Transcript Chapter 17

Chapter 16
Managing within Your Company
Building Internal Partnerships
Internal partnerships- partnering relationships between a
salesperson and another member of the same company
The Importance Of Internal Partnerships
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Involves working with other employees in the firm
The ability to work with groups inside the company can directly
affect the rep’s pocketbook
The Role Of Sales In Learning Organizations
One of the most important functions of the sales force is carrying
the customer’s voice across a learning organization
Salespeople must adapt to satisfy the needs and desires of those
who influence sales performance
Selling Internally
Selling Internally (Exhibit 16.1)
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Accept responsibility
Appeal to higher objective
Use SPIN to understand needs
Salespeople cannot order a colleague to do something;
illustrate benefits to the colleague & increase time urgency
Keep issues professional
Be prepared to negotiate
Company Areas Important
To Salespeople
Manufacturing
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Goal: Producing products at the lowest possible cost
Administration
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Goal: Efficient processes - Administrative departments
include order entry, billing, credit, and employee
compensation
Shipping
Goal: Costs & delivery
Company Areas Important
to Salespeople
Customer Service
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Important for faster and more direct
information flow to the salespeople
Marketing
 Should coordinate closely with sales
Biggest problem is usually lack of
communication
Company Areas Important
to Salespeople
Sales
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Salespeople are often divided in which
accounts they are responsible for
Partners In The Sales Organization
Sales Management
The Sale Executive
 Manager is at the top of the sales force hierarchy
 The executive determine the size and organization of the sales
force, develop annual and long-range plans, and monitor and
control sales efforts
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Size and Organization of the Sales Force
The executive determines how many salespeople are needed to
achieve the company’s sales and customer satisfaction targets
Must determine what types of salespeople are needed
Forecasting
Bottom-up forecasting- adding each salesperson’s own
forecast into a forecast for total company sales
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This technique allows the information to come from the people
closest to the market: the salespeople
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Salespeople tend to be optimistic and may overestimate sales
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Salespeople are important to an executive attempting to
forecast international sales
Expense Budgets
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Managers sometimes use expense budgets to control costs
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May be expressed in dollars or as a percentage of sales volume
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Bonuses may be rewarded for cutting budget
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Ultimately it is the salesperson’s responsibility to mange the
territorial budget
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Resource allocation is important
Control and Quota Setting
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Quotas are a useful technique for controlling the sales force
Quota- represents a quantitative minimum level of acceptable
performance for a specific time period
Sales quota- minimum number of sales in units
Revenue quota- minimum amount of sales revenue necessary for
acceptable performance
Profit quotas or Gross margin quotas- minimum levels of
acceptable profit or gross margin performance
Activity quotas- minimal expectations of activities for each
salesperson
Compensation and Evaluation
Salary- regular payment regardless of performance
Incentive pay- incentives tied to some level of performance
Commission- incentive pay paid for an individual sale
Bonus- incentive pay given for overall performance in one or more areas
Straight salary- fixed amount of money for work during a specified time
Straight commission- pays a certain amount per sale and includes a base
and a rate, but not a salary
Commission base- unit sales, dollar sales, or gross margin
Commission rate- determines the amount paid (% of base or $ amount)
Draw- money paid to the salesperson against future commissions
Combination plans- provides salary and commission – great flexibility
Field Sales Managers
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They hire salespeople, evaluate their performance, train them, and
perform other important tasks
Evaluating Performance
Easiest method of evaluating performance is adding up the amount
of sales that the salesperson makes
Must also rate salespeople’s customer service level, product
knowledge, and other less tangible qualities
Salespeople’s records and reports are an important communication
tool
Training
New hires and refresher training for experienced salespeople
Welcome training no matter how successful you are
Managing Ethics In Sales
Ethics And The Sales Executive
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Sales executive’s must determine corporate policy concerning
what is considered ethical and how unethical behavior will be
investigated and punished
Open-door policies- general management techniques that allow
subordinates to bypass immediate managers and take concerns
straight to upper management when the subordinates feel a lack of
support from their immediate manager
Ethics review boards- provide expert advice to salespeople who
are unsure of the ethical consequences of an action
Ethical treatment is expected from the company
Cap- limit placed on a salesperson’s earnings – no cap is the ideal
so salespeople are motivated to high performance
Ethics and The Field Manager
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Usually the first person to investigate complaints of unethical
behavior
Field managers are good role model for salespeople
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Responding To Unethical Requests –
– See Exhibit 16.5 - P.440
– Remember our “Sandwich effect” method of handling unethical
dilemmas on the spot
- Goal: Be ethical, practical and smart
Salespeople As Partners
Geographic Salespeople
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Assigned a specific geographic territory in which to sell the
company’s products and services
(Branches, zones, or regions - Ex. ZIP codes)
Account Salespeople
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Salespeople are often divided between new accounts, existing
accounts, specialized accounts and similar accounts
Key account- large accounts that receive special treatment
National account managers (NAM) or Strategic account managers
(SAM)- sales executive responsible for managing and coordinating
sales efforts on a single account nationwide
House account- assigned to a sales executive rather than the specific
salesperson assigned to the territory in which the account is located
Product Specialist
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Used when companies have a diverse array of products
 Must coordinate their activities with those of salespeople from other
divisions
Inside Versus Outside
Field salespeople (outside salespeople)- sell at their customer’s
location
Inside salespeople- sell at their own company’s location
Field support rep- telemarketer who works with field salespeople and
does more than prospect for leads
Customer service reps- inbound salespeople who handle customer
concerns
Inbound- respond to telephone calls placed by customers
Outbound- telemarketer makes the phone call
Sales Teams
Team selling- employees with varying areas of expertise
within the firm work together to sell to the same account
Multilevel selling- strategy that involves using multiple levels
of company employees to call on similar levels in an account
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Another type of sales team is made up of the field rep and the
field support rep