14 Sep Describe the key functions of managing a salesforce. Student Success Criteria View the grading ru
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Describe the key functions of managing a salesforce.Student Success Criteria
View the grading rubric for this deliverable by selecting the “This item is graded with a rubric” link, which is located in the Details & Information pane.Scenario
You are the regional sales manager for International Herb Express (IHE) which is a large, US-based spice & herbs supplier. IHE sells to other businesses that purchase bulk spices and spice blends for use in their end products. The primary customers are baking and soup mix corporations that sell to other businesses, for example, bakeries, restaurants, other food-service, and regional grocery chains. IHE is launching a new spice blend that reflects a more diverse cultural & ethnic flavor profile than IHE's traditional offerings.
The abridged marketing strategy for this new spice blend is to target both current customers, but also to reach new customers that are target regions with higher ethnic diversity and/or the more adventurous "foodies" market. The marketing efforts will focus on taste testing, sampling, and on-site promotion. IHE is launching this marketing plan to help create a product offering that is not as commodity-driven (as most spices and herbs are the same quality no matter where they are purchased) and can potentially offer higher profit margins.
It is important to note that spices and other ingredients are raw goods and traded as commodities. The raw price for these goods changes on a day-to-day basis. Pricing is based on classic supply and demand, though nature is a key contributor to the supply–extreme weather as well as health of crops have a direct impact on the supply chain and access to the raw goods.Instructions
With the launch of the new product offering, it has been determined that a new sales team dedicated to the new product line will be the best approach. You will need to select current sales representatives from the company as well as hire new sales representatives to create the final sales team of 8 professionals.
The new sales force will be given the assignment of connecting and educating current customers on the new spice blend offering. The sales force will also be responsible for identifying the top, new potential customers and educating them. The goal after one year is to have 10% of the current customer base also ordering the new products as well as having at least one new customer per sales professional.
To prepare for the new team, you need to create the following documents and submit as one, unified document:- The formal job description for this new sales team which should include a brief description, list of required skills, and qualifications as well as a list of desired (but not required) skills.
- An organizational chart highlighting how the 8 sales representatives are organized (by regions, by customer industry or size for example).
- An email to the Vice President of Sales and Marketing recognizing and recommending the need for her to spend time with this new sales team as a motivational tool.
- Supporting paragraphs used to explain each piece to further clarify and rationalize the choices made.
Extending the Sales Force
Historically, the customer service department sat independently from the sales department. The customer service department processed orders, complaints, questions, etc. Processed is the operative word. Customer service representatives were given scripts—strict "standard operating procedures," and not a lot of independence.
That is changing. The most effective sales organizations have taken a more active approach to the customer service department, and the results are very positive.
The Process
· As part of sales leadership, encourage sharing the sales process with customer service. Customer service should understand each step of the sales process; not that they need to understand every technical aspect but they should understand the general steps. For example, if the sales organization relies on the corporate website to generate leads, share the online query form with the customer service team. If the final step of your business is to mail out a product, allow the customer service team spend an afternoon in the shipping department looking at how product is picked, packed and shipped. Any part of the process that can be shared with the customer service team is valuable.
· This process is sometimes referred to as the “customer journey”—and providing this map of the journey to every internal stakeholder can be incredibly beneficial. Customer service has an opportunity to improve the journey, and that will lead to a higher level of customer satisfaction.
The Expertise
· Some sales processes are very technical—for example, the sales organization may be selling implantable medical devices for patients with heart failure. It may be unrealistic to have a customer service team of bio—medical engineers, but it is not unrealistic to share and educate the customer service team. Sharing knowledge, even basic knowledge, is helpful—about the product, its features and benefits. It is also valuable to share the shortcomings, the competitive landscape and long-term goals and strategies.
· Regular training and education should be part of the sales process for the customer service team.
