Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES

INVOLVED IN

SALES

FORCE MANAGEMENT
REPORT Submitted by **********************

SALES MANAGEMENT

Master Educational Institute Sharjah United Arab Emirates.

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

ABSTRACT

The report aims at understanding the most crucial aspect of any organizations- sales force management. Today all organizations are into some kind of sales goods, idea or services. As such, we need to understand the system that runs the life of these organizations its salesperson, which is a vital part of the human resources of the companies. Because sales people are in direct contact with all the important customers, they can make valuable contribution to the organization. Salespeople contribute to their firms as revenue producers, as source of market research and feedback and as candidates for management positions. The report takes an insight into two activities involved in sales force management Recruiting Sales Personnel & Motivating Sales Personnel, which management can use to draft and implement appropriate programs for effective sale force management.

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

INTRODUCTION
The face of any organization is the sales force. Companies spend a considerable amount of time and money on sales force rather than on any other promotional activity. However, sales force is expensive and companies are looking forward to managing them in an efficient and effective manner. Sales force management is personnel administration applied to the sales department. In its application, it requires adaptation to the special circumstances that surround the salesperson's job. Effective sales force management requires skill in setting up and operating the total system for sales force managementall the way from sales job analysis through the procedures used for evaluating and controlling sales personnel. Faulty sales force management results in high sales personnel turnover and excessive selling expenses, adversely affecting profit. The foundations for effective sales management are thorough sales job analysis, complete and written sales job descriptions, and meaningful sales job specifications. ACTIVITES INVOLVED IN SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT: Recruiting Sales Personnel. Selecting Sales Personnel Planning and Executing Sales Training Programs Motivating Sales Personnel Compensating Sales Personnel Evaluating Sales Personnel However, we will be discussing the following two activities : 3

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

Recruiting Sales Personnel. Motivating Sales Personnel.

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

RECRUITING SALES PERSONNEL

Every company aims at recruiting the right person for the right job. The greatest challenge faced by organizations today is to be able to recruit the best talent and to be able to utilize that talent to achieve organizational objectives. Recruitment and hiring the right people is as important in a sales organization as it is in any other organization. Before coming to the details of recruitment, let us bear one thing in mind hiring, contrary to the popular perception is an ongoing process and not confined to the formative stages of the organization. As such sales managers need to constantly be recruiting and meeting potential new hires, even when hiring for a sales position doesnt appear to be on the horizon. People leave positions and companies for a variety of reasons, so we have to be fully prepared for when this happens. A bad new hire or a string of new hires that dont work out can quickly turn once great sales team into a dysfunctional sales force incapable of meeting sales plan or quota. The question which is confronted by every sales manager is are successful salespersons born or can they be developed? The conviction that many sales managers have regarding developing good salespeople make companies spend huge amounts on sales hiring and training. Also, there are several organizations whose only aim is to train salespeople. At the same time there are several organizations or managers working in sales organizations, which like to hire mostly experienced sales persons. There is rationale for such an approach towards hiring. The managers want to save on training and development costs, especially during the period when economy cannot be said to be booming. Besides, there are also arguments that people who have experience in the field add more value to the organization in terms of the relationship which they bring in,

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

also the relevant exposure helps them cope better with the work related stress. A sales recruiting is one of the more critical aspects of successful sales management. And yet everyone treats recruiting as a necessary evil only to be done when absolutely necessary. Adopting a different philosophy about recruiting sales talent can provide the edge needed to build the best sales team -- faster and for less money. Management must think of recruiting as an on-going process designed to develop a cadre of qualified candidates. Armed with the correct philosophy surrounding recruiting, the next step is to develop a recruiting strategy. The strategy dictates exactly how to develop the cadre of qualified candidates. How much money to spend, where to look, who should do the job and the success metrics are just a few of the issues covered in a good employee recruiting strategy. One absolute guarantee about sales recruiting is that there is no one best source for candidates. Successful recruiting involves using multiple sources for finding the best candidates. Part of the strategy will be to decide how best to deploy the resources. The sources which can be used for the purpose of recruiting the sales force are: Employment agencies Internet Reference from Current Sales People Advertisement in Newspapers Internal Promotions/Transfers 6

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

HR consultants Walk-in interviews

However, many organizations, have devised their own system in this regard. Also they have their own criteria to select the sales personnel. These systems have certain things in common. It can be depicted as follows:

