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Sales
Force & Territory Design
TopMark's consultants have meaningful experience in sales
force and territory design.
We have provided consulting assistance to many
companies, resolving the three key issues associated
with the design of their selling function.
1. Structure of the sales organization.
2. Allocation of sales effort and assignment of roles.
3. Sales force investment.
Organizing the structure, management, composition,
roles, and activities of the sales force are major
components of a company's plan for anticipating, or
responding to: market structure changes; customer sophistication;
product commoditization; price pressures; aggressive
competition; and technology advancements.
A number of questions must be answered as a company creates a scalable and flexible
sales force design for efficiently growing profitable revenue while serving current
customers well.
- Should some or all of our sales function be outsourced?
- How many different sales roles or forces should we have, and how should
they be matched to the market?
- How should the activities of specialized sales resources and related departments
be integrated and coordinated?
- How many levels of management are appropriate? What span of control is
best?
- Should sales-related functions such as estimating, proposal development, order-entry, rebuild and parts sales
be integrated into the sales organization?
- What functions should each sales manager perform?
Salespeople are among the most productive assets of a company. They are also
among the most expensive. Determining the right number, type and mix of sales
resources to employ presents several fundamental dilemmas. The number of sales
people may increase sales. It definitely increases costs. Achieving a balance
between possible revenue and certain costs is vitally important.
The optimal number of sales territories or assignment of current and prospective
accounts to sales representatives depends upon: 1) the market potential of
the territories or customer rosters and 2) how the workload required to serve
them is allocated among field and/or HQ sales and service resources. As a result,
populating the sales force, crafting sales roles and territory design are inextricably
linked.
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