sales and distribution

1. ME03003 -SALESAND
DISTRIBUTION
MANAGEMENT
Course faculty:
Ms vidhya J
Assistant professor
Saveetha school of
management
Unit 3

2. UNIT – 3:
 SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT
 Recruitment and selection of sales force;Training, Motivating and
Compensating the sales force; Controlling the sales force

3. SALES FORCE
MANAGEMENT
 Sales force management is a specialised
type of personnel management.
 Sales managers perform the sales force
management function.
 They execute the entire human resource
management function in an organisation.

4.  Decisions on what to sell (product policies) and to
whom to sell (distribution policies) are important
determinants of the two components of personal
selling strategy
 – the kind of sales personnel
(qualitative objective) and
 - their total number (quantitative
objective).

5. Sales force
 Sales force definition is described as the muscles behind the
marketing plans. Salesforce is referred to the management
employees responsible for making the sale.Thus, these are called
mussels used to execute marketing plans and strategies.
 The sales force is an organization’s employee force responsible for
selling products and services.

6. Sales Force
Planning In
Sales
Management

7. EvaluateThe Current Situation
 A very first step an organization have to is to evaluate their current
position. Evaluating their current position in the market or
environment, helps them to understand what are the important and
requirements for the organization in the current position.
 For example: if an organization is having a great position, a good
market share and have the ability to invest in more further projects.
The organization can plan or set the objective in the next step of
expanding according to Horizontal Marketing.
DefineYour Objective
 As we discussed earlier in the sales force definition it is important to
lay down the objective for the salesforce to achieve.The objective is
not only referred to as department objectives.These are ay down
considering the organizational needs and requirements. Plus the
objectives in sales force planning are mostly inspired by the mission
and vision of an organization.

8. KnowingThe Barriers
 After knowing where the organization is heading towards, a
manager should also analyse the barriers which can be proved as
road blockers or disturbed the sales force planning.As we
discussed in the sales force definition customers have issues with
products. Similarly, a sales force faces barriers like competitions
products, customers services, market environment etc.
SWOT Analysis
 After the organization has known the barries which can cause the
problems externally. Now, the organization should also know
about the internal position of an organization as well.
 For example: In our earlier example organization was desired to
expand its operation. For that purpose, the organization conduct a
SWOT analysis to identify the threats and opportune within the
Sales management of the organization.

9. CreateYour Sales Call Strategy
 Creating a sales strategy refers to creating a plan to implement
marketing strategies. As sales management are the muscles of the
marketing management described in the sales force definition. So,
in a sales force, the planning call designs a strategy in such a way
that complements the marketing management strategies and
plans.
Identify Needs
 Once the sales team finalizes their strategy, then its time to
identify the requirements which need to be present for the
implementation of the strategy. Generally, the needs for
implementing the sales force plan are related to:
 Recruitment
 Training
 Technology
 Funds

10.  Outline An Action Plan
 Outlining the action plan which in the sales force definition explains
including items such as finalizing pricing with your company before
you make the sale. It is more like a to-do list that is done by the sales
professionals to make a sale.
 Let’s assume an organization has set the target of increasing the sales
volume by 40%. And the marketing department set the marketing
strategy as well to increase sales volume. Afterwards, sales
management creates the call strategy- increase in sales of each
salesperson by 7%. So, the action plan will be the individual plan which
each employee creates to achieve their specific target.
 Examples of consumer sales forces include automobile salespersons.
 Sales staffs found in a variety of retail stores.
 Salesforce of theTelecom industry focused on telephonic sales
 Another example of telephonic sales is insurance industry agents.
 The largest sales force are employed in industrial goods industries.

17.  1. Application
 The application phase in the selection process is
sometimes seen as passive from the hiring team side – you
just wait for candidates to respond to your job ad.
However, applications can and should be selection tools,
helping you sort candidates as qualified or unqualified.
 Questions / gamification
 2. Resume screening
 Now that you have wrapped up the application phase of
the employee selection process, you have a collection of
resumes or CVs to sift through and filter those deemed
suitable for a screening call.What you’ll need to do now is
go through resumes one by one, whether manually or
software-assisted, and identify prime candidates.
 Background/Resume layout/Cover
letter/Intangibles/Unconscious bias
The selection
process for hiring
Sales force

18. The selection
process for hiring
Sales force
 3. Screening call
 The screening call, or phone screen, is among the initial hiring
stages where recruiters shortlist applicants.The purpose of this
call is to establish whether the candidate is truly interested in
the job and (at least) minimally qualified to do it successfully.
This way, only the best applicants will go to the next, stricter
(and more expensive) hiring stages, like assessments and in-
person interviews, saving your team time and money.
 Schedule a phone screen/Prepare well beforehand/Select the
right questions/
 4. Assessment test
 Once you’ve screened candidates and sorted them out into
“promising”, “maybe”, and “disqualified” groups, you want to
look at the surviving candidates and further assess their ability
to do the job you’re looking to fill.These assessments can take
place in a multitude of forms in the selection process:
 in-person audition/written or online test

