading machine tool and systems companies serving the durable goods industry, retained TopMark
to build a series of incentive plans
for its US companies. TopMark created
sales incentive plans for the MAG Cincinnati, Cincinnati Automation, Giddings & Lewis, and Maintenance
Technologies brands.
TopMark also designed a management
incentive plan for the entire MAG
IAS US operation, which includes the
above divisions plus MAG Powertrain
(CrossHüller
Ex-Cell-O Lamb), and
a project management incentive plan
for machine tool build teams.
Agility Logistics Agility Logistics, a
provider of end-to-end supply chain
solutions, with more than 450 offices
located in over one hundred countries
spread across six continents, retained
TopMark to develop and implement
a new sales compensation program
covering the Company’s Global Account,
Key Account, Regional and Trade Lane
resources globally. Wachovia Corporation Wachovia Corporation,
one of the largest financial services
companies, retained TopMark
to design a software tool for assessing
the effectiveness of the company's
management incentive and sales compensation plans.
American
Greetings
American Greetings, the creator, manufacturer and distributor
of social expression products, chose TopMark to assist
it in constructing a compensation plan for the store managers of its Carlton Retail division. National
Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association picked TopMark to provide
the marketplace compensation data for assessing the competitiveness
of sales employees' pay. Business
Developers of Edison Schools, Inc.
TopMark recently completed the design of a new sales compensation program for the
Business Developers of Edison Schools, Inc., the nation’s leading public school
and school district partner serving more than 285,000 public school students
in nineteen states, the District of Columbia, and the United Kingdom.
D&GS
TopMark
constructed a new sales incentive
plan for the Business Developers
of Agility Logistics’ Defense and Government
Services business unit of. D&GS was
recently designated the ‘Best Industry
Leader in Military Logistics’ by
the Institute for Defense and Government
Advancement.
Turnover Cost Calculator for Sales Forces projects the soft and hard costs of, and lost revenue resulting from, the turnover in sales resources.
•
Considers the salary costs of
individuals - support, professional, managerial
and executive - involved in the termination,
recruiting and hiring processes.
•
Reflects lost revenue associated with: 1) lost productivity; 2) customer defections; and 3) the new hire's learning curve.
•
Comprehends such recruiting and hiring costs as: search firm fees; T&E of interviewees; assorted background checks and pre-employment tests; expenses associated with setting up a new hire in the sales organization; relocation expenses; and first-year training costs.
Turnover Cost Calculator for
Sales Forces may be the only tool that takes into
account the revenue that flows to a company from
a typical territory for a period even though a
territory is vacant. This revenue continuation
generally occurs because of such factors as: the
prior year's selling effort; high customer switching
costs; significant product maintenance or service
activity; the presence of long-term contracts;
minimal competition for the company's products/services;
company/brand loyalty and/or marketing mix factors
or other organizational competencies that (in additional
to a salesperson's selling effort) also sell the
product/service.
TopMark's Span of Control Computing Tool
Which is the best, and most supportable, way to determine how many salespeople should report to a sales manager? The answer requires consideration of the combined affect of four factors – similarity of sales task, complexity of product sold, salesperson experience, and salesperson performance – on the nature, duration, and frequency of a sales manager's interaction with his/her direct reports.
TopMark's span of control computing tool considers the quantity of time a manager has – after personal sales responsibilities, administrative tasks and "other" non-sales activities – to manage his/her salespeople. The tool is fully scalable as it can be used to determine the number of managers needed for an entire sales force, or any
sub-segment or sales channel, comprised of homogeneous sales roles.
TopMark is
a consulting boutique specializing in sales effectiveness
and sales compensation - helping companies create or
sustain a finely tuned, results-oriented sales capability.
CLIENT
solutions 