Managing within Your Company 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 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) 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 Goal: Producing products at the lowest possible cost Administration Goal: Efficient processes - Administrative departments include order entry, billing, credit, and employee compensation Shipping Goal: Costs & delivery

Company Areas Important to Salespeople Customer Service 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 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 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 This technique allows the information to come from the people closest to the market: the salespeople Salespeople tend to be optimistic and may overestimate sales Salespeople are important to an executive attempting to forecast international sales

Expense Budgets Managers sometimes use expense budgets to control costs May be expressed in dollars or as a percentage of sales volume Bonuses may be rewarded for cutting budget Ultimately it is the salesperson’s responsibility to mange the territorial budget Resource allocation is important

Control and Quota Setting 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 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 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 Usually the first person to investigate complaints of unethical behavior Field managers are good role model for salespeople 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 Assigned a specific geographic territory in which to sell the company’s products and services (Branches, zones, or regions - Ex. ZIP codes) Account Salespeople 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 Inside Versus Outside 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 Another type of sales team is made up of the field rep and the field support rep

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