STRUCTURING A SALES FORCE

Introduction

Identify the purposes of sales organization

Understand the issues associated with a company sales force vs. independent agents

Understand the different options for horizontal organizational structures of a sales force

Identify the purposes of sales organization

Firm Expertise

The Firm

• Sales goals• Sales objectives• Quotas• Customers • Relationship Selling• Collaboration with

other areas in the firm

Expertise

• Responsibility • Emotional Intelligence • Understanding the

Psychology of Buying• AIDI Model

• Sales Knowledge• FAB• Trial Close

• Product Knowledge• Specialization

• Experience • Confidence

Understand the issues associated with a company sales force vs. independent agents

Choosing a sales force or an independent sales agent:

Strategy

Economics

Control

Economics

Sales Force: Easier

management Less focus on sales

– more focus on selling behaviors

working with customers & maintaining records for the principal

Independent Agent: Find best combination

of price, coverage, and service

More popular with smaller companies due to cost-effectiveness

provide coverage of secondary products otherwise not

economically feasible using direct sales force

Strategy

Sales Force: They deliver benefits & can

fluctuate with demand Integrate selling process into a

long term business strategy Enhanced customer relations Better trained sales force Adaptive, Efficient, and Effective

Independent Agent: Generate best possible

value (best combination of coverage & price)

Committed to customer satisfaction

Effective way to accomplish the personal selling function

Extremely conscious of time because they know they must produce sales to survive

Control

Sales Force: Direct control of

the sales effort Source of power Enhanced ability

to forecast future sales

combine individuals sales personalities with complex issues

Independent Agent: Vested members of

your local community They are not beholden

to any one company Strong customer and

community ties Offer a broader line of

products that provide a range of solutions to customer problems

Understand the different options for horizontal organizational structures of a sales force

The Organization

CategoriesCharacteristi

cs

StrategiesSpecializatio

ns

characteristics of a good organization: reflects a market orientation built around activities responsibilities that are clearly

spelled out sufficient authority granted to

meet the responsibility a reasonable span of executive

control stability combined with

flexibility balanced and coordinated

activities both within the sales department and between sales and non-marketing departments.

three basic categories: line organization-

simplest form of organization and is often appropriate for small firms

line-and-staff organization- enables a company to use

staff assistants who are specialists in various areas of marketing

functional organization- carries specialization a step

further by giving more line authority to the executive specialists.

Sales Forces basic sales specialization:

The most frequently used bases are: geographical

territories type of product sold classes of customer

Organizational strategies: strategic account

management team selling independent sales

forces e-commerce telemarketing

Wall Street Journal Article

1. What are the main objectives of the article?

2. How does Mr. Warren use e-commerce in his firm?

3. How is “SellEdge” effected by relationship selling?

4. What was the firms strategy in creating this program?