I came across an article on LinkedIn, written by Peter Smith of the Meaford Group, that does a great job capturing many discussions we have with clients on a regular basis. The artical is titled "Why do we hate (our own) sales people?". I encourage you to read the article and engage your organization in a discussion on the cultural, business standing and performance of your sales organization. We believe that focus from the top can have a big impact on the bottom line in every organization.

Here are the key points from the article:

Make sales a proud profession in your culture because if you don't sell, you are dead.
Don't tolerate the derogatory jokes or snide remarks about your sales reps. Squash the people making them or better yet, make them a sales rep for a while.
Don't confuse people with job titles. Sales people are hired to sell. Call them that. If a person is worried about having sales in their job title, then they probably do not have the right DNA.
Train them. There aren't college or university courses on Sales as there are for Marketing, HR, Finance, Accounting or Engineering. You can't hire a person with a Bachelor of Science in Sales so the onus is on you to equip them with the skills required - from making their first sales call to negotiating a complex sales contract.
Pay them a lot. If they get rich, so does your company. These are your top performers. Don't begrudge them their BMW's

Good luck and good selling!

http://meafordgroup.com/posts/37-why-do-we-hate-our-own-sales-people