0% found this document useful (0 votes)
232 views35 pages

Chapter 5 - Managing Sales Force in The Organization

Sales force management involves designing, recruiting, training, motivating and evaluating a company's sales personnel. It aims to increase customer satisfaction and company profits. Key aspects of sales force management include designing the sales force structure and size based on objectives and strategy, recruiting qualified applicants through various sources, and providing initial and ongoing training programs on topics like products, selling procedures, and competitors. Evaluation of training programs ensures objectives are met and effectiveness is measured.

Uploaded by

Subash
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
232 views35 pages

Chapter 5 - Managing Sales Force in The Organization

Sales force management involves designing, recruiting, training, motivating and evaluating a company's sales personnel. It aims to increase customer satisfaction and company profits. Key aspects of sales force management include designing the sales force structure and size based on objectives and strategy, recruiting qualified applicants through various sources, and providing initial and ongoing training programs on topics like products, selling procedures, and competitors. Evaluation of training programs ensures objectives are met and effectiveness is measured.

Uploaded by

Subash
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 35

Managing Sales Force in the

Organization

Renuka Timilsena
Meaning of Sales Force
• Sales personnel engaged in selling activities is known as
sales force
• As an element of promotion mix, the sales force is very
effective in:
– Prospecting
– Communicating
– Selling and Servicing
– Information gathering
• They work for both customer satisfaction and company’s
profit
• They try to maintain a profitable customer relationship
Sales Force Management
• Sales force management is the management
of sales personnel
• It is the analysis, planning, implementation,
and control of sales force activities
• It includes designing sales force, recruitment
and selection, training and supervision,
motivation and compensation and sales force
evaluation
Tasks of Sales Force Management
• The main task begins with job analysis
• Job analysis includes determining job
objectives and the output from analyzing
includes:
– Job description
– Job specification
– Job evaluation
Continue…
• Other tasks of sales force management are:
1. Designing sales force
2. Recruitment and selection
3. Training and supervision
4. Motivation and compensation
5. Sales force evaluation
1. Designing the Sales Force
• The company needs to consider the sales
force objective, strategy, structure, size and
remuneration while designing the sales force
1.a. Sales Force Objectives
• Companies must define the specific objectives they
expect their sales force to achieve
– The old idea : “sell, sell, and sell”

– Later, the idea : should know how to diagnose a


customer’s problem and propose a solution
Continue…
• Salespeople will have one or more of the following
specific tasks to perform :
– Prospecting : Searching for prospects, or leads
– Targeting : Deciding how to allocate their time
among prospect and customers
– Communicating : Communicating information
about the company’s products and services
– Selling : Approaching, presenting, answering
objections, and closing sales
Continue…
– Servicing : Providing various services to the
customers-consulting on problems, rendering
technical assistance, arranging financing,
expediting delivery
– Information gathering : Conducting market research
and doing intelligence work
– Allocations : Deciding which customers will get
scarce product during product shortages
1.b. Sales Force Strategy
• Companies must deploy sales force strategically
– They call on the right customers at the right time
and in the right way
• Sales representatives work with customers in several
ways :
– Sales representative to buyer : discusses issues
with prospect or customer in person or over
the phone
– Sales representative to buyer group : gets to know
as many members of the buyer group as possible
Continue…
– Sales team to buyer group : a company sales team
works closely with the members of the customer’s
buying group
– Conference selling : brings company resource
people to discuss a major problem or opportunity
– Seminar selling : a company team conducts an
educational seminar for the customer company
about state-of-the-art development
1.c. Sales Force Structure
• The sales force strategy has implications for the sales
force structure
• It includes:
• Territorial structure
• Product structure
• Market structure
• Complex structure
1.d. Sales Force Size
• Once the company clarifies its strategy and
structure, it determines the size of sales force
• Depended on market size and number of
customers
• Increasing the sales person will increase both
sales and cost
• Once the company establishes the number of
customers it wants to reach, it can use a
workload approach to establish sales force size
1.e. Sales Force
Compensation/Remuneration
• The company must next determine the four
components of sales force compensation :
– Fixed amount
– Variable amount
– Expense allowances
– Benefits
• Combination of fixed and variable compensation
plans can be :
– Straight salary
– Straight commission
– Combination salary and commission.
Continue…
• The fixed amount : A salary is intended to
satisfy the sales representative need for income
stability
• The variable amount : Might be commissions, a
bonus or profit sharing is intended to stimulate
reward and greater effort
• Expense allowances : Enable sales representative
to meet the expenses involved in travel, lodging,
dining, and entertaining
• Benefits : Such as paid vacations, sickness or
accident benefits, pensions, and life
insurance, are intended to provide security
and job satisfaction
Combination of Fixed and Variable
Compensation Plan
• Straight-salary plans :
– Provide sales reps with a secure income
– Make them more willing to perform non-selling activities
– From the company’s perspective they provide administrative
simplicity and lower turnover
• Straight-commission plans :
– More commission to one who sells more at low cost
– Attract higher sales performers
– Provide more motivation
– Require less supervision
• Combination plans offer the benefits of both plans :
– Focus on advantages of both
2. Recruitment and Selection of Sales Force