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

Recruiting Sales Personnel

Mental Aptitude Dimensions Mental Alertness

Personality Dimensions Honesty or Character Strengths Sociability

Business terms & Memory Recall Aptitude

Cynicism

Communication Skills

High Energy Levels

Dominance Numerical Ability Competitiveness

Mechanical Interest

Emotional Maturity Levels Work Habits

Work Motivational

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

MOTIVATING SALES PERSONNEL

Motivating sales personnel is an important aspect of sales force management. Sales personnel require additional motivation because of inherent nature of the sales job, role conflicts, the natural tendency toward apathy, and difficulties in building group identity. It is no secret that only highly motivated people have been able to achieve what they had set their sights on. This is so because the people who are highly motivated do not give up trying. Setbacks, for them, are an opportunity to analyze and identify the mistakes. This learning helps them to avoid future mistakes. Their motivation keeps them going. Organizations comprise of human beings working at different levels. As such organizations are affected by the effectiveness of its employees. The effectiveness of employees is again a factor of many things significant among them is the motivation levels of the employees. Thus, we can say that the success of a sales organization depends on the ability and the style of functioning of the sales manager to motivate the sales staff to achieve organizational goals. The importance of motivation is felt within and across the organization because the salespeople have to put in a lot of effort to realize sales in the market. They get demotivated due to frequent rejections by the customers, lower esteem ascribed to the sales job, and customer complaints about non-compliance of the products and services. The nature of job itself serves to weaken motivation levels. Salespeople have to do the job of prospecting, presentations, and demonstration repeatedly which makes the job monotonous. Also, their personal and domestic life suffers because of the job. Sales manager needs to constantly motivate his employees and at the same time continue to be motivated himself. The greatest challenge in motivating employees is the issue that not all the employees are motivated by the same factors. It is here that different theories of 9

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

motivation Maslows hierarchy of needs, Hertzbergs two factor theory, Alderfers ERG theory, Vrooms expectancy theory etc., - come into picture. Deciding on the ways to motivate an employee differs from manager to manager, yet certain guidelines are laid down by respective organizations in this regard. PEOPLE
DIFFER IN WHAT MOTIVATES THEM, THEREFORE MANAGEMENT MUST IDENTIFY THE

INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OF THEIR SALESPERSON .

Management must learn how to use

the various forms of sales incentives and compensation to meet these individual needs. There is much confusion and controversy about how to motivate salesperson. Traditionally, money has been the primary method, and financial rewards are still important. There are two major forms of sales incentives, NONFINANCIAL and FINANCIAL. Nonfinancial incentives are nonmonetary techniques used for specific, special effort situation. Examples of nonfinancial incentives include recognition, sales contents, and sales meetings and conventions. Financial incentives are direct monetary payments, such as salaries, commissions, and bonuses, or indirect rewards that have monitory value, such as medical insurance and childcare assistance. Changes in selling has let to changes in sales incentives and

compensation. The current selling environment places an emphasis on trying a firms strategic goals to sales compensation. Combination plans are a way in which companies encourage their sales force to focus not only making sales quotas but also on achieving less quantitative objectives, such as customer service. The last major trend is the increased availability and variety of fringe benefits, or indirect compensation. Management must offer a range of health, welfare, and retirement benefits to attract and retain top talent. Most firms now provide salespersons and other employees paid holidays, vacations, group insurance, major medical insurance, and some form of retirement program. Moreover, the number and variety of fringe benefits are growing. Paid legal assistance, child care, profit sharing opportunities, and unique retirement options are some of the newer forms of companys fringe benefits. 10

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

Apart from above, the employees are motivated through various other means. Management must believe that the good working environment and organizations culture themselves are the biggest motivator. Besides that, good salary and incentives, appreciation from the floor managers and even higher level managers too serve to motivate the sales force. Moreover, the organization must work to make the employees feel secure in their jobs.

SUGGESTIONS
Organization should take certain measures which will help it better manage its sales force. Some of the suggestions in this regard are: Sales targets should be realistic and onstage contact employees should be made participant in the process. The best results can be observed if it is not thrust upon the sales staff.

Performance appraisal should not be confused with performance management. Many organizations declare lofty ideals with regards to the performance management yet on the terra firma the practice is not to look beyond appraising the performance.

While recruiting, many companies keep attaching more importance to experience and qualifications rather than giving due importance to competence. This happens due to haste and also because company take HR functions to be a cost to company only. Despite being a known fact that there should be candidate-job fit, that is, right person for right job, companies at times fail to practice the maxim. Experienced or qualified candidates may not always be the right candidate for the job. At the same time equally important 11

Report on Different Activities involved in Sales Force Management

is to note that errors like ageism should not creep into recruitment policy.

12