The Technology
· Sales managers should guide customer service representatives to use the tools available to them. This is a great general rule, but it also has a specific application in customer service. Integration software can improve collaboration and make the “customer service as part of sales” model more seamless. Most sales forces, regardless of size, use some form of technology to improve sales results. It may be as simple as a mobile application that invites potential customers to events, or it can be a complex CRM (customer relationship) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) software.
Flattened Communication and the Organizational Chart
· Sales managers can make small changes to build communication. Something as simple as hosting monthly or quarterly meetings can lead to a better understanding of the product/service and of the customer. These meetings should be focused on sharing important new information up and down the organizational chart. Meetings can also offer a way for employees to practice new skills or new improvements to the product.
· While clear roles are a foundational component of a successful sales organization, empowering the customer service team to communicate and share with the “front line” sales managers is a way to engage customer service into the sales process. If a customer service representative is afraid of—or does not have a way to share their needs—then, ultimately, the customer will suffer.
· In many organizations, the sales manager will take the customer service representative to customer meetings to encourage the customer to reach out and to help develop a lasting and important relationship between customer service and customer. This is another way to improve communication and flatten the organizational chart.
Feedback
· Every good strategy has at least one step regarding feedback that is true of customer service strategy as well. No process is flawless; there is always room for improvements, edits or changes. The relationship between customer service and the sales force is no different. Customers are often a great resource for new product lines or future enhancements. Since the customer service department is often the “post-sale” primary contact for customers, having a way for customer service to offer feedback can be critical. This step may be integrated in the technology component, can be part of the training sessions or even be more organic if an organization has a more open-flow organizational chart.
Summary
Regardless of which specific steps an organization uses to integrate the customer service department into the sales organization, the results can positively affect the ability of the whole organization reaching objectives.
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Sales Management's Influence over Employees and Their Time
A sales manager is challenged and responsible for the sales team. The sales employees that make up the team typically have a common general sales revenue/profit goal coupled with other sales goals such as market share, shelf space or customer retention. The way the sales team budgets their time will influence their ability to meet those goals.
Employee Management
What is the ideal number of salespeople one manager can manage? There is no right answer to this question, as the answer depends on many factors: structure of the organization (centralized, decentralized), the structure of the sales force and the industry, the complexity of the sales process, the work-life balance of the organization, etc.
Regardless of how many sales professionals one person can manage, it is important that the sales manager manages well. Understanding motivation, leadership theories and practices are important, but also understanding the unique dynamic that any work group exhibits is also critical.
The sales manager may be involved in creating and sustaining a reward program for the sales team as a motivation tool; that is very common. These rewards may be individual or team driven; they may be reoccurring or special events.
Beyond reward programs, there is also the topic of compensation programs. Many sales professionals are paid a base salary, but they have the potential to earn a “bonus” if certain goals are met or may receive commissions on sales. The details of how to structure these programs run the spectrum from simple sales revenue driven to more complex programs that include more than just individual or short—term goals—they may focus on attaining sales quotas for a team, developing new clients or even based on customer satisfaction surveys. The options and the assortment are endless but should align with the overall objectives of the organization.
Time Management
Beyond the employees themselves, a sales manager also needs to be knowledgeable about the various tasks and responsibilities the sales team has and how much time each one of those requires to complete. While sales professionals are tasked with “sales,” there is much more to the typical sales day then just selling. We can look at some general responsibilities.
Training, Knowledge and Expertise
· Depending on the actual product or service being sold, the time spent on keeping current with an industry, a specialty or certifications can be quite time-consuming. When you are part of a partnering or consultative sales position, the knowledge you possess and share with your clients is paramount.
· In some larger organizations, there are regular training tables that account for an ever-changing industry or various seasonality of the business. Organizations may host product launch events to train (and motivate) the sales team to be prepared to sell a new product. Other organizations set aside time quarterly to bring in speakers from other specialties within the organization to help create a unified team. An example of this may be hosting a weekend seminar with the logistics and shipping staff, so that the sales team becomes intimate with the picking, packing and shipping of a product.