• A successful sales force is the selection of effective


representatives
• One survey revealed that the top 27 percent of the
sales force brought in over 52 percent of the sales
• Most customers want honest, knowledgeable,
reliable, and helpful reps
Factors in Recruitment and Selection of
Sales-force
Factors in recruiting
& selection of sales
force

Select the best


qualified
applicant

Determine
Search out
actual job
applicants requirement
2.a. Determine Actual Job Requirement

• Sales manager must be clear on the job


description and job specifications
• Mayer and Greenberg noted that actual job
requirement are :
– Empathy: The ability to feel as the customer does
– Ego drive: Strong personal need to make the sale
– The details of job analysis must be clearly
mentioned in as detail form as possible
2.b. Search Out Applicants from Several
Sources
• Sources are:
– Company’s own staff
– College and Universities students
– Employment agencies
– Newspaper advertisements
– Internet
– Other sources (Former employees, competitors,
friends, etc)
2.c. Select the Best Qualified Applicant

• A systematic approach to selection includes:


– Application forms
– Interviews
– References
– Psychological tests
– Medical examinations
– Trial periods
Challenges in Sales Force Selection
• Determining the characteristics and skills
required
• Devising methods and procedures for
measuring the skills required
• Measuring the ability and motivation
• Finding and attracting skilled candidate
• Selecting from large number of candidates
• Socializing the new sales force
3. Training the Sales Force
• Training refers to the process of transferring
skills, knowledge, etc through a learning
experience
• New and inexperienced sales people are
selected and they need proper training to
perform effectively
• Sales training must be carefully planned and
executed
Factors in Developing Training Program for
Sales Force
• Building a sales training program generally
consists of five major decisions:

Factors in Developing Training Program

Defining Deciding Selecting Execution Evaluation


training training training of training of training
objectives contents method program program
3.a. Defining Training Aims
• In general terms, the aim is to increase
productivity through training
• In specific, it must be identified what is to be
done to increase the productivity
• For this, management must perceive the training
needs from which specific training aims can be
derived
• Two types of training need:
– Initial sales training program
– Continuing sales training program
3.b. Deciding Training Contents
• Initial training programs contain instructions
covering all important aspects of performance
of the sales person job
• Continuing training programs concentrate on
specific aspects of the job where employees
have some deficiencies
• Contain varies from company to company
because of differences in product, market,
company policy, etc
Continue…
• However, companies tend to cover the
following same general topics:
– The company’s objectives, policies
– It’s product
– It’s competitors and their products
– Selling procedures and techniques
3.c. Selecting Training Methods
On the Job Methods Off the Job Methods

• Apprenticeship • Lectures and


• Job Instruction conferences
Training • Case studies
• Coaching and • Role play
mentoring • Visual aids
3.d.Execution of Training Program
• It requires four key organizational decisions:
– Who will be the trainees?
– Who will do the training?
– Where will be the training site?
3.e.Evaluation of Training Programs
• The evaluation process includes:
– Identify the training objective
– Setting evaluation criteria
• Reaction, learning, behavior, outcome
– Choosing the evaluation method
• Questionnaire, interview, etc
– Comparing results with the training objectives
– Feedback and control
4. Directing and Motivating the Sales Force

• Directing is the primary function of every sales


manager
• It includes assignment of jobs, explaining
procedures, offering instructions, supervising,
rectifying errors, etc
• Directing is one way communication and is
best suited with new sales people
Continue…
• Motivation is a condition which initiate, guide
and maintain behaviors usually until a goal has
been reached
• It stimulates sales person to increase efficiency
and achieve work goals
• Some ambitious sales representatives are self-starters
• Most people ,moreover, require incentives, such as
financial gain or social recognition, to operate at full
capacity
Continue…
• Sales person will be motivated to work if they
believe that
– Their effort will lead to performance (Expectancy)
– The performance will lead to outcome
(Instrumentality)
– The outcome will be valuable to the sales person
(Valence)
• Motivation = Expectancy × Instrumentality ×
Valence
Continue…
• That sales managers must be able to convince
salespeople that :
– They can sell more by working harder or by being trained to
work smarter
– The rewards for better performance are worth the extra
effort
• Most valued rewards
– Pay, promotion, personal growth, sense of accomplishment
• Least valued rewards
– Liking and respect, security, recognition
Continue…
• A good reward system, comprised of extrinsic
and intrinsic rewards
– Extrinsic rewards: External to the individual,
consists of pay, bonuses, promotions, etc
– Intrinsic rewards: Internal to the individual,
consists of satisfaction, sense of accomplishment,
freedom, etc

You might also like