19. The selection
process for hiring
Sales force
 5. In-person interviewing
 You’re now deep in the selection process, having screened candidates,
evaluated their skills, assessed their abilities, and created a shortlist of the
most qualified people. It’s finally time to meet in person with those
promising candidates and determine who’s going to be your next hire.
 Role-specific questions/Situational questions/Behavioral questions/Cultural
fit questions/Career goals questions/Collaboration questions/Adaptability
questions.
 6. Background checks
 Background checks reassure you that your finalists are reliable and don’t
pose risks to your company. For example, employers may conduct pre-
employment checks to make sure candidates have told the truth in their
resumes or don’t currently do illicit drugs. In fact, there are several types of
background checks including:
 Criminal records
 Credit reports
 Driving records
 Verification reports (e.g. identity, education, work history, social security
number, national insurance number, etc.)
 Drug tests

20. The selection
process for hiring
Sales force
 7. Reference checks
 In the final stages of the selection process, you might want to
get some references for your best candidates.This way, you’ll
get feedback about their performance from people they’ve
actually worked with in the past, such as former managers,
former colleagues or business partners and clients.
 Confirm what candidates have already told you (e.g about time
of employment and previous job responsibilities)
 Learn how candidates use their skills on the job
 Discover potential weaknesses or lack of practical experience
 Understand how candidates behave in the work environment
(e.g. if they’re punctual, if they receive feedback well, etc.)

21. The selection
process for hiring
Sales force
 8. Decision and job offer
 Congratulations!After a series of well-organized selection
processes for recruiting new employees, you’ve finally found
your perfect hire. Now it’s time to let them know you’re offering
them a position at your company.The job offer process is a
critical one; done right, you’ll soon welcome your new employee
in the office. But, if you miss something, you might lose a great
candidate and have to start the hiring process all over again.
 Discuss employment terms early in the selection process.
 Make an informal verbal offer
 Use a job offer letter template

23. Types of
Salesforce
Training
Methods

24.  1. Online course providers
 Usually composed of recorded video lectures or gamified apps,
self-paced courses are a low-cost option for CRM training.These
classes can’t offer much in the way of individualization, but many
of them are great introductions to popular Salesforce products
and functions. Students can start the course at any time and
progress at their own speed.

25.  2. Instructor-led live classes
 One of the most expensive options, but one of the most popular
for employee training, is a live class.Courses given by a live
teacher can be tailored to your team’s needs and can provide the
kind of individualization that’s hard to find in other forms of
training.
 This is what you think of when you imagine a traditional class:A
teacher talks either in a classroom or over a video while learners
take notes and ask questions.

26.  3. Salesforce In-App Guidance
 Salesforce In-App Guidance is an official Salesforce training tool
that gives administrators the ability to add prompts
and interactive walkthroughs in your Salesforce application.This is
Salesforce’s attempt to give organizations more customization,
and it can be useful.

27.  3. Salesforce In-App Guidance
 Salesforce In-App Guidance is an official Salesforce training tool
that gives administrators the ability to add prompts
and interactive walkthroughs in your Salesforce application.This is
Salesforce’s attempt to give organizations more customization,
and it can be useful.

28.  4. Digital adoption platforms (DAPs)
 Digital adoption platforms (DAPs) offer the same features as
Salesforce’s In-App Guidance but can be used with many different
training materials and aren’t limited to one brand of software.
While In-App Guidance only works on Salesforce products, DAPs
such asWhatfix can create a seamless employee training
experience throughout your entire CRM.

29.  Salesforce certificates are the official stamp of approval Salesforce
hands out when users pass an exam on some feature or role in the
platform. Certificates are highly sought after because they not
only show off particular skills, but they’re also considered the gold
standard, and most companies hiring for Salesforce roles expect
applicants will have at least a few certifications.

44. Motivating the
sales force

48. Some ways to
motivate the
sales team
 Regular Interaction
 Roles and responsibilities
 RealisticTargets
 Incentives and Monetary benefits
 Appreciation
 Involvement

