1. Managing within Your Company
Chapter 16
Managing within Your Company

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. Company Areas Important to Salespeople
Salespeople are often divided in which accounts they are responsible for

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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 P.440
Remember our “Sandwich effect” method of handling unethical dilemmas on the spot
- Goal: Be ethical, practical and smart

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Questions?