Staffing the Sales Force 4

7/30/2019 Staffing the Sales Force 4

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SALES CONTESTS

A Sales Contest is a special selling campaign offering incentives inthe form of cash, prizes or awards beyond those in thecompensation plan.

Purpose is to provide extra incentives to increase sales volume and

/ or more profitable sales volume.

Fulfills individual needs for achievement and recognition (HerzbergsMotivation-Hygiene theory) or for esteem and self-actualization(Maslows Hierarchy of Needs).

Develops team spirit, boost morale & make personal selling effortsmore productive


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SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

To obtain new customers

To obtain larger orders per sales call

To push slow-moving items, high-margin goods ornew products.

To overcome seasonal sales slump. To sell more profitable mix of products.

To improve the performance of distributors salespersonnel.

To promote seasonal merchandise.

To obtain more product displays by dealers.

To get reorders.

To promote special deals to distributors / dealers.


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CONTEST FORMATS

DIRECT Contest theme describing the specific objective e.g.

Lets go after new customers

NOVELTY Uses a theme, which focuses on a current event e.g.

Lets hunt for hidden treasure (new customers)

Lets start panning gold (more profitable orders)


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CONTEST PRIZES

Cash

Merchandise

Travel

Special Honors or Privileges

CONTEST DURATION

CONTEST PROMOTION


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MANAGERIAL EVALUATION OF

CONTESTS

The Contest versus Alternatives

Short- & Long-Term Effects

Design

Fairness

Impact on Sales Force Morale


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OBJECTIONS TO SALES CONTESTS

Sales people are paid for their services and there is no need toreward them further for performing regular duties.

High caliber & more experienced sales personnel considercontests as juvenile & silly.

Contests lead to increased returns & adjustments, overstocking of

dealers. Bunching of sales during the competition and sales slumps occurboth before & after the contest.

The disappointment suffered by contest losers lead to generaldecline in sales force morale.

Contests are temporary motivating factors & if used frequently

they have a narcotic effect. Competitive atmosphere weakens team spirit.


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SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT

PROCESS

Company Goals are defined and appropriate objectives for thesales department, are derived.

To facilitate achievement of objectives, departmental policies areformulated and plans designed.

To execute the policies and implement the plans, promotional

programs & campaigns are mapped out and other neededactions, such as making changes in the sales organization aretaken.

Various sales department activities are coordinated with eachother and with related activities performed by other organizational

units and middlemen.


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PROCESS

Quantitative performance standards are set and criteria forappraising qualitative aspects of performance are selected.

Actual performance is recorded.

Actual performance is compared with quantitative performancestandards and qualitative performance criteria and judgment is

reached on the significance of the variations. Indicated actions are taken after deciding: To take no action at this time.

To increase the degree of attainment of the objectives.

To revise the policy and / or plan, or the various strategies used intheir implementation to better fit the achievement of objectives.

To lower or raise objectives or the standards and / or criteria used inmeasuring their degree of attainment to make them more realistic.


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PROCESS

The last four steps of the above process have to do with

EVALUATING & SUPERVISING and constitute what is known as

CONTROL.


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PERFORMANCE STANDARDS

Requires consideration of the Nature of the Selling Job i.e. sales jobanalysis.

They measure progress made toward achievement of sales departmentobjectiveswhich could vary with changes in the companys marketing

situation.

Quantitative Performance Standards provide description of what themanagement expects by defining performance aspects being measured andthe measurement units.

S ifi t d d ld b


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Specific company standards could be a

combination of the following:

Quotas

Selling expense ratio

Territorial net profit or gross margin ratio

Territorial market share

Sale Coverage effectiveness index

Call-frequency ratio Calls per day

Order call ratio

Average cost per call

Average order size

Non-selling activities


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Qualitative Performance Criteria

Qualitative Performance Criteria are used for

appraising performance characteristics that affect sales

results specially over the long-run which defy exact

definition but whose degree of excellence can be

evaluated only subjectively. The measurement could beon continuous or discrete point scales

These could be a combination of the following:


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Job Factors

Product Knowledge

Awareness of Customer Needs

Relationship with Customers

Number of Sales Calls

Quota Performance

Service Follow-up


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Personal Factors

Punctuality

General Attitude

Dress & Appearance

Diligence

Cooperation

Accuracy

Adaptability

Reliability

Strongest Point

Weakest Point


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RECORDING ACTUAL PERFORMANCE