51. Compensation is more than money. It is one of the crucial factors of salespeople’s motivation. There
are basically three types of salesforce compensation plan that a selling firm can use as an alternative
to compensate its salespersons.
Compensation plans are developed and implemented to motivate salespeople to work better.
1. Straight Salary Plan
This plan allows salespersons to receive fixed sums at regular intervals, say each week, month, or every two
weeks.This is the most simple compensation plan in which you will get paid e.g. monthly for your work in a
firm. Salary is fixed for weekly or monthly. Most salespeople feel free from salary payment tension since it
provides a regular inflow of salary to them. •It is effectively used for routine selling jobs such as:
selling milk, bread, beverages, etc.
•It also proves the best plan for extensive missionary
and educational sales jobs such as Pharmaceutical
selling and Selling of technically complex, products.
•It is commonly used for compensating salespeople
who are heavily engaged in trade selling where
consumers’ necessities are distributed directly by the
manufacturers/wholesalers.
•Some insurance firms, sometimes, use this plan
when a salesperson is in training. These firms pay a
salary the first year, but after one year, they place
salespeople on a straight commission.
•As compared to consumer goods companies, this

53. 2. Commission-based compensation model
A commission-only plan presupposes paying sales reps based on their performance only. So, if they don’t close
a deal, they get a zero.This model isn’t risky since the company pays per closed deals only. It also motivates
sales representatives to work harder and get more money.
On the other hand, this sales-compensation plan makes it difficult to foresee your expenses and plan your
budget correspondingly

54. 3. Salary+commission-based compensation model
This is the most common plan that allows sales reps to get a fixed income and stimulates them to sell.
Besides, this model is beneficial for a company, which can budget the base salary and employ a motivated
competitive sales team.
As a rule, the percentage of commission in this plan is lower because of the fixed salary. The pay mix (the
ratio of fixed pay to variable pay) usually depends on the industry and sales roles.
There can be:
More aggressive ratio: roles with more influence on purchasing decisions.
Mid aggressive ratio: managers with wider sets of responsibilities.
Less aggressive ratio: reps with longer sales cycles and strategic or consultative roles.

55. 4. Salary+bonus compensation model
This plan can be used if you know that your sales reps tend to meet the pre-set goals.You may foresee your
expenses by paying your salespeople a base amount and a predictable bonus per the particular number of sales.
For instance, if you know that 3 out of 5 sales representatives always hit quota and get $40,000, you may annually
budget $120,000 for bonuses. Nevertheless, this model still makes it hard to motivate your salespeople to
overperform.

56. 5. Straight-line commission model
This sales compensation plan presupposes rewarding salespeople based on how much or little they sell.
For example, if a total commission is $1,000 and a sales rep reaches 90% of their quota, they get 90% of
the commission, which is $900.
Being quite easy to calculate, this model may be not motivating enough. Say, if a person is okay with 80%
of the quota, they will not be driven for selling more.

57. How to create
a sales
compensation
plan
 Set your sales compensation plan objectives
 Determining your goals is a key step for any strategy. Setting your
sales compensation plan priorities will help you decide how to
reward your salespeople in a way that works best for your
company.Consider some examples of objectives you may set for
your sales compensation plan:
 Grow revenue
 Increase the percentage of repeat customers
 Increase the customer lifetime value
 Lower expenses
 Boost sales for specific products, and so on

58.  Determine your sales compensation model
 Now that you have defined your goals, you should choose the type
of compensation plan you will use for your sales team, which will
depend on:
 The type of your company and its product
 Your sales cycle
 Your budget
 Your sales team size
 Analysis of sales compensation plans your competitors use
 Your salespeople’s expectations
 Choose when and how you will provide compensation
 If your plan presupposes a commission, determine when your
salespeople will get compensated: when a customer signs a
contract, when they send you their first payment, or every time a
customer pays.

59.  Set quotas
 Determine what you expect of your sales reps so that they will
know how they can earn compensation. Remember that quotas
must be reasonable, feasible, and yet reflecting the business
goals.
 As it is, only 24.3% of salespeople exceed their quota, which
means the number of top performers is usually lower than the rest
of your sales team.Thus, it’s advisable to target average
performers while setting quotas to drive their movement several
points upwards.
 Review your sales compensation plan
 Any business strategy can’t be actionable forever.The same goes
for your sales compensation plan.As your sales team grows, and
company objectives become more ambitious, it should undergo
corresponding changes. However, remember that these changes
must always be aligned with your sales reps’ expectations: they
should feel motivated and rewarded.

61. Where to focus the analysis:
Evaluation extends beyond the salesperson to include other organizational units, such as districts and branches. Selling
teams are used in some types of selling.Companies that use teams focus evaluations on team results.
Performance Measures:
Management needs yardsticks for measuring salesperson performance. For example, the sales force of a regional food
processor that distributes through grocery wholesalers and large retail chains devotes most of its selling effort to
calling on retailers. Since the firm does not have information on sales of its products by each individual retail outlet,
evaluations are based on the activities of salespeople rather than sales outcomes.
Setting performance standards:
Although internal comparisons of performance are frequently used, they do not very help fully if the performance of
the entire sales force is unacceptable. A major problem in setting sales performance standards is determining how to
adjust them for factors that are not under the salesperson’s control.