Explains why sales management has become an increasingly important and complex topic for top managers. Demonstrates the financial impact of a superior salesforce and then describes a way to gain superiority. The focus is on a salesforce that is responsive to customer needs and competing imperatives. Organization and management receive careful attention.
Selling industrial goods has become more complicated in recent years. It is more likely to be the domain of teams that handle large accounts by coordinating their efforts across product lines. Even without formal teams, greater coordination is often required to land the sale and keep the customer. Three concerns have the most serious effect on coordination with an account-sharing strategy: compensation systems, goal setting, and staffing and training.
A sales task is clear if sales result from a salesperson's efforts to sell, if performance feedback is timely, and if that feedback is accurate. Management has four areas in which it must try to be clear--deployment, account management, information systems, and field sales management. The more specific the account coverage, the better. Hence, limiting the number of accounts for each salesperson is recommended. Field sales managers can use management by objectives, performance appraisal, and monthly reviews to encourage their salespeople to do their work effectively.
A study indicates four factors which individually and in combination greatly affect salesperson motivation: the nature of the task; the personality, particularly the strength of the salesperson's need for achievement; the type of compensation plan; and the quality of management. Why the four variables work together is unclear; they do, however, continually impact each other.