Recordkeeping, Customer Data Management
· While an individual company's commitment and ability to afford customer relationship management software may vary, the responsibility to keep current records of meetings, important customer information and even historic data is an ever-present task for the sales team.
· Depending on the industry (especially for a goods-orientated industry) the sales team must communicate orders, forecasts and customer needs to the various stakeholders in their own organizations. Some companies require weekly reports on customer calls as well as management of ongoing forecasts for goods by individual sell units.
Sales
· Beyond all the other duties and responsibilities, the sales team also needs time to sell. Often this includes travel. There are sales teams that spend their whole week driving from city to city in their assigned territory or flying the globe to meet with customers. In addition to travel time, the sales team also needs time to prepare (identify customer needs, create presentations, understand the decision makers) and time to do follow up with customers after a meeting. There may or may not be auxiliary staff to assist the sales team, but the communication portion is time-consuming no matter the approach used.
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Hiring and Recruiting Practices
A sales job can be defined as any job that is selling goods or services as the main job responsibility. With such a simple description, one would incorrectly assume that the hiring process would be easy. There are some key decisions that need to be made before hiring someone for a sales job.
The first step in the hiring process is to assess the need to hire. Like any great strategy or plan, a needs assessment should take place and data should be collected about the needs of the sales force that are not currently being met. The difficulty of this process varies. This assessment may be very simple if you are part of a start-up organization or a small, family business. This assessment may be more complex if you are part of the team leading a new product category for an international office products company.
Once the need is established, one can also look at what specific skills would be needed to succeed in the position. This could also be defined as creating the job description. Again, you can pull data from your assessment discussed in the prior step. Is this position one that requires technical skills such that an advanced degree in the sciences or engineering is needed? Does the position require certain communication skills such as a fluency in a foreign language? Creating a list and table of requirements and preferences is a great tool to be used through the recruiting and hiring process. Think about skills, knowledge, abilities and behaviors; how these are integrated in a job description will help identify top candidates and, ultimately, will help hire the most successful sales professionals.
Once you have identified the need to hire sales professionals and created job descriptions, the last step before the formal search is to assign the job title you are seeking to fill. Understanding the various titles commonly used in sales organizations will help you determine the title you will use.
Let’s take a closer look at three common types of titles in sales: Sales Representative or Account Executive, New Business Development Manager and the General Sales Manager.
Sales Representative / Account Executive
This title is the most general, catch-all title. It can refer to an entry-level sales position as well as one with a decade of experience. It is not uncommon to see this title with an additional "explanatory" word, such as "Senior" or "Territory." Descriptive words such as "Junior" or "Senior" help identify the hierarchy or seniority of an employee within the organization. Likewise, words such as "Territory," "Regional" and "Technical" indicate specificity within a sales organization.
New Business Development Manager
The sales professional in this role is tasked with generating new business. This task is not just a "go-out-and-knock-on-some-doors," search for new buyers, but involves the ability to create and executive effective growth strategies. This sales professional may work closely with senior management or with other departments of the organization, such as marketing or product development.
Sales Manager
A sales manager is the person in an organization that helps manage the sales staff who may or may not have direct sales responsibilities. This position usually involves familiarity with the sales process and selling, but also requires the ability to manage and motivate others.
Finding the Best Employees
Once the need is established, and the job descriptions and titles are finalized, the next step is to go out and find qualified candidates. Organizations can use professional outside recruiters, use traditional online job websites, place advertisements in industry publications, use employment agencies, recruit at colleges or use current employees and promote from within their own organization.
The vetting process for candidates can include a series of interviews with key employees at the organization, a formal personality and/or skills testing, research of references, etc. Each organization will have an unique process; the process will be driven by the way the candidates were found. For example, if a professional recruiter is used, the paid recruiter may do initial interviews, follow up with professional references and then only present the top candidates.
Once a candidate is found, is offered the position and has accepted the position, the hiring process does not end. In order to improve the likelihood for the new employee success, a formal plan to orient and train the new employee is highly encouraged.
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