50 Best Companies to Sell for in 2013

For the thirteenth year, the corporate research team at Selling Power has identified and ranked the best companies to sell for among the best sales forces in the United States.

The focus this year expanded to include companies of all sizes, not only those with more than 500 salespeople. An extensive, expanded questionnaire was sent to top sales executives, training managers, and human resources managers to request key data that would be important to prospective employees looking to enter the sales profession.

This year, we focused on three broad areas while examining the data: customer growth and retention; hiring, compensation, sales training, and enablement; and company recognition and reputation. (See ratings chart below).

As expected, our detailed rating system placed the top companies extremely close, with only 10 points overall separating the top 10 companies. In cases of a tie in the overall point rankings, the companies were placed in alphabetical order. Anyone entering the sales field should begin his or her search by taking a good look at these top companies to sell for.

• #1 SunGard

  Spotlight on SunGard: Recently, SunGard embarked on a big-ticket sales transformation to support its "relentless" focus on building "the most well-trained, supported, and compensated sales organization in the industry." With a global reach of 15,000 customers in 70 countries and a healthy commitment to product development, SunGard offers a dynamic sales environment with lots of opportunity.

• #2 LinkedIn

  Ready, Set, LinkedIn!: Salespeople who work at social-networking juggernaut LinkedIn get to actually use the company's enterprise-selling solution to do their jobs – how cool is that? (Points for being well-rounded: the company is committed to offering the sales team training on external selling methodologies as well.)

• #3 Heartland Payment Systems

  Sales, Hearted: The salespeople at Heartland are known as "relationship managers," and the company supports them in numerous ways – everything from cutting-edge sales and prospecting tools, to ongoing training and mentorship from managers. The culture is competitive yet flexible and prioritizes a work-life balance.

• #4 LevelEleven

  Achieving the LevelEleven Edge: Since its official launch in October 2012, LevelEleven has attracted several large enterprise customers (very unusual for young start-up companies). CEO and VP of Sales Bob Marsh says about the company's number-one ranking on the Salesforce AppExchange (in the gamification category): "This has been very helpful for our sales teams as a way to establish credibility."

• #5 Forest Laboratories

  A Walk in the Friendly Forest: Health, vitality, and success are all paramount concerns at Forest. In addition to sales-comp programs and recognition programs (President's Club, Future Leaders Program, Outstanding Leadership Award, and more), Forest offers a range of employee benefits and initiatives in a variety of areas, including smoking cessation programs, parental leave, fertility and adoption assistance insurance programs, and 401(k) contributions.

• #6 InsideView

  Get an Inside Scoop: InsideView's close-knit sales culture is supported by a complete marketing and customer-account management team. Sales leaders are encouraged to support team members with training, best practices, and tools. No "churn-and-burn" approach to be found here – InsideView invests in each sales rep, from first assignment in lead qualification through senior sales-leadership positions.

• #7 Hilti

  Living the Hilti High Life: Each year, the top-performing 10 percent among Hilti's sales force attends a President's Club event (paid for in full by the company, with one guest included). Recent locations have included Hawaii and the Caribbean. Other fun incentives to strive for: Salesperson of the Month and marketing-specific product campaigns.

• #8 DocuSign

  Documenting Success at DocuSign: Do you want to be rewarded for being a standout seller? Would you thrive if offered an accelerated compensation for the times when you blow out your numbers? DocuSign has that covered, along with a defined promotion path for every sales role and regular opportunities to be promoted from within.

• #9 UniFirst

  United at UniFirst: In this highly consultative sales culture, each sales rep's skills and professionalism are continually developed through year-round learning and mentoring programs. Company representatives say a VIP program provides prospecting support, including recommended action steps to help prospects recognize the value of UniFirst offerings.

• #10 Iron Mountain

  Atop an Iron Mountain: Its laser focus on the customer and a dedication to servicing customer needs is impressive enough. But how about those annual internal survey results showing that 87 percent of the sales team "feels engaged, inspired, and aligned to the strategy and direction of the sales organization"? We say, "Well done!"