Managing The Sales Force

We know that salespeople differ in ability,motivation and performance.Managers are involved in selecting,training,monitoring,directing,evaluating and rewarding salespeople.A brief look at each activity illustrates the responsibilities and functions of a sales manager.

1.Finding and Selecting Salespeople:

In a major study the chief sales executives in over 100 firms selling business to business to business products indicated on a 1 to 10 scale how important twenty nine salesperson characteristics are to the success of their salespeople.The executive indicated that the three most significant success characteristics are

a) being customer driven and highly committed to the job

b) accepting direction and cooperating as a team player

c) being motivated by ones peers,financial incentives and oneself.

2.Training:

Some firms use formal programs to train their salespeople,while others use informal on the job training.Factors that affect the type and duration of training include type of sales job,product complexity,prior experience of new salespeople and management's commitment to training.Training topics may include selling concepts and techniques,product knowledge,territory management and company policies and operating procedures.In training salespeople companies may seek to :

a) increase productivity

b) improve morale

c) lower turnover

d) improve customer relations

e) enable better management of time and territory.

3.Supervising and Motivating Salespeople:

The manager who supervises salespeople has a key role in implementing a firm's selling strategy.She or he faces several important management issues.Coordinating the activities of a field sales force is difficult due to lack of regular contact,although internet access overcomes to some extent the lack of face to face contact.