Define Information Needs based on Performance Standards &

vice versa

Determine Sources of Information

Sales & Expense records

Reports of Sales Personnel & lower levels of Sales Management Collect the Information


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SYSTEMS OF FIELD SALES REPORTS

Purposes of Field Sales Reports

To provide data for evaluating performance

To help sales person plan the work

To record customers suggestions, reactions & complaints

To gather & record information on competitor activity

To report changes in local business & economic conditions To log important information about territory to take care of change

in sales person looking after the territory

To keep the mailing list updated

To provide information required by marketing research


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Types of Sales Force Reports

Progress or Call report

Expense report

Sales work plan New-Business report

Lost sales report

Report of Complaint and / or adjustment.


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Reports from Field Sales Management

Actual achievement versus planned

Individual personnel performances

Sales meetings Complaints

Competitor information

Local economic conditions.


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Number of Reports

Minimum necessary to produce the desired

information.

Design & Construction of Reports

Consistent with purpose & short as possible

Easy checking-off, convenient size & shape

Can be easily summarized


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CONTROLLING SALES PERSONNEL

THROUGH SUPERVISION

Conditions under which Supervision isneeded Sales personnel turnover rate excessive

High turnover of accounts

Increased complaints from customers

Mail or phone orders increasing for no known reasons

Low ratio of order to sales calls

Total number of calls very low or very high

Increasing ratio of selling expenses to sales

Low morale, negative attitude to company, lack ofenthusiasm.


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Who should supervise?

Sales supervisor

Branch Manager

District (Regional) Manager

Assistant / Sales Manager from HO.


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DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS

Most producers do not sell their goods directly to the

final users. Sets of interdependent organizations involved in the

process of making a product or service available foruse or consumption is a MARKETING CHANNEL.

In-between intermediaries, performing different

functions, constitute the marketing (trade ordistribution) channel.

Wholesalers & Retailers buy, take title & resell thegoodsMERCHANTS.

Brokers, Manufacturers Representatives, Sales

Agents search for customers & may negotiate onproducers behalf but do not take possession AGENTS.

Transporters, Warehouses, Banks & Advertisersassist in the distribution process but do not negotiate

or take possessionFACILITATORS.


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CONSUMER & INDUSTRIAL MARKETING CHANNELS

0 level 1 level 2 level 3 level

Manufacturer Manufacturer Manufacturer Manufacturer

Wholesaler Wholesaler

Jobber

Retailer Retailer Retailer

Consumer Consumer Consumer


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INDUSTRIAL MARKETING CHANNELS

0 level 1 level 2 level

Manufacturer Manufacturer Manufacture

r

Manufacture

r

Representativ

e

Industrial

Distributor

Industrial

Distributor

Consumer Consumer


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SETTING UP DISTRIBUTIVE NETWORKS

ROLE OF THE MANUFACTURERS SALES FORCE

Sales Departments are the initiators of the co-operativeprograms

Sales representatives regarded as the Company

Communication & Interpersonal-relations skills areimportant.

OBJECTIVES & METHODS OF MANUFACTURER

DISTRIBUTION NETWORK CO-OPERATION


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Building Distributive Network loyalty to the Manufacturer

Appraisal of manufacturers policies and their implementation

Analysis of communication System.

Stimulating Distributive Outlets to greater selling effort

Changing policies

Sharing promotional risks with dealers

Using forcing methods

Incentives to the Distributive outlet

Incentives to the distributive outlets sales personnel

Incentives to ultimate consumers.


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Developing Managerial efficiency inDistributive Organizations Dealer training programs

Assistance in Sales Force management

Advice & assistance on general managementproblems

Shelf-allocation programs

Missionary sales personnel.

Identify Source of Supply at Final BuyerLevel Local Advertising

Point-of-purchase identification.


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DISTRIBUTIVE NETWORK CHANGES &

MAINTAINING RELATIONS

Evolution of new types of distributive outlets

Conflict in interests with the old existing network

Best policy neither to assist nor to throw roadblocks in the way of the

newer institutions

If the new types are capable of becoming important outlets for theproduct, changes in the marketing channels & sales policies should

be considered.

Documents

Staffing the Sales Force 4